PADDLINGgourmet story & photo by tarmo poldmaa I Say Falafel, You Say Felafel
Whether you make them from scratch or just add water, falafel, tabouli and hummus are perfect trip foods
F
alafels are deep-fried balls or patties of spiced ground chickpeas, typically served
inside pita bread with veggies (lettuce or sprouts, tomatoes, onions) and tahini sauce or yogurt dressing. The recipe of this simple food dates back thousands of years, originating somewhere in the Middle East. In the early 20th century, Jewish immigrants to Palestine fell in love with falafel. When the State of Israel was established, falafel soon became the national food. Falafel today is a staple throughout the Middle East, in Turkey and Greece, and on any kayaking trip where I’m doing the cooking!
16 Early Summer 2004 I enjoy my falafels with a wonderful Middle
Eastern salad called tabouli that combines bulgur wheat (whole wheat grains that are pre-cooked and ground), tomatoes and cucumbers with mint and parsley. Together, falafel and tabouli provide a quick, healthy, protein-rich meal that is very easy to prepare on trip.
One of the reasons that these Middle Eastern specialties are so convenient for kayakers is that both falafel and tabouli are available at most grocery stores or health food stores in very compact dehydrated forms to which you simply add water. Two common brand names are Casbah and Fantastic Foods. Both make falafel and tabouli mixes. For the tahini or yogurt dressings it is also very easy to pick up small instant sauce packages at most grocery stores. Again, just add water! Both falafel and tabouli are also easy to prepare from scratch. For the falafels, I recommend
preparing them to the patty stage before the trip and frying them up at mealtime.
For the tabouli salad, I typically boil some water
in the morning and soak the bulgur wheat, drain it and put it into a Ziploc bag until I make the salad later in the day. This way the bulgur cools off so I don’t have a hot salad. Alternatively, you can rinse the softened bulgur wheat with cold water before serving.
With this meal combination, I also like to serve up some raw veggies like carrots and celery with a bit of hummus. Again, you can make hummus from scratch but the dehydrated versions are excellent. Once your falafels are fried, stuff them into a pita with some fresh tomatoes, lettuce, onion, tahini or yogurt dressing and a bit of hot sauce. Now that’s a wrap!
Paddling gourmet Tarmo Poldmaa spends his summers plying the big blue waters of Lake Superior as a guide for Naturally Superior Adventures. In his spare time he teaches science at a high school in Wawa, Ontario.
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