Sean's Falafel and Cucumber Sauce

Ok, confession, I have no clue who Sean is, however, he makes a damn fine falafel and cucumber sauce. A few weeks ago I had a serious hankering for falafel and hummus so I hopped online and came across this recipe. There are a zillion recipes out there for falafel, but I picked this because a) it got lots of good ratings on AllRecipes.com, b) it seemed really easy, c) it used canned chickpeas instead of doing it the "real" way and spending two days making falafel with chickpeas from scratch, and d) I liked the sound of cucumber sauce too. So, without further ado, here's Sean's falafel:

• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• oil for frying (we used olive oil)

• 1 (6 ounce) container plain yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber - peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1. In a large bowl mash chickpeas until thick and pasty; don't use a blender, as the consistency will be too thin. In a blender, process onion, parsley and garlic until smooth. Stir into mashed chickpeas.
2. In a small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice and baking powder. Stir into chickpea mixture along with olive oil. Slowly add bread crumbs until mixture is not sticky but will hold together; add more or less bread crumbs, as needed. Form 8 balls and then flatten into patties.
3. Heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry patties in hot oil until brown on both sides.
4. In a small bowl combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, salt, pepper and mayonnaise. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
5. Serve on pita or lavash bread with lettuce, tomatoes and hummus for an excellent lunch or dinner.
   

Other notes:

• We added some minced garlic to the cucumber sauce even though the recipe didn't call for it. I think it was a worthwhile addition.
• If you want even more of that sort of crunchy texture that falafel at places like Jerusalem Garden has, you might try adding some bulgur wheat to the mixture. Now, I haven't tried this yet and the texture of the recipe as is is quite good, but it might be worth experimenting with.

Spicy Aromatic Chicken

This recipe is from a Greek cookbook that I got from my sister, it's the first one we've tried and has sufficiently inspired me to try more.

Chicken (either 1 or 2 lbs breasts or a whole chicken cut into pieces and skinned)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
pinch sugar
1 med sized onion, coarsely cut
14 oz. can boiled tomatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
14 oz. can artichoke hearts (peeled, cut, ready for action), or okra
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 large cloves garlic
1/2 lemon cut into wedges
8 black Greek olives, pitted

This is truly easy to make.

Rub the lemon wedges on the chicken (in lieu of having lemons we just soaked the chicken in lemon juice)

Heat up a few tablespoons of oil in a lidded skillet, a large pot, or a lidded casserole dish. Toss in the garlic and onion and heat until the onions are soft. Add the chicken to the pot and brown (if you're doing this in a skillet it will be easier, suffice to say just make sure the chicken is cooked on all sides before proceeding to the next step). Add the white wine during this step.
Add the tomatoes, spices (including salt and pepper), and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. When you've got about 10 minutes left, add the olives and artichoke hearts.

We served this over basmati rice with some turmeric and a chilled Sauvignon Blanc. Enjoy!