Falafel is one of the few vegan dishes I make where Bob doesn’t comment about eating food his food eats. He loves the things and still tells me of the mythical falafel place in NYC that he has somehow never taken me to. But after the totally inedible experiment last year (where we did actually just go out to eat since we could not eat what I made – the only time that had happened) I’ve been hesitant to try them again. But after a year, and with a huge craving for the things, I tried again. This time we had success.

I started out with the chickpeas that I froze after the experiment last year. I boiled them again, thinking this may have been part of the problem and then let them sit in the water to cool almost to room temperature. I took about a cup plus a little of the chickpeas, about half a large onion chopped up, a scant handful of parsley, a little oregano from the garden, one clove of garlic, a pinch of salt, a hot pepper blend, cumin, a teaspoon baking powder (new can, another possible source of the problem last year) and about five or six tablespoons of flour. I mixed it all up in the food processor until it formed a ball of dough.

I let it rest in the fridge for about a half hour while I put together the topping – cucumber, tomato and onion in a little mirin – and a tahini sauce.

The sauce was basic. Chopped parsley and oregano, scant pinch of salt, ground pepper, squeeze of one half of a lime and four tablespoons tahini. Mix well. That’s it.

Once the dough had rested, I heated sesame oil over medium high heat and used my trusty ice cream scoop to measure the dough. Heat one side then the other (4-5 minutes per side)

Then let them drain on a paper towel to get rid of some of the oil/grease. Yes, that can be the best part but I’m trying for a little healthy here.

To keep with the limited wheat thing, I made essentially a salad with these. Lettuce as the base then the falafel

then the cucumber mixture and the sauce.

This time, we had a success. Both Bob and I cleaned out plates – to the point where there was none left for Jessie.

Poor puppy.