Falafel

Falafel
Ingredients
250 g chickpeas
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 handful of parsley, chopped
1 handful of coriander, chopped
1 chili pepper, chopped (optional)
2 tbsp flour (I used gluten free flour for this one)
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 ltr vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Method
1. Take a large bowl and put in the chickpeas. Then, pour over enough water to cover the chickpeas and an additional 2 cm more. Leave to soak overnight. In the morning they will look plump and swollen.
2. Hold the chickpeas over the sink and drain off the water. Now spoon the chickpeas into the blender bowl. Don't overfill the blender! Close the blender and pulse a couple of times, then blend on full power until you create a breadcrumb like mixture. Check the consistency by stirring with a spoon. If necessary, blend again on full power until you create a fine purée. Then transfer into a bowl.
3. Put the parsley, coriander, chilipepper, garlic along with 2 tablespoons of the puréed chickpeas into the bowl of the blender and blend until well combined.
4. Spoon the blended mixture into the bowl of puréed chickpeas. Then add the flour, the cumin, the crushed coriander seeds, the baking soda and about one and a half tablespoons of salt. Finally, add some pepper. Combine it all together thoroughly with a spoon. If it looks too dry, a few drops of water can be added.
5. Place the saucepan on the hob and add the oil. Then heat it up on a medium high setting.
6. Take a small amount of the blended mixture in your fingertips and mould into small balls. Then place onto a baking tray. This amount of ingredients should make around twenty five to thirty balls. Kept covered, this mixture will keep for one day in the fridge.
7. The oil should now be hot enough to fry. Individually, spoon half the batch of falafel balls into the oil. Allow to fry for 2 minutes until golden brown, stirring with the slotted spoon, so they brown evenly. Then remove and drain on a tray prepared with some kitchen towel. Now repeat the process with the remaining falafel balls.

Serve and enjoy. The falafel balls are now ready! They are usually served inside pitta bread with tahini, humus, or chopped salad.

Caramelized Carrot Risotto

It's been a while since I posted. Mostly because I'm quite busy writing my master theses and also I didn't really have anything to write about. I didn't try any new recipe's that I was happy enough over to write about it to you.

But now I have a recipe I would like to share. Last summer I ate my first risotto. When my boyfriends parents were over, we did a big family dinner. My parents, brother, his girlfriend, my boyfriends parents and us two joined each other at our house for dinner. Now what is a nice and easy meal for 8 people? My boyfriends mother and I decided to make risotto. Everyone loved it! And since that summerday I have been meaning to make some more risotto.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. We were having our monthly potluck dinner with the neighbors again. And I needed to come up with something new and nice. Since we had some carrots left over and the meal needs to be vegetarian I decided to make a caramelized carrot risotto. It was a hit! Everyone loved it. One thing I might have done wrong this go though was that I used the wrong stock. The stock I used was a little bit overpowering. So next time I will make this dish I will try to use a stock that is not so strong and overpowering in flavor.

Caramelized Carrot Risotto - adapted from Yummy Mummy

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, divided
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
6 medium carrots, peeled and chopped as finely as possible
0.5 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1.2 liter stock (chicken or vegetable)
2 finely chopped onions
300 grams of arborio rice
125 ml of white wine
125 gram of freshly shredded parmesan
2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley, plus a bit for garnish

Method
1. Heat 1 tbsp. oil and 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat and add carrots. Stir until well coated. Add 125 ml of water, 1/2 tsp. salt, and the sugar; cook 5 minutes or until tender. Continue to cook until water evaporates and carrots are just starting to brown. Reserve half of the carrots. In a blender, purée other half with 200 ml of hot water.

2. Bring stock to a simmer and keep at a simmer, covered, over low heat.

3. Heat remaining oil and butter over medium heat in same (unwashed) pot used for carrots. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add rice, stirring with a wooden spoon to coat rice with oil. Add wine and cook, stirring, until wine evaporates. Add carrot purée and cook, stirring, until mixture no longer looks soupy.

4. Add 125 ml of hot stock, stirring often, until rice absorbs most of the liquid. Repeat process, adding 125 ml of stock at a time and stirring often till each addition is absorbed before adding the next, until rice is al dente (about 20 minutes; at least 250 ml stock will remain).

5. Fold in reserved carrots (save 2 tbsp. for garnish),  half of the parmesan and 1 tbsp. parsley. Add up to 250 ml of (75 ml at a time) to loosen the risotto. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Sprinkle each bowl of risotto with some of remaining parmesan, remaining 1 tbsp. parsley, and reserved carrots. Enjoy!

Quesadilla's with Goatscheese and Kidneybeans

We live in a cohousing community. This is a community where we all have our own houses, but also share certain facilities with our neighbours. We also have more contact with our neighbours then what we had when we lived in our old house.

When I tell people that we live in a cohousing community I get a lot of questions. "Do you have your own house?" yes, "Do you have your own kitchen?" yes, "Do you have to spend all your free time with your neighbours?" no, but we have some chores that we do together, like taking care of the shared garden, cleaning the shared hallway and communityroom and a meeting once every other month.

Our cohousing community is divided into six clusers. And we spend more time with our own cluster then with the others. Once a month we have a potluck dinner with our cluster. This potluck needs to be attended by everyone. Then there is another weekly potluck dinner, that is voluntairy and if you want to join your free to come.

Because of the summer holidays this weekly potluck sort of stopped, and last friday it was the first time in 2 months that some of us got together and shared a meal together. Everyone brought delicious food and I want to share with you what i brought along.

This is a recipe I found on a great blog from Meeta and is called "What's For Lunch Honey?". If you don't know it you should go and have a look. I'll wait...

Right, are you back? Here is the recipe. It's slightly altered and really delish!

Quesadilla's with goatscheese and Kidneybeans
Ingredients
450 gram can kidneybeans, washed and drained
150 gram goat cheese, crumbled
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
salt and pepper
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 tortillas

Method
1. Heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until fragrant and opaque - about 5 minutes. 
2. Add beans together with the garam masala, cinnamon and chili powder and stir to incorporate the spices. Allow to cook for about 3 minutes to release the aromas of the spices, then add about 150 to 200 ml of water. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the water has evaporated - about 6-8 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. 
3. Using the back of a fork mash just part of the bean mixture up to give a chunky mixture. This will also make it more sticky and easier to spread it on the tortilla's. 
4. Spread the bean mixture over the 1 tortilla, leaving about 1 cm space along the edges. Scatter a third of the crumbled goat cheese over the bean mixture and cover with a second tortilla. Pressing slightly so it will stick together. Lightly brush or spray a fryingpan with oil and over medium heat place the quesadilla in the fryingpan.
5. Brown each side of the tortilla for about 2 minutes. Proceed in this manner until all the tortillas have been used. Cut the quesadillas into wedges and enjoy!