Falafel

I guess I really don't have to preface every post title with "veggie" now do I??

Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern dish. It's a fried patty or ball made of ground garbanzos & spices, served in a pita with veggies and tahini sauce. Now, I've made this from scratch from the Cafe Flora Cookbook before and it was very good, but I just didn't have the time or energy to dirty every bowl & appliance in the kitchen just for dinner which I was already starving for! So I humbly admit that this falafel mix came from a box, and it was pretty dang tasty.

These patties fried lightly in canola oil, and I warmed up some pita & chopped up some veggies to go with. We recently picked up some garlic-tahini sauce at PCC, and I've been putting it on everything, but this is what it's made for! It was so yummy.

The grain salad on the side is an adaptation of a recipe mom found in the Seattle PI. It's quinoa mixed in with green onions, more garbanzo beans, raisins, dill & salt and pepper. The original recipe called for lots of crushed garlic and lemon zest, but I didn't think James' poor mouth could handle the acid assault, so I used about 1/4 cup of his favorite salad dressing - Annie's Naturals Lemon-Chive vinegar free dressing. Incidentally, Annie's is the only company that we've found so far that offers a vinegar free salad dressing. They also offer a vinegar free green garlic and it looks like they've got a new offering - Artichoke Parmesan, which is also vinegar free, but not vegan as it has cheese.

The verdict: I'll do it again. It was quick (which I love!) tasty and filling, with enough leftovers for lunch the next day. The spices may have been a bit much for James' mouth, but perhaps we can find a way to tone those down next time.