Falafel

You know the old rut. " Ma, You never make anything nice nowadays. Its always soooooo bbbboooorrrring". Somehow whatever we make, the grass is always greener on the other side. A vegetable made in a friend's house is always "ssoooo yummy!!!!!" whereas the same thing when made at home, will get a response of " yuck, no". Like they say 'ghar ki murgi dal barabar' ( translated as a chicken from ones own house is equivalent to an ordinary dal)

Its always a challenge to come up with nutritious yet tasty, new but not too different tastes...

So thats something I am always on the look out for, new recipes loaded with nutrition, and of course lot of vegetables hidden in it.

A few years ago on a holiday, I had falafel . The taste was so familiar to my palate, but yet so different.

But I somehow forgot about it after that first time. The other day just scouting around all the blogs looking for something for the MBP event on bread, I came across a reference to a falafel recipe on Nupur's blog. It was a part of the Pita sandwich. I had anyway decided on the whole wheat pita bread for an event. So this was just taking the concept forward and going the whole hog.

It looked so yummy and interesting, I had to give it a try immediately. So here goes.

I used the same recipe she did with wonderful results.

No changes at all. It was yum.

I also made the "taratour sauce" to go with it.

I had to make the tahini from scratch. I blended
1/2 cup lightly roasted sesame seeds along with
3 tablespoon light sesame oil.

To make the taratour sauce exactly as per her recipe I added
1/2 cup yoghurt,
1 minced garlic clove,
salt to taste ,
2 tablespoon lemon juice,
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder to the
tahini.

I made pita bread ( recipe here ) and made a pita sandwich. I stuffed the pita with 2-3 falalfels, some sliced iceberg lettuce, and a salad made with diced tomatoes, cucumber, red/yellow/green capsicum, coriander leaves and parsley, salt and pepper.

The final sandwich was very tasty only it lacked that spicy kick that most Indian palates enjoy. So I add a few drops of tabasco to add that hot taste. PERFECT!!!

( BTW, the kids loved it. They thought it was something quite different). I am glad I tried this one out. It will definitely be a repeat at home.