Falafel, tahini, pita, homemade

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Falafel, tahini, pita, homemade
Falafel, tahini, pita, homemade
Anonim

Falafel is loved even by those who dislike meat-free food. Nothing proves this better than the fact that I fell in love with falafel with a friend who is a total meat eater. Well, I had to listen a little, but it was worth it.

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What happened was that we went to an Arab fast food restaurant in Paris, and since I knew these dishes better, he asked me to choose something with meat for him. I chose. When he devoured the whole thing with relish, I revealed that there wasn't even a gram of meat in it. He was surprised, but he hasn't rejected this food since.

So I just wanted to say that if the falafel is well seasoned, even those who otherwise get chills from their "goat food" will enjoy eating it.

First you have to prepare the tahini, i.e. the sesame paste. This is the easiest of all and extremely budget-friendly. Why? Because for most factory packaging, they simply ask for a minimum of HUF 1,000, and home-made ones can be obtained for around HUF 300. And, of course, there are no preservatives or additives in the homemade version.

  • 100 g sesame seeds
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • juice of half a lemon
  • s alt
  • water
  • you can also add garlic, I didn't because there was plenty in the falafel

Here's how to get started

Put the sesame seeds in a Teflon pan and toast them at a medium temperature. Be careful not to make the stove too hot, because the sesame can burn very quickly and become bitter. It's best to shake the pan frequently while browning. The whole thing takes no more than a few minutes, so you don't have to fiddle with it much.

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When the seeds are slightly browned, set them aside until they cool down. Be aware that if you leave it in the pan, it can still burn, so shake it occasionally. Or pour it into another container and wait until it cools.

When the sesame seeds are lukewarm, you can start grinding them. A coffee grinder is best, but if you use a grinder with a slightly larger blade, even that will do just fine, don't worry about that. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the ground sesame and blend once more. Then pour it into a bowl, add the lemon juice and enough water to make it creamy. That's it, cover it, put it in the fridge, and the falafel is ready to go.

There is no egg in real falafel

Falafel has nothing to do with chickpea meatballs, it's just that they both have chickpeas as their raw material. According to the original (Izraeli) recipe, it contains the following:

  • 1 cup chickpeas (not canned!)
  • 1 small head chopped red onion
  • 1/2 bunch chopped parsley
  • 5 cloves chopped garlic
  • 1.5 tablespoons of s alt
  • 2 tablespoons ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder (cayenne pepper)
  • 1 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1 tablespoon flour

I modified this to the extent that instead of purchasing different spices, I worked with a spice mixture, I used Garam Masala and Tikka Masala. It is true that the latter contains cloves, which the recipe does not mention, but this is not noticeable at all in the food. I put a tablespoon of both.

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Easy to assemble, fiddly to bake

1. Soak chickpeas for at least 12 hours in four to five times the amount of cold water, then filter and dry completely. This is how the easiest part of the project begins.

2. Put the dry peas in a food processor with all the ingredients and grind them coarsely, pour them into a tightly closed container and let the mixture rest in the fridge until you make the pita. The refrigerator is very important, if you don't do it this way, the falafel will fall apart during baking.

The recipe for indestructible pita

I made four pitas, if you want more, double or triple the portion.

  • 250 g half-wheat flour (or any wheat flour)
  • 4 pinches of s alt
  • 1/4 cube of fresh yeast (12.5 grams)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 140 ml warm (not hot!) water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. First, measure out the flour and pour it into a large mixing bowl.(It is important that the bowl is large, because the dough will rise well and it needs space.)

2. In another container, mix the s alt, sugar, olive oil, water and crumble the yeast into it (I mixed it by hand to prevent lumps).

3. Make a well in the middle of the flour, pour in the yeast water, and then start kneading the dough. Do not stop this process for at least 10 minutes - if your hands are tired from kneading - just slap the dough to the bottom of the bowl.

4. From there, all you have to do is: shape the dough into a loaf, sprinkle it with olive oil, cover the bowl with aluminum foil and a tea towel, and leave the dough to rise for at least an hour and a half.

5. When the dough has risen nicely, put it out on a thickly floured board/table and shape it into small balls.

6. Cover them with a damp cloth and let them rest for another 15-20 minutes.7. While the dough is resting, preheat the oven, rack and tray to 250 degrees.

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26 Gallery: pita, falafel, tahini, homemade Photo: Dívány

8. After resting, shape the loaves by hand into a pita shape (flat, round) and place them on the hot baking sheet with the floured side. (Of course, you can also fiddle with a rolling pin if you feel like it, but I think it looks much cooler than the regular, factory-looking pita.)9. Bake for about 3-5 minutes. If you want the dough to brown on both sides, turn the pita in the pan after 3 minutes. After taking the pitas out of the oven, cover them with a damp cloth so they don't dry out while the falafel is baking.

And the falafel can be tested

Take the bowl containing the falafelmass from the fridge, shape it to your liking and bake it. Heat the oil, you need enough oil to cover half of the fala halves. Put a piece in it as an experiment. Wait for it to bake, taste it and, if necessary, add more flavor to the unbaked mass. If everything is fine, bake the falafels.

What if the falafel falls apart while baking?

In principle, if you follow the rules described above, this should not happen, but if it does, here it is: mix chickpea flour or rice flour with the mass and try baking this way. If it still falls apart after this, mix in an egg, so it won't be true falafel anymore, but the taste will still be delicious.

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