Friday, April 30, 2010

deconstructed-falafel soup

This past Sunday, after finally remembering to start soaking the chickpeas the night before, Evan and I made falafel sandwiches for dinner. From scratch. Including the pita. Really. Also really I should say that Evan made us falafel sandwiches for dinner. Oh sure, I chopped some garlic and onions and cilantro and parsley but the motivation, the coordination, and most of the work was all his.

Luckily for both of us there were leftovers enough for Monday night dinner, and enough remnants even after that for me to make up an odd little soup-like concoction after he headed to North Carolina for a couple weeks.

Deconstructed-Falafel Soup:
1/2 smallish onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon oil from garlic confit, plus 3-4 smashed garlic cloves
handful or two of chopped cabbage
1-2 tablespoons harissa-style chile paste a la Bittman
leftover parsley, crushed coriander seeds, cilantro as available
vegetable or chicken broth to cover, plus more to thin as desired
1-2 tomatoes, diced
3 falafel balls a la Bittman, crumbled
1-2 tablespoons hummus or leftover falafel tahini sauce a la Bittman
broken-up several-days-old pita a la Reinhart

Saute the onion in a tablespoon or so of the garlic oil, then add the garlic itself and the cabbage and let cook till the cabbage begins to soften. Stir in the chile paste to taste, and the leftover herbs, and eventually the broth. Add the tomatoes and falafel and let simmer for a little while, then add the hummus or tahini sauce to taste, and then serve over the pita.

I added a good-sized dollop of our homemade yogurt, and this made the soup particularly delicious.

2 comments:

shelley c. said...

That sounds awesome! I actually made falafel and pita for my first daring cook challenge... you two should totally check out the daring kitchen - I think you guys would totally rock the challenges!!! :)

Anonymous said...

I chuckled at the 1st paragraph. Sounds just like me. Sure I chop some stuff but my boyfriend is the mastermind behind the cooking. Great soup recipe!