cooking adventure #1 -- falafel!

hello!

today's post will not have any pictures; sorry you visual-oriented people. :P instead, we're talking FOOD. mmmmm.

this evening, i decided that i would attempt to make some falafel. falafel is such a fun word! i sing a little song every time i say it: fa-la-la, fa-la-fel, fa-la-la, fa-la-felllll. i suppose it's hard to convey a song without sound, but i'm assuming you get the picture. xD

what's falafel, you say? it's pretty much a chickpea (garbonzo bean) mixture formed into a patty and fried. it's middle eastern cuisine. now, i read quite a few food blogs, and i see falafel EVERYWHERE on these things! so i've been wanting to try it for ages.

this christmas i received vegan with a vengeance, which i have heard all sorts of wonderful things about. and it has a falafel recipe in it! so i crack it open and start making it. i follow the recipe, halving everything for i hate to waste. then i put the mixture in the fridge to chill. after forming the patties and heating the oil to fry these babies in, i realize...

I FORGOT THE FLOUR!

"oh, well," i tell myself, "what's a tablespoon of flour going to do?"

it turns out, the flour helps bind the mixture together so it doesn't fall into tiny pieces in the oil.

"well, shit," i tell myself, "how am i supposed to fix this?"

i have about half the patties left, and i'm so near just throwing them away when my mom walks in and i plead for help. she suggests i roll the patties in flour, roll them back into balls, and flatten them out. maybe this will fix my pathetic patties!

well, it doesn't exactly work like a charm, but the remaining three i had stay together better than the others -- they finish in a patty-like form!

then it was the moment of truth: am i even going to like these things?

i fill a halved pita pocket with tomatoes, carrots, and avocado. i place approximately one and a half falafel patties on top. (normally you'd drizzle tahini on top of the jewels, but i didn't have any.) i bite in --

OH MAN. falafel is delicious! even if it crumbles every time i take a bite.

do i consider this adventure a bit of a catastrophe? yes. there were other minor problems as well; my food processor was too small, my pita pocket ripped as i was filling it with goodies, wahwahwah.

am i going to attempt to make this again, correctly? definitely! it was delish. when i make it right, i'll let you know how they turn out, and give you the recipe if they form correctly.

so! tell me; have you ever tried falafel? have you ever tried making falafel?

fa-la-la, fa-la-fellll!
with love!
rachel.