O mundo à volta do falafel

Recipe for Baked Falafel Patties with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce

I vividly remember years ago when a Mediterranean restaurant opened in Salt Lake City and I had my first taste of Falafel. The traditional round balls of deep-fried Falafel at the restaurant were served inside pita bread, with a yogurt-tahini sauce on the side. The restaurant called it Falafel Sandwich, maybe to accommodate the Utah crowd who wasn't familiar with this type of food. Now Salt Lake has a number of restaurants that serve Falafel, and I love to order it.

Thank You Very Much to a reader named Jamie, who sent me this Falafel recipe from Epicurious.com, because I was immediately interested in trying it. Jamie said she thought falafel might be South Beach Diet friendly, and when she searched to see if I had a recipe for it, she saw a comment where I said I hadn't tried making it yet. Back in the old days I had no idea that Falafel was made from chickpeas, but the fact that they're made with one of my favorite low-glycemic foods was only part of the reason I loved this recipe, made even more healthy by using whole wheat flour and baking the Falafel patties. I loved the flavor of this, and I tried it out on my neighbors Todd and Michelle, who also gave it a big thumbs-up!

Soak dried chickpeas for eight hours or overnight is even better. Be sure to plan for the expanding of the chickpeas as they soak up the liquid; my bowl was nearly too small!

Drain chickpeas well, then put in food processor with chopped onion, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, salt, garlic, and cumin.

Using steel blade, pulse the mixture until it is well-chopped and blended, but not completely pureed together. Then sprinkle in baking powder and flour and pulse a few more times until those ingredients are mixed in. Test to see if a ball of the mixture sticks together, and if not you may need a bit more flour.

Remove the mixture to a plastic bowl with a tight-fitting lid and chill several hours. (I actually chilled it overnight and baked the Falafel the next day.)

When ready to bake, form mixture into thin patties, pressing together well with your hands. I made 12 patties from the amount in this recipe, and decided three patties is about one serving. Bake at 400F, turning once, until Falafel is lightly browned on both sides (about 22-26 minutes.) Serve warm, with yogurt-tahini sauce if desired.

Baked Falafel Patties with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce
(Makes 12 Falafel patties and 1 cup of Yogurt-Tahini Sauce. Falafel recipe from The Foods of Israel Today, found on Epicurious.com by a reader named Jamie, and slightly adapted by Kalyn. Yogurt-Tahini Sauce found in Falafel Bliss at One Hot Stove, who got it from pastagirl9, a reviewer on Epicurious.)

Falafel:
1 cup dried chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans)
1 cup chopped onion
4 T chopped parsley (original recipe called for 2 T)
4 T chopped cilantro (original recipe called for 2 T)
1 tsp. salt
4 cloves minced garlic (about 2 tsp.)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. baking powder
4 T whole wheat flour (or more, if the balls don't stick together well enough)
olive oil, for spraying baking sheet

Soak dried chickpeas in cold water for at least 8 hours, or over night. After chickpeas are well-softened, drain well.

Put chickpeas, onion, parsley, cilantro, salt, garlic, and cumin into bowl of a food processor with the steel blade attached. Pulse until mixture is well-chopped and combined, but not pureed together. Sprinkle over baking powder and flour and pulse a few more times to combine. Test one ball to see if mixture holds together, and if not add more flour until it does. (I didn't need to add more flour.) Put mixture into a plastic bowl with a tight-fitting lid and chill several hours or overnight.

When ready to bake Falafel, preheat oven or toaster oven to 400F. (I sprayed the baking sheet with olive oil and preheated the pan too, to get the outside of the Falafel extra crisp.)

Shape the mixture into 12 balls, pressing each one flat with your hands and forming into a patty not quite 1/2 inch thick. Put patties on pan and bake until lightly browned and cooked through. (Jamie baked them about 22 minutes; I was using a toaster oven and baked mine about 26 minutes, turning after 13 minutes.) Serve warm, with Yogurt-Tahini sauce if desired. Falafel is often served with Middle Eastern Tomato Salad.

Yogurt-Tahini Sauce
(I adapted the sauce recipe slightly so it had more yogurt and less tahini, but make it to your own taste.)
2/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I used my favorite Greek yogurt)
1/3 cup Tahini Sauce (sold in Middle Eastern stores or health food stores, usually near the peanut butter)
2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
salt to taste
2-3 T water to thin sauce if desired
(I sprinkled the sauce with a little sumac, purely optional)

Using a whisk or mini-processor, combine ingredients. Add water as desired until it's as thin as you prefer. (I added about 2 T of water.) Serve with Falafel patties.

South Beach Suggestions:

These Falafel patties with the Yogurt-Tahini sauce and Middle Eastern Tomato Salad would be a great choice for phase 2 or 3 of the South Beach Diet, or suitable for any low-glycemic eating plan. You could use almond meal instead of flour to make them phase one. For phase 2 or 3, you could serve inside 100% whole wheat pita bread.

More Bloggers who Made Falafel:

(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients. I focused on recipes that started with dried chickpeas.)

Falafel Bliss from One Hot Stove (The same recipe from Epicurious, but Nupur made fried balls.)
Falafel Me, Please from What Geeks Eat (The same recipe from Epicurious, but Vanessa adapted it slightly.)
Falafel from Bitten (by Mark Bittman)
Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce from To Be Mrs. Marv
Falafel from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Fantastic Falafels from Green Gourmet Giraffe
An Easy Falafel Recipe from The Hummus Blog
My First Falafel from Iron Stef
Oven-Baked Falafel from Baking Bites
Homemade Falafel from Blazing Hot Wok

Want even more Falafel recipes?
I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.

Things you might want to know:
You can get Kalyn's recipes by e-mail.
There's a great way to print recipes on Kalyn's Kitchen.
It's easy to find out who's hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week.
There are actual rules for Weekend Herb Blogging.
You can become a fan of Kalyn's Kitchen on Facebook.
Sometimes you can see what I'm doing on Twitter.
Here is another place where I write more about food.

Mais Falafel

Falafel with Avocado Spread

If you're looking for a yummy vegetarian meal, here's a great one. It's from Cooking Light September 2007. It tastes more like a Mexican recipe than a Middle Eastern falafel one. I served it with brown rice and veggies to get in the rice/bean complete protein combo.

Ingredients
PATTIES:
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup finely crushed baked tortilla chips (about 3/4 ounce)
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil

SPREAD:
1/4 cup mashed peeled avocado
2 tablespoons finely chopped tomato
1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

REMAINING INGREDIENTS:
2 (6-inch) pitas, each cut in half crosswise
4 thin red onion slices, separated into rings
Microgreens
Preparation
To prepare patties, place pinto beans in a medium bowl; partially mash with a fork. Add cheese and next 5 ingredients (through egg white); stir until well combined. Shape bean mixture into 4 (1/2-inch-thick) oval patties.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until patties are browned and thoroughly heated.

To prepare spread, combine avocado and next 5 ingredients (through salt), stirring well. Place 1 patty in each pita half. Spread about 2 tablespoons avocado spread over patty in each pita half; top with onions and greens.

Posted by Marina Mousouris Delio at 7:11 PM

Thai red curry paste adds spark to falafel

Thai red curry paste, a spicy staple of many Thai recipes, lends gentle oomph to this rethinking of falafel (fritters made from chopped chickpeas and herbs). Jars of curry paste can be found in the ethnic food aisle of most large grocers.

These Middle Eastern fritters traditionally are served with a yogurt sauce, which cuts some of the heat. This version uses thick slices of avocado instead. The fat in the avocado plays the same cooling role as the yogurt.

A food processor makes easy work of this recipe, but be careful not to over-process the chickpeas. Process for too long and you’ll end up with hummus (though it probably will be delicious).

Image via Wikipedia

And don’t be intimidated by the spicy factor. The “heat” of Thai red curry paste is more akin to a vinegary bite than to a hot pepper burn.

RED CURRY FALAFEL

Start to finish: 15 minutes
Servings: 3

Thai red curry paste gives this Red Curry Falafel an assertive flavor that is more vinegary than a hot pepper burn. AP

1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 slices bread (about 4 ounces)
Zest of 1 lemon
15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil, divided
3 flatbreads, warmed
Smoked paprika, to garnish
1 avocado, pitted, skinned and cut into slices
1 large tomato, cut into wedges

In a food processor, combine the red curry paste, cilantro, parsley, cumin, salt, pepper, bread and lemon zest. Pulse until the bread is chopped to mostly fine crumbs. Add the chickpeas and pulse until the chickpeas are well chopped.

Form the mixture into 9 patties, using about 1/4 cup of the mixture for each.

In a large skillet over medium, heat 1 tablespoon of the canola oil. Fry half of the patties until the bottoms are lightly browned, about 1 to 2 minutes. Use a spatula to carefully flip the falafel and brown on the other sides, about another 1 to 2 minutes.

Transfer the falafel to a paper towel-lined plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining ingredients. To serve, arrange 3 falafel on each flatbread. Sprinkle with paprika, then top with avocado and tomato wedges.

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O que faz uma pizza Perfeita?

What makes the perfect pizza?

Pizzas are more popular than ever, but their history has been suprisingly eventful

Comments (…)

How do you like yours? Photograph: Studio Eye/Corbis

It seems it's boom-time for pizza chains. Now that we're all staring into the abyss of financial extinction, we've turned to pizza for comfort in our hour of incipient poverty. Which is ironically and nicely circular, because pizza started out as a food of the poor.

Flat breads smeared with a few highly flavoured ingredients have been staples around the Mediterranean since the dawn of them and us. The Romans filled up on lagnum or pictae, and you'll find pizza equivalents in Provence (pissaladiere), Turkey (pide) and the Lebanon (lahma), but it was the Neapolitans who first put their finger on pizza's commercial potential in the 19th century.

It's assumed that'd be where to go to find the perfect pizza. Not in my experience. In fact, I have had better pizzas almost everywhere else in Italy. The pizza's ubiquity is historical testimony to the huge internal migrations from the south to the north, as impoverished southerners moved northwards to provide the raw energy that powered Italy's economic growth between 1960 and 1980. Peasants from Campania, Calabria and Basilicata took their foods with them, putting down roots and setting up pizzerias wherever fortune took them.

Pizza, in fact, carries multiple historical burdens. Taken to America, it's progress described the American dream perfectly. It arrived a thin, poor, undernourished thing, a pure peasant dish. It came into contact with a land of opportunity. The pizza suddenly went super-sized, king-sized, over-sized, deep-pan and cheese-injected. It showed that anyone could become a millionaire in America, even if it was a calorie millionaire.

And taken to England, it's become high street chains such as Pizza Express, Strada, Prezzo, Ask and has acquired topping combinations that would cause Italian pizzaioli to down tools. Pineapple, prosciutto ham, field mushrooms, mozzarella, tomato or chicken and peppadew sweet peppers, mixed with cajun spices, garlic and red onion, to name but two.

I must confess, that when it comes to pizza, I am for strict orthodoxy – thin, crisp crust, with a minimal amount of spring to it; intense tomato used sparingly; good (but not top) grade mozzarella, applied with a light hand; a few anchovy fillets, a scattering of capers; and an olive or two.

Less is more when it comes to pizzas as far as I am concerned. But you may feel differently. Go on, what's your idea of pizza perfection?

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• The pizza taste test (guardian.co.uk)

Greek Falafel

Greek Falafel Fusion Salad

By: Gretchen

Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern dish made up of ground
chickpeas and spices and Tzatziki is a Greek sauce made from yogurt and
fresh herbs. The combination of falafel patties fried up over greens
and topped with the yummy tzatziki sauce makes for one hearty meal.
Best of all? With this dish you get to travel to two exotic countries
without ever leaving your kitchen!

Ingredients for Salad:

• 1 package of falafel mix (we like Telma brand)
• water for mix (see instructions on box)
• 1/4 slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 bag of baby spinach
• 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
• olive oil for drizzling
• salt and pepper
• goat cheese crumbles

Ingredients for Tzatziki:

• 1 seedless cucumber, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• handful of fresh mint
• handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• juice of half a lemon

Ingredients for Dressing:

• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbs red wine vinegar
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• pinch of coriander
• pinch of cumin

Directions:

1. For tzatziki, simply combine all ingredients in a bowl and set
   aside. Letting the mixture sit, allows the flavors to marry. This can
   be made up to a day in advance, just make sure and stir before serving.
2. Prepare your falafel mix according to package instructions. (Super easy!)
3. Fry up your falafel patties according to package directions and set aside on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
4. To assemble your salad, place your spinach in a bowl with your
   kalamatas, falafel patties and top with your tzatziki mixture. Drizzle
   you dressing over it and top with toasted almonds.

Tips:

• Falafel mix can be found in your International foods aisle.
• To toast your almonds, place in a small pan over low-medium heat,
  stirring occasionally until they begin to brown slightly. Keep and eye
  on them, they burn easily.

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Falafel

Image via Wikipedia

Worth coming just for the falafel

Ah, falafel. The king of Israeli street food. The cheap and cheerful snack usually served in a pita
and always a bit tricky to eat on your first attempt or two. Especially
when the pita is generously stuffed full with falafel, chips, salad and
tehina sauce (a sesame based sauce very popular in the Middle East) and
the pita starts falling apart in your hands…

Much more to come on the falafel front on igoogledisrael, but
here’s a couple of videos that might keep you entertained for a
minute or 2. The first video is the winner of a video competition set
up by the government’s tourist site (www.goisrael.com),
the second video is of a Tom Cruise-like (Cocktail mode) falafel vendor
who likes to entertain his customers as he piles in those falafel
balls.

Share this post:

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Receitas para bifes 1

Qualquer pessoa que tenha de cozinhar para si ou para outros, quer por gosto, quer por necessidade ou sobrevivência acaba por ir parar aos bifes. Eu todavia comecei por ignorar as receitas de bifes pois na altura a carne não era coisa que fosse muito do meu agrado, não é que fosse vegetariano mas sempre preferi o peixe. Tinha um outro pequeno problema os ditos bifes tinham primeiro ter molhanga e segundo a carne não podia ser muito alta.

Os bifes foram crescendo nas minhas preferências até chegar à situação actual onde de vez em quando sinto saudades de comer bife. decidi portanto apresentar algumas receitas de bifes que estão na Internet antes de divulgar as minhas receitas.

Hmmm, Steak: Recipe

Saturday and Sunday tend to be food-experiment nights in this house - why not, right? I have plenty of time to clean up (and since I don't have a dishwasher, I can take my time cleaning when no one has to be "ready" in the morning with lunch, etc.).

Porterhouse was on sale this week at the market and I like steak, if you couldn't tell. I am always interested in trying a steak and creating various toppings or rubs or experimenting with various cooking methods.

I loved the topping that went with this - it was sweet yet pungent at the same time. The flavors were just a tad bit salty while still being smooth and the sweetness of the tomatoes made it feel a bit like summer! And ohhh, how I long for summer! The steak was cooked just right - the pan was the trick, I think. Be sure the steak is very dry - use a paper towel to get all the moisture off.

Pan-Seared Porterhouse with Tomato Saute
1 1/2 lb. porterhouse
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp. capers
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
1 Tbsp. pancetta, cubed into 1/2" cubes
1 Tbsp. white wine

Preheat oven to 375. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the steak and sear on high about 10 minutes, turning at least once. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Place into an oven-proof dish and bake, 6 minutes; Turn once. remove and tent with foil.

Once the steak is out of the skillet, add 2 Tbsp. garlic with the rosemary and saute in the hot oil for 1 minute. Add the wine and allow it to bubble and thicken, stirring quickly (about 30 seconds). Next add the pancetta and saute another minute before adding the tomatoes, capers, and olives. Saute on medium heat for about 8 minutes.

Pour topping over the steak and serve.