Chickpea Patties “Falafel”(The Daring Cooks’ February Challenge: Flipping Fried Patties!!!)

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arabic salad, chickpea patties, chickpeas, daring cooks, falafel, falafel spices, fried falafel, legumes, middle eastern food, pita bread, pita sandwiches, sandwiches, tahini sauce

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

A Middle Eastern delight: Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas and/or fava beans and they’ve been fast food in the Middle East forever. Falafel is usually served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread. The falafel patties are topped with salads, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, and drizzled with tahini-based sauces. Falafel patties may also be eaten alone as a snack or served as part of a meze. Falafel patties are appealing to children and are a good source of protein.

The origin of falafel is unknown and controversial. A common theory is that the dish originated in Egypt, Where is known as ta’amiya, possibly eaten by Copts as a replacement for meat during Lent. As it generally accepted to have first been made in Egypt, where Alexandria is a port city, it was possible to export the dish and name to other areas in the Middle East. It has also been theorized to a lesser extent that falafel originated during Egypt’s Pharaonic Period or in the Indian subcontinent. The dish later migrated northwards to the Levant, where chickpeas replaced the fava. Falafel has become a dish eaten throughout the Middle East and the fritters are now found around the world as a replacement for meat and as a form of street food. In modern times, falafel has been considered a national dish of Egypt and for the levant countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and specially for Palestine, where also the Israeli’s now claimed it to them selves after occupying the lands of Palestine in the mid 1900’s.

As with the falafel, dried chickpeas are a must for this recipe; the canned version are simply too soft and patties will fall apart.
Don’t use a food processor; it makes the mixture too runny to shape into patties. You can shape the Falafel by hand or use the falafel mold or scoop “Aleb Falafel”, it’s used both commercially and at home to shape the falafel and drop them straight into the hot oil.

1 pound dried chickpeas
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bundle of Parsley, washed and stems trimmed
1 bundle of cilantro, washed and stems trimed
2 slices of stale bread
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground dill seeds
1 tablespoon dried dill weed or chopped fresh dill weed
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes, optional
Salt and pepper, as needed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1\2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
sesame seeds, optional

Make the Falafel:
Rinse and clean the chickpeas, then soak in water for at least overnight or 24 hours. Check if it needs more water, and make sure it’s all covered and the water is 2 inch above the chickpeas.
Drain the chickpeas and place them with the onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and the bread in the bowl, then grind them in the meat grinder. I use the kitchen aid meat grinder, try not to use the food processor because it will make the batter too runny and mushy.
Run the ingredients through the grinder the first time, add the bread after grinding all the other ingredients, as this will help get every bit remaining of chickpeas and parsley from the grinder.
Add the spices and mix it together, then run the mix for second time through the grinder and grind it very fine, I used the smallest size of the grinder disk.
At this step, you can divide the mix into patches and freeze some for a quick and handy prepared falafel mix, just you have to defrost first then continue with the next step.
When you are ready to fry the falafel, add the salt, pepper, baking soda and baking powder. Mix will, and let set for 10 min before frying. If you see the mix too dry add a couple of tablespoon of water and mix.

Heat the oil. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls, or patties shape. you can use the falafel mold to shape it, sprinkle with sesame seed if you wish, and deep-fry or pan-fry in hot oil.
If you want a lighter falafel version, you can bake them, and you will get the healthier and still have the same delicious taste, You will have to arrange the patties in an oiled oven sheet, then spray the patties with oil and bake. But the traditional way is to fry falafel, to me I hardly die for fried ones.

Sandwiches:

to make the sandwiches, it’s a traditional way to serve with pita bread, the pocket pita is the perfect. you can use any size of pita, here I used the mini size “the griddler pita”, it’s the same recipe for pita bread but the only thing is it baked on the griddler.

6 to 8 pita, lightly toasted and warmed (recipe will posted soon in a separate post)
tahini sauce, recipe follow
Arabic simple salad, recipe follow
Hummos (recipe will posted in a separate post)

Make the Sandwiches: Stuff the pita with falafel patties inside, top with salad, and drizzle with the tahini sauce. Serve immediately.

The Arabic simple vegetable salad:

1 cup Shredded lettuce
1\2 cup Tomato, chopped
2 tablespoon red onion, chopped
1\2 cup cucumbers, chopped
1\2 cup parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a large bowl, toss all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper.

Tahini Sauce:

1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Mash the garlic and salt together. Add the tahini, mixing well. The sauce will thicken. Gradually add the water, blending thoroughly. Then add the lemon juice. Blend well.

Note: This can be a thin or thick sauce, depending upon the use and preference. Simply adjust with lemon juice and water. This can be used with vegetables or in combination with other recipes.

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Tamales: The Daring Cooks January Challenge.

Tags

beef filling, Broth, corn husks, daring cooks, Latin American, masa dough, masa harina, Mexican cuisine, roasted poblanos, shredded beef, stuffing tamales, Tamale, tamale filling, tomatillos

 

 

Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

Very thanks for Maranda for this opportunity to make the Tamale. Tamales were on my must do recipes for a while, since I can’t buy any Tamales from stores or any place they sell these because either of the pork filling they use or even the pork lard they use in the masa. So it was one of the recipes on my list to do at home for a long time, but with my busy schedule lately, I couldn’t make it until I saw the challenge and said its time…

Tamales are well-known at this time of the year, and every region of Latin America has it’s own version of the tamales. Served at the conclusion of Mexican las Posadas celebrations on Christmas Eve, family and friends gather together for making tamales. Good tamale is measured by the quality of it’s masa or corn dough. The light airy, with a distinctive billowy texture masa dough is considered the excellent.

Masa, the Mexican word for the corn dough used to make tamales, is a mixture of fat, a leavener, and either masa harina or fresh masa whipped together.
Fresh masa is made from corn that’s first sun-or fire-dried, then cooked and soaked overnight before being rehydrated in pickling lime. finally, it’s ground and pressed into large blocks. It’s perishable from any local Mexican market, so keep it refrigerated.
Masa harina is the dried version of fresh masa. A long shelf life makes it widely available, but be sure to buy the masa harina and not the instant masa, which has fats and leaveners already added.

You don’t need to set a big time in making tamales, make your self free with preparing them in stages. Start with the filling then make the masa dough.

Tackling the tamale is super simple. Corn husks are the tamale wrapper, look for the big ones and set aside the one with holes, these are perfect for tying the tamale after soaking them in water.
Steam tamale in a pot tall enough to allow them to stand up when the led is in place. You can use a vegetable steamer.
Two things critical during steaming tamales, don’t let water touch the tamale or they will be dense, heavy, and water logged. Second, periodically check to see that your water hasn’t boiled away, leaving a dry pot. Add more water if there’s no steam rising when you sneak peak. I used glass cover.

Mexican Tamales

Beef and Corn Chile Tamale Filling:

1\2 cup diced onion
1 table spoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
I large red tomato, seeded and diced
2 poblano chile pepper, roasted, seeded, and diced (less heat than jalapeno, Anaheim, or Serrano but you still can use these if you prefer)
2 tomatillos roasted, skin removed, and diced
1 cup frozen corn, washed
shredded cooked beef (recipes down)
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1\2 teaspoon black pepper

Start with roasting the poblanos and tomatillos in the oven, it will take 10 min. under the broiler on 500 f. after roasting take out the outside skin and the seeds for the chile, then dice.
Sweet the onion in oil, uncovered over medium heat,until softened. Add the garlic, sauté a little more, then add the red tomato. Bring mixture to simmer covered for 5 min. Add the poblano chile and the tomatillos, stir and season with salt and pepper. With a blender, blend the sauce until it’s smooth.

Stir in the corn, cilantro and shredded beef, chill in the fridge, the filling must be completely cold.

for cooking the beef:

1 lb beef chuck roast, cut into large cubes
1\2 yellow onion, quartered
4-5 whole black pepper
2-3 whole bay leaves, dried
1\2 stick cinnamon
2-3 whole cardamom

Boil the beef cubes in about 4 cups hot water(using pressure cooker), add all the ingredients, cover and cook the beef for 20-25 min.
Remove the cubes from the broth, reserve the broth for the masa harina dough. Season the beef with salt and pepper. After cooling, shred the beef with forks.

for the masa harina dough:

9 tablespoon cold vegetable shortening, like Crisco
1 stick cold unsalted butter
1 1\2 teaspoon salt
1 1\2 teaspoon baking powder
3 1\4 cups masa harina
1 teaspoon anis seeds
1\2 teaspoon garlic powder
1\2 teaspoon onion powder
2 1\2 cups beef broth
corn husks soaked in hot water

Start with the corn husks. Separate and keep the largest. Place the husk in large pot filled with hot water, keep the husks covered completely with water and set aside to let soak for at least 3 hours.

combine shortening , butter, salt and baking powder for the masa harina dough in the bowl of stand mixer, beat with the paddle attachment until mixture is fluffy and light. Continue beating while slowly sprinkle in masa harina, with the mixer still running, slowly add 2 1\4 cups of the broth, scraping the bowl sides, this will take about 5 min.

Drop a teaspoon of the dough in cold water to test whether you’ve incorporated enough air into the dough. If the dough floats, it’s ready, if not beat the dough 1-2 min more.
Slowly beat in the remaining broth into the masa dough, the dough is ready when it’s the consistency of thick cake batter.Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.

working with 1 husk at a time, place a husk smooth side up with narrow end toward you . scoop 1\4 cup masa dough onto upper third of the husk.
spread the dough in a square with 1 inch border between the masa and the top of the husk, wet fingers or spoon works best to spread the dough. Spoon 2 teaspoon of the filling down the centre of the masa dough.
Bring long sides of the husks together, rolling dough over filling to seal it, holding edges of the long sides of the husk together, roll together to encase the dough and filling.Fold bottom third of the husk toward the center, tie in place with a torn strip of husk.

place tamales upright in the steamer, don’t pack the tamales too tight, they need the room to expand. Add extra husk to fill in any open space, cover and reduce the heat and let water to simmer.
Steam the tamales for 1 1\4- 1 1\2 hours. Tamales are done when they’re firm and husks easily pull away from masa.

Serve with salsa verdi, some avocado cubes and crumbles queso cheese on top

The Daring Cooks’ December, 2011 Challenge: CHICKEN CHA SUI & CHA SUI BAO

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Baking, barbecue chicken, buns, Chicken Char Sui Bao, daring cooks

 

Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

It’s been a while since the last post I did, very sorry for that. keeping track of posting is very tough ,especially with full everyday schedule. I was very busy that I couldnt even open the internet, but will try to keep on as I can and manage my time.

Today post is my favourite recipe, I did it before several times, and every time tried different flavours for the barbecue. They are my favorite for many reasons:
First of all and the important, these are my kids favorite…
Adorable, satisfying, and convenient for everyday snacks…
Great as lunch box meal for the school…
Delicious…
Barbecue on the go…

For the recipe, I made the chicken barbecue with asian flavour. First I marinade the chicken with soya and teriyaki sauce, then baked the chicken in the oven bag, this make the very tender and flavorful. I did the same dough recipe that was given in the challenge and I love, the dough was very successful and the buns turned on very soft and delicious.

Many thanks for Sara for the great recipes and challenge.

Chicken Char Sui Bao

2 small whole chicken
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon (3 gm) ginger, grated
1 tablespoon corn oil
1 ½ tablespoons honey
1\4 cup soy sauce
1\4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon five spice powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1\2 teaspoon cardamom

to do the barbecue chicken bun filling
1 small yellow onion minced very fine
1 cup chicken stock(that formed in the bag from baking the chicken)
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 tablespoon cornflour

Clean the chicken. Place the chicken in oven bag, add all the ingredient for the marinade except the onions. With a sharp knife tip, stick the chicken on every side, this will flavour the inside of the chicken meat. Place the chicken in the refrigerator to let marinade overnight.
Bake the chicken in 450 f oven, for 3\4 an hour. It depends also on the size of the chicken(mine was small). Open the bag and put the oven under the broiler until browned.

Let the chicken to cool down a little, and make sure to save some of the stock that formed in the oven bag. Take off the bones and skin from the chicken, and with 2 forks shred the chicken meat into small pieces.
In a small sauce pan, add corn oil then the minced onions,sauté until lightly golden. Add 1 cup of the chicken stock that came down from the barbecue. Add some more soya and teriyaki. In separate cup add 3 tablespoon water to the cornflour, mix very well, add the mixer to the sauce in the pan. Stir and let it thickened alittle. Add the shredded chicken, mix it with the barbecue sauce, set aside to make the buns dough.

Dough Ingredients

2½ teaspoons (8 gm/1 satchel) of dried yeast
¼ cup (55 gm/2 oz) sugar
½ cup warm water
2 cups (280 gm/10 oz) plain flour
1 egg (medium size – slightly beaten)
3 tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon (3 gm) salt
Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with a dash of water
(1 cup=240 ml, 1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)

Place the sugar and warm water in a bowl, mix until the sugar has dissolved. Add yeast and leave it for 10 – 15 minutes until it becomes all frothy.
Sift flour in to a large bowl.
Add yeast mixture, egg, oil and salt and stir. Bring the flour mixture together with your hands.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and slightly elastic.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to rise until it is double in size. This will take from 1 – 2 hours depending on weather conditions.
Once dough has doubled in size knock back and divide in to 12 portions and shape in to round balls.

Use a rolling pin to roll out to approximately 5cm (2 inches) in diameter. Then pick the piece of dough up and gently pull the edges to enlarge to about 8cm (3 inches) in diameter
By doing this it keeps the dough slightly thicker in the centre. This means when your buns are cooking they won’t split on the tops.
Place a good sized tablespoon of filling on the dough circle. Then gather the edges and seal your bun. Place the bun seal side down on your baking tray.

Continue with rest of dough. Once all buns are complete brush surface with egg wash. Place in a preheated oven of 200º C/392º F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Cooking with Tea: The Daring Cooks November Challenge

Tags

beef rolls, cabbage salad, cooking with tea, daring cooks, main dish, tea vinaigrette

Tea is one of the oldest ingredients used in the kitchen – and at the same time, one of the newest.
Cooking with tea, is all about bringing this remarkably versatile, healthful, and flavorful ingredient into our food. cooking with tea doesn’t meant that the food will entirely taste as tea, but it will improve the flavors, and add something more.
Cooking with tea, let us looking at it from another way outside the cup. Tea can be used to flavor many  savory dishes from appetizers to main dishes, tea has now a wide usage in deserts too.

Sarah  from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

This is my first time to cook with tea, many thanks to Sarah for giving us the opportunity. I’m very pleased with the dishes I made using the tea as either one of the ingredient or as a cooking technique, the tea gave an extra flavors to the meat, plus it was a good and a daring step to include it in the salad dressing.

Apple and Cabbage Salad with Lemon Tea Vinaigrette

1 apple cut into quarters, then thinly sliced
red cabbage thinly shredded
1 cup fresh arugula
pecan

for the lemon tea vinaigrette:

2 bags spiced lemon tea
2 tablespoon apple cider
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon olive oil
1\4 teasoppn powdered ginger
1\2 teaspoon sugar
salt and fresh ground black pepper

To make the lemon tea vinaigrette, steep the tea bags in 1\4 cup hot water for 2-3 hours. Whisk together, all the ingredient for vinaigrette with the steeped tea, set aside.
On a salad plate, toss the cabbage, apples slices, and the arugula with the vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper, serve immediately with sprinkle of some pecan on the top.

Beef Rolls with Orange Tea

3 bags spiced orange tea
2 thick cut beef tenderloin
2 tablespoon steak spices (include garlic and pepper)
fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon white vinaigrette
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green bell pepper,sliced
2 large carrots, cut into slices lengthwise
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon soya sauce
1 tablespoon barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon corn starch

Place the tea bags in 1 cup hot water, let steep for about 2-3 hours.
Meanwhile, slice  the tenderloin steak in half lengthwise, the butterfly cut, or not all the way to the end. Place each strip, cut side up, between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and pound with the smooth side of a meat mallet or a heavy saucepan until flattened to about 1/8 inch thick. Season the beef slices with the steak spices, rosemary, white vinaigrette, olive oil, and 1\2 cup of the steeped tea, let marinade for at least an hour in the fridge.

On a large wide sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil, add the carrots strips, sauté for 2-3 minutes, then add the pepper slices, sauté for 1 minute.
To prepare rolls, lay a piece of beef on a work surface. Place some of the carrots and bell pepper crosswise on the beef. Roll the beef around the vegetables, support with tooth picks.

Place the roll, seam-side down, on the sauté pan, brown beef rolls over medium heat, turning to brown evenly. Transfer beef to a plate. Add the tomato paste into the pan, sauté for 1 min to give all the flavors of the sweet tomato paste, carefully add the remaining steeped tea, the corn starch, the barbecue sauce, and the soya, beating vigorously with a whisk until sauce is smooth and slightly thickened. Season to taste.

Pour some of the sauce over beef rolls, serve with some mashed potato in the side.