Just made a kickass falafel wrap

[lpep]

Homemade wrap, homemade falafel (from dried beans!), homemade tzatziki. It was the bomb dot com.

[cerebus]

Homemade wrap, homemade falafel (from dried beans!), homemade tzatziki. It was the bomb dot com.

What's the falafel recipe? I've been getting into Greek/Meditteranean style food recently as well. Pitas are a breeze to make and a lot of fun because they just naturally split if you get the thickness right, and you can hold your lunch in one hand.

[lpep]

We meet again, Mr. Swanson! I like to think Ron Swanson is a secret falafel aficionado.

It was this recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-baked-falafel-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-219193

Except I fried instead of baked it, because duh.

I just winged the amounts and used the juice of half a lime plus some red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice, because lemons are stupidly expensive here. And I don't have a food processor so the chickpeas were not well smashed (I was using the bottom of a cup and it got old real fast), but it was fine. Parsley but no cilantro, because cilantro is the worst.

The tzatziki was just maybe 1c plain yogurt, a bit of garlic (1 clove?), the juice of the other lime half, salt, and half a diced cucumber with a bit of parsley. I made it up until it tasted good.

[crazy jane]

Thank you for the link. Going to try this soon.

[forummm]

Drooling.

[Rural]

Have found supper, thanks.

[kkbmustang]

This looks amazing.

[Axecleaver]

Just stopped by to say thanks, made this last night and it was great. lpep's tzatziki turned out great. Paired it with a home-made kolsch. It's the little things, sometimes.

[lpep]

*high five*[/b][/i][/glow]

[Runrooster]

I like to pan fry things like that, partly because I never learned to deep fry and it feels like a good compromise between baking and deep fry.  Haven't done falafel in ages but yesterday I made a version with urad lentils that are soaked and ground up (vitamix). 

Someone was complaining what's the point when we can buy them for .50 each, but I love finding ways to justify the vitamix.  We had been spending $50/year on a lentil/rice batter that costs a few bucks in material but is a hassle to make in a standard blender.  Now its become a go to company meal, since I can make 3 times the batter for essentially the same hassle, plus you can make a few different dishes with the batter.  The lentil patties (vada) feels like a completely different meal too, and I easily made 3 panfuls, or about 15, less oily and made to my specifications without a trip to a restaurant.  Even if I only saved $2, its something I can get better at making and having it made fresh is always better than reheating something made hours ago.

[lpep]

I like to pan fry things like that, partly because I never learned to deep fry and it feels like a good compromise between baking and deep fry.  Haven't done falafel in ages but yesterday I made a version with urad lentils that are soaked and ground up (vitamix). 

Someone was complaining what's the point when we can buy them for .50 each, but I love finding ways to justify the vitamix.  We had been spending $50/year on a lentil/rice batter that costs a few bucks in material but is a hassle to make in a standard blender.  Now its become a go to company meal, since I can make 3 times the batter for essentially the same hassle, plus you can make a few different dishes with the batter.  The lentil patties (vada) feels like a completely different meal too, and I easily made 3 panfuls, or about 15, less oily and made to my specifications without a trip to a restaurant.  Even if I only saved $2, its something I can get better at making and having it made fresh is always better than reheating something made hours ago.

NEED RECIPE NOW PLEASE!!!

[Runrooster]

Well, it would feel like dangling a carrot.  I love the vitamix, and justify the $300 cost for a refurbished one, but the lentil thing does not work with smashing the back of a cup.

Basically I use the video recipes on vahrevah.com and I use white (skin removed/split) lentils, plus white medium grain rice (best/cheapest is idli rice).  The proportions vary but I do 1:2 lentils to rice.  Soak for 3-4 hours, grind separately.  The lentil soak water has good bacteria, so use that for any water needs.  At this point, the lentil batter plus spices, onion/jalapeņo is ready to fry up into vada, recipe 1 (new to me, watch the video) but you have to soak extra for that.  The 1:2 ratio batter is mixed and left on the counter fro 24-36 hours, use a big pot because it acts like sourdough and doubles in size.  This batter can be used for idli (microwave idli mold suggested), dosa (thin crepe) and uttapam (thicker vegetable pancake).  We used to buy this batter at $2/quart from the Indian store if you have one of these around. South indians eat this all the time, but for our family its always something we got in restaurants so it feels special.

Edit: another great thing is that I can put the batter in the frig for a few weeks.  Like sourdough, it gets more sour but I think I've kept it a full month when I went a bit overboard in making extra.  Other people even freeze the batter.

[Norrie]

Thanks for the recipe, Ipep! The whole family is super stoked to try it.