When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

09 May 2010

The Fawaffle Experiment

Carrie may have just hit upon a million-dollar idea!

She came up with the idea of the falafel-waffle - the Fawaffle, in other words - and conceived of it as a thing that could hold all kinds of sweet and savory toppings, perhaps a form of street food, even.

Falafel is sort of the national food of Israel, but it's a crossroads of many Middle Eastern cultures that Carrie and I love so much, really.

And it all starts with chickpeas and fava beans.

You need to soak chickpeas overnight and then cook them until soft - simmer for 90 minutes or so.

Cooked chickpeas

The fava beans you can soak and then cook down to a slurry, spicing it heavily with turmeric, coriander, cayenne and black pepper, cumin...

Fava bean slurry

When it comes time to assemble the actual falafel mix... a food processor can be a big help.  I tossed in minced onion and garlic, more spices, and just a thimbleful of olive oil.

Preprocessed falafel mix

What you wind up with is a smooth paste that you can add to your favorite waffle batter (I think 3 parts falafel and 5 parts batter is about right, but you should start with half-and-half and see where it takes you.

Processed falafel mix

The first batch of Fawaffles turned out awfully well!  There's much recipe tinkering to be done, but the proof of concept is right there and tasty.

First batch

Carrie conceived of this as a platform for various savory condiments - here are some that we tried:

Condiment testbed

The inventor says, "Hurray for fawaffles!"

Carrie, tasting

And so does the chef:

 

Barry, tasting

Posted via web from enrevanche on posterous

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