Pita Bread!

I wanted to make a complete meal of Middle Eastern Cuisine, when i planned for the Falafel and Hummus. So Pita bread it was, to stuff the falafel in, along with a few veggies and served with Hummus, as a main course. Saw these beautifully puffed up Pita Breads at Deb's Smitten Kitchen and totally fell for them. They looked like almost, deep fried pooris - puffed up completely and inviting. Only difference being they were baked and had a small fraction of the fat that would go into a poori :)

Well, i followed the recipe almost the same - but substituted half of APF with WWF, and the texture was good. It tasted good with Hummus and the stuffed ones were a hit. All of them puffed up and gave me beautiful pockets to put in the stuffings. The stuffing was Falafel, Hummus with Tahini, Lettuce, chopped tomatoes and a few slices bell pepper. It made for a heartening meal and we loved it.

Pita Bread

Preparation Time: 1 hr active time + a lot of waiting time
Baking Time: 3-4 min per batch of 3-4 pitas
Source: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
All-purpose flour - 3 cups plus a scant 1/4 cup  (16 oz./454 grams) [I used half of Whole wheat flour and half APF]
Salt - 2 tsp
Instant yeast - 2 tsp (6.4 grams)
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp
Water - 1 1/4 cups, at room temperature

Method:
Mixing the dough:

• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for a scant 1/4 cup of the flour. 
• With a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until all the flour is moistened. Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together.
• Sprinkle a little of the reserved flour onto the counter and scrape the dough onto it. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, adding as little of the reserved flour as possible. At this point it will be very sticky. 
• Cover it with the inverted bowl and allow it to rest for 5 to 20 minutes. (This rest, Deb says, will make the dough less sticky and easier to work with.)
• Knead the dough for another 5 to 10 minutes or until it is soft and smooth and just a little sticky to the touch. Add a little flour or water if necessary. 

Let the dough rise: 

• Transfer the dough into an oiled large container/bowl, smearing a little oil over the dowgh as well. 
• Keep covered with a damp towel or a plastic wrap. 
• Let it rise till double in volume.
• If using it later, refrigerate the dough overnight (or up to 3 days), checking every hour for the first 4 hours and pressing it down if it starts to rise.

Getting Ready to Bake:

• Preheat the oven to 250°C. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking baking sheet on it before preheating.
• Cut the dough into 8 or 12 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the rest covered with a damp cloth. 
• On a lightly floured counter, with lightly floured hands, shape each piece into a ball and then flatten it into a disk.
• Cover the dough with oiled plastic and allow it to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
• Roll each disk into a circle a little under 1/4 inch thick - almost like a poori. 
• Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes before baking.

Baking the pita:

• Quickly place 1 piece of dough directly on the stone or on the baking sheet, and bake for 3 minutes. The pita should be completely puffed but not beginning to brown. 
• Proceed with the remaining dough, baking 3 or 4 pieces at a time if using a stone or baking sheet. 
• Transfer the pita breads to a clean towel, to stay soft and warm. Allow the oven to reheat for 5 minutes between batches. 
• The pitas can be reheated for about 30 seconds in a hot oven before serving.

Notes:

• The dough will not puff well if it is not moist enough. If the pita does not puff up fully, here's Deb's trick. I tries it too on one of the pitas that had gotten dry.Spritz each rolled-out pita with water two or three minutes before baking it. And bake as usual - pitas will puff perfectly. 
• This bread can also be made on stove top on a hot skillet. The results were not as great as the oven baked ones, but was good never the less. Can try if you don't have an oven or just want to make a couple of them and do not wish to turn on the oven.

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar and Preeti Deo.

Falafel - The Middle Eastern Fritter

Falafel – a deep fried, Middle Eastern fritter, made of chickpeas and some herbs and spices. Crispy outside, softer inside, full of flavors and deep fried! Whats not to like it, taste wise? Yes, you must sometimes forget about the amount of oil needed for deep frying if you want to enjoy some of the great foods. It is OK occasionally!

I was almost dreaming of these Falafels, till I finally decided to make them. So planned it along with the Hummus, so that the chickpeas can be cooked together. And the hummus does make a good dip for the falafel as well. Though these can be had by themselves as well.

Well, it is almost like our pakoras, vadas and bondas – all these look like cousins to me. With some variations in main ingredients, and the method of preparation. Of course each region uses the herbs, spices and other ingredients easily available in that region and that makes the difference.

So here's the recipe. BTW, the fat-stingy me tried to bake these as well, and also shallow fried a batch. But honestly, I was not very happy with the results. So I'd suggest you to make it occasionally, but please do deep fry them. Indulging occasionally is alright!

Falafel

Preparation time: 20 min

Cooking time: ~30 min + 20 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Dried chickpeas or garbanzo beans - 1 cup

Onion - 1 large, chopped

Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped

Fresh parsley - 3 Tbsp, chopped

Coriander - 2 Tbsp, chopped

Cumin - 1 tsp

Chickpea flour / Besan - 2 Tbsp

Salt to taste

Green chilies - 2-3, optional - only if you need an extra heat

Pepper to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method:

• Soak dried chickpeas in cold water overnight. Omit this step if using canned beans. 
• Drain chickpeas, and cook in fresh water in a pressure cooker till cooked soft
• Drain and allow to cool for 15 minutes 
• Combine cooked chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl.
• Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste. 
• Add flour to make the consistency that of a thick dough
• Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of ping pong ball and slightly flatten.
• Deep fry in oil until golden brown on medium heat.
• Serve hot with hummus or tahini as appetizer
• As a main course, stuff pita bread with falafel, lettuce, tomatoes, tahini, salt and pepper, and serve

Notes:

• Do not add water when mashing or grinding
• If the dough seems very loose increase the quantity of besan

Hummus - the versatile Middle Eastern Dip

Hummus had been on my list to try for a long time. Somehow i had not made it, surprisingly for it is such a simple dip with all the ingredients I almost always have. Finally i made it along with Falafel, a fritter with chickpeas and pita bread (recipes will soon follow).

Hummus is a dip/spread that is made from chickpeas/garbanzo beans. In fact, hummus is the Arabic word for chickpea. It is apparently one of the oldest foods dating back to ancient Egypt.

There are so many variations for the recipe of Hummus, just like our chutney, fo example. Each one has their own preference for ingredients, and their quantities, spice and salt level and so on. The only common factor being Garbanzo beans and Olive oil. Some versions use Tahini - a paste of roasted sesame seeds and olive oil and some do not. I have however made tahini as well and added it to my version of hummus.

Here's my version...

Hummus - The versatile Middle Eastern Dip

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: ~30 min to cook the beans, none after that

Ingredients:

Chickpeas or garbanzo beans - 1 cup, washed and soaked overnight

Lemon/lime juice - 2 Tbsp (adjust acc to taste)

Tahini - 2 Tbsp - Recipe below

Garlic - 2 cloves

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp, optional

Parsley - 2 Tbsp, chopped

Roasted Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp, optional

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Olive oil - 2-3 Tbsp

For Tahini

White sesame seeds - 2 Tbsp, roasted

Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp

Preparation:

• Cook chikpeas in enough water till well cooked - for about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. Reserve some of the water used for cooking
• Roast white sesame seeds and grind it to a paste along with olive oil to make tahini paste.
• Combine the chikpeas, tahini and the remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from boiling the chickpeas.
• Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
• Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.
• Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well.
• Garnish with parsley (optional).
• Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread or falafel or cover and refrigerate for later use.
• Stays fresh in fridge for about 3 days.

Notes:

As said earlier, there are a number of possibilities to experiment with this simple dip. Vary your spices, add your favorites and try out.