Falafel sandwiches with Tabbouleh salad

Both me and Lola love falafel and have made it our goal to try it at as many places as possible, both in San Francisco and in New York. Our favorite in San Francisco is Truly Mediterrean, although we still have many more places to try, including King of Falafel, which, as its awning proudly proclaims, is the winner of the mysterious "Billy Award". Perhaps we will never know what the Billy Award is, but nonetheless I hope our falafel will one day win it.


Both recipes from "Festival of Lite" (ha!) by Gail Ashkenazi-Hankin.
We served our falafel in whole wheat pita with hummus and tabbouleh.
Falafel
Serves 8
*3 cups canned chickpeas (or 1 and 1/4 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight)
*2 teaspoons chopped garlic
*1/2 cup bulgar, soaked 10 minutes and drained
*1 small onion, chopped
*1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 tablespoon ground coriander
*2 tablespoons snipped parsely
*1/4 teasppon cayenne pepper
*3/4 teaspoon salt
*cooking spray
In a food processor, blend all the ingredients except the cooking spray until smooth. Refrigerate 1 hour, until firm. Form into balls, put on a baking pan, spray with cooking spray, and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Tabbouleh
Serves 6
*3/4 cup cracked bulgar wheat
*2 cups boiling water
*2 cups diced tomatoes
*1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
*1/2 cup chopped carrots
*1/2 cup chopped green pepper (we omitted this because Lola doesn't like green peppers)
* 1 cup minced parseley
*1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
* 2 tablespoons chopped mint
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
*1 tablespoon olive oil
*1/2 cup minced scallions
Place the bulgar in a large bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let stand for 30 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Squeeze out any excess water and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the cumcumber, tomatoes, carrots, green pepper, parseley, cumin seeds and mint. Combine the lemon juice, oil, and scallions. Toss with the salad. Chill before serving.

-Rita

Syrian Fish with Tahini Sauce + 2 Middle Eastern Salads

Lola & I both love getting free stuff on the street. I have found and brought home a lot of great stuff, including an old-fashioned hat rack and a copy of Naked Lunch. While my finds tend to be somewhat random (although frequently awesome), Lola seems to have a particular knack for finding cookbooks. Most of the ones she finds have given us tons of delicious recipes, but unfortunately, there is a reason some of them are free. Although I haven't given up hope on it yet, I'm beginning to fear that The Middle Eastern and African Cookbook is one of those.


We've made one recipe from this book before, which none of us really liked, but we decided to try the book again. We made Syrian fish with tahini sauce, eggplant and harrisa salad, and zucchini and cauliflower salad. Lola and I both liked the salads, but our mom thought they were too lemony. However, we all agreed that the tahini sauce was too rich and overpowered the fish. It's too bad, because the fish itself was cooked perfectly. I think if we had just made the fish without the sauce, or watered the sauce down a bit, it would have been a perfectly good meal. So I'm willing to try this cookbook again, but I think our parents have given up hope on it.
Random, non-food related: if you live in San Francisco, or are visiting, be sure to check out the Jejune Institute at 580 California. I went there yesterday, it's really cool.

tomato-pepper stew with poached eggs and harissa

in case you couldn't tell by the two times we've posted huevos rancheros, my sister and i really like poached eggs with tomatoes. this is the israeli version of that dish, and its called shakshuka.


recipe from food and wine magazine

very tasty! i would definitely make this again. we used less canned tomatoes but added 1 chopped tomato and some water. served with hummus and warm pita.

this is what i do when i get bored waiting for things to cook.
in other news, i'll be out of town until next weekend. My lovely friend C. has invited me to tahoe and reno with her family. hopefully my dear sister (who does just as much cooking but significantly less blog upkeep than me) will post a few times while i'm gone.

falafel sandwiches

one of the great things about new york city is that no matter where you are, no matter what time it is, you can pretty much always get falafel. i've walked by street vendors and seen people buying falafel at 9 in the morning. i've accompanied people to midnight mamoun's runs. now that i'm back in san fran, i can find good falafel, but not without venturing at least half an hour away from home (i recommend truly mediterranean and yumma's). luckily, i do have a kitchen and can make my own falafel!


this is the first time i've ever made falafel, and it turned out quite tasty. falafel is usually deep fried, but several recipes call for you to bake it. we usedthis one, from cooking light which instructed us to fry the falafel in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
recipe was followed as is, except for the fact that i accidentally bought vanilla yogurt (non-fat, btw) instead of plain. there was a slight vanilla flavor to the sauce, but i don't think anyone would have noticed if i hadn't pointed it out.
not as good as mamoun's, but definitely worth making!