Falafel

Important Note: This recipe is a scaled-down (by half) version of one that feeds about 30 people (which is what I used for the Sunday Night Dinner). By default, this should feed about 15, and so do the math to figure out how much of what things you need for the given size. Mostly, it’s helpful to note that chickpeas get surprisingly large over night, and so when you purchase the dried chickpeas, bear in mind that they will probably feed more than you think. Furthermore, this recipe does not include the recipe for Tahini sauce, which is traditionally used as a topping.

Also, the spices listed here can be messed around with. When I last made falafel it was not as herby as I would have liked, and so these are measures in accordance with more Lebanese tastes. If you like your falafel to taste like nothing, then feel free to toy with spice amounts – particularly cinnamon and coriander, which give it most of its deep flavor.

Ingredients

½ kg dried chickpeas
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 head garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium-sized onions, chopped
2 eggs
Lots of olive oil (for frying)

Other Ingredients – To the Taste

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground, dried coriander

Instructions

Soak chickpeas in water overnight for 24 hours, making sure the pot is plenty big to accommodate the beans as they grow. Drain well. Get a large container and mix chickpeas, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, chopped onions and spices. Use a food process to grind it to a relatively fine texture (stop every now and then to make sure the blade doesn’t get stuck too long) – don’t worry if it doesn’t seem to hold together quite yet. When this is done and all of the processed mix is in a container, mix eggs into it (to better bind it together). Mash it all together until it is consistent, then begin forming into balls and then slightly flatten them until they are around 2 inches in diameter (no more!). Try to make sure they are well-packed so they don’t fall apart when you plop them into the oil to fry.

Heat oil in a deep pan over high heat, then fry until browned, adding in the same number of patties each time. Lay to rest on a cooling rack covered with paper towels to de-oil them somewhat and let them cool.

Serve with tahini sauce with some form of pita-like bread, with cucumbers, tomatoes and olives.

Kotlets

This is the Iranian food that I've made a couple of the times at the house.  They are the oval-shaped fried pieces of deliciousness.  Recipe as follows:

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1.5 lb potatoes, yellow, yukon
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp pepper
Oil (olive preferred)
Flour

Instructions

Peel the potatoes, cut into quarters, and boil then in a pot in which you can mash them until they are soft enough that a knife sticks through them easily.  Drain them and mash them (with a ricer, if you have one available - it makes it much easier) until they are very well mashed - you don't want any big chunks, and as few little chunks as possible.

Mix the ground beef, eggs, salt, turmeric, and pepper together in a separate bowl until uniform.  Add the now-mashed potatoes, and mix all together until everything is of one consistency.

Put a fair bit of oil in a frying pan (at least a centimetre of oil, perhaps more - you are basically going to be deep frying these one side at a time) and turn the heat on.  Make smallish-flatish-ovals out of the potatoe-meat mixture.  You can vary the size as you like, but I usually make them somewhat smaller than my palm.  Play around with what you like.  You probably want them ~1.5 centimetres thick (although, that's just a rough estimate).  Bread with flour.  Place in the frying pan with the oil that has now heated up.  You can, and should, fill up the frying pan with these.  Watch the side that is in the oil; once one side is done, you will need to turn it over to fry the other side.  

It's hard for me to describe how to know when one side is done frying.  I know when they're done because I've seen my dad make them and have eaten them a lot and know how brown they should get, but that doesn't particularly help you.  The kotlets will get brown as they fry.  You want them pretty brown, but not charred.  If in doubt, cook a bit longer than you'd like - you'll soon find out if it's too cooked, as things will taste a bit charred, but they still taste pretty good, and you can easily adjust from there.

So yeah, fry on both sides, then take them out of the oil.  As you take kotlets out of the oil, add new ones in, so that you have approximately the same number in the pan and all times (so that the oil does not heat up too fast).  Add more oil as necessary.  When you take the kotelts out, let them sit on a cooling rack for a bit, or at least between some paper towels to get some of the oil off.  

Enjoy!

Jam Tea Cookies

So I don't have to make them up again next time...

3/4 c. butter (1.5 sticks)

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

1.5 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 tsp. baking soda

dash salt

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. cardamom, rounded

jam or jelly of your choice

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and light yellow. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until homogeneous. Roll dough into tiny balls - perhaps 3/4 of an inch in diameter - and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until golden. Let cool and "glue" two cookies together with jam. Apricot and raspberry go well with the cardamom, but fig would probably be excellent too. Ooh, now there's an idea...

enchiladas

as eaten at the barbeque - one batch serves about 15 as a side, 5-6 as a meal

vegetable proto-glop:

1 yellow onion, food processor-ed all to hell

1 green pepper, also food processor-ed all to hell

3ish cloves garlic, chopped finely

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

saute onions, garlic, and peppers together until decently caramelized. season with salt, chili powder, and red pepper flakes to taste. add frozen corn, saute until uniform in temperature. set aside. a batch of proto-veggie glop usually makes more than you can use for a single batch of enchiladas - to make a double batch of enchiladas, use 2 small onions, 2 green peppers, 5 cloves of garlic, and just over 2 cups of frozen corn.

enchilada sauce:

1 small can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and cayenne pepper to taste

mix. use 8 oz. of water to rinse can, mix into sauce to thin (really, the thinner, the better). set aside.

assembly:

1 package (8) large tortillas, each cut in half

1 can (vegetarian) refried beans

1 batch proto-vegetable glop

8 or so oz. cheddar cheese, grated

1 batch enchilada sauce

cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish lightly with enchilada sauce. spread a tablespoon or so of refried beans on a half a tortilla, add a largeish spoonful of so of veggie glop, a sprinkling of cheese, and roll up into a tube. place in the baking dish seam-side down. repeat until all tortilla pieces have been used up. pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the pan, making sure to cover all enchiladas. sprinkle with cheese. bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until bubbly and delicious.

serve hot, or cold for breakfast.

variations:

add some ground beef into the veggie glop instead of the corn.

chicken might be good, too.

Hummos!

This recipe actually comes from my aunt, via my mom. And given that my aunt is actually more Armenian than my mom, believe that this is legit. However, in my experience the hummos speaks for itself. ; ) Also, SO ridiculously easy.

Blend in blender in this order: (liquids should go in first)

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup juice from garbanzo beans can (or can use water )
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (drain and save liquid to use)
1/3 cup tahini paste--by recommendation of my mom, only use the jar types, not the kind that is in a can.
¼ tsp salt (or to taste)
1 clove garlic - minced

Blend together. If too thick, add a bit more juice from garbanzo
beans a little bit at a time – (don’t let it get too thin!)
May garnish with parsley &/or paprika
and if desired serve with olive oil sprinkled on top…

Serve with pita pocket bread or naan (or any amazing bread of your choice...Armenian string cheese is also a great thing to eat on the side with this, although where you get it in Vermont I have no idea. Try an international grocery store at home. )

white bean shit

disclaimer: i did not name this recipe. my mother did, and as she invented the recipe, the name stuck. it is much more delicious than it sounds.

serves: 8-10 as a side dish; would go really well with the chicken dish mluby posted recently.

1 white or yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 zucchini, cut into smallish chunks
1 (16 ounce?) can chunked-up tomatoes
1 (same size) can white beans
1 lb. orzo, most of the way cooked and drained
2 c. chicken or beef bullion/stock

saute onion and garlic in olive oil with herbs until translucent. add zucchini chunks and cook on medium heat until tender, stirring occasionally. add tomatoes (with liquid) and beans (drained, rinsed, drained), and then add the orzo and bullion. stir and cover. simmer 10 minutes or so, add salt and pepper to taste. if orzo is not sufficiently tender, add more stock or just water. serve with grated parmesan if desired.

pico de gallo (salsa)

serves: single batch for family dinner consumption, double batch for parties

1/2 (red) onion, food-processed all to hell
1 jalapeno, treated in much the same way
2 cloves garlic, same
(1 ripe mango, chopped into bits)
4 or so good ripe tomatoes, chopped into bits also
a handful of roughly chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
kosher salt to taste, at least 1/2 teaspoon

chop and combine all ingredients, adding cilantro last. best prepared at least 2 hours but no more than 6 hours before serving - lets the flavors combine, but longer than that and the tomatoes get funky.

good as a dip for chips or as a sauce for burrito/fajita-type meals.

Granola Bars...

...but certainly not the health-food kind.  As devoured at Sunday Night Dinner.

Ingredients:

1 c. unsalted butter

1 3/4 c. brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp cinnamon (I usually also add nutmeg)

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

3 c. granola with all large bits (id est, walnut halves) removed

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. white chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.  Pour in granola and stir; if using an electric mixer, it might be a good idea to switch to a wooden spoon.  Add cranberries and white chocolate chips (although you could also use raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch, etc).  Spread evenly in the bottom of a greased 13x9 baking pan.  Lick the spatula and the bowl thoroughly to avoid wasting any delicious calories.  Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges victorious, by which I mean clean.  Let cool.  Cut into bars while warm.

Baked Mac & Cheese

As seen at Sunday night dinner!

1 lb of pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 tsp salt
2 tsp mustard
2 cups grated cheddar
Ground pepper to taste

- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Bring water to boil and cook the pasta.
- Heat oil over low to medium heat and stir in flour with a whisk. Add in the milk, continuing to stir until the lumps dissolve.
- Remove sauce from heat and stir in the salt, pepper, mustard, and cheese.
- Put the pasta in a casserole dish, mix in the sauce, and bake for about 20 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings. Multiply ingredients as needed for more.

(note: feel no pressure to actually bake, as it will still be delicious if you don't)