09 April 2008

okara felafel •



A delightfully tasty dinner, one that the little darlings love. If you have the time to bake Okara Pita Bread, it will really jazz up your meal. I usually use canned beans for this, because I am terrible about planning ahead. It probably would be even tastier if you cooked the chickpeas yourself. Don’t try and get by without the zesty sauce, it really makes the meal!

Okara Felafel •

1 (29 ounce) can chickpeas (drained, rinsed, and mashed)
1 cup wet okara
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup celery, minced
1/2 cup green onions, (white portion only) minced
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika
cayenne (dash or to taste)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
3-1/2 tablespoons white unbleached flour (you will need extra for coating)
3 tablespoons tahini
2 eggs, beaten

In a large mixing bowl, combine above ingredients well. Chill mixture for at least one hour or more. With your hands dusted with flour, scoop out mixture to make 1" balls. Coat the balls with flour. Heat a 2"- 3" pool of oil in a heavy skillet or heavy saucepan to 365 degrees. Deep fry the Felafel (three at a time, depending on size of skillet or pan...don’t overcrowd) until golden brown. Hold in a warm oven until done frying all the Felafel. Serve warm with Tangy Yogurt Sauce.

Tangy Yogurt Sauce •

3/4 cup tahini
1 tablespoon natural creamy peanut butter (optional)
1-1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup green onions, finely minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely minced (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon paprika
dash cayenne

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine sauce ingredients and beat well. Refrigerate any sauce that is left over and use it for dip for raw veggies, or as a salad dressing.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is my first visit and I am soooo intrigued by Okara! I really wish I lived nearby you so I could borrow some to experiment with.

I'll back to check out future recipes!

toontz said...

Christie-
I would gladly give you some. Thanks for visiting!

Sagari said...

u have a lovelr recipes in your blog

toontz said...

Thank you Sagari!

Anonymous said...

I am so excited. My son went vegan on January 1, 2009. He and his brother have been vegetarian for about 5 years, so I have gotten pretty good at vegetarian. Now it is a new challenge.

Yesterday I bought a Soyabella soy milk maker and now that the bean are soaked I have made my first batch of soy milk. When I saw the Okara that was left my thoughts were "now what could I do with this terrific stuff that has to be all fiber and lots of good protein?" I got on line and found your blog.

I am so excited to try the recipes. Thanks so much for doing this! I am sure that it takes a lot of time and I for one am truly appreciative since I have very little of my own as I am a nurse, as student and a mom trying to keep her boys healthy and working on it for myself as well.

Unknown said...

Hi! Love your innovations with okara! Very nice of you to share them with the rest of us.. I am vegetarian.. no meat, fish or eggs but i do eat dairy products. anyway wanted to ask you if there is a replacement you could offer for the eggs in this recipe?? I love falafels! Thank you so much!!

toontz said...

Yamuna-
I have never tried Ener-G Egg Replacer, but I know many vegetarians and vegans use this in their cooking. Veg Cooking has a very informative page on Egg Replacements: http://www.vegcooking.com/vegcooking-eggreplace.asp

Good Luck! Toontz