Falafel with Hummus

Every new post on 156, Hungerlane has a story behind it that helps us create and conceptualize of what we talk about here. New cuisines or dishes that we tried somewhere. Some we liked a lot, some a little (Foodies really can’t dislike food :)), some enough to inspire us and try it for ourselves. Tried, over and over again until we felt ready for it to be  posted here! So with this recipe, we wish to give our Italian menu a break…  Introducing a middle eastern platter, often quoted as Lebanese platter served in multi-cuisine restaurants- Falafel with Hummus served with warm Pita bread. We are also including the recipe for Green Tahini sauce that we really loved and couldn’t help sharing!

Seriously, I don’t remember where did I first have Hummus with Pita or Falafel! If  I really rack my brains, earliest I can recall having it in the weekend brunch menu at “Not Just Jazz by the Bay, Pune “,  six years back!  They used to serve Hummus Dip with Lavash ( kinda crisp pita bread). Since then, I have been having it at many places – generally as a part of Lebanese or Mezze Platter.  My friend, (now a better friend & husband) Ashim, used to gorge on hummus and often bought a fresh hummus jar from Defence Bakery along with Lavash!

Post wedding, hubby dearest’s love for the dip and the sudden discovery of fresh pita pockets at a local bakery here in Singapore gave me the motivation to try my very own version of Lebanese platter!

I have tried this recipe many times and now feel ready to share on Hungerlane! So here is a step by step recipe!

FALAFEL

The beans need to be soaked for over 6-8 hours and drained. They are added in the food processor just like this to get a coarse mixture for crackling falafel balls.

Falafels should be fried only when they are about to be served. The hot, crispy falafels with cold salad in pita pockets is a combination worth dying for! But what about the dips and sauces?

As promised, here are two dips that would accompany falafels in our lebanese platter- Hummus and Green Tahini!

DIPS and SAUCES

Note, Hummus uses boiled chickpeas instead of just soaked. Make sure you give the soaked chickpeas 8-9 whistles so they are soft to give us a puree consistency for Hummus. Sesame seeds are an important ingredient that makes both the dips creamy and adds a little oil of its own. Cumin seeds are best used little roasted; fresh and juicy lemon works the best! Here’s how we should proceed:

ASSEMBLING into a PLATTER

Get Pita pockets from your local bakery, its a round bread like a pizza base but once its cut in between it opens up into a pocket. If you cannot find Pita pockets,  go for wraps. Falafel in wraps also taste just as delicious. You can even opt to serve just Falafels as an entree with hummus and salad. Its a good variation to the Hara Bhara kababs we have in Indian Starter menu.

You may choose to go with the salad of your choice:  Fresh Cubed Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes, Thin long sliced- Lettuce, Broccoli pockets (steamed) , Cabbage.. be creative! Some people even love to  add boiled red beans and boiled chickpeas.

Once you have decided on your salad and have it along with you, here’s all that you need to do:

1. Warm Pita pockets in microwave for 30 secs or you can bake it a little in your oven (care, they should not get crisp!) 

2. Cut them into half, open a pocket and spread generous amount of hummus spread.

3. Fill it with salad and 2-3 fresh fried falafel ( or as much it can take or you want it to take :))

4. Top it with green Tahini sauce, and serve it in a platter. You may wrap the pita pockets in soft tissues to make it easy to pick up. 

5. Make sure you serve extra Hummus and Tahini.  You never have enough of them. I create a depression in my hummus blob, fill it with olive oil and sprinkle chilli powder, I even serve a slice of fresh lime for the ones who like it more tangy.

Make sure the pita bread is fresh and so is the salad. If kept for too long, this dish can be a little dry on the palette. You can opt to be a little generous with the olive oil ( drizzle it on Pita too, if need be).  Serve it Hot and Fresh.

We hope you would try and love this recipe. It’s something that does not expect you to be standing in front of the gas stove for long! Boiling chickpeas for Hummus and frying falafel are only two activities that would make you turn on the flame! We hope you try this recipe and put your food processor into good use.It even helps us take a break from the monotonous menu!

Restaurant we like:

There are many restaurants that serve Falafel as a part of their menu. But here in Singapore , we found a place in the plush bay level of The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. The restaurant touts of good health and rightly so, does complete justice to its name.

PITA PAN- Pocket full of Health

It not only enjoys exclusivity of being only place serving  just middle eastern menu in Singapore but also a vegetarian place to top that! ( something  that’s not too common on this part of the world). Needless to say, we are a regular there.  I can’t stop myself from bragging about this place  but I guess this post is becoming too long !  So would save the review for later, till then we might try the whole menu! Still, giving you  a sneak peak of the place , clicked on one of our visits from mobile. You don’t want to miss it on your next visit to Singapore.

We will come with more on this place and may be recipes of other dishes they serve like Shakshuka sometime soon! 🙂

Till then, we hope you  keep cooking and sharing!

Burp!!

Rashi 

Potato Gnocchi

 

When you love what you do and like perfection, it gets kind of difficult to think of what should be your pick from the numerous experiments in the kitchen to take its place as the first post on your blog. In my case, I couldn’t think of one thing. So I went to the grocery store, picked up all possible ingredients for the multiple dishes I had in mind, came back home really tired and ended up eating 2 minute noodles. Wait, could that be my first post? 2 minute noodles??? mmm…Maybe not…

Since I couldn’t make up my mind, I thought of picking my husband’s brains to see if he could suggest something and he almost instantly said Italian.. In fact, sometimes I think he might have been born an Italian in his past life! His long time love affair with Italy’s cuisine and culture made it the perfect choice for me to begin this journey. So here is my first recipe, my husband’s all-time favorite… A simple but ever so delicious…

This is a very simple recipe and a great one to impress anyone anytime… The best part is that you won’t even have to go dig for ingredients outside!! Even a typical old fashioned Indian Kitchen will have all the ingredients for this recipe!

This recipe serves 2 – 3 people (depending on appetite) –

• ·        2 medium to large size potatoes
• ·        1 egg
• ·        Salt and pepper to taste
• ·        250 grams of plain flour to bind… and that’s it!

Start by boiling and mashing your potatoes, preferably through a ricer or in my case with a simple fork… don’t overdo it.. Just mash enough to ensure that there are no noticeable lumps in sight. Once you are done, mix salt, pepper and a slightly beaten egg to the potatoes and combine.

 

Now start adding flour, one –third at a time. Since I don’t know about the potatoes that you will be using, start adding flour slowing, combining as you go till the time the dough is just manageable and looks like a dough. Don’t overdo it.

The amount of flour you add can vary with the kind of potatoes you have used, the time of the year, weather god’s blessings on you and the grace with which you try to get the dough to come together.. Remember, you are not kneading a chapati dough… so don’t punch it like it’s nobody’s business! This recipe doesn’t call for that kind of de-stressing .

Just be as gentle as you can be and use only as much flour as is needed to make it come together.. trust me, the lesser the flour, the more spongy and tasty you gnocchi gets… Sometimes, it’s not just about the ingredients but how you treat them that can make all the difference.

Once your dough is made, cut 1/3 of it and roll it into a log shape before cutting it into ¾ – 1 inch soft potato pillows… Press your fork over it to make them look better and place them aside to cook. To avoid your knife from sticking to the dough, rub it in flour before cutting. You can also dust flour on your cooking surface to avoid the dough from sticking.

 

Boil water with some salt in it to add flavor to the Gnocchi. Boil your baby potato pillows in it until they rise to the top. This will not take more than 2 minutes. Don’t overcook them or they tend to get harder.. Remove immediately and serve hot with a choice of your favorite sauce. Remember, the gnocchi takes flavor from the water you cook it in, so whatever you put in your boiling water, will grant its flavor to your gnocchi.

 

 

How to Serve:

For Adults –

My husband likes it with just some mixed herbs sprinkled over it.. but you could also serve it with a homemade tomato sauce similar to one cooked for pasta or Rashi’s legendary Pesto sauce, my favorite flavor combination, which I hope she shares soon… Remember to prepare your sauce before you cook the Gnocchi. Another way of serving Gnocchi is with Lamb shanks, instead of mashed potatoes, try Gnocchi. In that case, you can also just shallow fry the dumplings instead of boiling them.. gives them a different texture and they taste equally good J

For Kids –

Gnocchi could be a great evening snack for kids as well.. Serve it with a tomato based sauce or make a healthier version by adding boiled and mashed vegetables like sweet potato or beetroot to your gnocchi.

 

 

Left Overs: If you have some dough left over, you can make the gnocchi’s (don’t boil them) and store them in an airtight bag in your deep freeze for a couple of months.

 

What I shared today is the basic recipe.. you can play on and add any flavoring you want and do share with us if it worked out for you…Give a break to mashed potatoes and add Gnocchi to your everyday meals.  It will sure do wonders to add that extra pinch of happiness to your kitchen…

Raaaaaashhhhhhhhhhh.. What’s cooking, good looking? How about some Pesto?…