Falafel

I don't often eat purely vegetarian. There are a few exceptions, and falafel is one. This is a fairly common fast food in Sweden, served at the same places that have kebab. (And kebab in Sweden, for the record, is what's called D�ner Kebab in other places. More about kebab here.) The origin is middle-eastern, and you can learn more about it from Wikipedia. I never eat it in fast-food places though - it's usually served with hummus, which I don't like, and it's also not as good when it's been kept warm for a while. No, freshly cooked is the key here.

I can't really say that I make my own falafel, at least not from scratch. This is one of fairly few foods that I rather have from a box. There are excellent mixes to be found in exciting, small, exotic stores, and I much rather get one of those than start by mixing my own chickpeas. Why improve on perfection? Anyway. I get the mix, and then you just mix it with a little bit of water, let it rest for fifteen minutes, and the it's ready to be rolled into little flattened balls and fried in oil. I use an old cast-iron pot for frying, it works perfectly. The falafel is ready when it's reached a light golden brown color.

If you *do* want recipes for actual falafel from scratch, here are some:
http://www.theepicentre.com/Recipes/mfalafel.html
http://www.cooking.com/recipes/static/recipe4858.htm

And here is a very cool little falafel game!

We ate this with warm pita bread, sliced red onions, lettuce, tomatoes and a most awesome raita-tzatziki that I will call... raitziki. (Tzatziki would be the same recipe, but minus the sugar and the coriander. Those, in my opinion, are rather in a raita, but then they wouldn't be accompanied by garlic.) Here you go!

Raitziki
1 cup or so (that's 250 ml) of greek or turkish yogurt
1 medium cucumber, coarsely grated and the water squeezed out
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
1 pinch of sugar
salt
white pepper

Mix. Enjoy. That's it!