Falafel and all the trimmings

I am waiting for the resolution of a few things next week, all of this waiting has been making me rather anxious. This of course, means that I end up cooking a lot more. Some of my forays have been rather good, in fact, I have cooked up so many things I need to make time to write about all my experiments.

Well, my first surprise was cooking falafel. Well, according to the link some experts feel that this addictive chickpea snack considered Israel's national food actually hails from India or Pakistan.

It would be the kind of food that would definitely fit in well with sub-continental cuisine.Actually I used this recipe of the Epicurious website.

Actually, either the pepper recommended in the recipe was a milder variation, or what I ended up with was a pretty spicy concoction.

Falafel

Adapted from Jean Nathan's
The foods of Israel today

Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons red chili powder
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
3-4 tablespoons whole wheat flour
Oil for frying

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight.
2. Place the chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor, add the onion, cilantro, salt, red chili powder and cumin and process till the texture resembles smooth most breadcrumbs.
3. Remove from the blender and mix in the flour.
4. Heat the oil and shape the patties into small balls (I like to flatten them a little) and gently lower into the oil.
5. Cook for about 6-7 minutes on each side till the the patties are nice and crisp and cooked through.

Note: I found the flavors of this variation really addictive, we had three to four of them left over that I shamelessly finished for breakfast.

To serve with the falafel, I actually made Pita bread, following this recipe. I used 50% whole wheat flour and about 50% while flour. I did not actually get the light fluffy looking loafs shown here, but they were nice and good for a change. I made a fresh green salad, chopping up fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions and tossing them with sumac, olive oil and a little salt.

Lastly I tried this garlic sauce, I modified it a little and it ended up becoming a nice, garlic parley sauce, this really is a mayonnaise, made with whites rather than the yolk.

Parsley garlic mayonnaise (Arabic style)

Adapted from Ria's Collection

Ingredients:


4 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup parsley
Juice of 2 fresh lemons
1 egg white
3/4 cup olive oil

Method of Preparation

1. Place the garlic, salt and parsley in a food processor and pulse till very finely chopped.
2. Add the lemon juice and process again.
3. Add the oil in very small batches while the food processor is running, letting the mixture get completely mixed before adding more, until you get a nice creamy sauce.

Enjoy this with the falafels.

Masala Kala Chana - Black pepper crusted spicy chicpeas

The previous post and the next couple of posts pretty much, keep building on each other. This is very much the way I cook on an everyday basis. I have over the months tried to get to a point where I can put together a good meal most evenings without a huge to-do. I would love to spend hours in the kitchen but I have learnt that doing this actually takes away from the little time that I have on weekdays to spend with the kids. I have to also confess I am quite addicted to the night-time reading habbit that Aadi and I have together, it shall be harder for me to break out of than for him to grow out of, such are the ironies of life.

Masala Kala Chana - Black pepper crusted spicy chickpeas

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 onion, cut into a dice
4 tablespoons cumin-coriander ginger garlic paste
1.5 cups of cooked dark chickpeas (these chickpeas have a dark brown skin and are sold in Indian stores with the label - Kala chana)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon blackpeppercorns ground to a powder

To garnish

1-2 limes
1 small onion cut into slices
Lots of freshly chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon chaat masala

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and wait for them to sizzle (takes a few seconds).
2. Add in the onions and saute for 5-7 minutes, until the onions soften and begin to turn light golden. The mixture is very aromatic at this time.
3. Add in the cumin-coriander ginger garlic paste and saute for about 2-3 minutes, the paste should dry up slightly get well mixed into the onion mixture and smell fragrant.
4. Add in the salt and the chickpeas and mix well for 1-2 minutes.
5. Mix in the blackpepper and gently stir the mixture for another 2-3 minutes, the chickpeas should be fairly dry and evenly coated with the spice mixture.
6. Squeeze in the lime juice and place the chickpeas in a serving bowl.
7. Add in the onions, cilantro and the chat masala and serve.

Ps. I like to reserve about 3/4 cup of these chickpeas for my spicy chick pea salad, that I shall post next.

Simply Wonderful Chickpeas

It is not very often you get lucky by sheer chance. This week is begining to get a little hectic, I was planning to make sweets to take over to Albany, this weekend. We are going up to be with my husband's family and celebrate Diwali as well as meet up with the new baby in the family. This is becoming a little crazier, since they are doing Diwali at Aadi's school, a lovely idea except I am the mommy who is supposed to bring traditional treats.

I have been making a lot of khoya (evaporated solid milk) which is the base for almonst everything. In the midst of this, I had a pressure cooker on the stove cooking chickpeas. Well, this time round the pressure cooked for at least 15 minutes longer that usual - surprise, the resulting soft, melt in your mouth creamy chickpeas were too die for. I have cooked other beans such as kidney beans to such softness, but chickpeas retain a nice earthy bite even when cooked to extra softness.

It has been a while before I have been so thrilled with the results of a recipe that I cooked up in three basic steps and certainly hope that I can replicate again.

Simply Wonderful Chickpeas

Cook Time: 1 hour (mostly pressure-cooking the chickpeas)

Serves: 4

Ingredients

3/4 cup white chickpeas

4 cups of water

1.5 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 -2 whole red chillies crushed

Lots of fresh lemon or lime juice

1/3 cup of chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the chickpeas in a pressure cooker for a good 45 minutes, with the water, salt and turmeric.

2. Cool the chickpeas, remove the lid add the ginger, garlic and tomatoes and cook till all the water has evaporated (this really should not take long).

3. Heat the oil add the cumin and mustard and wait till the mustard pops add in the whole chilies and cook for 20 seconds. Pour this over the chickpeas.

4. Add in the lemon juice and stir in the chopped cilantro.

Cheering up colors!

Maybe it is all this excitement over Obama and now the comming down to reality, maybe just that I did not get enough sleep today, I was generally feeling a little blue. I did not feel up doing a lot of my usual stuff, I poked around to see what I could cobble up by way of lunch. I saw a half empy package of Phucka puris and was not sure what to do. My kids love them plain, they find dealing with the pani too spicy and messy.

I had been looking at all these posts of chats here and there, all across the blogosphere. Chaat masala is never far away from my reach, this is what I did, it was lovely, tangy, cheering, all at once. I served these in the puris and generally I was somewhat cheered...

Chana-Anar Chaat

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 lime
1 onion finely chopped
2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chaat masala
1 tps salt
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup yogurt
6-7 puris per person

Method of Preparation

1. Squeeze the lime over the chickpeas.
2. Mix these chickpeas with the onions, cilantro, chaat masala, salt, pomegranate seeds, yogurt and set aside for a half hour to let the flavors mix together.
3. Fill into puris and serve.

I would like to send this post to Shrivali at Cooking 4 all seasons, who is hosting this months, my lentil love affair an event started by Susan at the well seasoned cook. This also doubles up for Jhiva for Chickpea, that was started by Mahanandi, hosted this month by sometime foodie.

Green Chickpea and Corn Kadhi

I found these really pretty daity pods at the local store. I had never used these green chickpeas before but wanted to do something with them. After I brought these home, I discovered some very tart yogurt that had been sitting in my fridge for a while.

I am a big fan of Kadhi - that nutrious yougurt based soupy concoction tempered with whole spices and curry leaves thickened with besan or chickpea flour. If you love kadhi as much as I do, you will be convinced that sour yogurt was made for Kadhi not the other way round. Well, I made kadhi mixed in with fresh corn and the results with rice was perfect for a cool day.

Green Chickpea and Corn Kadhi

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1.5 cups very tart yogurt

3 tbsp besan or chickpea flour

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

1/8 tsp asafetida

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 dried red chillies

1-2 green chillies

10 curry leaves

1/2 fresh green chickpeas

1/2 cup fresh corn

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Mix the yogurt, besan and salt with 2 cups water and set aside.

2. Heat the oil and add the ginger, cumin and mustard seeds.

3. When the seeds begin to pop add the red chillies.

4. Add in the green chillies and curry leaves and stir well.

5. Mix in the yogurt mixture, bring to a boil reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Add in the corn and chickpeas and cook for another 15 minutes.

7. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

This entry is sent out to this weeks - WHB that is being hosted by Jay and Bee at Jugalbandi.

This blog if you have not checked it out, is a treat for the senses, the photography is amazing, it makes food seem spiritual.