Saturday, June 20, 2009

Gavurdagi Salatasi with Falafel

In the May issue of Saveur, Anya von Bremzen wrote about living and eating in Istanbul. The pastries, like baked rice pudding, looked wonderful, and the mezes including salt pickled vegetables and a baba-gannouj-like dip looked great too. The stuffed eggplant caught my eye, and then I noticed this tomato salad with herbs and pomegranate. I guessed that this would be brightly flavored and fresh and have a nice, tanginess. It was suggested as a garnish for falafel, and that sounded perfect. I don’t know terribly much about Turkish food, but I’ve been learning from Give Recipe and Turkish Food Passion. Every time I visit those sites, I see dishes I want to try.

This salad is a combination of several chopped, fresh tomatoes, a lot of flat-leaf parsley, mint, some onion, fresh thyme, paprika, lemon juice, scallions, banana peppers, a little garlic, and pomegranate molasses. It’s garnished with ground sumac. When I read that ingredient list, I imagined all those flavors mingled together and couldn’t wait to try it. I used a falafel recipe from Epicurious, but I’m not sure if proper Turkish falafel is prepared in a different way. At any rate, the salad and falafel made a very nice pair. I whipped up a tahini, yogurt, lemon sauce and served a mound of salad with falafel sitting on top and plopped a little sauce in the center.

Both the falafel and salad recipes make enough to serve six, so after having this for dinner, there was plenty remaining for a few lunches. To describe the salad, I keep coming back to the freshness of it. The herbs and lemon and scallions did that for it, and the pomegranate molasses, although subtle, added a nice tangy sweetness. The flavors were so right with the chickpeas, onion, cumin, and coriander in the falafel. This is a definite keeper, and some day when I’ve practiced more with Turkish cuisine, I hope to be able to prepare an entire feast.


37 comments:

  1. you got me with this combination, I love Turkish cuisine because of its freshness and diversity, such colorful and healthy food.

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  2. a salad and falafel. Can't beat that. I've always wanted to try making falafel. I figured but it'd be pretty hard. But seeing yours, I think I may just give it a try!

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  3. nice job- I eat falafel often and make it rarely -NYC is loaded with great/cheap falafel places.

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  4. These falafel look great, especially with the delicious salad! I love the look of it with all those fresh ingredients.

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  5. love how the falafel "rests" on top of the salad..yummy!

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  6. I like this falafel, really!! Gloria

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  7. Both the salad and falafel look so good! I've always wanted to make falfel. Love the pomegranate molasses in the salad :)

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  8. This looks so good! I've never tried making my own falafel, but your recipe looks delicious!

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  9. I had another variation of falafel and another variation of this tomato salad at an Israeli restaurant a while back and have not stopped thinking about them. The flavors, the freshness, etc. I just love this kind of cuisine. Can't wait to try the Turkish version.

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  10. I love falafel and is a very popular middle eastern dish. I didn't know there was a Turkish version of falafel. The salad sounds delicious as well.

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  11. What a delicious meal! Great there are enough for lunches too, that's the best part.

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  12. i don't recognize those words, but i don't need to--all i need to see is "falafel" and i'm interested. your work here looks fresh, unique, and delicious. kudos. :)

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  13. I have an almost full bottle of pomegranate molasses in my pantry and now I know what to do with it! I love Middle Eastern food and hardly ever eat it. I am afraid to fry my felafel. How did it go for you?

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  14. Dana: I formed the falafel and let them sit in the refrigerator for an hour or so. I think that helped them keep their shape when I fried them. I just used a good covering of the pan bottom with oil in a skillet and browned them for about two minutes on each side. They were easy to turn and remove from the pan with no breaking or crumbling. All in all, an easy frying experience.

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  15. When you prepare your entire feast of Turkish foods, will you invite us all over? ;)

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  16. Lisa your salad looks wonderful! You know as Turkish people, we adore pomegranate molasses in salads, and sumac is perfect seasoning for this salad.

    I want to add an info if you don't mind. As far as I know, gavurdagi salatasi originally has a handful of walnuts in it. It is the main difference from other fresh salads in our cuisine.

    And your falafel looks so real on my PC screen that I want to grab one!

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  17. In my family we call this Sephardic food! Either you know what I mean or you don't. But whichever it is, it's great to see these food traditions kept alive! Love to ALL you food bloggers GREG

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  18. Sounds so delicious Lisa. I really want to make this. I better soak my dried chickpeas now, so it will be ready tomorrow. The salad is no stranger in my home, we all like it, is similar to Israeli salad, no?

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  19. Zerrin: Thanks so much for the added info! Next time, I'll add walnuts. That sounds great.

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  20. I adore turkish food--though don't make it enough. later this summer I think I will try this salad.

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  21. wow! It looks So scrumptious and gorgeous! pleasing to the eye, and I have no doubt it's pleasing to the taste, too!

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  22. Lisa, what a great job you've done with this salad. It looks so fresh as you have described and appetizing. I hope you try more Turkish recipes in the future too!

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  23. oh my god... this looks soooo good. I usually only cook Asian food, but this is definitely worth trying. I have this one girl I'm trying to impress, and I think she'll like this :) thanx!

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  24. A delicious combo! Yummy!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  25. Delicious! The falafels and the salad sound excellent!

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  26. I'm not very versed in Turkish cooking but I've learned a lot from Zerrin at Give Recipe too! I like how this recipe uses pomegranate molasses. I bought a bottle to enhance some pomegranate ice cream and its been sitting in my pantry since. Looks crispy and delicious.

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  27. This looks beautiful, colorful and even healthy! Your falafels turned out just great!

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  28. I love Turkish food! Your meal looks incredibly tasty and certainly something I want to eat!

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  29. If there is any cuisine i seriously love & would not get tired eating it will be turkish! the flavors are just mind blowing & the best part are the regular simplicity.. like this you are done.

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  30. The falafel is totally enticing. Great for a pita.

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  31. What a great, fresh salad. And I love falafel, what a great combo!

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  32. That looks amazing; my mouth is watering so much i'm thinking of making falafel for lunch...I love to have labna with my falafel. 1 kg of natural yoghurt mixed with 1 tsp salt. wrap in tight knit muslin and hang so that the whey separates and drips away leaving a consistency of thick cream cheese (24 hours). Transfer to storage container and & add several garlic cloves and fronds of rosemary. Allow to infuse; about 24 hours. Falafel with labna spread on top is amazing.

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  33. 'Fresh' is simply the best word to describe this salad! This is an instance where I see only photos and read the ingredients but feel as I if I can already taste it! I read that falafel is also made w/fava beans - great for me since I can't have chickpeas. Can't wait to try this!

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  34. Yum! There's actually some pretty yummy falafel at Costco, but I'm afraid if I bought it I'd OD on it. I loooove falafel but hadn't thought of making it myself!

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  35. Okay I just made reservations for a place here in Dallas, so I can eat eggplant and this! My friends are just plain meat and potato eaters (nothing wrong with this), and they would frown if I tried to serve them many of the good things you always make...something about going home seems so good!

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  36. I'd been eyeing this from Saveur too but haven't tried any of those recipes yet. I was introduced to Turkish cooking a couple of years ago after someone sent me an article in response to one of my posts, which I guess was vaguely middle Eastern. At any rate, I've loved the cacophony of flavors in what I've had. Where did you find the pomegranate molasses? Trader Joe's here used to sell it but they discontinued, so I've been making my own. Sure would love to just pick up a bottle...

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  37. WOW Lisa...just wonderful.Am gonna do this one day! You inspire moi! ♥

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