Falafel Boats

Falafel is a middle eastern koftas made out of chickpeas or garbanzo beans. I don't have much insight into middle eastern dishes but I liked falafel even the first time I tasted it. I guess this is one of the few middle eastern dishes that veggies can eat.

This is my second attempt at making falafel. I tried it once before but I must admit it was a failure though my husband tried to fully support me by showing that he was relishing what he was eating. This is my second attempt and I must say I aced it this time. I hope the pic proves my point. It looks good and it tastes good as well.

Ingredients for Falafel or chickpeas dumplings:

1. 4 cups of dried chickpeas.
2. 3 tbsp of chopped coriander.
3. 3 tbsp of chopped parsley.
4. 3 green chillies finely chopped.
5. 1 small onion finely chopped.
   
6. 3-4 pods of garlic finely chopped.
7. 3-4 tbsp of cumin coriander seed powder. (or 2 tbsp of cummin powder and 2 tbsp of coriander seed powder).
8. 3-4 tbsp of all purpose flour.
   
9. salt (According to your taste).

Method to making Falafel or chickpeas dumplings:

1. Soak the dry chickpeas in 8-10 cups of water for about 6-8 hours.
2. Drain the soaked chickpeas and mix the chopped coriander , parsley, onion, garlic and chillies.
3. Grind this mixture to a coarse paste with adding as little water as possible. You may want to grind the chickpeas mixture in batches.
   
4. Now add the cummin-coriander seed powder to the coarse paste and mix well.
5. Add the all purpose flour to this mix.
6. Further add salt to the concoction according to your taste.
7. Now heat oil to a deep wok till the oil is really hot and u see little some coming from the heated oil. (Beware that if u let the oil too much heated ur smoke alarm might go off, so plz. take care). Further u can test the oil by dropping a small chickpeas mix ball and if the oil is hot enough u will see the ball jumping and floating at the top of the oil.
8. now using the palm of ur hand make small balls of chickpeas mixture and fry them in oil till they become golden brown in colour.
9. transfer the fried balls on to a tissue paper to strain oil.

Ingredients for Yogurt Tahini Sauce:

1. 2 cups of yogurt.
   
2. 2-3 tbsps of tahini paste(sesame seed paste found in middle eastern stores.)
   
3. lemon juice and salt.(According to your taste)

Method to making Yogurt Tahini Sauce:

1. Take the 3 cups of yogurt in a bowl add tahini paste and beat them together using a spoon into a smooth sauce.
2. Add salt and lemon juice according to your taste.
   

Ingredients for Salad:

1. 3-4 small radishes thinly sliced.
   
2. diced roma tomatoes or if u want to add more showiness add cherry tomatoes.
   
3. 75 gms of halloumi cheese crumbled.

Salad Dressing:

1. 1 tsp sugar.
2. 2 tbsp lemon juice.
3. 2 tbsp olive oil.
4. 1/4 tsp of black pepper.
   

Method to making Salad: (make this just before you assemble the falafel boats)

1. To make salad dressing add sugar to lemon juice and beat it to dissolve the sugar in juice. Now add pepper and olive oil and beat about 30-40 seconds with spoon to make the dressing.
2. Mix all the veggies and cheese in a bowl and drizzle the dressing on top.
3. Toss the veggies to mix it well in the salad.
   

Ingredients for Falafel Boats:

1. 3-4 small size whole wheat pita bread sliced in half's to form boats.
2. 6-8 whole romaine lettuce leaves washed and dried.
   

Assembling Falafel Boats:

1. lightly heat the pita bread on a wok to make them soft.
2. open the pita halves to form a boat.
3. spread the one roamine lettuce leaf in it.
4. add one or 2 balls of falafel in the boat.
5. spread 2- 3 tbsps of tahini sauce evenly.
6. now add 2-3 tbsps of the salad in the boat evenly .

ENJOY YOUR HEARTY FALAFEL BOATS !!!!!!

Note: Don't use the pressure cooked or canned chickpeas or garbanzo beans to make falafel, as it spreads in the oil while frying. Learnt it from failing the first time.

Yogurt - What Yogurt ?????? YUCKKKKK!!!!

This past week something drastic happened in my kitchen. My husband :-( eat our yogurt sample that I always religious used save to carry on the yogurt legacy in my home. So I had no fresh sample of yogurt remaining to produce a new batch of yogurt almost every day....If you are a south indian you get me by now...We are yogurt monsters as all others call us. As result of this mishap I had to revisit or should I say had to use my own described recipe to make yogurt where I had preached Dannon!!!! 's yogurt with live culture is a great thing to have if you want to start making homemade yogurt. Haa haa haa...what a joke I tried it and it was misery.... the yogurt i got was very thin and touch was like mucous...if u understand what i mean . I am very very finicky person so I could not swallow my own recipe and went on the crazy hunt for making perfect dahi. So finially I found this freeze dried yogurt sample on amazon by euro cuisine (others brands are yogourmet, rolmex) which put the life back into my curd.... So The MORAL OF THE STORY IS: if you are a starter don't use Dannon to make your yogurt but use the freeze dried yogurt starter.

Chatpate Dahi Vadas

Dahi Vada or Yogurt Dumpling (sounds funny and absurd) is one of the most common chaats made in any north indian household. I have very fond memories of eating dahi vadas in my friends' birthdays.. it is one of the most ubiquitous items in kids' birthdays other than chhole puri , cake and gulab jamuns. One obvious reason for its popularity is it is very easy to make and store.
Ingredients:

1. Dhania/Coriander/ Cilantro.
2. Tamarind-Date Chutney.
3. Dahi/Yogurt (beaten).
4. Vadas(soak them in normal water when hot).
   
5. 1/2 Teaspoon Red chillies Powder.
6. 1/2 Teaspoon of Toasted Jeera/Cumin seeds powder*.

Assembling:

1. Squeeze water out of 2 vadas into a bowl.
2. Mix yogurt , salt (as per your taste), sugar (as per your taste).
   
3. Add generous amount of yogurt and 2-3 tablespoons of tamarind- date chutney.
4. sprinkle some red chillies powder and jeera powder in the bowl.
5. garnish with dhania.

(*) - take a skillet and heat it . When it is hot, add jeera and toast it till it is golden brown in color. grind it using a pestle or by crushing it with the back of a table spoon.

My Recommendation:
- mix the yogurt, jeera powder, chillies powder, salt , sugar to sort of make yogurt chutney.

Dahi (Hindi) / Thayir (Tamil) / Milk Curd or Yogurt (English)

Read This before you start your journey of making yogurt at home for the first time.

Ingredients:

1. 250 gms. Milk (I have put 250 gms for u guys to try this without wasting a lot of milk ...if ur the first timers to make yogurt)
2. About 2 tablespoons of live dahi culture.
3. A heavy bottomed saucepan.

Method:

1. Pour the 250 gms. of milk into the saucepan.
2. Keep the saucepan with milk on medium fire.
3. Keep this saucepan on the stove till the milk comes to a boil.
4. Remove from the fire and place at some place to cool.
5. Say about after 15-20 mins (time varies according to the amount of milk boiled) check to see if the milk has reached about luke warm in temperature.
6. Add about half of the culture to this milk and keep this saucepan at some place at room temperature for about 5-6 hours..
7. Wallah u have yogurt.

Authors Recommendations:
1. I personally use full fat milk. I think some fat is good for health.
2. For the live culture (though i got it from a friend) I have heard the Dannon yougurt is good see the ingredients to see if it has live culture...
3. I check to see if the boiled milk has come down to luke warm temperature by slightly inserting my pinky finger in the milk and if u pull out ur finger then the milk is too hot and if ur just feeling a pinchy heat then probably its at right temperature. If ur milk has already cooled off don't worry and warm it a little to get it to luke warm temperature. AND YES I WASH MY HANDS BEFORE.... :-)
4. I personally prefer making the yougurt in the night time that ways u have the finished product in the morning to enjoy.
5. Put the saucepan with the culture and milk in a lightly warmed oven( switch off the oven if u warmed it before placing the saucepan) throughout the night that ways oven maintains the temperature and helps the formation of curd...even if it is a cold season outside...

Uses:
We south indians eat curd rice dialy..It is used to make raitas, lassi, mishti doi...and lot of other fun and tasty stuff....

To Learn more check out these link: Dahi and Yogurt