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[fl4k]

My mom used to make falafels every now and then, back when I lived with her, with a tahini sauce that was delightful. I think it was just tahini with salt, lemon juice, and maybe a bit of garlic powder. I don't have the recipe in front of me, so I'm iffy on all the ingredients

Comments

[dearanxiety]

i'm so not trying to be snarky, but just as an fyi, felafel doesn't go plural to falafels. it's just falafel, no matter whether it's one falafel ball or 100!

anyhow, as for the sauce - hmmm. i've never found tahini to be particularly tasty until it's mixed with chick peas and turned into hummous! maybe try that? - i have a great traditional recipe if you'd like. basically exactly what you describe above, but with the addition of chick peas!

[dearanxiety]

oh and this goes perfectly with french fries, actually! just saw your edit. traditionally one of the ways to eat felafel is in a pita with hummous and tabouli and veggies and FRENCH FRIES! just a thought to bring your post together.

i also have made homemade frech fries with fancy aoili and other dips and used them as a side with a roast chicken kind of dish.

[fl4k]

No worries about the correction! =) I always forget about that, heh. Thanks.

And I'll definitely try the falafel-and-french fries thing, it sounds great, now that you mention it.

I'd love it if you shared the recipe for the tahini hummous.

sure thing!

[dearanxiety]

this is as i wrote it out for a friend, with my little suggestions at the end. enjoy!

1 can - 15oz - drained chick peas
1/2 cup - olive oil
1/2 teaspoon - salt
1 teaspoon - garlic powder
1/2 cup - lemon juice
2 teaspoons - tahini

combine oil, salt, garlic, lemon, and tahini (in blender or cuisinart)
mix til creamy
add chick peas gradually
mix til creamy

the end. i adjust all those amounts for the flavor i like best - but that's a good starting point for sure. for the garlic i usually use a combination of chopped garlic from a jar and garlic powder cause it
takes SO much garlic to get any flavor in it, but the powder works well to spread the flavor without using like a gazillion pounds of it, but i like some actual garlic in there too.

[ladypuppy]

You could do steak frites, or pomme frites with homemade aioli, or you could use them in a Peruvian saltado. Mmm, saltado...

[faoiltiama]

As for the french fries, one of my favorite snacks while living in Tanzania was "chipsi mayai" which means "french fries and eggs." It's basically a french fry omelette where you scramble eggs with french fries and then serve it with tomato sauce. You could serve it with ketchup, but they never had any in Tanzania.

It's a simple, horrible-for-you snack that is such wonderful comfort food.

[jaybits]

When I was in Tanzania and Zanzibar, they often did have catsup at restaurants, but it bore very little resemblance to the catsup I was used to in America (it was pink and very, very sweet).

[fumblerette1]

When I was in France I used to eat chicken pannini with french fries all the time, and they put the fries right on the sandwich- delicious. You could get some baguette, grill some chicken breast, add a little mayo to the sandwich, and put your chicken and fries right on the bread. (mm...now *I* want this!)

[sandramort]

I have noticed that tahini from health food stores never tastes as good as from middle easterrn shops. I suspect it's less about toasted/untoasted and more about freshness, as even slightly rancid tahini is bitter and gross.

[fl4k]

I don't know. We don't have many, if any middle eastern shops around here, that I know of. But I could be wrong, of course.

Then again, I've never had a problem with the tahini we got at Whole Foods until this time. =/