Falafel and all the trimmings

I am waiting for the resolution of a few things next week, all of this waiting has been making me rather anxious. This of course, means that I end up cooking a lot more. Some of my forays have been rather good, in fact, I have cooked up so many things I need to make time to write about all my experiments.

Well, my first surprise was cooking falafel. Well, according to the link some experts feel that this addictive chickpea snack considered Israel's national food actually hails from India or Pakistan.

It would be the kind of food that would definitely fit in well with sub-continental cuisine.Actually I used this recipe of the Epicurious website.

Actually, either the pepper recommended in the recipe was a milder variation, or what I ended up with was a pretty spicy concoction.

Falafel

Adapted from Jean Nathan's
The foods of Israel today

Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons red chili powder
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
3-4 tablespoons whole wheat flour
Oil for frying

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight.
2. Place the chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor, add the onion, cilantro, salt, red chili powder and cumin and process till the texture resembles smooth most breadcrumbs.
3. Remove from the blender and mix in the flour.
4. Heat the oil and shape the patties into small balls (I like to flatten them a little) and gently lower into the oil.
5. Cook for about 6-7 minutes on each side till the the patties are nice and crisp and cooked through.

Note: I found the flavors of this variation really addictive, we had three to four of them left over that I shamelessly finished for breakfast.

To serve with the falafel, I actually made Pita bread, following this recipe. I used 50% whole wheat flour and about 50% while flour. I did not actually get the light fluffy looking loafs shown here, but they were nice and good for a change. I made a fresh green salad, chopping up fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions and tossing them with sumac, olive oil and a little salt.

Lastly I tried this garlic sauce, I modified it a little and it ended up becoming a nice, garlic parley sauce, this really is a mayonnaise, made with whites rather than the yolk.

Parsley garlic mayonnaise (Arabic style)

Adapted from Ria's Collection

Ingredients:


4 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup parsley
Juice of 2 fresh lemons
1 egg white
3/4 cup olive oil

Method of Preparation

1. Place the garlic, salt and parsley in a food processor and pulse till very finely chopped.
2. Add the lemon juice and process again.
3. Add the oil in very small batches while the food processor is running, letting the mixture get completely mixed before adding more, until you get a nice creamy sauce.

Enjoy this with the falafels.