Falafal with Tomato Sauce

I haven't cooked anything new in awhile so decided it was time I dove back into my cookbooks. I had a few recipes picked out from my beautiful African cookbook and decided to go with the falafal. I love falafal, but have never made it on my own, so thought this would be an interesting experiment.



I started to mash my chickpeas by hand, but then that was just not working, so I spun them in the food processor instead. Much easier.

I assigned Alex to be my fryer while I worked on the other parts of the meal. However, these didn't hold together for him as well as I'd hoped. The final product ended up being not quite so pretty, but oh well, we aren't going for any presentation contests here.

Despite looking rather un-pretty, these actually tasted delicious, especially with the sauce!



The recipe called for serving these with a tomato sauce, which is listed as "quick tomato sauce", or at least that's what I thought. Boo. Upon actually reading the recipe, it says you have to roast tomatoes in the oven for 40 minutes. That, does not equal quick tomato sauce to me. So, I made up my own sauce, and was flabbergasted that it was actually really good and worked with the falafal! Yay! I am learning something in the kitchen!

The book also said to serve with a cucumber sambal, which, in theory sounded good. However, I added waaay too much mint, and this part, while ok, did not go with the rest. Oh well. 2 out of 3 isn't too bad!



Homemade Falafal
Inspired by The Soul of a New Cuisine

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 small white onion, finely chopped
1 handful chopped parsley
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp chili powder
a little less then 1 TBS cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
a few shakes of sea salt
a few grinds of black pepper
1 egg
canola oil for frying

Spin your garbanzo beans in a food processor until mostly smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the onion, parsley, spices, and beaten egg. Stir until blended. Make the batter into little balls or tiny patties. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add your falafal balls and cook until browned on all sides.

Update: This recipe has turned out a lot better if I saute the onion and garlic a bit first with a bit of olive oil until softened. Then add to the mix.

Easy Tomato Sauce
Inspired by Spicy Tomato Sauce served with Tunisian Omelet.

2 large beef steak tomatoes
A few cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
Handful of chopped parsley
1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp (or so) coriander
sea salt
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
A few shakes of dried basil
a few pours of olive oil

This recipe is pretty approximate, but basically, chop your tomatoes, garlic and shallot. Put in a saucepan with olive oil. Simmer with spices stirring occasionally until tomatoes break down. Let simmer covered for 5-10 minutes. Smooth things out with an immersion blender if desired. Enjoy!