Redgate Kitchen

hummus, falafel, eggplant, salad, and laffa

I have a picky eater in my household ( just to be clear not when it comes to sweets but when it comes to almost everything else). So when she declares “this is the only hummus I will ever eat again, I LOVE it”, I have no choice but to make it. And make it again and again.

For the smoothest and tastiest hummus tehina, my go to is always Zahav’s Michael Solomonov’s, found here . I do use a shortcut and use canned chickpeas (1 cup dried chickpeas is 3 cups cooked chickpeas). So far those results have been great!

Well, the hummus made us all crave falafel. So I finally got to use my falafel scooper that I picked up at a market in Israel a couple of years ago. I used the Trader Joe’s falafel mix (it is great and saves the steps involved in making your own – although I may attempt this during the pandemic).

Eggplant is a favorite. I peeled it in stripes, cut it into cubes, salted it and let it sit for hours. The salt helps pull the moisture out of it. Next step is to toss with olive oil and lay flat on a sheet pan (you can use parchment paper if you like). Roast at 425º until golden and crispy on the outside.

Salad is a must. Beautiful fresh colors and taste from chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Finally the last step made this adventure complete. A friend gave me a recipe for homemade laffa. It was easy to follow and made the falafel dinner authentic.

Laffa ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I didn’t have this so I used AP)

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp softened butter

1 1/4 cup warm water

Mix all ingredients together (add the water slowly as needed – you may not need the whole amount). Once dough is formed, knead for 2-3 minutes. Dough should be soft and not sticky. Cover with a damp towel and let it rest for 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and form round balls with each piece. Let the dough balls rest again, covered with a damp towel, for another 10 minutes.

Heat up an iron pan or skillet and coat with a thin layer of oil. Roll out each dough ball into a 7-8 inch circle. The dough should be very thin. Toss onto heated, oiled pan, and cook until you see bubbling, flip the dough (approx 1 minute each side). You should see brown bubbles and then it is done!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

And voila! Make this today in your kitchen.

• 

•