Yotam Ottolenghi's Falafels ( & Salad)

One of my favourite  food TV shows on recently was Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Feast. If you don't know who Yotam Ottolenghi is, he is basically the guru of all things salads/baking/middle eastern/Israeli/vegetarian, born in Israel but based in London. I love his take on simple, authentic flavours, and his food always looks amazing too. Going to an Ottolenghi restaurant in London is on my bucket list, and I have had a couple of his books for a while now. Anyway, you should check him out here, or read his column for the Guardian.

Lester and I love falafels, and have them at least once a fortnight - from the tubs of mixture in the supermarket - so it wasn't hard to pick Yotam's Falafels as the first recipe I made from my new cookbook Jerusalem.

Ottolenghi's Falafels

serves 4, adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sam Maimi

Note: The flavours here are quite traditional, but subtle - the taste of the chickpeas shines through - but if you like a stronger spicey flavour, I would double the cayenne, cumin, coriander and  cardamom amounts below, or have a play around to your taste.

250g dried chickpeas

1/2 medium onion

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp flat leaf parsley

2 tbsp coriander

zest of 1 lemon

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

about 750ml sunflower oil/rice bran oil for deep-frying

1/2 tsp sesame seeds for coating

salt

1. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water at least twice their volume. Set aside to soak overnight.

2. The next day drain the chickpeas. Chuck in a food processor with the onion, garlic,  lemon, parsley and coriander. Blitz on the finest setting in a food processor until finely chopped, but not mushy or pasty

3. Once processed add the spices, baking powder, 3/4 tsp of salt, flour and 1 tbsp of water, mix well by hand. Cover the mixture and leave in the fridge for an hour or until ready to use.

4. Fill a deep pan with enough oil to cover the falafel and heat to 180 degrees (use a thermometer, or test on a piece of bread).

5. With wet hands, press 1-2 tbsp of mixture into the palm of your hand and make a small ball, pressing together well to prevent them breaking apart. Roll lightly in sesame seeds and deep fry them in batches for 4 minutes or until well browned (Yotam note's it is important they are in the oil long enough to cook the chickpeas and dry out the centre).

6. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Serve in a Pita with salad and hummus, or as part of the salad below.

I cooked half the mixture, and froze the rest for another day.

Mediterranean Falafel Salad

Serves 2

Kalamata Olives

Feta cheese

Strips of roasted red pepper

Roasted almonds (toast in a pan on medium heat with a little coconut oil)

1 Pita bread, toasted, torn into pieces and drizzled with Olive oil

1/4 Cucumber, cut into chunks

Baby spinach

Flat leaf parsley

Dressing:

4 heaped tablespoons greek yoghurt

small handful chopped mint

1 tsp Tahini paste

1 tsp Pomegranate Molasses

Juice of half a lemon

Water, if needed to thin down

Salt & Pepper

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Arrange all salad ingredients on plates or a platter, top with freshly cooked Falafels (approx. 5 per person), drizzle with Yoghurt dressing and chilli sauce and serve.

Middle Eastern Salad

Me and Lester are trying to cut back on carbs at dinner time (baking is *kinda* excluded from this rule), so you will probably see quite a few salad recipes on this blog. This is a fave of ours, mainly thanks to the Dukkah encrusted chicken and the sweet salty Haloumi. This also makes good use of Pomegranate Molasses and Tahini, two essential Middle Eastern ingredients that I'm always looking for new recipes for.

This may look quite complicated, but it's all pretty simple really - you can take out some ingredients and steps if you need this in a hurry. I never cut corners if it's going to make it taste better, but that's me...and this salad tastes amazing.

Middle Eastern Salad

For the Salad (Serves 2)

2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bit sized pieces (lamb would be great here)

Dukkah (I use Alexandra's Bazaar brand, they have a few different varieties)

Lettuce/mesculun

Watercress

Fresh mint

Half a block of Haloumi, cut into slices

1 piece Rye Mountain bread, torn into strips

Salt

Pepper

EVOO (I used Al Brown's Lemon & Fennel infused oil)

1/4 Telegraph Cucumber, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 Capsicum, cut into strips

Cranberries

Microgreens (optional - radish, sorrel, pea shoots)

Baby or normal carrots (2 normal or 4 baby)

Ground Cumin

Honey

Dressing

2 teaspoons Tahini (Sesame seed paste)

3 Tablespoons Greek Yoghurt

1 clove garlic, crushed or microplaned

1 tablespoon Pomegranate Molasses

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Rind of 1/2 a lemon

Salt and Pepper

1 Tablespoon EVOO

1 Tablespoon water

Preheat your oven to fan bake, 180 degrees.

Drizzle the chicken with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and add about 3 tablespoons of Dukkah and mix well to coat the chicken. Place chicken pieces on a baking paper lined tray and fan-bake until cooked and golden.

Cut the baby carrots into quarters lengthwise, drizzle with EVOO, a little bit of honey, a dusting of ground Cumin, Salt and Pepper, and add to chicken tray about half way through.

Drizzle Mountain Bread strips with EVOO, season, and add to chicken tray when chicken and carrots are almost cooked.

For the dressing, mix together all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Season to taste.

When your chicken is cooked and starting to colour, your carrots are tender-crisp and the mountain bread golden, remove from oven and let cool a little.

Fry the haloumi in a medium pan with EVOO until golden on both sides.

Assemble your salad with the lettuce, mint, capsicum, cucumber, and cranberries, adding the hot ingredients last and drizzling the dressing generously over. Top with microgreens, then lasty the hot Haloumi straight from the pan (give it a quick squeeze with a lemon first, it really makes the Haloumi sing)

Chicken, Mountain Bread and Yellow Carrots roasting up nicely

mmmm....can't beat Haloumi