It’s still very hot in Melbourne. Really hot. It’s unusual to get a heatwave this long lasting here. I’ll miss it when it’s done. Perfect salad weather. Which is lucky because as usual on a Monday, I’m quite rushed between kinder, work, food shopping, laundry and so on. I found some falafel mix in the freezer this morning so I’ve decided to use that as the bas for tonight’s dinner. Falafel in one of those things that it is worth making big batches of because it freezes beautifully.

I use the Nourishing Traditions falafel recipe and I’ll include it here just in case you don’t have any lurking in your freezer.

Falafel
2 cups chickpeas
water
4 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups parsley
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup lard or rice bran oil

Soak chickpeas overnight in water and lemon juice. Drain and repeat or boil in fresh water until cooked. Place all ingredients except lard or oil in thermomix or food processor (in batches if necessary) and process until finely ground enough to hold together when squeezed into a ball. It should be roughly coarse paste consistency. Foolishly I didn’t note down what speed or for how long I did it when I made this batch. I would guess about speed 6 for up to a minute. I am guessing though.
Refrigerate for at least one hour.
Roll into small balls and saute in lard or oil.

Now for the salad…

Falafel Salad
1/2 wombok, shredded
1 cucumber, julienned
1 carrot, grated
1 green capsicum,sliced
1 red capsicum, sliced
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
2 slices sorj bread
spray on olive oil
2 bunches parsley, finely chopped
1 large tomato, finely diced
half red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bulghur soaked for at least 2 hours
big slurp olive oil
juice 4 lemons
1/4 cup tahini

Combine parsley, diced tomato, red onion and bulghur. Dress with olive oil and half the lemon juice. Set aside. That’s tabouleh.
In a large bowl, combine combine wombok, cucumber, capsicum, carrot and cherry tomatoes. Fold tabouleh through. Mix tabouleh balls through. Dress with combined tahini and lemon juice.
Turn oven up high. Spray both sides of sorj bread with oil and place directly onto oven racks. Leave them in there for a couple of minutes until they turn golden. Break into pieces and scatter over salad.

This was even more delicious than the Bread Winner or I anticipated. Perfect for a steamy night.