Sandy's Kitchen                                                        Falafel          

Note: Please make sure you scroll to the bottom so that you don't miss any of the recipes that go with this meal. 

Falafel is an interesting and delicious meal our family discovered in a little mall restaurant one day.  I went home and found a recipe for Falafel  in my Rodale Basic Natural Foods Cookbook.  I have used this recipe numerous times and we have enjoyed it (Nowadays we buy the Falafel dry mix which is available in any health food store or health food section of grocery store. It is quick, convenient and delicious) See From Scratch recipe below:

Falafel

2 cups dried chick peas

1 large onion, quartered

½ c. minced fresh parsley

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 T. ground cumin

1 T. coriander

1 t. pepper or ¼ t. cayenne pepper

Vegetable Oil, for frying

12 pita bread pockets, warmed

Shredded lettuce

Tomato slices

Cucumber slices

Sweet or hot pepper slices (optional)

Tahini Sauce (See Below)

Directions: Soak Chick Peas. Drain.  Process soaked chick-peas, onion, and parsley through medium-fine blade of a food or meat grinder. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, and pepper. Blend well and allow mixture, which should be a light shade of green,  to stand 1 or more hours to enhance flavor.  (Mixture may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days)

When ready to cook, shape mixture into small balls about 1 inch in diameter. Heat oil in a large skillet and sauté  balls until crisp.

Cut off one edge, about 4 inches of each pita bread pocket to form an opening. Into this layer sideways a bed of lettuce topped with  falafel balls, other vegetables. Sprinkle with Tahini Sauce. 

Tahini Sauce

¼  cup yogurt

¼ cup tahini (sesame butter)

2 T. lemon juice

2 T. hot water, or more as needed

In a small bowl, mix together yogurt and tahini.  Blend in lemon juice and water.  If consistency seems too thick, add a little more hot water to thin out. 

Tahini Sauce is the traditional dressing our family enjoys.  Today I tried a new dressing which is very good, also.  See below:

Yogurt Dill Dipping Sauce/Dressing

1 pint plain nonfat yogurt

1 cloves garlic, diced

½ cucumber, finely chopped

1 T. fresh dill, finely chopped

Juice from lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Stir together all ingredients.

When our children were still at home, I used to bake my own pita bread.  Below is the recipe I used. I found it in the La Lache League Whole Foods Cookbook:

Quick Pocket Bread

1 T. yeast

½ to 1 T. honey

½ c. warm water

½ t. salt

1 to 2 C. whole wheat flour (or mix it with plain)

Dissolve yeast and honey in water and let it stand until bubbly. Add salt and enough flour to make a sticky dough. Knead until smooth. Pinch off 6 equal portions of dough and roll them into balls. Pat between your palms to make flat circles.  Place circles on greased cookie sheet and set oven to broil.  Place sheet in middle of oven under heated broiler. (In a gas oven, place on lowest rack of broiler.) When first side is slightly browned, flip breads over and brown the other side. They bake quickly, so watch carefully.  Serve hot.  They reheat well.