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Receta Herbed falafel in rich almond sauce – an Indian twist
by sukanya

Last weekend I went to do some food prop shopping, just wanted to add a piece or two in my growing white collection. Now, dont raise your eyebrow, I know what you are thinking, well..well..I am learning to take some good photo shots and currently being obsessed with food photography. Whether you are an amateur or a pro photographer, shopping for food props is something very difficult to resist, at least for me as I have an undying penchant for crockerys.

Back home in India, over the years, I have collected a vast collections of various kinds of crockerys from glasswares, bone china to terracotta, and some are just heirloom collection handed over to me from my grandparents and some has very interesting stories behind them. Since last two years I am literally living out of suitcase, every quarter of the year I have to relocate to a different place but that certainly doesnot stop me from blogging and sharing recipes and my travel stories with you. After moving to US, though temporarily, a new hunt for food props begins, and in short time I have almost collected a nice collection of bowls, only thing which bothers me now, is how to ship them to India without paying extra cost to customs !!!

The white tray that is being dispalyed on the picture here is the one that I have recently bought, specially for this recipe. Sounds strange, I know, actually I saw a recipe of falafel in a book, styled in a particular fashion which I tries hard to imitate in these pictures requires a similar kind of tray, and being impulsive, I went to hunt down for this particular prop.

You can happily labeled me as a food blogger now, actually blogging brings so much changes in your persona, and am currently enjoying it. Ha..

This is falafel, the middle eastern chickpea fritters but not your average one. Like my earlier baingan ka bharta, this one too comes with a twist and has been adapted to Indian palate. This is herbed falafel, sounds exotic..eh..with goodness of three different kind of herbs, mint, cilantro and parseley.

This recipe is partly inspired from a cookbook – step-by-step finger food series , but the comparison ends there. If you love Indian food, then you have to love koftas, with vegetables, paneer or meat, koftas are simply my favourite one, dunked in rich sauce, they are just irresistable. Once the idea starts dancing in my mind, I can not wait further, I added almond paste, ginger paste with garam masala, coated with bread crumbs and deep fried them in hot oil. Deep fried ??? eek..so much oil…beleive me I have tried the baked one too, but it lacks all the crispyness….cant help it. see…

So you can either enjoy these herbed falafel wrapped in pita bread with a dash of hummus over it or dunked them as a kofta in rich ginger-almond sauce, falafels wont mind it and you will never regret your decision. If you did not like the twist, blame your chickpeas or spices, but not me…

Instructions

Soak the chickpeas overnight in water, drain and reserve them.

Cook the chickpeas in pressure cooker or slow cook them till they are just tender. Do not overcook them, they should not be mushy.

Toast the cumin and corainder seeds in a dry frying pan over low heat for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

Cool slightly then finely grind into a powder.

Add to the bowl of chickpeas, then add the fava beans or cooked bulghur, garlic and ginger, parsely, mint and cilantro,almond paste, bread crumbs, salt and garam masala if using to the same bowl.

Transfer to a food processor and puree the mixture.

Using your hands, form the mixture into flat rounds, 3-4 cm in diameter.

Place on a tray, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

You can prepare this mixture one day before too and refrigerate it until use.

Deep fried the falafel at high heat in hot oil until golden and crispy.

To make the sauce:

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the boiled onion paste. Saute till the onion becomes translucent, do not brown them.

Add the ginger paste, followed by almond-pistachio paste and saute on low heat for few minutes.

Sprinkle white pepper powder and paprika over it, salt to taste and add 1 cup warm water, simmer them on low heat till the sauce thickens.

Quick notes

Think ahead : you can make the falafel mixture and form the rounds, then refrigerate, covered for 3 days until use.

Preparation time: 40 min + overnight soaking + 30 min refrigeration

Cooking time: 35 min + 10 min (for sauce)

Diet type: Vegetarian

Number of servings (yield): 4

Culinary tradition: Middle Eastern

My rating 5 stars: ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

This post is linked to MM#2 : Ginger-Almond

Coming up next – Valentines special a week full of deliciousness, we have heard cupid has a new address now ….here…

Stay tuned until next

Sukanya