Tag Archives: falafel

Jul 26 2015
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Dining Out, Uncategorized

Naf Naf Grill: Delicious and Vegan-Friendly!

Naf Naf Falafel Salad

Did you just lick your monitor or tablet or phone screen? I don’t blame you. I mean, look at the deliciousness in front of your eyes! It truly is as delicious as it looks, and you can get your very own at Naf Naf Grill.

I have loved Naf Naf from the moment they opened one of their O.G. locations in Niles. And now I’m going to get really fat and spoiled because they opened a location right by work a few months ago. Naf Naf Grill will please vegans and meat-eaters alike with a selection that includes chicken shwarma, steak shwarma and falafel.

It’s a super simple concept — think of it as a Middle Eastern Chipotle. You pick your meat/protein, then decide whether you want it in a pita, with rice, with salad, or with hummus, choose garnishes and then finish with sauces. The garnishes include a chopped salad of tomato and cucumber, cabbage and cilantro; purple cabbage salad; sumac onions; and pickles. THEY ARE ALL GOOD. GET ALL OF THEM! Sauces include tahini, garlic sauce (unfortunately NOT vegan), and hot sauce (the location by me has green and red options).

That’s not all! You can also get a side of fries (which are more like potato chips), lentil soup, or rice. I’m impressed whenever I see someone with a side because the standard Naf Naf serving is plenty of food.

I love this place. They’re fast and the food is fresh. The pita bread is nice and light, the falafel has a great, almost fluffy texture, and is tasty in its own right. SO good! And the best part is that they are super clear about their vegan options. I could get used to eating like this…

If you live in or find yourself in the Chicagoland area, be sure to check out Naf Naf Grill!-Melissa

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Apr 04 2012
5 Comments
Cooking, Recipes

Fantastic Falafel

I talk to myself when I’m driving. Here’s what I said to myself on my drive home from work: What will I have for dinner? Hmm. There’s eggplant in the fridge. And there’s tahini. I can make baba ghanouj. But then I have to pick up pita bread. Oooh! Falafel! I’ll make falafel!

And so I did.

I tried making falafel once before, and I was also recently very intrigued by Christie and Brent’s Pakora. I really wanted something simple and fried — been craving fried stuff lately — so I decided to try improving on the recipe I used before, which was straight from the good folks at Bob’s Red Mill.

Melissa’s Fantastic Falafel (that’s not too braggy, right?)

1 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin (I added a hefty 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
1 tsp fresh cilantro, minced
2  garlic cloves, minced
1/3 to 1/2 cup hot water
oil for frying

I put all my dry and fresh ingredients into a bowl.

I added the water, mixed it all together, and this lovely ball of dough formed. After my traumatizing baking experience over the weekend, I was cautious with adding the water, and found that 1/3 cup was the perfect amount I needed (probably due to how I measured the flour).

I wanted the dough to sit for awhile so the flavors could meld together, so while it was chillin’ like a villain, I made my baba ghanouj.

Melissa’s Baba Ghanouj for People Who Live Alone

1 eggplant, roasted and skinned, but keep the skins on if you want
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp tahini
1tsp lemon juice
fresh parsely leaves from 3 sprigs or so

Stick all that stuff in a food processor. Tip – you might want to mince the garlic. I didn’t. You may also want to cut down on the garlic. Let me just say that I have kickass breath right now. Hhhaaahhhhh. See?! That, along with the fact that this only serves one, is why I named the recipe the way I did.

Going back to my falafel dough, I formed some falafel balls, rolled them in some sesame seeds, and then fried them until they were golden brown — about 2 -3 minutes on each side turning 3 times for luck. These look fine but were kind of a fail: my intention was to make falafel ‘bites’ so I should have formed smaller balls. *pause for laughter* Tip: You can bake instead of fry if you wish.

Oh hi! It’s my face! If you had been here after I took this first bite, you would have heard me exclaim a bunch of “OH MY GOD”s. Finally: falafel that I can be proud of! It is 300% better than my last attempt. If my favorite falafel place ever closes, I won’t cry because I know I can make some that are just as tasty.

Happy happy happy! –Melissa

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Feb 01 2012
2 Comments
Cooking, Snacks

I’m Fallin’ For Falafel

I love me some falafel. I am so happy it’s vegan. Falafel is ground chickpeas that are seasoned, formed into balls (heehee… balls) or patties and then deep-fried. Chickpeas are yummy, versatile, and seriously nutritious. I refer to them as garbanzo beans. Growing up, garbanzos were added to some Filipino dishes such as menudo.

I had never noticed garbanzo flour in the grocery store until I sought it out after seeing (or rather, smelling) something delicious that one of my co-workers brought for lunch. I grabbed some Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour, which is even more versatile than the bean itself. You can use it in place of traditional flour for baking. You can also use it to make hummus and falafel.

I decided to try making falafel patties. After all, the recipe was on the package and I had all the ingredients. So… why not? Visit their site for the recipe, which is super easy and great for experimentation. I opted to fry some of the patties in safflower oil and bake the rest. The ones in the back are fried; the ones up front that seriously look like peanut butter cookies were baked (in the toaster oven, natch’).

These were so easy to make. The fried ones had a better texture and were slightly – very slightly more delicious, but the baked ones were great, too. There’s really no way to go wrong with this recipe.

I didn’t have any pita so I ate them with white rice, which is always available in my house. We had leftover hot sauce from a pita place, which was GREAT. So what will I do differently next time? I’ll use fresh ingredients next time: parsley, cilantro, garlic. Definitely more garlic, as well as a tad more salt. And I’ll buy or make some tahini next time, too. Oh, delicious.

I can’t wait to use the garbanzo bean flour to make other foods! Yay. Happy eating, everyone… Melissa

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