Falafel - The Arabian French
Fry
picture by egullet.com
Is it falafel,
falafal, fallafull, felapal, filfil, or what? What is it? Is it Greek?
Arabic? Israeli? Turkish or what? Who cares?
It's good, eat it and be happy!
During my college years
when my friend learned that I had grown up in the Middle East, he posed
a theory: no-one knows what is in a falafel. To prove his point
we walked down to the local "Mediterranean" food place near
campus and he demanded an answer from the owner/chef. It went like this:
- OK, what is
in a falafel?!!
- Well, there
is chickpeas, and spices.
- What spices?
- Different spices,
depending on how you like it.
My friend was up in arms and
laughed and stammered in awe. I think it was left like this. In any
case, I also think my friend won, if we were betting on something, but
the nature of falafel is its change-ability and I've had falafels ranging
from all kinds of flavors and textures, some had peas, some had those
little nuts, some had funky tasting jazz in them, etc.
In the Middle East, giving
my predilection for re-wording things in a Western slant, the falafel
is the Arabian French Fry.
Falafel is usually served on the side in the Middle East, as
a side dish to shawarma or as a integral part of a mezze meal.
In the West, well in the States
at least, falafel is touted by all kinds of vegetarians and health conscious
people, well loved for its high concentration of protein. Healthy it
is not, however, as the way its prepared is by chucking the formed balls
into a vat of bubbling oil.
Falafels are delicious, and
should be eaten by themselves, not chopped up in a sandwich (though
they are excellent as such as well), but whole and dipped in either
tahini or hummus. Falafels are usually made
in vast wok-size units of bubbling oil and are only edible when freshly
made (don't buy them and save them for hours later).
The falafel makers
usually have a bowl of their special greenish falafel mix (each restaurant
has their own secret recipe) and scoop the mix with this odd looking
metallic instrument which sort of forms the wet mix into a falafel ball.
Then with a flick of a handle, the ball drops into the vat of oil, frying
up immediately into a wonderful snack.
Usually at Middle Eastern shawarma places they often give you a falafel
to munch on while you wait… makes the time go by a little bit better.
What makes a falafel is ground
chickpeas/aka garbanzo beans, the same stuff in hummus.
What makes it unique is what you add to it.
----->
Falafel pg. 2 - To find out how to get or make your own falafel at home
shawarma
article & recipe - hummus article &
recipe- garlic
sauce recipe
