Falafel Pita Pockets

This post is dedicated to Lauren's mom, Mrs. Witek. I was never really that big of a fan of falafel before, but after Mrs. Witek demanded to have some falafel in August during our exploration of Harvard Square, I have been longing for falafel during random times. When Brian visited in March/April, we tried out two falafel mixes bought from Star (the local grocery store). We decided that this brand was better because it was easier to form, fry, and tastier (not to mention, also cheaper at $2.99!). I bought this again last week because I wanted something other than leftovers and sandwiches for lunch (but I ended up making this and eating it for dinner today). On this box, the directions to make the falafel are on the side, but the back has recipes for falafel chili and breaded chicken and wings, which I should try one day.

You take the mix out (I just mixed the whole package, which is 2 cups of mix) and mix it with 1.5 cups of water (the original ratio on the box is 1 cup mix and 3/4 cup water). Mix it well and let it rest for 30 minutes. I just left it sitting on the kitchen counter; I don't think you need to put it in the fridge. After 30 minutes, you want to shape them into balls (or somewhat flat cylindrical figures because it'd be easier to shove those in a pita pocket), like the picture below.

Flat-ish balls

Oops. I forgot, when the mix was resting, I made a yogurt-cucumber sauce. I chopped up like...2 inches of cucumber (I mostly did this by eye) and minced it into small pieces. I threw that into a small container of yogurt. Mince a clove of garlic (I like to chop mine extraaaa small because I dislike biting into garlic, especially raw garlic) and throw that in as well. Mix it up, and that was my yogurt-cucumber sauce! Super easy.

While I was shaping the balls, I heated up a small pot of vegetable oil (the box says 2 inches of oil). Then I place the ball into the hot oil to let it fry to a golden brown (until it floats). After taking the falafel out, I put it on a plate lined with a paper towel and I gently pat the excess oil off. I ended up frying all of my falafel mix because I figured that I would save oil and do it all in one go.

I fried 2 patties at a time

Looks more golden-brown with the flash on

Look at that delicious pile of vegetarian goodness!!! (I couldn't resist and took a bite out of the one on the right, hehe!)

Haha, see how that pita pocket is ripping already from the awesomeness of the falafels! I used 1.5 patties for 1/2 a pita (hence the pita pocket...if that makes any sense), added some yogurt-cucumber sauce (it actually needed more) and some sliced cucumbers. This is incredibly filling and you wouldn't even have thought it would be!

I'm so excited that I now have lunch (or dinner...) for a couple days now :D yay!!

Sweet Potato Fries

After a night out, I had the intense craving for anything greasy. For breakfast, I made an omelet with green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and Mexican blended cheese (a deviation from my standard chocolate chip pancakes). Lunch was just ramen. As I was on the bus on the way back from fixing my now-alive iPod touch, I was wondering what I should eat for dinner (after seeing Knock Knock's "What To Eat" notepad, which I will talk more about later). I knew I had one more burger patty left in the fridge and I shouldn't make a big meal because I was leaving to go home to Maryland on Tuesday.  So, what went well with a burger? FRIES! More specifically, SWEET POTATO FRIES!! I didn't get to eat too many sweet potato fries at the SED GSA party on Thursday so I guess I was still craving it a little.

After researching some recipes online, I kinda just winged it. I stopped by Star to pick up a sweet potato as well as other items I needed to make it to Tuesday. Cutting the sweet potato was really tough...literally. I don't know if sweet potatoes are generally harder to cut or what, but it was difficult. The potato was cut into strips and then I threw them into a mixing bowl of some olive oil, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes. Make sure that the fries are seasoned well, especially with olive oil. 

Place them on a baking sheet and put it in the oven heated at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. I checked it around 15 minutes, and it was cooked, but still a little soft. Turns out, after 30 minutes, some parts were still soft but other parts were crispy (but I ain't complaining!)

When I had cut all of the fries and placed them on the pan, I definitely didn't think I could eat it all, but it was so delicious that I did. Lauren helped a little as well. This was a delicious snack! The sweet potato was very sweet and savory, and the crushed red pepper flakes added a hint of a spicy kick (not enough to mask the sweet potato flavor though).

About the "What To Eat" notepads, I was seriously contemplating buying them at Anthropologie (where I stopped by and "shopped" while waiting for my appointment at the Apple store). Sometimes I have trouble planning out my meals for the week, and I only go grocery shopping once a week with my roommates so it would be easier if I could plan it out. Of course, the grocery store is only a 4 minute walk so I could always pick up more things, but most days I am either busy or lazy. The notepads were around $7.50 so I took some pictures with my cell phone and decided that I'd just make these by myself. It's not difficult at all and I have lots of time :]

Vegetarian Kashmiri Rogan Josh

Only starting to write this blog did I realize that Rogan Josh is supposed to consist of lamb. Oops. Most of the time I prefer my Indian food/curries vegetarian, I'm not sure why that is.

I purchased Kitchens of India's Spicy Tomato & Ginger Cooking Sauce (Kashmiri Rogan Josh) from Star Market. I've made this before, and it was so delicious that I wanted more. Plus, for a $3 jar, and some veggies, it produces at least four separate meals for me.

Ingredients I used:

- 3 small potatoes (old, but they still taste great)

- 3 carrots

- 1/2 green pepper

- 1/2 large onion

- jar of rogan josh

- dallops of yogurt

I boiled the potatoes to soften them up before mixing it with the rest of the veggies. Here is the picture before the sauce:

Looks so healthy!

 And this is the after-picture. The yogurt was added to try to dilute the sauce a little. I also added in some water because the sauce was more paste-like at first.

It's so fiery red

So delicious. Serve it in a bowl on top of a bed of hot steaming rice (straight out of the rice cooker!) and you're golden!!

Thanks to an inspiration from my friend Jenny, I will put my cooking/baking skills to work and attempt to make naan in the future! She found a great recipe on BBC.

This shall get me through the last week of classes and AP proctoring!!