Felafel

[Elaine de Saxe]

Quite the nicest home-made Felafel. Leaves the packet stuff for dead even if it's a bit more work.

You can use Edgell's canned Chick Peas - I did, they are Australian-grown and with a bit of washing, come up well and tasted just fine. A heckuva lot less work and power to prepare if there's only one or two people.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s2644634.htm

[Scarlett Patrick]

excellent :)

[Anthony Foo]

Nth Qld version of Green Papaya Salad
3 Cloves peeled Garlic
Salt
4 to 6 Scud Chilli's
1 tablespoon heaped Roasted peanut
2 tablespoons dried Prawns shrimp
1 Slice Lime optional
4 Cherry Tomatoes quartered
2 Snake Beans cut into 1cm lengths
1 cup shredded Green Papaya
2 tablespoons Palm Sugar
1 tablespoon Lime juice
1 tablespoon Tamarind Water
2 tablespoons Fish sauce

Pound garlic, salt and chillies in a pestle and mortar.
Add peanuts & dried prawns and pound into a coarse paste.
Add lime, if using, then add cherry tomatoes and beans to the mortar, and gently mash together.
Add green papaya and bruise.
Season with palm sugar, lime juice, tamarind water and fish sauce.
Eat with wedges of cabbage, cucumber slices and snake beans
Coconut rice is also a good with this salad, just cook the rice with coconut milk

[Elaine de Saxe]

Felafel - update.

I confused everyone including myself about the Chick Peas.

• the original recipe called for raw but soaked Chick Peas.
• my soaked ones didn't look swelled enough so I bought canned Chick Peas.

NOW that I have eaten a batch made with the original, very well-soaked but raw Chick Peas, I can report ...

* for our taste, cooked Chick Peas have more flavour than the raw ones.

Again, it's a matter of taste. For sheer convenience, canned Australian-grown Chick Peas are hard to beat. If you prefer a raw or near-raw diet, then go for the raw soaked ones and steady on the heating.

[Lyn H]

Thanks Elaine - tasty dinner for tonight!! :)

[Elaine de Saxe]

Felafel Update:

We've discovered a liking for Lima Beans rather than the Chick Peas this was originally made with.

Whether sprouted or un-sprouted, even though we both prefer raw food, raw Lima Beans and Chick Peas are not to our liking. So we started out using canned ones and progressed to sprouted home-cooked (in a crock pot) beans/peas and find them very tasty indeed.

Chick Peas (sprouted and slow-cooked) when served with a salad with or without dressing are *simply delicious*! If you're looking for an alternative to cheese with your salad, these are front runners. My preference is for lemon juice and olive oil, my partner's is for Melrose's Apple Cider vinegar.

Whether Chick Peas or Lima Beans or indeed any other pulses, the fresher you can buy them the better. They soak up water very well, start to sprout and cook to tender in a couple of hours in a crock pot. Use boiling water to start and turn down to low after they start to boil. Skim off any froth.

Some of the beans/peas which I originally sprouted have turned into plants and I've planted the climbing Lima Beans and haven't found a space yet for the bush Chick Peas. Probably not a viable alternative to buying them, at $6 a kilo in a bulk shop, it would cost more than that in fertilizer, garden space and time to grow all of my own but it's fun to see what the plants are like and to see if the pods are edible when young and green.

[sue english]

we had felafel the other night with hummous and tzatziki dip. yum. i have just retired from work so am enjoying spending more time cooking interesting food

[Elaine de Saxe]

I can relate to that! If you find that, after a while, you wonder how you ever had time to go to work, then your retirement is an outrageous success! Did you use Simon's recipe?

[sue english]

you are so right about wondering how i found time to go to work.i don't however think i am doing anymore than i used to - i think i am just doing things properly now rather than just giving everything a lick and a promise.i have only been retired for 2 weeks so am still catching up on jobs that haven't been done for years cleaning out cupboards etc.o is a recipe i have kind of put together from a few different ones and used to use fficially i am on long service till the end of feb with a view to seeing how i copw with being at home. guess what i'm thinking! i don't care if i never set foot in the place again now that i have made the initial break. anyway back to the recipe- no it is one i have kind of put together from a few different ones over the years. i used to make it a lot before i went back to work. they are all similar though aren't they?

[Elaine de Saxe]

Probably there are variations of Felafel - for instance we prefer Lima Beans to Chick Peas however delightful CPs are in other dishes. It just beats the dried stuff I used to use by a country mile. Simon's is the best foundation I've come across ... having tried a few others earlier on. Even then, everyone makes their own tweaks and variations. Regardless ... we *love* our Felafel especially with plenty of fresh mint! We don't use Yoghurt, however much of this stuff I used to eat in years gone by and even made Kefir from raw milk --- just can't hack those animal products these days and our slimming and blood-glucose-reduction efforts have been more successful with a vegan-style mostly-raw diet. Anyway ... I digress!