Jon, my wife made me ask you for the recipe of both the hummus and the falafel, could you share these?
They aren't unusual recipes. The only big thing is that I make everything from scratch -- whole spices, not canned chickpeas, freshly ground sesame seeds and so forth.
Hummus
1/2 cup sesame seeds (grind in a spice grinder or coffee grinder)
1 cup whole chickpeas (cooked and washed)
1/4 cup oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp water
Salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic (chop it BEFORE it goes in the blender)
Some paprika and olive oil for the topping
Put all the solid ingredients in a food process, process until somewhat smooth. Slowly add the water and lemon juice (remember, hummus is actually an emulsion!) and continue processing until very smooth. Pour into a shallow dish, sprinkle with the paprika and drizzle olive oil on top.
If you blacken an eggplant and scoop out the insides, you can add that and some ground coriander and cumin seeds and you'll have baba ganoush.
Falafel
1 cup mashed chickpeas (cooked, washed, and well-drained)
1/3 cup chickpea flour (with some more to coat the balls before frying)
One small onion, finely diced
Roasted and ground cumin, coriander, black pepper, and salt
Mash all the ingredients together and mix well. I pan fry them in a sauce pan with about a quarter inch of oil on high heat rather than trying to deep fry them. Form large flattened balls, cover them well in chickpea flour, and set them in the oil. You're just browning them on each side. Be careful when flipping them -- they can fall apart family easily.
Put the finished patties on paper towels. I stick them in pitas with tomato, lettuce, and yogurt. Try to resist the urge to just eat them the second they come out of the frying pan. They will burn your mouth if you do. ;p
