falafel me crazy

falafel. delicious middle eastern fast food. i love it. it's awesome. so, why not attempt to make a healthier (aka baked not fried) version at home? doesn't seem too hard to make, non? well. it drove me crazy. absolutely crazy. this was possibly the biggest kitchen fail i've had to date! not the actual falafel. that actually turned out really really well, it was just the falafel making process.

here's a story for ya. we have small food processor. as i found out in the middle of prep, it is so old it doesn't work. so what do you do to fix this? blend it. well, that sort of helped.. but it started making chickpea soup. basically, i spent 2 hours mushing up and chopping through the mix so it was smooth enough to make falafel with. pleaaase have a food processor that works if you make this. please. i beg you.

crispy, fluffy, yummy!

what you need:
1 can of chickpeas
1 small onion
3 tbsp chopped parsley (and cilnatro but i left it out cause i loathe it)
4 cloves garlic
3 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt and pepper
4 tbsp whole wheat flour

step 1: 
pre-heat oven to 400. in a food processor, combine chickpeas, roughly chopped onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and blend until well chopped, but not pureed together. sprinkle on the baking powder and flour and pulse a few more times.

try to get your mixture smoother than this. my arm was clearly too tired..

step 2:
scoop a small amount of the mixture into your hand and try to shape into a ball. if it falls apart, add more flour to the mix.

it should look something like this

step 3: 
press down and place into an oiled oven-safe dish. bake for 10 minutes each side or until nice and golden brown! they were still crispy on the outside, and fluffy on the inside, without frying them!

these freeze really well! after you've rolled and squished them, just place them in a ziploc bag and lay flat in your freezer. you can eat them plain, dip them in tzatziki (recipe to follow!), or you can put it in a pita like i did. so yummy!

ingredient of the week: eggplant

ok folks! blog is seriously up and running again with a new installment of ingredient of the week! this time its eggplant. oh glorious, tender, buttery eggplant! i must admit, i wasn't a big fan of eggplant until quite recently. same with a lot of things though, which is good i guess! olives are still off the list of edible food in my mind though, and i'm positive they will stay there for a very, very long time. yuck. anyways, yes, back to eggplant. i really think it's one of the most attractive, yummy, i-want-to-eat-you-right-meow vegetable/fruit things out there. it helps that i love love love love the colour purple, especially aubergine!

before we get started on some health benefits, lets talk about a random fact. eggplant, as everyone knows, is quite bitter due to the little seeds. why? because - who woulda thought - eggplant is a close relative of tobacco, and the seeds contain nicotine! ... kind of gross!aaanyways, health stuff! yes! that's why we're here! eggplants are full of vitamins and minerals, such as potassium, manganese, copper, folate, niacin, vitamin B1 and B6, as well as having a high dose of good ol' dietary fiber. yum yum! it's also super low in calories, approximately 27 per cup! all that goodness in so little calories? oh count me in!

oooooh preeetttyyyyyy

on the larger scale, eggplant play a key role in living a healthy life. first off, it's great for your cardiovascular health. basically, compounds in eggplant lower the amount of cholesterol in the artery walls, allowing them to relax. this means better blood flow to the heart and to the body. and, as you may have guessed from it's colour, eggplant has lots and lots of antioxidants and phytonutrients, specifically nasunin, which is found in the skin of the fruit. this is a potent free-radical scavenger and protects cells from damage, as well as having antiangiogenic properties (YOU MUST WATCH THIS TEDTALK). basically, that means it can slow down/prevent cancer tumor growth by cutting off angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones)

earlier this week i made a slightly edited version of my yiayia's lebanese eggplant stew, called menazzaleh. her version was very simple, and i wanted to add a few more spices to give it some depth. i also have decided to change a few things in the recipe since making it. anyways, this is what i came up with!
(sidenote: i must apologize for the crap photos. the lighting in my basement apartment isn't very good. i swear, most of the stuff i post from now on will taste better than it looks!)

looks crap, tastes delicious!

what you need:
3 medium eggplant (dark purple variety)
1 can of chickpeas + some liquid
5 tomatoes (you can use canned as well)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon (even if you don't like cinnamon in savory food, just put a little sprinkle. it adds so much depth to the dish!)
pinch of nutmeg
2.5 cups chicken stock

step 1:
preheat oven to 300. cut eggplant into bite sized chunks. my yiayia cut them in rounds, but it made the cooking process so long that bite sized is definitely easier. lay on a sieve and sprinkle on some salt. add paper towel between the layers to soak up extra liquid. leave for 15 - 30 mins.
step 2:
while waiting for your eggplant, slice your onion thin and start sauteing in a large pan with some olive oil. i like my onion very caramelized, but you can take it as far as you like. by this point, you can wash off your eggplant, put them in an oven safe dish with a little olive oil and bake for ~30 minutes, depending on the size.
step 3:
once your onions are done, add in your chopped garlic and saute until fragrant, then add your tomatoes, stock and chickpea liquid. cook this down for ~10 minutes. add in your chickpeas, turmeric, nutmeg, paprika and cumin, and stir everything to combine and cook for another 15 minutes.
step 4: 
once your eggplant is done, add into the pan with the other ingredients and sprinkle your cinnamon on top. at this point, i layered eggplant, then chickpea mix into an oven safe dish to bake, buuut forgot to buy some kefalotyri so it was pointless. you can just leave it in the pan to finish stewing for another 20 minutes or until chickpeas are tender. then you're done! serve with brown rice.

yum yum yum

holy hummous

i like hommous. i have it with pita, veggies, crackers, souvlaki, on sandwiches or even just by itself. it's really nutritious, high in protein, iron and fibre (the type that keeps blood sugars from rising too quickly) and is useful in vegetarian or vegan diets as it creates a full protein when eaten with starch. recipes vary depending on where you are, lebanese hummous is very different from greek hummous. i obviously like the greek hummous more because that's how i've always eaten it. since i'm living away from home and don't have all the proper kitchen tools, i made this in a blender. it came out a lot more smooth but it tastes the exact same. plus, keeping it in the fridge helped it thicken.

ingredients for life

 what you need:
14 oz can of chickpeas with some liquid
2 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon (i always add more - i like mine very lemony)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 paprika
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/4 cup tahini (optional, but it adds extra flavour and protein)
salt and pepper

step 1:
put chickpeas in blender with a bit of the liquid, lemon juice and oil. blend until smooth.
step 2:
add in cumin, paprika, garlic, tahini, parsley and salt and pepper. blend until mixed together. taste - at this point i usually add in a ton more lemon juice, but this is when you can adjust the flavours to how you like it.
step 3:
garnish with paprika, parsley and an olive in the middle. i obviously didn't put the olive on cause i am the only greek on this earth to not like olives. i know... it's weird.

enjoy  : )

curry me chickpea

so last weekend i came back to vancouver after spending some time with the famjam. well, i was supposed to go grocery shopping on my way back, but it was so rainy that i just didn't feel like it. actually, i felt that way for the whole entire week. so basically, the only fresh thing i had in my fridge was an onion, not really too useful. so, i managed to make food so that i could survive - i had kd one night and tomato soup the next, not really inspiring or creative. but then i came up with this a super good meal, which to be honest i don't even know how i put together considering i basically had nothing.

chickpeas are always in my pantry. they are featured on one of my favourite websites, World's Healthiest Foods. it's basically a website that has a list of the top 100 vegetables, fruits, legumes and grains that are good for you, and includes an in-depth nutritional analysis and lists health benefits of the particular food. it's a super useful tool when deciding what to eat and what not to eat, and also has some interesting recipes too. i encourage you to check it out!

chickpeas  : )

anyways, chickpeas are really high in iron, manganese and molybdenum - a mineral which detoxifies sulfites (similar to MSG), which are preservatives added to prepared foods. people who are sensitive to sulfites can have symptons such as rapid heart rate, headaches and nausea. chickpeas are also high in dietary fibre, which lowers cholesterol and prevents your blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal. important to note: if you're vegetarian you may have heard of creating a 'complete protein'. by mixing chickpeas with whole grains you create a high quality, fat-free protein.

anyways, onto the meal!

what you will need:
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger, crushed
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala
small splash of white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1/2 can of diced tomatoes (with some of the liquid)
medium cube of frozen spinach

step 1:
in a pot on medium heat, saute onions for ~5 minutes or till soft. add in garlic and ginger and stir. once a bit brown, add in curry powder, garam masala and cumin. stir and let cook for ~1 minute. add wine to deglaze the pan.
step 2:
stir in chickpeas and tomatoes (with liquid). add in chicken stock and stir. simmer for about 10 minutes or until desired consistency. (i made mine more thick)
step 3:
add in spinach and sugar (if desired) and stir. take off heat and serve with brown rice, naan or lettuce leaves.

curried chickpeas on brown rice