Falafel!

Dear Turkey,

I am so excited about last night's culinary adventure: falafels (falafel? you will want to know the plural of falafel because you will want more than one; or you can just say: Honey, cook me another falafel, my plate is empty!). 

We decided to make falafel(s) because we needed an extra cheap meal this week, since our baby needed more diapers, wipes, and diaper cream for daycare (since we can't use cloth diapers there, I assuage my guilt by buying 7th Generation or Earth's Best -- they cost more, so they must be better!). And those come out of the grocery budget. We adapted the following three recipes from our favorite Mark Bittman cookbook (but all of his books are good!). 

For the falafel:

cover one bag of Goya (please) dried chickpeas with water and soak for 24 hours, adding water as needed

Then, in the food processor, combine:

The chick peas (save a little of the water to add to the mixture -- only if the food processor requires it)

Juice of one lemon

1c parsley and stems

2 cloves garlic

1 small onion

1-2 t coriander, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, salt, and pepper

1/2 t baking soda

Form the mixture into patties with your hands. Mark Bittman says to deep fry them, but we shallow fried them with olive oil in a nonstick pan, turning once when the bottom was really quite brown, and they were beautiful (not because we are on a diet, but because we didn't want the house to smell like fried all week). We just made enough for dinner and saved the rest of the uncooked mixture in a container in the fridge to cook at our leisure.

Tahini Sauce:

Mix together 1/4c tahini (stir in the oil first)

About 1/4c water or enough to make it runny

Juice of one lemon

Cumin and salt to taste

1 clove garlic minced

Yogurt Sauce:

Mix together 1/4c plain yogurt

1 clove garlic minced 

1 small shallot minced

Salt to taste

(Juice of one lemon: optional, and probably only if you're going to eat it right away because it may curdle in the fridge)

we served the falafel(s) with cukes, onions pickled in rice vinegar and lime juice, cayenne for sprinkling on the sauces, and figs and grapes for dessert

I can't wait to eat this again tonight.

I moss you,

Tofu