Well hello you vegamigos, you lovers of all things meatless, you people that actually may read this! It has been a while since I have contributed anything to my blog, but hey when one gets busy (and lazy) things fall through the cracks. But fear not for I have returned with new ideas, new recipes, and new themed posts to hopefully keep us all entertained. Without further ado, lets dive in shall we?
I love falafel. I mean really love falafel. When I travel nowadays instead of looking at places of interest I normally look for the best and most popular falafel spots. Whether it was at my parents home in Baltimore, during a weekend trip to Boston, up in Hyde Park while I was finishing up at the Culinary Institute, or now in my new home in San Francisco I have gone to great lengths (used yelp way too much) to find the best falafel around. I'm also a much harsher critic (aren't we all nowadays) on the things I am passionate about than anything else so with falafel I do indeed have some criteria for what constitutes a great or amazing falafel sandwich:
1. First and foremost is the falafel ball itself. A good falafel ball should be fried as close to being ordered as possible. Anything that has been sitting in a glass deli case is an automatic fail. I do not want your microwaved falafel thank you very much. I don't really have a preference for falafel style however as I have had good falafels made from both chickpea and fava as well as parsley and cilantro. I want to be able to taste the actual falafel in the sandwich as well so they should be fairly heavily seasoned. Remember it is essentially ground up beans with herbs and spices, so seasoning absorption is high. Personally however the best falafel I have had have been in the Israeli style which is ground chickpea with parsley as the main herb utilized. They should be crisp on the outside and soft-ish on the inside (I don't want mush).
2. The bread or wrapping is almost as important to the falafel as the fried balls themselves. There are generally two trains of thought here: Pita and Lavash. Pita is a hollow flat bread that is stuffed with the falafel and toppings. Very good falafel places (in my opinion) have theirs made specially for them and are usually denser and chewier than the thin very easily fall-apartable store bought varietals. The dense chewiness helps the structural integrity (yes a sandwich has structural integrity) of the sandwich. Lavash is a long, thin, rectangular flatbread than is used to wrap the falafel and its toppings. If you've never had it think tortilla crossed with pita bread. I don't completely dislike lavash, I just think that because of how big the sheets of bread are that it actually takes away from the falafels and the sandwich because of how many times it is wrapped. For me it is going to be pita over lavash 90% of the time.
3. The wet toppings/condiments are another element to the falafel concoction. The most traditional sauce that accompanies a falafel is the tahini sauce. Tahini is sauce made of ground sesame that tastes the same as peanut butter. It can be very strong and overpowering and thusly it needs to be diluted with lemon juice an spices. Straight tahini on a sandwich to me is not a good thing. A good tahini sauce should have some saltiness and acidity to balance the strong sesame flavor. Another "common" sauce that I have encountered in falafel is hummous. It makes sense since they are both made from chickpeas and share similar flavors. I personally don't think hummous should be added to falafel sandwiches. I like hummous but it is too heavy for a sandwich and really is its own creature altogether. It can cause the falafel to get soggy and meld together with the hummous too much leading to the elimination of the crispiness of the falafel themselves. Tahini is thumbs up, hummous is thumbs down.
4. The solid condiments can add contrast in both texture and flavor to the falafel sandwich. I have eaten falafel sandwiches that contain a small and very basic amount and type of solid condiment (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickles of some sort) as well as those that had different salads and slaws, each with their own flavor and textures to brighten up and add something else to the sandwich. I tend to prefer the different types of salads and slaws because it find them to actually add flavor to the sandwich rather than just some basic crunch from piece of romaine lettuce.
With all that being said I feel as though I should start off the series with the falafel that got me addicted to the chick pea wonder in the first place: Aba's Falafel. The mom and pop (literally its operated by a husband and wife team who are awesome) as well as their children and their children's friends serve falafel during the spring, summer, and early fall months at various farmer's markets in and around the Hudson Valley. I would find myself driving up to Rhinebeck, NY every Sunday with the main purpose of eating falafel followed by the picking up of vegetables and fruit for the week. I would then find myself usually ordering a second sandwich on the way out of the market because it had been a whole 25-30 minutes between when I had finished the first sandwich and not having the taste lingering in my mouth and mind as I drove back home would have been a truly terrifying travesty.
The sandwich is really good. I cannot stress how good it is. The husband makes everything (including the pita bread) and you can taste how fresh and just how much better every component is and can be when someone takes the time to do it right. The man is speaking to you through a tiny dried bean, ground up with spices and herbs, and fried to perfection. The style of the falafel is Israeli (chickpea and parsley), which can also be deciphered from the fact that the entire family speaks fluent hebrew to each other. The falafel are not comprised of overly ground mushy chickpeas but rather ground to a point where they stand on their own in the sandwich. They never fry too many at one time either so you are always guaranteed to get some fresh balls in your sandwich (Ha. Ha. Ha.).
The rest of the falafel is darn good as well. The pita is a nice denser and chewier type than the paper thin crumbly messes you see from packages and they are baked by the husband. Inside of the pita along with the falafels are a tahini sauce with garlic, lemon, and spices that nicely meshes with the pita but doesn't overpower any of the other tastes within. There are three salads: onions marinated with sumac (acidity), cucumber and tomatoes with lemon juice and salt (nice and fresh), and a fresh slaw made up of I believe to be straight cabbage and salt that hasn't pickled or fermented too much (adds a nice crunch). They layer in the salads and the falafels expertly so you get a bite of all the ingredients as you devour the beautiful creation.
On the side are four condiments: the husbands scratch-made pickle slices (nice and garlicky), a sweet and savory mango curry sauce, pickled hot peppers similar but a bit different from the pepperoncini you see on Greek salads, and lastly a really awesome hot sauce that I usually douse my sandwich in. Mix and match how you like and make the sandwich your own, but the awesomeness cannot be denied. It is what got me hooked on the topic and the food and it is without a doubt the number one thing I miss about not living in Hyde Park anymore. I implore you to try them out if you are in the area during the Sundays when the outdoor market is open in Rhinebeck because it will change the way you think a falafel can taste.
To find out more and support them you can check out Aba's Falafel at: http://www.facebook.com/abasfalafel?ref=ts&fref=ts.
I'm gonna call it a day on this post and will try to be more active on the blog. Some future posts may include trips to the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, news and updates from whats going on at Greens, more recipes, reviews of cookbooks that I have found useful and informative, and anything else vegetarian related I can think of. But until then remember to eat your veggies...because mom was right...they are good for ya!
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