Falafel and homemade pita bread

To my dearest Recipe to Rivalers,
This month's challenge was effing awesome. i'd been meaning to make pita bread from scratch for awhile, as an alternative to sandwich bread and the challenge of falafel gave me just the nudge i needed. further, May was the start of bbq month so i knew i could bring this as my offering to a fete. ON TOP OF THAT? my first attempt was so dang good, i made it again for supper one night last week and it was EVEN BETTER. (can you tell i'll be making this again, and often?)

it's not so much that i don't like middle eastern food, i guess i do, but i've never really sought it out. maybe because when given choices, i usually choose indian, thai, korean, or even mexican food to eat. or maybe it's cus that one time, a boy totally dissed me at a middle eastern restaurant and the leftover taste in my mouth never fully dissolved (may he suffer from heartburn forevermore). any which way, i've since forgiven falafel. as for the pita bread, Nuria became quite the pita maker, she totally took the reigns on that which was fine with me.

what can i say about this month's challenge? easy, but not so much that i wasn't at least challenged with finding spices, using a mini-food processor so everything was done in painstaking batches but easy that holy hell, the directions were straight forward and there was no chance i could eff up. there were no leftover at buu's memorial day bbq and when i brought leftovers to work for a coworker, she gobbled it all up. WIN!

till next month, our warmest regards,
Angry Asian and Nuria

Falafel: Chickpea Patties
Recipe by Madelain Farah, Lebanese Cuisine, Four Walls Eight Windows, 2001

* 1 pound dried chickpeas
* 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes, optional
* Salt and pepper, as needed
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Make the Falafel: Soak the chickpeas in cold water in the refrigerator overnight.

Drain the chickpeas and place them with the onion in the bowl of a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the oil. Mix well. Process the mixture a second time. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls and deep-fry or pan-fry in hot oil.

***note, i baked mine at 350degrees for about 20 minutes, or till brown. i did flip them once.

i used this recipe for the pita.

Nuria also came up with a very simple sauce. we didn't have any yoghurt in the house, just sour cream. she thinned it with some milk, shaved cucumber (and subsequent juice), salt/pepper to taste.

For more gorgeous falafel, hit up the blogroll.