Falafel Salad

Faced with a burgeoning crop of elderberries and blackberries, especially, with tomatoes yet to come, hubby decided we needed a chest freezer in addition to our two side-by-side refrigerators, and I have to say I'm glad I didn't have to beg him. As I write he and youngest son are fetching it from the local Sears store.

But as I have tried to reduce bulk in the other freezers, I discovered a quart freezer bag with the "dough" for a recipe I made probably a year ago, Baked Falafel, from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite for Reduction, pp. 121-122.

I remember being a bit disappointed the first time around that the patties didn't firm up and tended to stick to the pan, and when I made some up last night they still had a bit of that trouble, but nothing a little more experimentation can't fix. They're pleasantly mild, but I will make them with higher onion, garlic, and spice content next time.  Here's another blogger's sharing of Isa's recipe, with a photo.

For supper last night I served this with raita and diced tomatoes, and it was very nice.  For today's salad I realized the falafel, being almost entirely chickpeas, would be great for my bean content.  So this is what I did:

Falafel Salad

Several baked falafel patties, toasted if not freshly made (Appetite for Reduction, pp. 121-122)
Mixed dark salad greens (I included some broccoli slaw in mine)
1/2 small green pepper, diced
1/2 tomato, diced
1/4 small onion, diced
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 oz. pepitas (or sunflower seeds), toasted

Assemble veggies and top with crumbled falafel, raisins, and pepitas, then dress with raita (I used about 1/3 cup) and toss.

Raita

1/2 cucumber, mostly peeled and diced
1 cup yogurt (soy is fine)
2 T. minced mint leaves
1 tsp. honey (I had to substitute 2 tsp. lemon curd, and it was pretty good!)

Combine ingredients and let sit for at least thirty minutes before serving, to meld flavors

Verdict:  Very Good.  I really like this change from my usual greens-and-beans, fruit-and-nut lunchtime salads.