Baked Falafel

I’m going to be honest here, and say, this is not my recipe. But… I have no idea whose it is. It has been sitting in my recipe folder for well over a year now, just the recipe printed on a page, no URL at the bottom, nothing. I guess I cut-and-pasted it into a word document from somewhere on the interwebs. So, if you recognise it, please let me know so I can attribute it properly.

I am a massive fan of Middle Eastern food, and falafels in particular. But what I am not a fan of, is deep frying at home. Too. Freaking. Scary. Mr Alphie is totally unfussed by deep frying however, so I usually have to wait for him to be home from FIFO before I can indulge my habit. If you’ve ever tried baking falafels made from a dried box-mix, you will know my pain. They are like rocks.

As a result, I collect falafel recipes in much the same way as others might collect coins, comic books, or My Little Ponies… However, I have not really had much success in the past. Which has kind of put me off, and I will admit, I have resorted to the pre-made ones from the supermarket fridge section on more than one occasion (FYI, Woolies Macro SmokeyEggplant Falafel are pretty good, and Yumi's are a close second.)

The original recipe was a bit more manual, requiring you to finely chop the onions, garlic and herbs, and mashing the chickpeas in with a potato masher. I don’t have time for that kind of malarkey mid-week, especially when there is an easier option. And, to be honest, I don’t think there would be a noticeable difference in the end result.

Baked falafel

• 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)
• ½ onion, peeled
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 6-ish stalks parsley
• 3-ish stalks coriander
• 2 tbs flour – plain, wholemeal, whatever (I used atta)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander seed
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 200°C.

In a food processor, chop up the onion & garlic til fine. (If you have a small bowl attachment for your food processor, I’d use it for this – there’s not much mixture & I was constantly scraping the sides of mine). Add the fresh herbs, and chop again.

Add the remaining ingredients, and pulse until just combined. It should still be quite chunky.

Place spoonfuls of the mixture on a tray with baking paper. Squirt each one with an olive-oil spray, and bake for 15 minutes. Turn each one over, squirt again with the olive oil, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until browned.

Delish as they are; with tabouli, hummus and flat bread; or use to fill a wrap; or top a salad.

Makes 10 or so falafels.

Enjoy!

The Real Greek, Covent Garden, London

It was the beginning of our last week in the UK. Mr Alphie and I had just returned from 10 days touring around Scotland, freezing our butts off, to a somewhat less cold London. Being May, the days were long, and having become accustomed to the cold in Scotland, we opted not to plan dinner, but to just wander aimlessly from our hotel, take in the sights and stop for dinner when we found somewhere we liked the look of. We stumbled across that place much sooner than I expected. On the northern edge of Covent Garden, in a old pub, The Real Greek lept out at us. Cheap, delish Greek food in a cosy setting, with great people watching - what more could you want!

Cold meze: Greek flatbread, melitzanosalata, htipiti & crudites

Grilled haloumi

Tiger prawns with garlic & chilli

Lamb kefte

Raspberry & Honey Yoghurt Sundae

Caramel & Pecan Cheesecake

Greek coffee

We later discovered that The Real Greek was a chain, but surprisingly, a lot of the great meals we had in London came from restaurants we later realised were chains!

-Alphie

Middle Eastern Rice & Lentils

After pledging my love for Lebanese food, I realised I haven't posted about it once! So, following from Wednesdays felafel, I bring you another middle eastern speciality; rice and lentils, also known as mujadara (or some variation of). This recipe cam from the Good Living, although it has been ok-ed by FMIL as an authentic take on the traditional version.


Middle Eastern Rice & Lentils with Blackened Onions
from SMH Good Living, June 2 2009
serves 4

• 5 tbs olive oil
• 6 onions, halved and finely sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground all spice
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2x 400g cans lentils, drained & rinsed
  
• 1 cup long grain rice, rinsed
• Yoghurt, to serve

Heat 2 tbs of the oil in a medium-large saucepan over medium heat, and add one of the onions, garlic, cumin, cinnamon and all spice. Sauté for four-ish minutes until onion is soft and starting to colour.

Add rice, and stir to coat. Stir in stock and lentils and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

the onions - yes I used a red one, but we only had 5 brown onions...

all cooked down, and nicely black

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large pan and add the remaining 5 onions. Cook until soft and blackened, about 20-30 minutes.

Serve rice scattered with onions, with yoghurt on the side.

-Alphie