Falafel

This was not the easiest, fastest recipe I've ever made, but I always like to try to make things the hard way at least once. I LOVE falafel, and decided to try my hand at it. I served up my fried falafel with home-made Tzatziki Sauce, Hummus, and Tahini Sauce. I decided to go all out.

I followed My Favorite Falafel Recipe from Epicurious and had to modify it just a little bit to work in my small food processor. (I added lemon juice to allow it to blend in the food processor then added 2 more tablespoons of flour to help it form into a ball.) The frying of these falafel (falafels?) was disastrous  Which reminded me why I don't fry often. At first, the oil was too hot...then it was wasn't hot enough...so I ended up throwing them in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes just to make sure the inside was cooked through. The final product was not ideal, but it tasted pretty darn good in a pita with fixin's.

To make the Tzatziki Sauce, I loosely followed Skinny Taste's Skinny Tzatziki to get a good idea of what I should use. I ended up peeling and scooping out half a large cucumber then chopping it up into small pieces to put in the food processor. I then added about a tablespoon of chopped parsley and a clove of chopped garlic. Pulse in food processor then strain all the juice out (I put it in paper towels and squeezed the juice out). Combine cucumber mixture and a small (6 oz.) container of plain Greek yogurt. Season with salt and pepper, then cover and let sit in fridge for a couple of hours.

For the Hummus, I drained a can of chick peas and saved half of the juice then put that in a food processor. Add about a teaspoon of cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper, a tablespoon of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of tahini paste (or more, I like a lot), and enough olive oil to get the mixture blending. Keep blending until smooth or you think your neighbors can't handle the noise anymore. I usually like to make it look pretty when it's done, so I top the finished product with a little olive oil and paprika. I ate it too quickly before I took a picture of how pretty it looked...oops.

The moral of this Greek story is that while falafels are delicious, leave them to the experts. And by experts I mean those obscure, hole in the wall restaurants who fry food in questionable surroundings. Don't ask, just enjoy.