Remember Party Girl with Parker Posey? That was the first time I'd heard of falafel. Nobody was serving falafel or hummus or anything remotely Middle Eastern in my small Arkansas hometown in 1995. But Parker Posey had a crush on her neighborhood falafel vendor and that was enough to convince a 14-year-old, newly-vegetarian, tiny punk rock Bianca that falafel must be delicious.I didn't get a chance to try the fried chickpea patties until years later ... maybe not even until I moved to Memphis in 2002. But now I'm a little sad I missed out all those years. We have this fabulous place in Memphis called Pita Wraps, and they stuff the BEST falafel in the world into giant pitas, along with hummus and all the fixins.
I've got no problem with the occasional fried food, but since I've been pigging out on all sorts of junk lately, I figured it was high time I try the Baked Falafel from Appetite for Reduction:
Yep, that's a tiny baked falafel ball hiding out in my pita. And it was pretty damn good for health food. Was it as satisfying as a fried falafel ball? Not quite. But the guilt-free feeling more than made up for the lack of a greasy bite.I also made a batch of Isa'a Horseradish-Dill Hummus from Appetite for Reduction to spread inside the pita. It's tahini-free, which means far less calories and fat than regular hummus. To tell you the truth, I didn't even miss the taste of the tahini. But I know tahini is super-good for you, so I did feel a little like I was cheating myself in the nutrition department by leaving it out.
That white sauce is a homemade tzatziki sauce: 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt, one grated cucumber, one minced garlic clove, and lots of dried dill and black pepper. Can you guess what the red stuff is? Yep, sriracha!! Of course.On the side, I made some of my Summer Tomato Salad:
I talked about this in my Jazzy Vegetarian Radio interview last week, and you can find the super-simple recipe here. It's juicy summer tomatoes, green peppers, Vidalia onion, and cucumber marinated in olive oil and vinegar. Yum!
OMG! That's the first time I heard of falafel too! Are we twins or something???
ReplyDeletewow.......looks delicious snacks.......i cant wait to try them
ReplyDeletei should send you my recipe for raw falafel...seriously good stuff!
ReplyDeleteI should probably make more AFR recipes. I have had pretty good luck with the recipes being flavorful. There are some in there that I know I'll never try; but many that I should. Does a batch of AFR falafel take up a whole bunch of parsley?
ReplyDeletewhat a delicious meal! i've made the baked falafel before, but not the horseradish dill hummus! i will have to make that soon!
ReplyDeleteThat falafel looks delicious! I've been meaning to make that recipe! Glad to see you enjoyed it, definitely makes me more inclined to put a rush on making it :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE when she bops up to the cart and orders a falafel and baba ganoush! Yay!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of falafel, which is probably a bit strange for a vegan. I LOVE hummus though! I really must buy AFR.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great movie and some tasty looking falafel. Love Parker Posey.
ReplyDeletelooks awesome. ive never made baked falafel before, but will definitely try out that recipe now. i also havent tried making a soy yogurt taziki yet because im so stuck on Veganomicons cashew version of it... so good.
ReplyDeleteI've never had fried falafel, since the only kind I've had has been my own and I've always baked it cause I'm just too lazy to fry things (what with all the grease and whatnot). I like the AfR kind too. But you gotta have a soy-yogurt sauce to make it worth your while!
ReplyDeleteI've also never used fresh parsley, just dried, but since I grew some this year, I should try it with fresh!