Friday, August 22, 2008

Falafels

Despite a lifelong passion for hummus, I was about 25 years old before I ever tried falafel. It was instant love. Knowing how much Abby likes hummus, I thought I would try her on its spicier fried cousin today.

Toddler Falafels
Prep time: 5-10 minutes, plus time to chill
Cooking time: 10 minutes (but...)

14 oz can chick peas, drained and rinsed
3/4 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1/4 cup flour
2-4 Tbsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until they form a thick paste - kind of the consistency of Play-Doh. Take walnut-sized balls of dough with your hands and form them into little patties. Coat the little patties lightly in flour, and set on a plate to chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Heat up 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and fry for 5-10 minutes, turning occasionally. Drain on paper towels; serve! You could make a little yogurt-cucumber dipping sauce; Abby had them with ranch dressing.

These worked out pretty great... mostly. The taste was yummy. It took a little cajoling, but once I got Abby to try a bite, she really liked them and wolfed them down. Check out this empty plate!

And, I liked that I could prepare them ahead of time and only do the frying at lunch time - I made them while Abby was having breakfast, set them in the fridge to chill, and had lunch ready within 10 minutes of us getting home from errands.

But - my execution was terrible. I'm sure most restaurants are deep-frying their falafels, which is something I'm not willing to do (for health reasons and because I'm a scaredy-cat around that much hot oil). I found numerous recipes indicating that this flour-chill-pan fry technique would work, but my balls fell apart when I tried to flip them. They taste great and we'll definitely make them again, but I need to figure out a way to pan-fry but have them hold together. Got an idea on how I can improve this? Leave it in the comments!

3 comments:

Lyndsay said...

Kara,

I'm so glad you found my blog so I could find your blog! I am totally bookmarking you, as these are exactly things I'd love to make for Kate.

C. Beth said...

Oh, yay, good kid recipes! I'm bookmarking this one! :)

Kara said...

Hi Lyndsay and Beth! Thanks for stopping by!! :-)