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I have to thank Mr Shuck for this flavor.   He suggested hummus, although as a joke.  He reaped what he sowed though as this was his dinner…

Dinner plate: falafel cakes topped with hummus, served with lemon tahini sauce and crudite

This recipe started with soaking some chickpeas…

I did a fast soak…boiled for 5 minutes then let them sit for an hour.  Half of the chickpeas went into the food processor for the falafel.  The other half went into the pressure cooker to become hummus.    (Cooked at high pressure for 15 minutes, then quick-release of pressure.)  I usually DO cook dried chickpeas when I make hummus.   It’s less expensive and I don’t have to worry about the BPA in the cans.   In the pressure cooker, it takes about an hour to bring the pressure up, cook at high pressure for 40 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally.   If I’m in a hurry though, I’ll use canned.   It’s still cheaper to use canned than buy prepared hummus.

While the rest of the chickpeas were cooking I made the “cakes” using Mark Bittman’s Baked Falafel recipe.   I didn’t have fresh parsley or cilantro, so I used some dried.   (The were definitely missing the nice green color and some of the flavor.)  Instead of making them into patties..

Falafel mixture scooped into a greased mini muffin pan…

After baking for 20 minutes at 375 degrees…

To make the hummus,  I combined the following in the food processor:

• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (about 2 cans if using canned…drained)
• 1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 2 1/2 teaspoonfuls TruLemon (this is equal to 5 tablespoons lemon juice)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder (or 2 cloves, minced)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a splash of olive oil

I pureed this until smooth, adding a little water at a time to achieve the right consistency, which I kept a little thicker than usual so I could pipe it like icing.

Falafel cake topped with hummus and garnished with a sun-dried tomato and a pita chip

and for variety…with a grape tomato and a carrot curl

These will not be going to work.  I’m sure no one there is all that disappointed.   The falafel was a little dry on it’s own, perhaps because of the missing fresh herbs for moisture or due to over cooking.  With the tahini sauce, they were fine.  It was a nice addition to our frequent dinner of hummus and vegetables.