A Favorite Cookbook

Cooking vegetarian isn't something I choose to do that often, but when I do, Mollie Katzen's original Moosewood Cookbook is one of my go to cookbooks.  I'm sharing two recipes today; one for baked falafel (or as The Husband says " You can't say falafel without saying awful"), and lemon-tahini dressing. 

Unfortunately, I totally blanked out as I made the lemon-tahini sauce which is the recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook that I wanted to blog about so I have no pictures today.  I will provide you with the recipe along with some excellent baked falafel.  This is an experiment that went very well.  Usually falafel is fried in oil but I tried instead to bake them and see what happened.  They turned out to be slightly crisp using just a tad bit of olive oil on the bottom of the baking dish.  A much healthier alternative to the original method.

I just love falafel and lemon-tahini together with veggies as a sandwich in pita bread along with some cucumber tzatziki sauce as I have blogged about previously, or just falafel mashed up over a bowl of brown rice with the lemon-tahini sauce over the top.  It's a very filling alternative to a meat based meal.

Baked Falafel

1 15-19 oz can well drained and rinsed chickpeas
2 finely minced green onions
2 finely minced garlic cloves
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp tahini
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drizzle olive oil evenly in baking dish.

Mash chickpeas with a potato masher, then add onions and garlic and blend together.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until well combined. 

With floured hands, shape mix into ping-pong size balls and place in baking dish.  Bake 15-20 minutes on one side, then turn them over and bake another 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Lemon-Tahini Sauce

3/4 cups tahini
3/4 cups plain Greek style yogurt
1 medium clove of garlic, minced well
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 finely minced green onion
3 Tbsp finely minced parsley
Salt to taste
dash or two of cayenne pepper
dash or two of paprika
1 tsp ground cumin

Beat all of the ingredients together well, using a whisk or wooden spoon.  The more you whip it, the thicker it becomes.  Serve at room temperature over falafel, sauteed vegetables or if thinned, this makes an excellent salad dressing.