Falafel

I remembered the pack of falafel I had in my pantry, on my way back from the outlet mall. I mention the outlet mall so that you know I'd been shopping all day. Which is why I was kinda tired. Which is why I misread the simple directions on the back of the box. Which is why my falafel ball mix looked more like soup.

I misread the directions and added 1 1/3 cup of water instead of 1/3 cup. I realized this 15 mins later, as it wasn't anywhere near the consistency it was supposed to be. In my attempt to fix it, I strained it through a sieve. That didn't quite work. I let the strained liquid settle so I could pour off the excess water. That didn't work either. My last resort was to add a binder. I added spoonfuls of chickpea flower to my slurry. This worked. The texture was a bit smoother than it should be for falafel. But atleast it was the same material - Chickpeas. The batter was still pretty thin, but it worked. I spooned dollops of it on to my pan. They looked more like silver dollars than then did falafel balls. Tasty, nonetheless.

For my impromptu tzatziki - I turned regular yogurt into "greek" yogurt by lining a sieve with 2 layers of paper towel and spooning in plain yogurt. Let the moisture drain and soak up into the towels for about 15-20 mins. Carefully lift and ring out. Don't let the towel rip and squirt (that didn't happen to me at all!) I didn't have any cucumbers on hand for my tzatziki, so I just added some chopped cilantro and a dash of s&p.


Beet salad. I've made a few variations of this before, with goat cheese or feta. This time, no cheese. I added green and red peppers, red onions, cilantro, lime juice and s&p. I can't believe I used to hate beets as a child. They're so delicious. And good for you - high in vitamin B and iron. So eat your beets!

The meal finally came together with some toasted whole wheat pitas, my "silver dollar" falafel patties, black olives, beet salad and tzatziki. Bon Appetite!