Pita Pockets with Felafel and Cilantro Yogurt

Hello all!

Conversations, small bites of tangy and warm and LOW CAL food....wow! Full of proteins, and vitamins and minerals...all secrets of our eternal youth.

This is what Bhavna,Monica and I feasted on when we got together last.Pita Pockets with Felafel's and Cilantro Yogurt.

Good Times, Good Friends and Good Food!  The Holy Trinity! I’m sure my grandparents in heaven are dying (sic!)To give me a rap on my knuckles...The Holy Trinity are supposed to be Bhrama, Vishnu and Mahesh.

Bhrama, the creator (I create food too!).

Vishnu, the keeper (I keep food in my freezer for weeks too...then hubby dear comes and cleans up with a vengeance that does him proud.)

Mahesh, the destroyer (by my acute sense of logic...that makes hubby dear destroyer material.)

Comparisons are good! That’s why they say that god lives in each one of us.

Back to the food...Super Late Breakfast or an early lunch. Brunch it was!

I made Pita Pockets with Felafel's and instead of  with Hummus or Tahini, both of which are not available in Ranchi. I made Cilantro yogurt .Yup, neither is Cilantro...but our very own dhania or coriander substitutes well for that.

The rest, well even lettuce is not yet in season, so we use tender spinach leaves...straight from the kitchen garden.

Alright!!!

(All those from St Anselm’s School Alwar-SMILE...I miss you guys too! Those of you who have never even heard of Alwar, Rajasthan...I taught Mathematics for almost 5 years there....and Alright was my favourite word)

For the

 Pita Pockets with Felafel's and Cilantro Yogurt...

You need

A) Pitta Pockets

B) Felafel's

c) Salad

D) Cilantro Yogurt

We’ll start with the pita Pockets.....essentially simple bread, with two patties and a salad, the sauce dumped on top to add flavour.

In Delhi where these are available, you will generally see plump chickens being roasted on a rotisserie grill...no can do here. So we improvise, but satisfy our taste buds.

Pitta Bread

3 cups flour

1 ½ tsp dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp olive oil

1 1/8 cup warm water

Dump all but the water into your food processor (the appliance companies should be paying me...how much I advocate the food processor.)

Knead to a pliable dough with the warm water. Leave aside to prove for about an hour.

With this you can make about 6 pita breads of 7 inch diameter.That is a Chakla and a Belan.I don't know what a Chakla is called,but the Belan is a slim rolling pin and the Chakla allows one to roll out paper thin Phulkas/Rotis.

Preheat oven 220C .On the tray in the oven.

The breads cooking...

They will puff up. 

The puffing will make the pockets.

One Pita per person is good ,we are delicate eaters ,remember?

Now for the Felafel's...

1 cup chickpeas (soaked overnight) 1 14 oz can of chickpeas will also do as long as they are not cooked

1 egg

1 onion finely chopped

1 cup chopped cilantro or the desi Dhania/coriander

1 green chili finely chopped

1 tsp garlic finely chopped

1 tsp cumin powder, salt and red chili flakes and pepper to taste

Fresh herbs....Basil and Garlic Chives (whatever else you can lay your hands on)

1 tbsp oil

Again, the processor. Clean and dump the drained chickpeas.

Whizz, you want them little grainy. Chickpea is a good binder, used very often in kebabs and Dumplings.You know they will bind to form a patty.

Remove to a bowl; 

Add the egg, onion, herbs, garlic, green chili .

Season with the salt and red chili flakes and some pepper.

Put a non stick pan on medium heat, shape the patties with wet hands and place them on the pan.

Cook 7-8 minutes on each side.And they are ready.Save them for the Pita Pockets ,Please.

In the meanwhile let’s get the condiments ready.

The Cilantro Yogurt...

1 cup chilled yogurt

½ tsp garlic finely chopped

½ onion finely chopped

½ cup finely chopped cilantro or desi Dhania/coriander

Salt and pepper to taste.

That’s the bowl, all you need to do is mixing well and season to taste.

And now the Salad...

1 small onion thinly sliced

1 small tomato thinly sliced

1 handful fresh spinach leaves/lettuce leaves (our seedlings have a looooong way to go-so we made do with spinach!)

Salt and pepper to taste with a dash of lemon juice.

All Aboard in a bowl. I had Zesty Lemon Seasoning ....so, that’s what went in.

And now the interesting part. Everything at the table, make your own sandwich.

The halved pita bread, hungry for the Felafel's, 2 of them went in, 

loads of salad, and the cilantro yogurt.....

Great no?

Something new, something old....

Something blue, something gold? (My tea cups were blue...remember?)

A full meal, low in calories and high in nutritive value.

F.Y.I.

Did you know that spinach was known as the wonder food till 1932 because the iron content was misprinted (they shifted the decimal place to the right.....making it  29% from 2.9%) No wonder Popeye ate spinach. Info courtesy, Bobby Bogner, Food Tech-History Channel.,

So what are you baking today???