Lunch Break: Falafel Wraps

Abbey and I are big fans of Anthony Bourdain, and we're ecstatic that Netflix has added his CNN series Parts Unknown. Last night we watched, well, more than one, but most importantly, the Tangiers episode. First revelation: now I know how to make a Spanish Tortilla, Tangiers style (which we had for breakfast- including the ketchup and mayo on top, which was delicious). Second: apparently everyone in Tangiers really is stoned, as according to the stereotype. The third revelation was the heavy use of fresh herbs and wild spinach. I've been in a Tangiers kind of mood all day, and I just had to do something middle eastern inspired for lunch. I don't have any wild spinach, but I do have a decent amount of fresh herbage available at the moment.

I decided to make falafel the base of my meal, and since I was running short on time, I wanted it to be portable. Rather than use the more cumbersome pita, I grabbed the fresh wheat tortillas in the fridge for this project so I could wrap it up tightly and take with if needed. Of course, since this is Morocco-inspired, I had to listen to some Master Musicians of Joujouka while cooking and wash it all down with some a thick shot of espresso.

Ingredients

2 tbl light olive oil
box of Falafel mix
1 tomato, sliced
1 small carrot, peeled and shaved with the peeler into strips
a couple of inches of cucumber, sliced, then cut at least in half
red and/or yellow and/or orange bell pepper. I used small ones , you can cut big ones into squares.
fresh wheat tortillas (I like Tortilla Land brand)
plain Greek yogurt
dill pickles
whatever olives you like, I used a mix of Greek green and calamatas

For the sauce
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
a handful of cilantro, leaves, stems, etc
a small handful of fresh mint (tsp of dry if no fresh is available), leaves, stems, etc
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
commercially prepared harissa sauce (or make your own from one of the many recipes on the interwebs)
salt and pepper (if you have Turkish pepper and spice mix, use it!)



Prepare the falafel and let it sit according to the instructions. In the meantime, heat a couple of tablespoons of light olive oil in a shallow pan over medium-high heat.

While that is heating up, chop up the cilantro and mint, then mix in a bowl with the garlic and a small dollop of the harissa. Taste it- if it's not hot enough, add some more. salt it, then add a couple grinds of pepper. I used a Turkish pepper mix with fennel and coriander, but that's not necessary at all. Add the extra virgin olive oil and stir.

When the oil is hot,  use an ice cream scoop and toss in dollops of falafel. Add  the peppers.  In about three minutes, the falafel should be ready to flip, but check for brownness first. Turn the peppers no more than once or twice so they char a little. After you've flipped the falafel, break it up a bit.

I used one pan for this: remove the falafel and peppers, then toss a tortilla into the hot pan. Check it in a minute and flip if it's starting to get dark brown spots. When nothing on the tortilla looks translucent, it's done.

You probably don't need my instructions on how to proceed from here. Put some sauce on the wrap. add a few chunks of falafel, layer in the strips of carrot, slices of cucumber and tomato. For the sake of efficiency, I roughly diced the olives and pickles together and spooned some on. follow up with the plain yogurt and more sauce. Roll as you might a burrito or spring roll: fold up the ends, then roll the whole thing forward, carefully tuck in the rolled ends as you go. Look what a nice roll it made!

And that's how simple it is. Delicious, too.

Could you have made your own falafel? If you possess that kind of magic, absolutely, do so. My falafel making skills are middling at best, so I normally just grab one of a couple different mixes I like at the store.

This is what I listened to while making it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

You can find inspiration in the darnedest places

Upon seeing the Barbie Diaries movie for, I dunno, maybe the fifth time, I ended up actually listening to some of the dialogue, and one of Barbie's messages resonated hopefully with me: "all you have to do is write something down, and like magic, it comes true."

I've been wanting something to come true for many years now. Maybe I need to write it down to make it come true.

I've experimented sporadically with healthier cooking, but in the meantime I've maintained all my bad old habits. Impulse eating. Caving to cravings. Over-eating my favorite foods. My conscious mind knows continually eating the wrong things is not the key to happiness and longevity. Yet, i will think of a food i want to eat and my mouth will being to water, and I feel an irresistable urge to seek it out. I think recent studies regarding the chemistry of salt, fat and sugar cravings provide the perfect explanation: what I experience feels just how I would expect to feel in light of the findings. I've often felt it might be some kind of unfulfilled, infantile craving that has nothing to do with food, but, you know, I like the idea of dopamine production dependence on food cravings better, because it's something I feel equipped to combat.

Stocking the wrong sorts of foods: this is a special challenge if you're a parent. I've admired the blogs of people whose kids have a miraculous love of healthy foods. If you are a consistent, conscientious person who has complete control over what your kids eat and only feed them good food to begin with, then this is easier to achieve; Kids will eat whatever is available, eventually. Sadly, if you don't have total control (daycares; grandparents), you have to do battle with these influences. I've become determined to only stock foods that are worth eating. I expect this to perhaps be the hardest part of my transformation.

We had already resolved to make as many meals at home as possible. Better and better for you. This we have more or less accomplished. We do cave occasionally to a few favorite dishes at restaurants (Paddy Malone's Mushroom Fries and Arris' Greek family style pizza are just about it though). Mostly we cook for ourselves.

This made responding to a recent change in circumstances a bit easier. My wife had a gall bladder attack and subsequent surgery. We had to start eating fat-free, immediately. As my wife so rightly said, I've been researching this topic for years, but have never been able to translate it into a lifestyle. We like a wide variety of foods and have flirted with the idea of vegetarianism and pescetarianism. In the end we decided it might be too early in the process to deny ourselves who categories of foods (though I grapple with the moral and environmental qualms of meat eating all the time). So these dishes are really more of a flexitarian nature than anything- primarily good old fruits, vegetables and whole grains with occasional forays into lean meats and not-so-whole grains.



So, it's been almost a month now, and this short time, we have accumulated many good ways to cook fatfree. Some have suggested by others (in particular Dean Ornish); others we developed by trial and error. I must say we have both been very pleased with the results. Dishes deprived of their fats taste much better than expected; in many cases, better than the original. I found so many ways I used fat in cooking that have turned out to be totally unnecessary. Others I found a spray of Pam works just as well as a couple of tablespoons or more that I customarily used in many dishes.

Some I have not been able to perfect. One miserable failure in my mind is fried rice. I'm sure it is possible, though; I think I overcooked the rice, and so many dishes brown perfectly in a good non-stick pan, better than I thought they would, so I do think there is hope.

Did I say stocking the wrong sorts of foods would be the hardest part? I forgot about exercise. That is going to be the hardest thing for me. I've been a devoted couch spud for many years now. I used to love biking and tennis; as I aged and circumstances changed, I've gained weight, lost muscle, and developed Morton's Neuroma in my feet, which has slowed me down even more. I'm hoping to stage a revival of these former hobbies, along with more foot-friendly forms of activity.

Turkey "falafel" with Tzatziki sauce

This is the dish that made me realize our little experiment is finally producing very pleasant results, results that might actually help other guys who have a similar desire to live a healthier life. It has to be reinforced by positive experiences, and of all our efforts to date, this has been the most successful.

Turkey falafel




I used Saad Fayed's excellent Falafel recipe on About.com.

All I did is substitute 16 oz. of ground turkey for the chick peas. I shaped them into small patties and my wife lovingly sauteed them in our handy-dandy large non-stick skillet with just a spritz of Pam (cover maybe 2/3 of the pan) on medium heat. Lay them in gently and leave them alone for five minutes. check one of them; they should be browning nicely. Flip and repeat.

Tzatziki Sauce



half a cucumber, peeled, sliced and seeded
2 cloves garlic
heaping tablespoon of dried dill weed
couple pinches salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
juice of 1/2 lemon

put it all in a food processor and puree until smooth. The key to a successful tzatziki (okay, maybe second to correct proportions and good seasoning) is to make sure the cucumbers are seeded. just take the whole center part out, use only the solid parts. It won't be watery and icky if you do that.