I remember the night before my 19th birthday. Or rather, I don't really remember it. I think it was a Tuesday and I went out bopping with my friends, and my best friend Shaz called me at midnight to wish me Happy Birthday. It was fantastic.
Now it's the night before my 24th birthday. Boyfriend is off playing cards, I left work early and I'm home with a bottle of wine and making falafel. The Secret Circle is on tv in half an hour and I'm blogging. Hmmm...quite the difference.
So since falafel is the highlight of my night, I thought I'd put tonight's recipe online. My friend Morven gave me my first taste of the stuff last Sunday and I was so impressed I just had to try it myself. So here goes...
I chopped a couple of small onions, three cloves of garlic and a chilli pepper from my mum's friend's garden. I mixed in some fresh coriander and basil leaves, salt & pepper, chilli powder, madras curry powder (odd huh?? but it works), parsley, a little flour, and a tub of chickpeas...oooh, and a teaspoon of dijon mustard. I blended it all with my handy handy Tesco blender which I invested in yesterday and ta-da....I got this muck...
I then had to roll the gunk into squashed balls. This was not the best bit of the cooking, because I hate having sticky crap stuck to my hands. But I manned up and, with only those few ingredients, I managed to create 13 falafel balls. More than enough for my dinner, and lunch for boyfriend and me tomorrow. Lucky bastard. I'm way too nice to him.
Next I heated up some oil in a frying pan and, whilst simultaneously sipping my wine, doing the dishes and watching Come Dine with Me. I fried up my little balls. Actually, I nearly burnt them but they came out ok, because I made them super thick.
I stuck them in the oven for a little while because I wasn't quite hungry yet, but I did sneak a little taste of them. I'm not going blowing my own trumpet, but they were delicious. I really love the taste of coriander, which isn't a herb I eat often enough, and it makes a nice change not to have a chunk of meat on my plate. Also, I think the curry powder is an excellent addition to the traditional recipes I looked up.
To go with my falafel, I got out a deli wrap and put half a tablespoon of both red pepper hoummus and tzatziki inside it. I chopped up another onion and stuck it into the frying pan, to get nice and crisp. To the wrap I added some fresh lettuce leaves and then four of the falafel balls (which only just fit). I added the crispy onions and put some tomato salsa on top. Finally, I rolled up the wraps and stuck them in the frying pan, for two minutes on each side.
Result: the following picture:
I added some home made fries, which just filled me up. And actually, this is the most enjoyable vegetarian meal I've ever had.
What would I do different next time?
Maybe prepare a spicy rice and add it to the wrap, with a little less falafel. Yum yum, I can't wait until lunchtime tomorrow so I can have the leftovers :D
Now it's the night before my 24th birthday. Boyfriend is off playing cards, I left work early and I'm home with a bottle of wine and making falafel. The Secret Circle is on tv in half an hour and I'm blogging. Hmmm...quite the difference.
So since falafel is the highlight of my night, I thought I'd put tonight's recipe online. My friend Morven gave me my first taste of the stuff last Sunday and I was so impressed I just had to try it myself. So here goes...
I chopped a couple of small onions, three cloves of garlic and a chilli pepper from my mum's friend's garden. I mixed in some fresh coriander and basil leaves, salt & pepper, chilli powder, madras curry powder (odd huh?? but it works), parsley, a little flour, and a tub of chickpeas...oooh, and a teaspoon of dijon mustard. I blended it all with my handy handy Tesco blender which I invested in yesterday and ta-da....I got this muck...
I then had to roll the gunk into squashed balls. This was not the best bit of the cooking, because I hate having sticky crap stuck to my hands. But I manned up and, with only those few ingredients, I managed to create 13 falafel balls. More than enough for my dinner, and lunch for boyfriend and me tomorrow. Lucky bastard. I'm way too nice to him.Next I heated up some oil in a frying pan and, whilst simultaneously sipping my wine, doing the dishes and watching Come Dine with Me. I fried up my little balls. Actually, I nearly burnt them but they came out ok, because I made them super thick.
I stuck them in the oven for a little while because I wasn't quite hungry yet, but I did sneak a little taste of them. I'm not going blowing my own trumpet, but they were delicious. I really love the taste of coriander, which isn't a herb I eat often enough, and it makes a nice change not to have a chunk of meat on my plate. Also, I think the curry powder is an excellent addition to the traditional recipes I looked up.
To go with my falafel, I got out a deli wrap and put half a tablespoon of both red pepper hoummus and tzatziki inside it. I chopped up another onion and stuck it into the frying pan, to get nice and crisp. To the wrap I added some fresh lettuce leaves and then four of the falafel balls (which only just fit). I added the crispy onions and put some tomato salsa on top. Finally, I rolled up the wraps and stuck them in the frying pan, for two minutes on each side.
I added some home made fries, which just filled me up. And actually, this is the most enjoyable vegetarian meal I've ever had.
What would I do different next time?
Maybe prepare a spicy rice and add it to the wrap, with a little less falafel. Yum yum, I can't wait until lunchtime tomorrow so I can have the leftovers :D
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