falafel

Truth: Falafel in Paris is a lot prettier than falafel in Mesa.

Mabel has been sending me recipes, mostly vegetarian dinner ideas, which is the best! Deciding what to make is always the hardest part about cooking for me. This week, we tried falafel. Mike and I had the best falafel in Paris, which we ate in the most beautiful garden. What I made last night doesn't even come close, but it was still pretty good and I think I'll add it to our regular dinner rotation.

I used Sean's Falafel and Cucumber Sauce from allrecipes.com, but I'll post it here, too.

for the sauce:

6 oz plain yogurt
half of a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon mayonnaise

Mix all together, then chill for at least 30 minutes.

for the falafel:

1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained (Or, I used 2 cups of cooked lentils instead.)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 egg
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
pinch cayenne
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup dry bread crumbs (or about one cup of whole wheat flour)
oil for frying

Mash the beans or lentils. In a food processor, blend the onion, parsley, and garlic until it's smooth. Add to the mashed beans/lentils.

In another bowl, mix the egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, and baking powder. Add to the bean/lentil mash along with the oil. Mix in the bread crumbs (or flour) a little at a time until it's the consistency you want. The original recipe says you should be able to form balls, which you will then flatten into patties. Mine never reached that point, and I didn't want to add too much flour, so I left it at about thick pancake batter level.

Heat some oil for frying (cover the bottom of your pan generously). I used my cookie scoop and scooped the mixture into the hot oil, one scoop per patty. Cook until golden brown and then flip and repeat. This made about 25 small patties (enough for our family of 6 plus leftovers for Mike's lunch today).

I fried mine early in the day, then stuck them on a cookie sheet in the fridge until we got home hungry from piano lessons at dinner time. I broiled them for a minute to warm them up and we were good to go.

Serve wrapped up in a nice warm piece of naan, with the cucumber sauce, sliced red onions and tomatoes.

And then pretend that you are wandering around secret gardens in Le Marais. :)

(Full disclosure: Oliver didn't like it.)