gnome recipes

i made falafels and chocolate brownies for the gnomes gathering on the weekend and said i would share the recipes, so here they are :)

Brownies

the chocolate brownie recipe that i made was maggie beer's and was on the cook and the chef a few weeks ago. You can find it here . maggie adds prunes to her brownies but i prefer adding lots of nuts, although next time i make them i think i might try one of pip's suggestion and add some berries.

soaked chickpeas and shelled broad beans

Falafel

now for the falafel! the falafels i make is an adaption of a greg malouf recipe. I think that in egypt falafels are usually made with dried broadband, and in israel, syria lebanon etc they are made with chickpeas but i like them with half half .

150g dried chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
300g shelled fresh broad beans (or 150g dried skinless broad beans soaked in water overnight)
1 1/2 cups coriander leaves and stems
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 medium onion chopped finely
1 teaspoon schug - see recipe below (or any other middle eastern spice past would also be fine or even just a chili and a clove of garlic would work too).
LOTS of olive oil for frying.

drain and rinse the chickpeas. whiz all the ingredients in a food processor or with a bar mix. form small balls or patties. either deep fry the falafels for 6 minutes or heat enough olive oil in a frying pan so that it will come halfway up the sides of the falafels and fry the falafels for 3 minutes either side or until they're golden brown.
serve with yoghurt or tahini thinned with water and a little lemon juice.

broad bean skins and falafel mix

Schug

i always have a jar of schug or harissis in the fridge to add to my cooking and use as a condiment. i think i've posted the schug recipe in a comment on kel's blogs before ... but it's a good one so i'll post it here too! in the words of my friend Yaara (owner of the gorgeous took tooks) schug is "very simple to make, just a large handful of dried chillies, bunch of coriander, 1 garlic bulb (peeled), 3-4 pods of cardamon and some salt. chuck it all in the food processor and let it run! or you can go for mortar and pestle if you're keen... it keeps for about a year in the fridge but it does go brown after a few weeks".