Sunday 3 May 2015

Falafel, Carrot Salad, Baba Ghanoush

After five days of austere eating, going out and buying loads and loads of different salad veggies today was just splendid. The plate looks so pretty, but I can't really claim much credit for this beauty. It does make me think, "I want to eat middle eastern food all summer". The falafel mixture was given to me by a foodie work colleague, Egyptian by birth. I bought the Baba from Sainsburys in a tub. I have never made it from scratch, as you need to cook aubergines over a flame, so they get charred and the whole thing tastes smoky (believe me, once you get a gobful of it with something hot and fried, and something else cool and crisp, it becomes incredible).
I shaped the falafel mixture into little patties and deep fried them at about 170f for just a couple of minutes.
For the carrot salad, I grated two very large carrots, and added a good grinding of salt, a big squeeze of lemon juice, a slug of olive oil and some finely snipped up coriander, including the stalks. This is one of those things you just have to taste, and adjust quantities as you like. Or add different things of course.
The food in the picture was served with a bread wrap (as I had some in already) but pittas were recommended by my colleague - I am sure they would be better. Nevertheless, this was a belter.