Monday, December 12, 2005

Falafels & Roasted Yam Wedges


Friday was an unbelievably busy day for me, and yet I really wanted to make a decent dinner. I remembered I had picked up a package of Fantastic Foods Falafel mix. Normally I make falafels from scratch, and generally shy away from 'add water & mix' types of dinners (since the flavor can be dull and disappointing). However...
I have realized in recent months that I need more convenience foods on hand, especially during busy times of the year like - right now!!

So, I decided to make the falafels, but use my own Tahini-Tamari Sauce (p.74 from The Everyday Vegan). This sauce is simple to blend up and it definitely enhanced the overall flavor of the falafels. We prefer falafels without the pita, so I made a large salad and rounded out the meal with some Chipotle Yam Wedges (p.61 from Vive le Vegan!), minus the chipotle sauce this time so we could share the yams with our 1 year-old! The fresh salad and sweetness of the yams really balanced out the more salty/spicy falafels and tahini sauce. We also drizzled on some Balsamic-Garlic Flax Oil (also from Vive, and a staple for our dinner meals), and it was particularly nice over the falafels.

Overall, the falafels were not AS good as when made from scratch, but they were still tasty. I had some extra tahini sauce leftover, which will be drizzled on sandwiches, or tossed into hot pasta along with a squeeze of ketchup for my older daughter (ketchup goes with everything, didn't you know?!)

3 comments:

Harmonia said...

Falafel is good but the last time I made it from a store-bought mix some of it was overly crunchy...I wasn't expecting it and thought I almost chipped a tooth! Scary! I'll have to try a different brand. Or maybe it was me and I did it wrong.

Dreena said...

Yikes, Harmonia, that's nasty! I had the same experience with olive bread - the pits from the kalamata olives got worked into the dough - ouch!

Harmonia said...

I'm so domestically challenged it's not even funny...well...yes, yes it is! LOL