The nourishing and satisfying balls of chickpeas, herbs and spices are essential in oriental cuisine. Where and when exactly the dish was created, the historians are still arguing about. Some claim that the speciality comes from Egypt, others suspect its origin more in Palestine or Lebanon. It may have been eaten as a substitute for meat dishes during the fasting period. In Israel, for example, falafel is now a national dish and every family knows its own recipe.
In Europe falafel is usually offered as a mezze in oriental restaurants or as a vegetarian alternative to kebab in snack bars. The speciality can be eaten in different variations. Today I’ve created my own recipe. But what I have to say is that I did not make the Falafel myself but used a ready-made mixture from Alnatura.
Oriental tomato salad on falafel
Recipe for 2 persons as main dish
Tomato salad
2 hands full of small, differently coloured date tomatoes
2 baby cucumbers
1 spring onion
pomegranate seeds
coriander and peppermint for seasoning
Dressing
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
honey
salt
pepper
1. quarter tomatoes, slice cucumbers and chop half an onion
2. cut pomegranate in half and tap on the skin with a wooden spoon until all seeds have fallen out
3. chop a little coriander and peppermint
4. mix half of the pomegranate seeds with the other ingredients
5. For the dressing, mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar in about the same quantity. Season with salt and pepper. Add some honey at the end.
6. mix the dressing with the other ingredients and sprinkle the remaining pomegranate seeds over the salad
Falafel
Alnatura ready mix for Falafel (can be used with pleasure also another one) or you make the Falafel yourself
pita bread
crème fraîche 
1. Heat 3 pieces of flatbread in the oven preheated to 100 degrees for 5 minutes
2. For the falafel I used a ready mix. All I had to do was mix 260 ml of hot water with the powder contained in the pack and let it swell for 15 minutes.With moistened hands, I formed 8 thalers of falafel and fried over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes until the thalers were brown.
4. drain the falafel on a kitchen towel.
5. cut the round flatbread into 4 pieces and spread some crème fraîche on top
6. put the falafel on the pita bread
7. a teaspoon of hummus (recipe below) and a tablespoon of tomato salad above
Hummus
1 can of chickpeas
2 tablespoons Tahini (sesame paste)
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
1 small clove of garlic
salt
paprika powder
Puree the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil. Do not save on olive oil. It always depends on how solid or liquid you like hummus and how much olive oil you add.
2. season with salt and paprika powder
3. put hummus in a bowl and add some olive oil
The remaining flat bread can be used for dipping.
Tip: For that certain something you can also mix in pomegranate seeds. Gives the whole thing a certain fruitiness.
Have fun cooking!
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