Oriental salad with falafel – I found this salad in an old edition of the german food magazin “Essen & Trinken” from july 2016 and the picture with this huge portion of salad with marinated red beets, fresh herbs like mint and dill made my mouth water. I tried the recipe for myself and find it excellent! Of course you can get your falafel for a few bucks at the corner, but this is a different league. It´s for a big table, eating with your friends and feel like being on the Djeema El Fna marketplace in Maroc. Yes, it is a little bit of work and you`ll need some things, but it is a first class recipe! I recommend to prepare first the salsa, then the falafel dough, afterwards the salad and at the end, you fry the falafels and put it all together.

Ingredients for 4 persons

Falafel (vegan)

300 g dried chickpeas (the precooked in a jar are not an option! because they don´t hold it together)

100 g onions

2 garlic cloves

4 sticks plain parsley

8 sticks cilantro

1 red chili

1 SS cumin seeds

1 TS cilantro seeds

4 capsules cardamomo (or a good pinch of the grounded one)

2 TS baking powder

salt and pepper

1 – 2 SS flour

sesam seeds for decoration

2 liters of oil for deep frying (or two fingers high oil in a pan also works)

Preparation

Soak the chickpeas overnight in abundant cold water, minimum for 8 hours. Let them drip of in a siev. Chop the onions and the garlic in fine cubes, clean the chili pepper, take the pits out and cut it in small pieces, wash the parsley and the cilantro greens, shake thema and cut them roughly. Give cumin and cilantro seeds plus the cardamom capsulas slightly pressed into a dry pan by medium heat and roast the spices for 1 – 2 minutes. Let them cool down and ground them finely (taking the capsulas out before). Put all just mencioned ingredients in a bowl and stir them. Give the baking powder, salt, pepper and a bit of water to this mixture and mix it all half fine. Then add the flour, cover the dough with a lid and put it in a cool place for 1/2 hour.

Form 16 balls from the dough with humid hands. Heat the oil on 170°C and fry the balls deep in 8 minutes. Take them out with a “foam scoop” and put them immediately onto a plate with sesam seeds, roll them around and put them finally onto a plate with kitchen paper to absorb the resting fat. Ready for eating! Directly with the salsa or on this marvellous salad. Eat them while they are still warm.

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Falafel sauce (vegetarisch)

150 g greek yoghurt

80 g tahini (sesame paste)

1 SS harissa (spicy!)

2 – 3 TS lemon juice

1 small garlic clove

salt, sugar

3 sticks plain parsley

1 SS pomegranate syrup

1 – 2 black onion seeds

Preparation

Roast the cumin seeds in a dry pan by medium heat for 2 minutes, let them cool down and blend them. Stir the yoghurt, tahini, harissa, 50 ml water and the lemon juice.

Grind the garlic and mix it with the cumin, salt and a bit sugar into the yoghurt. Chop the parsley leaves finely, pour the pomegranate syrup over the yoghurt and decorate it with the parsley leaves and the black onion seeds. Serve to the falafels! Or wrap it up with salad and some crunchy veggies. The sauce is quiet hot and spicy. Who wants it a bit smoother, take less harissa. The sauce is just gorgeous.

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Oriental salad for 4 – 6 persons (vegan)

Ingredients

6 SS olive oil

5 SS pomegranate syrup

juice from 1 lime

salt

sugar

1 TS dried oregano

1 red onion

1 small garlic clove

400 g red beets, pre cooked

pepper

2 tomatoes

2 mini bio cucumbers

6 small red raddishes

1 romano heart salad

3 sticks from each: dill and mint

6 sticks plain parsley

8 sticks cilantro

Preparation (please read it once through until the end)

Mix 3 SS olive oil, 3 SS pomegranate syrup and the lime juice with 1 TS salt, 1 SS sugar and 1 TS oregano to a dressing. Cut the onions in small cubes, chop the garlic very finely. Let the red beets drip off and cut them into mouth fit pieces. Give the onions, beets and garlic to the dressing, season it with pepper and let it marinate for 1/2 hour. Stir from time to time.

Cut the tomatoes in small cubes, peel the cucumber, cut it in two halfs and take the pits with a spoon out. Then cut it in diagonal slices. Wash the raddish and cut them in quaters. Wash the herbs, shake them, chop the roughly.

Mix the red beet mixture, salad, tomatoes, cucumber and raddish with the herbs and the rest of the olive oil in a bowl and season it with salt and pepper. Decorate the salad on a nice big plate, put the fried falafel onto it, pour the pomegranate syrup over all and enjoy! Don´t forget the fantastic sauce…she makes it superior!