Middle Eastern Food!

Tonight, I tried to make Middle Eastern food for the first time. I was inspired by some leftover tzatziki sauce and Roma tomatoes from New Year's Eve.

I used this falafel recipe from allrecipes.com:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Seans-Falafel-and-Cucumber-Sauce/Detail.aspx

All the ingredients are pretty common, and I can vouch that it was pretty simple with the help of my food processor, so I recommend trying it!

Modifications: I didn't add the cayenne as called for because I didn't have it, nor did I deep fry the patties. I pan fried them for a couple of minutes on each side and then baked them at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes - it turned out great! Also, I skipped making the tzatziki.

I served the falafel on a pita with the tzatziki sauce, hummus, sliced tomatoes and cucumber. Here's a picture of the falafel. It was awesome.


With the leftover parsley, I made some tabbouleh. I used this recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tabbouleh-III/Detail.aspx

The salad didn't have a chance to soak together, but it did taste remotely like tabbouleh I've had in the past - a success! Also, you might notice in the picture, I prefer my tabbouleh heavy on the parsley and light on the bulgar.

Modifications: I don't think I measured anything except for the lemon juice/olive oil mixture. I cooked the bulgar, instead of soaking, because I was short on time. It was too much, so I threw it away because cooked bulgar did not look like something worth saving.


Awesome dinner! :D