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Can anyone help me? We were at a music festival this past weekend and there was a Greek food stand. The guy there was using some sort of batter to make falafel pancake-style on a griddle. I have been making mediocre falafel using my broiler because I am just not committed enough to deep-fry it but this seems like a great alternative! Does anyone have any falafel hints or recipes for making them this way?

I make falafels into burger-like shapes rather than balls, then fried them in a bit less than 1/4" of canola oil in a covered fry pan. Much better than doing them in the oven, and cut in 1/2, the burger shape fits quite nicely into a pita, too.

seconding the shallow-fry method. it always works well for me.

Anne: I make them into cookie sized patties in a pan with olive oil. They bake about one hour.

I actually made them a little while ago and took pictures, if you're interested-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegeneralx/sets/72157600825961403/

Hi~
here is a real lebanese recipe, for lebanese falafel.
Soak overnight one cup of dried chickpeas and one cup dried broad beans. Rinse and process with 1 onion 1 bunch of fresh parsley garlic and cinnamon.
Form into patties, like dollar pancakes, and fry on a skillet.
Put the cooked falafel on paper to absorb excess oil, sprinkle with salt and serve with tahini.
Tahini is prepared adding water garlic salt and lemon juice to pure tahini, and mix until it looks like mayonnaise.
:)

This was enjoyable and inspiring to watch:

http://www.endlessfeast.tv/

Their latest feast was in Red Hook, Brooklyn and featured IcI restaurant (damn, NY restaurant kitchens are small!) and 6 Point's craft beers.

This would be episode 3 on the website.

Local beer, local produce, local restaurant and local people consisting of community residents, park directors, the neighborhood kids who grew the produce, and get paid for it. Meats and cheeses were from the Green Market.

A nice example of how great things can be on a local level.

100th Open Thread!? We should celebrate by having a picnic (an imaginary one's good too). Right now, in my office I have a dozen all-butter croissants and a bottle of red wine that I can contribute to the picnic. Anyone else? Some nice cheese perhaps? Or a dessert that you can 'contribute'?

Ooh thanks for all the falafel tips everyone, the mister is going to be sick of falafel by the time I'm done (buahahahahaaaaa)!