East Meets West

My dad (aka Papa Procido) has the extraordinary talent of being able to turn out 10 different homemade pizzas from his oven within an hour. I'm serious! One time for Mardi Gras, several friends and I stayed at his house for the weekend in New Orleans - and his mad pizza skills came alive. He was turning out spinach, mushroom, and cheese; italian sausage and broccoli rabe; pesto and pine nut veggie; and then it happened - out came a pizza that perplexed every single one of us. He called it "East Meets West." Oh man, what is that on that pizza, dad? "It's bamboo shoots, pickled!!" What? Bamboo shoots... really? "Yeah, and a spicy mango chutney" On a pizza? Okay... let's try this. I might just not be a fan of bamboo shoots on pizza, but aside from those - the idea of East Meets West was born to the Procidos.

When I was thinking of something fun to cook on my 48 hour shift off, I came across an interesting rendition of falafel sandwiches, where the falafel are baked. For those of you who are not familiar, falafel are herbed chick pea cakes made in Greek cuisine. They have a really unique flavor - delicious! Vincent and I love the falafel sandwiches at a restaurant in NOLA called Lebanon Cafe! They have absolutely mastered the art of preparing every element of that "sandwich" (it's really more of a wrap). I mentioned this recipe to Vin and he is all for it - hell yeah! When we get to the store to round up some ingredients, he mentions that we should make some Naan for the falafel wrap instead of the traditional pita bread that is used at Lebanon Cafe. Hmm. Indian and Greek? I'm not afraid to embark on another East Meets West adventure! Let's do it :)

First let me mention that I have made neither falafel or naan from scratch in my kitchen. A great friend of mine, Laura Burton, eats a pescatarian diet (which I ate for many years) consisting predominately of vegetables and fish. Anyway, she had us over for dinner a few weeks ago and made a lovely spread of Indian food including curried fish stew, jasmine rice, and naan covered in poppy seeds and sea salt. The naan was so phenomenal that we asked for the recipe and have been meaning to make it ever since. Thanks, Laura! Last night we kneaded out the naan ingredients, and the dough began to rise quickly!

Naan
1.5 cups flour
1/2 cup greek strained plain yogurt
1/2 cup warm milk
1 packet (2 tsp) yeast

Combine the yogurt and milk, and heat through on the stove or in the microwave. Do this slowly, and take care not to scald the mixture or overheat it because it will kill the yeast. Once the mixture is about 120 degrees, add the yeast and flour. Mix all of the ingredients together until a sticky dough forms. Turn out the dough onto a heavily floured board and knead - adding flour as necessary- for about 5 minutes. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl with plenty of room for rising. ** Tip: take a paper towel and run it under hot faucet water, ring it out and place it over the bowl. Then, cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and place it in the oven (turned off) to rise. This prevents any drafty air from slowing down the rising process.**

Once the naan dough has doubled in size, punch down the dough and shape into several small dough balls. Allow these to rise for about 30 additional minutes on a sheet pan, covered with a clean kitchen towel. Once you're ready to start cooking the naan, heat a cast iron skillet or a griddle pan and get some vegetable oil hot. You're going to want medium high heat for this, but test it out with one first - looking for a golden brown color. Take one of the dough balls and place it on a floured board. Begin stretching the dough and flattening it with your fingers. Once you have it thin enough where it's not tearing, place it in the hot oiled pan. Sprinkle the open side with sea salt! Once the bottom looks golden brown and ready to flip, you can do one of two things:
- flip it on the pan and add more oil
- place it under a broiler for the top of the naan dough to cook (we don't have one)

LB's Famous Naan

Once the naan is golden on both sides, take it off of the heat and place it in paper towels to absorb some of the grease. Sprinkle sesame seeds (or poppy seeds) and sea salt. Taste the first one for texture and doneness. Proceed in a similar fashion for the remaining dough balls, adjusting the temperature of the pan as necessary.

Woah! Hold up! We were talking about falafel - I got sidetracked :) While the naan is rising the first time, you're going to want to get that falafel going (you have time for a 3 mile run first, btw.). To make falafel, you will need a food processor and to follow this recipe:

Baked Falafel (*vegan*)
1 15oz. can Bush's reduced sodium Chick Peas
2 Tblsp. olive oil
1/4 cup chopped yellow or purple onion
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
Chopped garlic to taste (3-4 big cloves)

Puree all of these ingredients in a food processor for about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides and pulse again until the mixture is unified and there are no whole chick peas. Brush a sheet pan lightly with olive oil. Using a tablespoon measure, scoop 18 falafel balls from the mixture and place them on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the falafel with an additional tablespoon of olive oil. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, turn and bake for 15 more minutes. You will want to be cooking the naan while these bake, because it smells so good that you might eat all of them before the naan is ready!

To make the sauce, combine 1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste... the peanut butter of sesame seeds!), 3-4 tablespoons of water, the juice of 2 plentiful lemons, and a pinch of salt. Stir until smooth and velvety.

Sandwich time!!! Well, wrap time. Take one of your larger pieces of naan and place a handful of chopped romaine lettuce and several hothouse cucumber slices. Drizzle the tahini sauce and toss a few falafel (3-5) on top. If you love sesame taste, put a little extra tahini sauce on top of the falafel and roll up the sides of the naan. Yum!

East Meets West Naan n Falafel!