G is for Garbanzo (Falafel)

[a_boleyn]

Garbanzo beans, more commonly known as chickpeas and used to make the dip 'hummus', are a tasty legume featured in the cuisine of a number of areas, including the Middle East (Greece, Israel and Turkey), Italy and India. These falafel may be eaten alone as a snack with the yogurt-tahini dip below or as the filling in a pita with a combination of

Comments

[anonymous]

Beautiful! Falafels are one of those rare vegetarian dishes I can eat forgetting there is no meat... The other day I had it in Paris the Jewish way for the first time and it was an interesting discovery but much heavier than Turkish way (before I used to buy it in a Turkish bar but stopped when discovered how good they were homemade ;-) Sissi (http://www.withaglass.com)

[a_boleyn]

It's the first time I made them from scratch so I think I did pretty well for something which is said to be a challenging dish to manage. How do the two nationalities differ in the way they eat it?

[anonymous]

Well, the Jewish version has a heavier sauce (with sesame paste), but much more interesting and they add some nice pickles too and pieces of aubergine which is soaked in fat... but delicious: this way of preparing vegetables or meat is called "confit" in French, have no idea in English. I loved it

[a_boleyn]

My combination of tahini (sesame paste) and yogurt is a mash-up of the Jewish and Turkish style. Because I don't like pickles, I didn't put any on. Or any diced tomatoes. I debated on using cooked chickpeas to help form the balls and have them hold together more easily, but thought that would be too similar to humus in texture. I DID have to add the extra flour and the beaten egg though which helped. I learned a lot in this attempt and I'm sure my next one would be better. :)

[ext_2056900]

Just wanted to give a vote up for this comment! My good friend was a huge meat-eater, but he eats a falafel wrap with no complaint. Good one! I'm sharing this with him ;)

[ext_2056900]

No idea how this commenting thing works by the way, but this is shu! from www.mummyicancook.com x

[a_boleyn]

Hello and thanks for commenting. I hope your friend gives these home made falafel a try. They're worth the effort even if a little finicky to get the hang of getting the patties not to fall apart at the beginning.