Falafel and Pita Bread
I make no claims as to the authenticity of this recipe - 'cos I made it up! It's an amalgamation of a few I've seen online over the last year, or so.
Falafel 300gm Dried chick peas ½ Large onion chopped 3 Cloves garlic chopped Bunch of parsley, roughly chopped ½ tsp Chilli powder 2 Tbsp Plain Flour ½-1 teasp Bicarbonate of soda 2 teasp Ground cumin 2 teasp Ground coriander 1½ teasp Salt Black pepper Oil for frying
Cover the chickpeas with water - it wants to be at least a couple of inches above the level of the peas. Soak them for at least 12 hours, then drain.
Put them into a food processor and process until fine. Add the onion and garlic and process further. Add the remaining ingredients and process to mix.
Form into round ball shapes about the size of a golf-ball and put into the fridge to rest for about an hour.
Cook in deep fat at 180°C for 2 minutes until brown.
Pita Bread
I wanted a soft dough for this so used 66.6% hydration. It was perhaps a bit too much liquid given the lack of gluten in plain flour. However, it worked well by using liberal amounts of flour when shaping and rolling the dough.
450gm Plain flour
300ml Water
2 Tbsp Oil
1 Pack 'instant' yeast
Scant 1t salt
Mix to a dough, split into 12, make balls of dough, cover, leave to rise 20-30 mins. Roll out very thin, cook at 250C till puffed up like balloons, only about 3 minutes in my fan oven. Wrap in damp towel, or foil.
These split nicely for stuffing if made fresh. They are more problematic if left to cool, some refused to open even when reheated in a dry pan.
Salsa
This is one of those, "oh blimey, we've not got any tahini/hummus to put on the falafel type recipes!".
2 Tbsp Olive oil
½ A large onion finely chopped
½ A large red pepper finely chopped
½ A fresh chilli finely chopped
A good few dollops of tomato ketchup
A few drops of vinegar
Salt and pepper
Fry the onion in the oil until soft but not browned, add the red pepper and chilli, followed by the other ingredients a couple of minutes later, cook until the consistency required.
To serve the falafel, halve a pita and open it into a 'pocket', fill with salad, falafel and salsa.
...and my verdict? Very nice, probably better with some chopped coriander added to the falafel and salsa - that's more traditional. I would probably add mint to the falafel and try a different dip/sauce, maybe even soured cream. Like I said, I'm not trying to be authentic, just make something we like!
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