Falafel and pine nuts

[Guest guest]

Sally,

Thank you for your prompt response!!

I went ahead and processed the beans according to the

recipe since they seemed soft enough to grind to a

paste, and refrigerated the dough for an hour.

When I went to fry the first batch, I formed them into

patties using two spoons as I've seen done at Middle

Eastern Delis- so fairly small patties- and put them

in the one cup hot olive oil to fry.

When I came back to them to turn them they were still

green so I figured I didn't have the oil hot enough

and turned up the heat a bit.

When I came back to check on them they - all but part

of one- had completely disintegrated into the oil.

I poured that oil off, heated up some new oil, and

processed some of my dough to make it finer and

stickier- I figured maybe I'd left it too coarse.

These patties seem to be doing the same thing- they'll

start to get a nice golden crust, but the second I

touch them with a spoon to turn them, the crust comes

off. I formed these a little bigger using my hand and

squeezing (also as I've seen done in Middle Eastern

Delis,) and I'm really getting frustrated. :oP

Any advice would be appreciated. I don't think the

dough is too coarse- is it too wet?? Does it need to

chill longer? Should I be making hamburger type

patties instead of the egg shaped rounds I'm used to?

The tahini sauce seems to have turned out well in any

case!

Question about pine nuts- should they be soaked and

dried like other nuts?

Love in Christ,

Alison

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[Guest guest]

Dear Alison,

I don't quite know how to advise you. I always had a few that crumbled but

mostly they held together. I formed the patties with my hand--not too big,

about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, perhaps even smaller. When you put them in

the pan, press with a spatula. When you turn, do it very carefully. They

should mostly hold together. Try again!

You can soak the pinenuts and make crispy pinenuts, but it is not that

important if you are just using a few on salads. The toasting does get rid

of some of the phytates anyway and pinenuts are relatively mild as nuts go.

Let me know if you achieve success with the falafal. Sally