Falafel

*not my picture-mine looks WAY messier than
this but tastes wonderful, I'll take a pic this
weekend and replace*

Falafel has turned out to be one of my favorite meals. It's cheap, simple, delicious, nutritious and meat-free. Here's how I do it.

I buy falafel mix in the box (picture a box of rice-a-roni or potatoes). You can find this for sure at a health food store, but I also get it in the "International" aisle at Food Lion, Bi-Lo (sometimes) and Ingles. A box is about $3.50 and I can get about 5 single size servings out of it. It's super easy. You measure out how much mix you want (it's powdered) and add water according to box directions. Then you wait 10 minutes for the water to absorb. As you're waiting, heat some oil for frying on the stove. After about ten minutes, form the mixture into small balls (think 2 Tablespoons) and fry a few minutes on each side (could be quicker if oil is VERY hot).

I serve this two ways.

1) as a sandwich (serve inside a pita pocket with tomatoes, lettuce, onion and tatziki sauce

2) as an entree (serve balls alone with a tomato/onion/cucumber salad and tatziki sauce over the falafel. Pita chips and hummus make an excellent side for this as well.

I make my own tatziki, but it is available in most deli sections by the hummus.

Here's how I do it:

1 6 oz container of Greek Yogurt (has to be real gk yogurt: cost $1)
1 t olive oil
1 T lemon juice
1 clove minced garlic
1/3 C diced cucumber
salt

I don't really measure because as long as you are close to the measurements it will be fine. Just mix up and let sit in the fridge at least 30-45 minutes to let the flavors marry!

*** You can bake falafel in the oven, but the texture is not the same as frying...it still tastes wonderful.

***You can save the raw mixture in the fridge to fry another day, or fry all of it and warm it up as needed, I do both depending on if I want to be done frying or not!