Shalom, bloggies! Let’s take a little voyage back to the Motherland- Israel! Since moving from New York City to Austin, Texas, I have gotten my fill of BBQ brisket and queso. Mmm meat. No complaints here, but I do miss the dozens of falafel restaurants on St. Marks near my NYC apartment. The crispy fried balls of deliciousness, combined with the smooth hummus. You just can’t beat it with a stick! So I was pretty pumped to attempt my own, with a spin of course. Let’s start with the chickpeas! It is super easy to use dry chickpeas for both these recipes. And super tasty to boot! To begin our recipes, let’s make a big ole batch. But I totally understand laziness, so feel free to use inferior canned chickpeas. First, put your chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with several inches of water. Let it stand 8 hours or overnight. Then, drain and rinse the chickpeas.
Place your chickpeas in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cover, and simmer for two hours or so. Basically, keep simmering until your chickpeas taste like chickpeas! Once cooked, refrigerate with the liquid until the chickpeas are cold.
That’s it! Drain your chickpeas and make sure to reserve the liquid. You are all ready to make your very own falafel and hummus!
Falafel time! Here is all you need to make your own falafel. I went with a baked method instead of deep fried. I loosely based my recipe on this one, except I spelled falafel correctly.
(I also ended up adding some flour in too when my dough was a bit too sticky.) Put 1.5 cups of chickpeas in your food processor. Then, chop up the garlic, parsley and onion and add them to the mix.
Next up, add the olive oil, egg, spices and lemon.
My dough was a bit sticky, so I added some flour as well.
Mix it up until all the ingredients are combined, but the dough is still a bit grainy. Make 16 balls with your dough and brush with olive oil. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes, flip, and then bake for 15 more minutes until your falafel is crispy. Enjoy!
Falafel goes with hummus like peanut butter goes with jelly- it just works oh so well! All you need is chickpeas, tahini, pumpkin…
Um exsqueeze me? What is pumpkin doing in the mix? Well pumpkin is pretty much the best flavor ever, and it makes an extra creamy awesome hummus, with a subtle pumpkin flavor. You can thank me later. Start by putting the chickpeas in your food processor with the liquid and blend until smooth.
Next up, throw all the other ingredients on top: pumpkin, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, garlic and spices.
Blend away, and there you have it! How easy was that? Not to brag, but this hummus is fantastic. Nearly as good as my beloved Sabra, which surely gets its tastiness from loads of added crack olive oil.
I didn’t make my own pita (this time) but I wanted to share with you the brand I did use. Bible Bread- that’s how you know it’s the good stuff!
Garnish with some cucumbers and tomatoes, and you have one tasty sandwich!
Hope you enjoy!
Chickpeas
- Put chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with several inches of water.
- Let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse.
- Place chickpeas in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cover, and simmer for two hours or until your chickpeas taste like chickpeas.
- Once chickpeas are cooked, refrigerate with the liquid until cold. Make sure to save the liquid. Your chickpeas are ready to use!
Baked Falafel Makes 4 servings Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups chickpeas (1 can)
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 1 cloves minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/4 cup shopped parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil plus more for brushing
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt to taste
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Combine all the ingredients into a food processor until the mixture is combined but still grainy.
- Form mixture into 16 balls ad brush with extra olive oil.
- Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes, flip, and bake an additional 15 minutes until balls are crispy.
Pumpkin Hummus Makes 4 cups Ingredients:
- 1 cup dry chickpeas or 3 cups cooked chickpeas (2 cans)
- 1/2 cup chickpea liquid
- 1/2 (15 ounce) canned pumpkin
- 1/4 cup lemon (about 2 lemons)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons tahini paste
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- Salt to taste
- Put the chickpeas and liquid into a food processor and mix until smooth.
- Add in the pumpkin, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, garlic, salt and spices.
- Mix it up again, and add more liquid if needed to make it smoother.
22 Comments
I know whatthisjewwanna eat! You are incredible. Bubbes have great apple cake recipes (secret is in the OJ). Perhaps you can improve???? Oy vey. Ole!
Um yes please! I need to take a look at this apple cake recipe. Oyyy!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Amy Kritzer, Amy Kritzer. Amy Kritzer said: New post inspired by the Motherland! http://whatjewwannaeat.com/2010/12/19/falafel-and-pumpkin-hummus/ […]
oh.. I love the addition of pumpkin to your hummus. It looks delish!
[…] come to the conclusion that Jewish food (unlike the Jewish people) is just not all that attractive. Falafel- rather unphotogenic. Matzah Ball Soup- a bit homely. Latkes – wouldn’t win a beauty […]
[…] Amy Tweet Well I don’t want to spoil you with beautiful food, bloggies! Last week’s pink soup was enough attractiveness for a while, back to the mushy brown Jewlicious food you know and love. […]
I was looking for Pink Soup!! Your link to it took me here. Not a bad direction. I love your pictures and stories. I like how garlic and chick peas got some top billing photos.
I like pumpkin (lots of fiber and vitamin A), but never thought to add it to hummus which I love. Good idea!!! How did you like it compared to regular garlic hummus?
Was the consistency the same?
Thanks, Gloria! I loved the pumpkin hummus- it wasn’t too pumpkiny, but I added pumpkin pie spice because I like the flavor. And the pumpkin made it extra smooth. Yum!
[…] Here is all you need for your very own German Cucumber salad. It is uber easy! Besides a plethora of ground meats, this would also be tasty with hummus and pita. […]
[…] I take Bubbe’s recipes and put a little spin on it. I take hummus- and what is that pumpkin in there? Crazy pills! I made rugelach, but doctored with nutella! And […]
[…] used dried lentils which are totally easy to make, but per usual, feel free to use inferior canned legumes. If you are using dried, make a big ole batch and use the […]
[…] or in this case, cheese. Mmm cheese. This time, I made mine in casserole form. Mostly because I am lazy. But one day, if you are lucky, I will show you kids how to make individual blintzes. But now, […]
[…] recipe is super easy. I used dried chickpeas, but you could totally use canned. Place your chickpeas in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, […]
This is getting dangerous here. I basically bookmarked half of your website! Falafel and hummus are by far my favorite things!
Sweet! If you have pinterest I have most of my recipes there organized into a nice little folder of goodness! Or you can pin your faces into a folder of your own.
Cool, pinterest is awesome, super helpful in organizing recipes 🙂 That can be dangerous (addictive), but I will ‘invade’ (= check out) your pinterest board.
Sweet! I realized I haven’t pinned all my recipes, but will this week.
[…] Pumpkin Hummus […]
[…] come to the conclusion that Jewish food (unlike the Jewish people) is just not all that attractive. Falafel- rather unphotogenic. Matzah Ball Soup- a bit homely. Latkes – wouldn’t win a beauty contest. […]
[…] But why stop there, with just one simple recipe? It has been a dream of mine ever since I made falafel, and certainly since I made bagels, to create some pita bread of my very own. That is just the kind […]
[…] I take Bubbe’s recipes and put a little spin on it. I take hummus- and what is that pumpkin in there? Crazy pills! I made rugelach, but doctored with nutella! And […]
[…] or in this case, cheese. Mmm cheese. This time, I made mine in casserole form. Mostly because I am lazy. But one day, if you are lucky, I will show you kids how to make individual blintzes. But now, […]