Wednesday, January 30, 2008

I grew up eating Tabbouleh, Hummus, Dolma, Paklavah and other Mediterranean foods, but Falafel has been a fairly new dish to my palate. And I have been craving the vegetarian sandwich since Niel introduced me to the take out place Chickpea during the holidays.

Fortunately a friend (thanks Shawnda) gave me the cookbook The Healthy Pregnancy Cookbook. And one of the recipes in their was how to make a Falafel. I combined the recipe with another cook book I had in my library The Pregnancy Survival Cookbook and below is my adaptation of the two recipes. Much better than the boxed Falafel mix I had purchased one time. The below recipe is definitely moister.



Ingredients:
2 cans chickpeas drained
3 tablespoons of flour
1.5 Teaspoons of cumin
1/2 cup of Italian Parsley
1/4 cup of Mint leaves
2 garlic cloves
1 egg
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 squeeze of lemon
1/2 chopped onion
salt & pepper
Pitas that are cut in half
1/2 cucumber chopped
Shredded lettuce

Assembly:
Mix all ingredients except cucumber and pita in a food processor. Form small balls(makes 38) out of the mixture and fridgerate for 15 minutes. Fry till golden.

Add lettuce, a few thin slices of cucumbers and three Falafels in a pita (cut in half). Moist enough to eat on own or add Tahini mixture.

Tahini Mixture
4 Tablespoons Tahini
1 small garlic, minced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Generous pinch of sweet paprika
Salt

Don't forget if you want to participate in Weekend Cookbook Challenge I am hosting this round. Please email me your Nigella Lawson recipe by Feb. 21. Thanks.

2 comments:

Jesser said...

Mmmm... that does look good. We tried out a new Greek place over the weekend and it was very good. Didn't see falafel on the menu tho now that I think about it ...

Sara said...

I love falafel, but haven't had them in months and months. These look great, thanks for sharing.