Masoor Dal with Kale, Mint and Cilantro

I will confess to substituting meals lately with Christmas gingerbread and nuts-and-bolts.  I am beginning to crave a vitamin, or two.  While lentils and kale don’t sound like a fair comparison to gingerbread pastries, they too can be made delicious with enough ginger, garlic, chilies and perhaps a little butter.  After all, we can’t live on just Christmas treats.

The spice blend for this dal has its own complexity, but the addition of tons of fresh mint and cilantro kick this dal up many notches.  This cooks within the hour, and can easily serve four to six, especially with basmati rice or chappatties.

2 cups masoor dal

water to wash, then fresh water to cover

5 Kashmiri dried chilies

Gently roast till they barely smoke.

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1 tablespoon coriander seed

1 teaspoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon black ajwain (black celery seed)

1 teaspoon fenugreek seed

3 cloves

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 black cardamom pods, well bashed, husks removed

1 green cardamom pod, bashed, husk removed

1 small flake mace

3 pieces cassia 

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Wash and remove mint stems!

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 extra teaspoon cumin seed

1 large red onion, sliced into thin but short pieces

2 inches ginger, matchsticked

1 teaspoon extra oil, ghee or butter

1 can tomatoes (28 ounce size)

7 garlic cloves

2 fresh chilies, or more to taste

4 kale leaves, ribbed and chopped

3 cups fresh mint

3 cups fresh cilantro

salt to taste

Wash the dal till the water comes clear.  Cover with fresh water, and bring to a boil.  Lower to simmer and cook till soft.  Masoor Dal, the orange lentils, cook up in about fifteen to twenty minutes. 

Chop cilantro leaves with tender stems.

While the dal is beginning to cook, roast the first set of whole spices in a large pot, (but reserve the extra cumin seeds.)  When they start to smoke and fill your nose with fragrance, pluck out the cassia pieces, and brush the rest of the roasted spices into a grinder, adding the turmeric.  Set aside to cool.

Add oil to the big pot, and return cassia to the pot.  Set on medium high, and when the cassia starts to sizzle a bit, add the remaining cumin seed.  Let that sizzle for a few moments, then add the onion and ginger.  Turn heat down to medium, stirring, and let cook till onion is translucent and golden. 

The spices need the extra bit of oil, ghee or butter.

Grind the warm spices to a powder.  Add them to the onions, with a bit more oil, ghee or butter, if you prefer.  Stir and cook the spices for two or three minutes.  In the meantime, place canned tomatoes, garlic cloves and fresh chilies into a blender and buzz till smooth.  With a closefitting lid nearby, pour the tomatoes into the onion mix and quickly cover. 

Let cook till it sounds like the furious boiling has settled a bit.  Carefully lift cover and add the cooked dal.  Add the kale, stir, and cook another twenty minutes.  This is a good time to wash the mint and pluck the leaves from the stems.  The stems are too wiry to cook, so remove them carefully. The cilantro needs a good wash.  Trim just the nubby ends of the cilantro stems.  Chop the cilantro, leaves and tender stems.  

Once the kale is almost tender enough to eat, add the mint leaves.  Cook about five to ten minutes then add the chopped cilantro.  Taste for salt and add now.  Cook for just a few minutes, to keep cilantro as green as possible.

Serve with basmati rice or chappatties, and contratulate yourself for rescuing yourself from malnutrition.  After eating silly junk for several days in a row, this will taste magnificent.  But don’t get too self-righteous, because next up will be my Christmas Crack recipe, made with unusual ingredients, of course. 

This will tide you over till you get into the Christmas Crack...

Almond Masala Stew

Are you frantically hungry and wanting something delicious in a big hurry?  Within fifteen minutes you can be munching on this vegan delight, or perhaps vegetarian, if you add a little butter or cream. Spicy, filling and healthy, it will warm you completely on a cold winter’s day.

The only hitch is that the basis of the stew is my Emergency Masala Tomato Sauce, which you really should have in large quantities in your freezer.  Failing that, I suppose you could make a facsimile with a jarred tomato sauce that you doctor up by frying onions and  garam masala, then dumping in the sauce to heat through.  But don't get me started on factory foods...

You can serve this with rice, but start beforehand, because this almond recipe will be done before the rice is cooked.

½ cup almonds

2 cups emergency masala tomato sauce (frozen is ok)

1 bunch of spinach leaves (or a box of frozen) (optional)

1 small splash of water, if needed

1 tablespoon whipping cream or butter (so optional!)

Toasting almonds takes just a couple of minutes.

Toss the almonds into a blender and buzz for about thirty seconds.  A combination of powder and bits will provide the right taste and texture.

Put a non-stick sauce pan on medium high heat.  Add the almonds.  (I later use that almond powder left in the blender for warm almond and cardamom milk, but that’s another recipe.) Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir the almonds around for a couple of minutes to ensure they get toasty and golden, then add the sauce. 

If the sauce is frozen, keep the heat high, and stir and flip over occasionally to help thaw.  You may want to add a couple of spoons of water if there’s a danger of the almonds burning if the sauce isn’t melting fast enough.  If you’re using frozen spinach, add it while tomato is still frozen.

Keep the tomato sauce boiling till it’s reduced and somewhat thick.  If fresh spinach is desired, add it late in the process to keep it green. Spinach takes less than five minutes to heat through and soften up slightly.  If you’re going to indulge in cream or butter, add just before serving, giving it just time to warm through.

Fifteen minutes later and you’ll be experiencing heaven.  This makes a great breakfast, lunch or light supper.  If you haven’t started a batch of Emergency Masala Tomato Sauce, do it now!  Recipe for butter chicken will be coming along soon, and you’ll need it for that too! 

Another time I omitted the spinach but served it with kerela, curd and a chapatti. Another delicious lunch for me!

Emergency Masala Tomato Sauce

You never know when you’re going to be too lazy to cook, so when you have some extra tomatoes and extra energy on hand, get to work!  I made and then froze this sauce about a month ago, when my home grown tomatoes had ripened and were lingering in my basement.  You can make this sauce with any fresh or canned tomatoes.

I had a lot of tomatoes that needed to be used up, and many of them were the super sweet Sun-Golds.  If your tomatoes don’t have this sweetness, I’d suggest adding a tablespoon or so of brown sugar, or jaggery (raw Indian cane sugar) if you have it. 

These were ripe and had to be used fast!

My recipe made about sixteen cups of sauce, but that’s because I had so many tomatoes.  You can make this in smaller quantities.  It took about two and a half hours to make, from start to finish, and much of that involved me reading and talking on the phone. 

2 sticks cassia

2 Kashmiri dried chilies

1 heaping tablespoon cumin seed

1 heaping tablespoon coriander seed

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

½ teaspoon fenugreek seed

½ teaspoon black cumin seed

¼ teaspoon mace flakes

1 teaspoon fennel seed

4 green cardamom pods, crushed with husks removed

1 black cardamom, crushed with husk removed

1 heaping teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons good vegetable oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

2 large red onions, diced

1 shopping bag full of ripe tomatoes (gathered from the greenhouse, then the basement ripening floor), or the equivalent, or many less if you can divide the amounts below…

1 head garlic, broken apart, ends trimmed and most of paper and debris removed

2 inch stem ginger, roughly sliced

2 fresh hot chilies (or to taste)

salt (to taste)

1 tablespoon brown sugar or jaggery if your tomatoes aren’t sweet enough (taste first)

Over the next few months I expect to use much of this sauce as the basis for my beautiful granddaughter’s favourite, butter chicken.  With her in mind, I kept the chilies at the mild level.  If more daring types eat your cooking, increase the heat factor.  (You can always add extra chilies while you’re reheating this, remember!)

Sun-Golds, eventually stemmed, with roughly cut ginger

Start by roasting your whole spices.  Use the large pot you’ll be cooking the sauce in.  Scatter the spices over the bottom of the dry pan, and roast on medium high heat, shaking the pot a little, till they smell gorgeous.  Remove from heat.  Pluck out the cassia sticks and load all else into spice grinder along with the turmeric powder.  Set aside to cool.

Put the pot back on the heat and add oil and cassia sticks.  When hot, add the cumin and mustard seed.  As soon as they splutter and shift colour, add the onion.  Reduce heat to medium, and cook till onions are translucent and golden at the edges.

Here we have a lot of sauce coming up!

Meanwhile, load tomatoes, ginger, chillies and garlic into the blender.  (I trim the hard ends of the garlic and remove most of the paper and scraps, but I’ve been assured the closest paper on the garlic cloves enhances their flavour.) Buzz till smooth, which should take a couple of minutes.  I had two blenders worth of tomatoes, so I did this in two stages. 

Once you have a blender’s worth of pureed tomatoes, grind the spices till they’re powdered, and add to the onions.  You may need to add a bit more oil if they’re too dry.  Fry for a couple of minutes.  With the pot lid handy, add the pureed tomato mixture.  Quickly cover the pot.  While the first load bubbled and sizzled away, I pureed my next batch of tomatoes and flavourings.  This sauce bubbles up like lava, so be careful about opening the pot till it’s settled down.  Add all tomatoes, and rinse  blender with a little water into the pot to get every last tomato molecule.   Taste. Mine was a little too acidic, so I added about a teaspoon of sugar, but you may want more if you aren’t using super sweet tomatoes.

This will need to cook a while, being stirred occasionally.

Cook for about an hour and a half, till the oil separates a bit.  Stir from time to time.  Read the newspaper. Chat on the phone.  Take off heat, let cool and then freeze what you don’t use immediately. 

I’ve been making a quick and easy vegan almond stew with this sauce, to be explained soon.  Super easy butter chicken will also be on the menu.  Stay tuned.

I, for one, will remain undaunted by this cold and snowy weather which induces horrible laziness on my part. This beautiful sauce will make many quick and delicious meals that will keep us warm, satisfied and toasty. 

It's ready when it's reduced and looks gorgeous!

Hot and Spicy Coconut Tofu

Colourful enough?

When I say ‘tofu’, my family members tend to stuff their fingers in their ears, and then slip out the door.  But I recently tasted yet another tofu dish at a gathering, and was pleasantly surprised.  I picked up a block of the most solid type I could find, and got creative.

This spicy and creamy dish is easy to make and actually tastes luscious.  If I were to serve tofu to guests, this is what I’d make.  This can be made in the time it takes to cook the rice and it serves four people very generously, nay gluttonously.  While the combination of ‘glutton’ and ‘tofu’ sounds absurd, the coconut gravy allows the oxymoron.  If time isn’t a factor, the tofu can be marinated for 24 hours ahead of time, ensuring the spices permeate every tofu molecule, although it isn’t necessary.

Marinate ahead of time or that day!

3 cloves fresh garlic, finely diced

3 Thai chilies, finely diced (or to taste)

1 x 2” ginger root, finely diced

1 block tofu, diced

1 stick cinnamon

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon cumin seed

½ teaspoon mustard seed

12 fresh curry leaves (frozen okay)

1 medium sized red onion, diced  

1/3 cup water

½ cup powdered coconut milk

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

15 grates fresh black pepper (or to taste)

1 sweet red pepper, diced

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into manageable pieces

Combine the garlic, chilies, ginger and tofu.  Set aside.  (You can marinate a day early if you desire.) 

The seeds sizzle up so fast!

Pour the oil into a large non-stick pan along with the cinnamon stick.  Turn the heat to high. When the oil seems hot, sprinkle in the cumin seed and mustard.  Within moments the seeds will sizzle, and when the mustard seed looks greyish, add the onion.  Turn the heat down to medium, and cook till the onion starts to become translucent and golden at the edges.  Add the tofu mix. 

Do not stir!  Instead, just leave the tofu to brown on the side it landed on.  After about five minutes, use a spatula to gently turn the tofu pieces over, and mix things up a bit.  When those sides get golden, turn over again, and let get golden.  (Each side takes about three minutes.)  Add water, coconut milk powder and red pepper.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Use a large pan to get tofu golden on all sides.

Gently stir to mix coconut and water into a creamy gravy.  Don’t worry about those lumps, as they’ll dissolve quickly.  When that’s heated through and the red pepper is almost tender (in a couple of minutes) add the asparagus and cook another minute or two till that’s also tender.  Then you can serve the creamy, spicy tofu over basmati rice.  If you like your gravy thicker, sprinkle in a bit more coconut milk powder.  This stuff is miraculous! 

I got the idea for this tofu dish from my recent pollock recipe.  Instead of fish, which might not be an environmentally thoughtful choice, this vegan meal is delicious yet responsible, especially if you’re hankering for something luxurious and elegant to serve to guests.  Earth Day is coming up soon, what will you be eating that’s good for the planet?  

Actually I made my recipe for saffron basmati rice, but used turmeric, since it was just 'us'.

Channa Masala with Red Capsicum

It’s true.  I buy chickpeas by the case.  They are my favourite legume, and I’m more than happy to have them breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Combined with some rice or chapatti, they also make a great protein, and they’re high in fiber and generally fabulous all around, ideal for vegetarians and vegans.

Red capsicum, or sweet red peppers, are another favourite.  The long pointy ones seem to have the best flavour, although that could be my greed speaking, since they’re the biggest.  I buy lots at a time, and use them in so many recipes.  (I've tried to give a link for my red pepper search results, but it's not working.  Use my search bar and type in red pepper.  You don't want to miss the red pepper dip!)  I also love to slice them in lengths, and use them like chips for guacamole, a delicious but healthy treat.

This channa masala recipe is fairly easy, involving about twenty minutes of preparation, and at least an hour of cooking time.  It makes a goodly pot that will serve at least six people their main course. 

1 piece of tamarind and boiling water to cover (you can make extra and freeze the rest, but you’ll be using 1 tablespoon of tamarind puré for this recipe)

Roast gently, till a bit of incense like smoke wafts...

1 tablespoon coriander seed

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1 teaspoon fenugreek seed

6 cloves

1 teaspoon black cumin seed

2 flakes mace

5 Kashmiri dried chillies

4 green cardamom pods, bashed

1 teaspoon black peppercorns 

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/8 teaspoon ground hing 

2 tablespoons (maybe a bit more later) mustard oil

1 teaspoon cumin seed

2 Indian bay leaves

Gently fry in oil for a few minutes.

2 sticks cinnamon

1 red onion, diced

2 cups fresh roughly chopped tomato

1 ½ inch fresh ginger, roughly chopped

3 Thai chillies (or to taste)

5 cloves fresh garlic

2 sweet red peppers, roughly chopped

2 cups water

2 cans chick peas

1 package spinach

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup coconut milk

2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional) 

fresh cilantro leaves (optional)

Start by tearing a piece of tamarind away from the block.  I usually use a big knife to get it started.  Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Set aside for now.

I love these long skinny red peppers.

In a large pot, roast the first set of whole spices.  Put them on medium high, and watch carefully.  Once they’ve begun to darken, and become very fragrant and a bit smoky, brush them into a spice grinder, along with the turmeric and hing.  Grind to a fine powder. 

Pour oil into the same pot, and when it’s hot, add the next bit of cumin, bay leaves and cinnamon. Fry for a minute or two and add the onion, stirring.  Turn heat down to medium, and cook onion till it’s translucent and golden in spots.  Add the ground spices, stirring, and cook for two or three minutes. You may want to add a bit more oil at this point if it looks too dry.

Add the tomatoes, ginger, chilies and garlic to the blender, and buzz.  Add the red pepper and buzz till fairly smooth.  Pour into the pot, setting the blender aside for now.  Cook for a few minutes, stirring. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, and add to the pot.  I used a block of frozen spinach, and added it now.  If you're using fresh, add it about twenty minutes before serving.  

Cook the paste for just a few minutes.

Add fresh water to the blender, buzzing a bit at a time and pour into the pot, till the water is used up and the blender is almost clean.  (You don’t want to leave good bits in the blender.)

Getting back to that tamarind, use your fingers to pinch out the seeds, and pinch away at the pulp till it’s almost smooth.  Pour into a strainer, and push through to remove all seeds and fibrous pieces.  You’ll be using just a tablespoon of puré but the rest can be poured into a plastic ziplock and frozen. 

I like this gravy fairly thick, so I let it reduce a bit longer.

Add salt at this point, and let cook for at least forty-five minutes so that flavours blend and the gravy has thickened.  Once your rice or chappatties are nearly ready, add the coconut cream, stirring.  Cook till well heated through, maybe even let it reduce a bit if you have time.  If you really wanted to be bad, you could add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream at the last minute, but don’t tell anybody I told you so.

Serve with rice or chappatties, or even both.  If you can remember to garnish with cilantro, that would be wonderful.  Sigh, I have yet another bunch of cilantro ready for the compost, because my mind blanks it out almost every time.  Sigh.

This vegetarian channa (vegan if you leave out the dairy cream) is spicy and delicious.  Full of anti-oxidants and anthrocyanins, (the coloured bits) protein and fiber, this will delight you, and leave you wondering why you’d even want to eat anything else.  

What could be more delicious or pretty?

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip

Warning: this one’s addictive.  So insanely good!  It requires roasting red peppers and toasting walnuts but after that, everything gets tossed in the blender, buzzed, and it’s done.

This is a Middle Eastern recipe, but who says it can’t be served with chappatties and a nice raita? It would also go over very well at a cocktail party, another idea I plan to carry out soon. 

In fact, I want it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktail parties, midnight snacks, snow picnics, the list is endless.  It’s spicy, sweet, salty and creamy, and healthy too!  What a combo! 

4 roasted and peeled red peppers

I was on a rampage, peppers, tomatoes, garlic and oil!

2 roasted hot peppers (optional)

1 tomato roasted or fresh

1 ½ cups walnuts

1 Ryvita sesame cracker or a ¼ cup of bread crumbs

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

2 tablespoons (plus) excellent olive oil

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Hover, flipping till they're just toasted.

2 teaspoons chili flakes (or to taste, but make it HOT!)

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt

15 grates black pepper

(a smidge of water, if necessary)

The barbecue is the best way to roast the peppers.  Place both sweet and hot peppers and the tomato on high heat and turn when blackened, and leave for another ten minutes or so.  They’ll look terrible, but trust that when they cool, they’ll be just right.  

Otherwise, place all on an oiled sheet and pop into a 350 F oven for an hour.  Barbecued, the skin peels off easily.  I had to include some skin since I used the oven and peeling wasn’t such a breeze…  Don’t worry, the blender will take care of it.

Toss the walnuts into a large frying pan, place on medium high heat, and let toast on medium high heat.  You’ll need to hover, moving and flipping the walnuts.  After about ten minutes, brush into the blender, along with the cracker.  Grind to a coarse powder. 

Use just one!

Into the blender,  add the peppers, tomato, garlic, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses,  olive oil, paprika, chili flakes, cumin, salt and pepper. Buzz. This mixture can be a little stiff.  You will want to taste it for heat, and add more chili flakes if needed, along with more oil to move the ingredients along in the blender.  I cheated and added a tiny bit of water, as everything was arguing with the blender blades.  

I don't know why you'd even need to remove the skin...

The first time I made this I used twice as much cracker as I should have, and the mixture was thick.  So thick I had a hard time getting it all out of the blender.  Once I tasted it, how I regretted letting even a few scrapes remain in the blender, only to be washed down the sink.  Get it all out.  It’s worth it.

Yum.  Serve this on crackers.  Or as a side dish with raita and chappatties.  Tantalize your guests at a cocktail party.  Gluttonize on this at two in the morning in front of the refrigerator…

Enjoy.

This recipe has been adapted from www.dedemed.com. 

A Special Channa Dish

I think if I had only one item to eat, and one only, it would be channa masala, aka a spicy chickpea stew.  It has everything in it to stay healthy, and best of all, it satisfies with a nutty, almost meaty flavour.  The little yellow peas soak up the spices and vegetable flavours and taste so good.

This particular channa dish is special because it contains a secret ingredient—kokum.  

This bag held such a mystery for me.

This small dried fruit is related to the mangosteen.  It’s tangy, so it replaces dried pomegranate seed, dried green mango or limes usually used in this dish.  

I suspect it’s not readily available in North America, as I’d never heard of it till Beautiful Granddaughter’s other grandma gave me a bag full.  She’d picked and dried the fruits herself, so my dish has a special, double grandma taste that you might not be able to capture, but go ahead and try it anyway.

Really, any channa masala is wonderful, as long as it’s spicy enough, so make this even if you have no hope of finding kokum any time soon, and ditto for becoming a grandma.

1 heaping teaspoon cumin seed

An even bigger mystery when I opened it!

½ teaspoon black cumin seed

1 tablespoon coriander seed

2 black cardamoms, bashed and shelled

3 green cardamoms, bashed

6 cloves

15 black peppercorns

2 flakes mace

1 scant teaspoon fenugreek seed

1 scant teaspoon fennel seed

3 dried Kashmiri chillies

1 stick cinnamon

1 large Indian bayleaf or 2 regular bay leaves

1 scant teaspoon turmeric powder  

2 tablespoons mustard oil

1 teaspoon cumin seed

1 teaspoon black mustard seed

1 red onion, diced

Pieces of kokum

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

5 garlic cloves

1 inch ginger root, roughly chopped

2 Thai chillies (or to taste)

5 kokum pieces (if you don’t have, use a tiny green lime, chopped)

1 teaspoon jaggery

3 cans chickpeas (19 oz.) (or yours made with a pressure cooker)

10 leaves kale, torn from stalk and pulled into small pieces

2 cups water

2 tablespoons dairy or coconut cream

cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

Toss all of the whole spices into the large dry pot that you’ll use to cook this dish.  (Put the turmeric powder directly into the spice grinder.)  Turn the heat under the pot to medium high, and watch over it while the spices heat up and begin to gently smoke.  Swirl them around a bit to distribute the heat evenly, then brush into the spice grinder, except for the cinnamon and bay leaf.  Keep the cinnamon and bayleaf in the pot.  Blend to a fine powder and set aside.

Kale looks so pretty and tastes so good!

On medium high, heat the oil along with the cinnamon and bayleaf, and when it’s sizzling, add the next amount of cumin seed.  Watch while they turn colour slightly, then add the mustard seed and watch again.  When it shifts to white, quickly add the onion, and brown.  Turn the heat to medium.  

Meanwhile, put the tomato, garlic, ginger, chillies, kokum and jaggery into a blender, and buzz till smooth.  

Once the onion is golden and a bit crispy here and there, stand over the pot with the lid handy.  Pour the tomato mix quickly into the pot, and slam that lid down.  The tomato will want to boil up and into your face, so move efficiently.  

You’ll have some left over tomato mix in the blender, but keep it there for now.

After about ten minutes you can peek in the pot, and if the tomato is mostly reduced and no longer roiling dangerously, you can leave the lid off to stir and reduce it further.  Once the water is pretty much gone, and the oil is beginning to separate from the tomato, throw in the ground spices.  Stir and cook for a few minutes.

Add the kale now, as it’s a tough leaf that takes time to cook.  Then it's time for the drained chickpeas. Put water into the blender, buzz again to get the last of the tomato mix, and add to the chickpeas.  

My hero-- the humble channa bean

Stir, keeping on medium heat, till the kale is soft and the water has largely reduced.  At the last minute, stir in the cream, and serve.  This channa masala goes beautifully with basmati rice or chappatties. 

Whether you’re an old grandma, or a sweet pea learning to cook, whether you have a bag full of kokum or a tiny little lime, try this dish, and let me know what you think.

I should really compose an ode to the chickpea... Please help me out with that!

Calgary Stampede Falafel Stand

It’s that time of year again, and we were thrilled to watch the Chuckwagon Races and the fireworks from the best vantage point in Calgary—Roger and Darlene’s home.  With three decks to choose from, we were ensured of an astonishing view.  Last year I took a biryani, but this year, the new finger food format made me think falafel stand.  The hosts' home looms over the grounds, above all those hot dogs on sticks and even deep fried butter.  Why can't the Stampede Board offer more delicious fare? Looking off to the East would do us Westerners a huge favour.

My Eastern Western falafel stand includes falafel stuffed in pita pockets, with all the trimmings, and also a hummis to eat with pita triangles.  It took about forty five minutes to prepare.

I once made falafel from scratch, but it was involved, and a Syrian friend blinked, asking why would I do that when so many easy commercial mixes are available.  (I had to admit mine tasted no different from the stuff one buys in a box.)

So, go ahead and buy one of the boxed mixes.  All you need to do is add water, stir, let sit for about twenty minutes, then make patties and fry them on medium heat.  I used both a melon baller and my hands to create the patties.  My hands made a smoother ball, but either way, I pan fried them in a little canola oil till they were browned and crispy. 

The hummus is crazy easy to make.  Open a can of chickpeas, drain, and toss into a blender, along with a clove of fresh garlic, the juice from one lemon, a pinch of salt, two tablespoons of tahine (sesame butter available everywhere now) and buzz.  

Drizzle some good olive oil into the mix (about a tablespoon) and buzz again.  Taste and adjust for salt, and it you want it creamier, add a bit more olive oil and buzz again.  

Pour out onto a platter, and smooth it out enough to sprinkle a bit of smoked paprika about, and then drizzle a bit more olive oil over the hummus.  If you have some chive flowers, they’d look very nice too.

Buzzing the hummus takes a couple of minutes.

For the crunchy vegetables, I cut up about ten leaves of garden grown arugula, three big sprigs of fresh mint, and about ten stalks of cilantro, which I mixed over sliced radishes.

For the salty pickle, I served some of my Meyer lemon pickles, and garnished with a few chilies for the bravest of the souls.

Meanwhile, a tahine sauce was also required.  Take two tablespoons tahini, the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of water.  Mix carefully with a fork.  At first it will seem impossible but suddenly the tahini will give and turn a lighter colour.  Keep adding a bit more water, stirring with a fork, till you get a creamy sauce.

Mixing the falafel powder is simple enough!

As finger food was needed, I went with mini pita pockets, which I halved.  But I also bought some regular size, and cut them into triangles.

To assemble:

Pop a falafel or two into a pita pocket, stuff in some crunchy veg, and dribble tahini sauce into it.  Add a bit of pickle or even chilli if you dare.  Use the pita cut into triangles to dip into the hummus, and enjoy.

Stampede parties are usually all about barbecued meat, so this crunchy vegetarian Middle Eastern dish is a nice surprise.  

The Saddle Dome with the Calgary Tower, they both look like giant cowboy hats in this crazed pic!

To cap off:

View of the grandstand!

falafels

1 box falafel mix

water

oil for frying

hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 lemon, juiced

2 tablespoons tahini

1 clove fresh garlic

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons plus good olive oil 

smoked paprika

Crunchy veg

1 bunch fresh radishes, cleaned, trimmed and thinly sliced

10 arugula leaves, chopped

My favourite!

3 large sprigs of mint, chopped

Tahini sauce

2 tablespoons tahini

½ lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon plus water 

Garnishes all optional  

Meyer lemon pickle

any pickle, as long as it isn’t sweet  --pickled turnip is available in some markets, it’s great!

chive flowers

The tahini sauce was off to the side-- doesn't take a fab pic, not by itself...