Cooking Challenge: Fabulous Falafel

Well, I am a competitor.
Weather: BFC= Butt Freezing Cold.

Meal: Falafel with Cucumber Yogurt and Tahini Sauces.

Special Ingredient: Turmeric spice and Yogurt (I have truthfully never cooked with either, I have eaten both, but never cooked.)

It is best to start with the Cucumber Yogurt sauce as it should be cold when you finish the rest of the meal.

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce:
-2 small/medium cucumber
-2/3 Cup plain yogurt
-1/2 Tsp. Dill spice
Optional: 1 tsp fresh mint.

Mix together and chill.

Tahini Sauce:

-1 Cup tahini
-some Lemon
- 2 or 3 cloves garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Water

Finely chop the cloves of garlic. Mix together tahini and garlic. Add 1 tsb. of water at a time until the mixture is like a thick paste. Add lemon juice until delightfully tangy. Add salt and pepper to season to your taste. Set aside. Do no cool as it is better served warm.

Falafels:

1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
1 cup vegetable oil for frying

Mix everything together except the oil. Duh. The mixture should be able to stick together, but should not stick to you. Add breadcrumbs as needed. Make little balls of the mixture that are about 1 1/2 inch long and slightly flatten.

Warm up the oil in your deep fryer or, if you're old skool like us, in your skillet. Wait until it's nice and hot. Plop in the falafels and cook until dark brown on the outside.

For serving: Warm up some pita bread, preferable the kind that opens up, and fill with about two spoonfuls of the cucumber yogurt sauce. Put a falafel piece or two inside and top with warm tahini sauce. It's delicious.

Now, you have all read my wonderful recipe, and Taylor, my good friend, was my guinea pig who filled out the survey. Here are her comments that we have posted together:

1. " Yes, this dish was very appetizing. Out of 5 points: 5. My first impression was that it looked and smelled exactly like falafels I've eaten in the past."

2. It tasted delicious. Out of 5 points: 5. It looked a little bit more crumbly that most falafels I'd eaten, but it tasted like a perfect mixture of garbanzo beans and crumbly bread. Also, it wasn't too spicy, which is a problem I have encountered in the past."

3. "No, the cook was very calm, although a bit bewildered when the falafel balls began to crumble. This dish appeared to have taken a lot of effort. Out of 5 points: 4."

4. "The special ingredient was yogurt which is not new to me, but I haven't come across it in cooking besides smoothies, for example. So it was 'special' in the context of the meal. Out of 5 points: 4."

5. "I would definitely eat this again. It was great! However, the leftover potential was not perfect for this size batch, because we finished everything, or maybe we were just really hungry. Out of 5 points: 3."


Meal: Falafels
By: Kelsey Otis
Eaten By: Taylor Norman