Falafel Wraps

I just recently moved to Cincinnati and into a house that has two ESL (English as a Second Language) Students. One is from China and one is from Saudi Arabia. So I'm really excited to learn how to cook food from their home towns.

My first attempt was falafel. I don't think it originated in Saudi Arabia, but Abdullah said that he has it in his country. So I tried it, and wow they turned out so well! They are so delicious. I'll have to do this recipe again! And to make it even better my friend Megan brought some hummus she made that has garlic and turnip greens. UM UM UMMM so good. I would have never thought to put turnip greens in hummus, but now I want to do it every time!

These guys are just so great looking that I had to take two pictures. So here's the recipe...


Falafel
Ingredients:

• 30 oz. can chickpeas, drained
• 2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon coriander
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons self rising flour
• 2 tablespoons Tahini
  
• oil for frying (we used a Fry Daddy deep fryer... I think this is what made it work so well)
  

Preparation:

Mash together chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, and salt first with a potato masher. Then I just dug in with my hands. It goes faster and you can smash each bean. When it's starting to come together and the beans are mashed up add the tahini and the flour. You want the result to be a thick chunky paste.

Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball.

Fry in oil at 350 until golden brown (2-5 minutes).

Serve in a pita (Abdullah had gotten us Pita bread to show us what they eat for breakfast) with Tzatziki, turnip green hummus, spinach, cucumber, and tomato

Tzatziki

• 2 cups strained yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cucumber
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• pinch salt

Fold in the cucumber and garlic into the thick yogurt. Sprinkle salt and stir in the lemon juice.