Chickpea Patty Gyro

Another perfect recipe for the summer months when you are outside barbecuing or in a park for a picnic. These chickpea patty gyros are a great option for lunch and is a balanced meal by itself. It can me made vegan by switching the tzatziki with any dip or sauce of your choice. I pan fried the patties and then baked them to make it crispy and to cut down on the calories from deep frying. but if you prefer them deep fried then go ahead and do that. Either way it will turn out delicious. The patty is inspired by falafel but has a different flavor.

I used naan as the base for these gyros but soft pita bread would work great and if you are feeling the energy and are in the mood to make the bread from scratch - my gozleme recipe would work great with this. If you cant have gluten then prepare some long grain rice with butter, turmeric and saffron with some salt and serve these over rice instead of a flatbread -the exact same way. The rice combination actually reminds me of the falafel rice platter that I had in NY from a food truck. Instead of using tzatziki you can also make a tahini sauce and drizzle that all over the dish - that will make it vegan & delicious.

Serving 15 patties

Ingredients

Chickpea Patty

1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp tahini

1/4 cup onion, diced

2 tsp cornstarch

salt

• In a blender add everything except cornstarch and onions. Whiz to make a homogeneous mixture.
• Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl and add onions and cornstarch. Stir to mix well.
• In a nonstick pan heat a tablespoon of oil on medium heat.
• Take a tablespoon of chickpeas mixture and make patties of your choice of shape. I used two large spoons to form a falafel like shape.
• Once the oil is hot, pan fry the patties (3 to 4 at a time) till they turn golden brown on all sides - roughly 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
• Fry all patties and place on a baking tray. Lightly brush with oil and bake in a preheated oven at 400 F for 20 minutes ( you could skip this step and the step before by deep frying the patties instead)

For Gyros

Tzatziki

Red onion, thinly sliced

1 tsp sumac

juice of a 1/4 lemon

Cucumber, diced

tomatoes, diced

lettuce leaves, torn

Naan or soft Pita Bread

To Assemble the gyros

Mix onion slices with sumac & lemon juice and let it marinate for 15 minutes. Heat naan on a non stick pan for a couple of minutes. Assemble the gyros by placing lettuce leaves on naan and sprinkle some cucumber and tomatoes. Place the patty and add few dollops of tzatziki and top with onion slices. Garnish with fresh mint leaves (optional). Serve right away.