Sauerkraut Latkes

Yes, really. Alex and I are making sausages with sauerkraut for dinner, and had half of a bag left over. I was playing around on epicurious to get some ideas, and found this recipe. Genius! So I threw it together (seriously, about 2 minutes), fried them up in some oil, and ate them up. I am glad I only made four because I could have eaten a whole lot more than the two I ate.

Sauerkraut latkes

inspired by epicurious.com

1 c sauerkraut, drained well then squeezed between paper towels

1 egg

salt and pepper

2 T flour mix

oil for frying

Heat 1/4" oil in a frying pan. Combine sauerkraut, egg, salt and pepper, and flour mix in a bowl with your hands. Form patties, squeezing out any excess liquid. Fry latkes, browning well on one side, then flipping and browning on the other. Serve with apple sauce.

Guilty pleasure

I know I'm not really frying foods anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't still love them. Especially french fries. Especially since I discovered Five Guys. Five Guys is this hamburger and fries place that opened up a year or two ago in Philly, and everything they serve, with the exception of the hamburger buns, is gluten free! They only serve burgers, hotdogs, and fries, with all kinds of toppings for the burgers. They don't look at you weird if you order a burger without a bun. The best part? Their fries. There is a sign up on the wall where they write what town your potatoes are from every day. Since the fries are the only thing they cook in the fryer, and they don't add anything to them, the fries are totally gluten-free. 

And they're soooooo good. It's such a treat to be able to get gluten-free fries, I don't know of anywhere else in Philly where I can eat fries. And it's just not the same eating frozen fries that are baked in the oven. 

One more thing that's good (or bad, depending on if you have a peanut allergies) is they have bins of peanuts that you can scoop out into little boats and eat alongside your burger and fries. They have signs on the door that state that there are open containers of peanuts inside, and you aren't allowed to take the peanuts outside. 

Bottom line? Go eat some french fries. 

Gefilte fish, two ways

I never was really interested in gefilte fish. I didn't really eat fish until recently (didn't like any fish as a kid, then was misdiagnosed as allergic a few years ago) so slimy balls of grey fish balls in cold jelly, usually out of a jar, sure didn't appeal to me. Ick. However, with my budding interest in fish, and a love of anything resembling a meatball, I thought maybe if I made them, gefilte fish would be good. I was right. I used salmon, which apparently is increasingly common, because that is the fish I like the best. I used a recipe (kind of) out of my absolute favorite Jewish cookbook, Love and Knishes by Sara Kasdan. It reads like it's written by your Jewish grandmother.  Also, when I was doing research on recipes and methods for homemade gefilte fish, I came across this article. Frying gefilte fish! What a great idea! 

This was an interesting experiment. I mixed up the fish mush, brought a pot of seafood broth to a simmer, and dropped in about a dozen football shaped quenelles. I covered the pot and let them simmer about an hour, gently, so they didn't fall apart. I shaped the rest of the fish mixture into patties about the size of flattened golf balls, and pan fried them. I didn't use the 1/4" of oil in my pan like the article suggested, but instead just used a tablespoon or two, and they fried up nicely. When it was time to eat them, the difference between the two was huge. The boiled traditional ones, served cold, were fairly bland and boring. The pan fried ones? Delicious. We served them warm, with horseradish, and they were so good. They had a lot more flavor than the boiled ones. I will absolutely be pan-frying my gefilte fish in the future. 

Think I'm nuts for making my own gefilte fish? Since I used salmon fillets and skipped the fish broth-aspic, making them was a snap. I used ground up rice crackers for the matzo meal, but you can use potato starch instead, just add it by the tablespoon to make sure that you don't use too much. 

Gefilte fish, two ways

Recipe from (kind of) Love and Knishes. I halved the recipe, changed the fish, added herbs, and removed the sugar. You guys who like your sweet gefilte fish are totally in a place I don't understand. 

1 1/4 lb salmon fillets (or whatever fish you like best)

1/2 of a large onion, minced

1 carrot, minced

1 t salt

pepper

1 T minced parsley

1 t dill

2 eggs

2-4 T ground up rice crackers, bread crumbs, or potato starch

Cut your fish up into inch sized pieces and stick them in the food processor with the onion, carrot, salt, pepper, parsley and dill. Pulse a few times, until there aren't any more big chunks of fish. Turn out into a bowl, add the eggs, and mix (your hands work best). Sprinkle 2 T of crumbs over and mix in, and keep adding a bit more until you feel the mixture is right. 

To cook:

For traditional gefilte fish, bring a pot of fish stock (made with the bones from your fish, carrots, onion and celery) to a simmer in a wide pot, add 1 sliced carrot, 1 stalk celery, and a bit of chopped onion. Form the fish mixture into footballs using two spoons, and slide them very carefully into the broth. Bring the stock back to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook about an hour. Remove the gefilte fish from the broth and place in a bowl. Refridgerate them, along with the stock (in another bowl), and serve cold, with the jelled stock and vegetables. 

For pan fried gefilte fish, form the fish mixture into small patties (about the size of a flattened golf ball). Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, then add the fish patties. Cook until well browned on one side, then flip and cook the other side. If the heat isn't too high, the patties should be cooked through. If they aren't, stick them in the oven (350 degrees) for 5-10 minutes until they're done. Serve hot with horseradish and/or capers. 

Fish and Chips

You guys know I all decided to stop frying things, but come on, I've been so good! Plus, we're celebrating. Tuesday was Alex's birthday, tomorrow is mine, and we're done moving. I mean, we still have unpacking and organizing to do, but we're done with the other house, and everything is in mostly the right place. We haven't fried anything in a long time. Since maybe January. We went to the bar last night and Alex got fish and chips and I was so jealous. We had some cod in the freezer so we made this tonight, for a special occasion. While we won't be making it again soon (no more frying!), it was AWESOME. The batter was so fluffy and crispy and perfect, and the fish flaky and great. The fries were fantastic too. We even fried some shrimp to use up more of the batter, and they were great too. Yum. 
Fish and Chips

Recipe modified from Alton Brown's. 

3 potatoes

3 c oil

salt

paprika (2-3 t)

pepper

2 c rice flour mix

1 T baking powder

1/2 t cayenne pepper

12 oz cold seltzer water

1 1/2 lb fish, such as cod

cornstarch

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the rice flour mix, baking powder, cayenne, 1 t salt and 2 t paprika. Stir in the seltzer, whisk until smooth, and stick in the fridge. 

Preheat the oven to 250, and put a rack onto a cookie sheet. Cut potatoes into thin strips, then put in some water in a bowl while the oil heats up on the stove. Heat the oil to 350 degrees (or so), dry off the potatoes, and season with salt and pepper and 1 t paprika. Slide them, in batches (we did three) into the oil, and cook 2-3 minutes until lightly golden but still floppy. Remove from the oil and repeat with the rest of the potatoes, waiting a minute or two between batches so the oil can come back to temperature. Once all the potatoes have been fried once, turn up the heat a bit, then put a batch back in the oil. Fry another few minutes, until crispy and browned. Remove back to the rack over the cookie sheet and stick in the oven until the next batch is done. Repeat with all the potatoes until all crispy and delicious, taste for salt, and then stick everything in the oven. 

Now for the fish. Keep the oil on the heat. Pat the fish dry with paper towels, then cut into serving size pieces. Dredge each piece in cornstarch, then dip in the batter you prepared earlier. Slide into the hot oil, and fry 3 minutes or so on each side, until nice and golden brown. Stick each piece of finished fish in the oven to keep hot while you fry the rest. 

Serve with sauce of your choice, we used cocktail sauce and a spicy mayo we mixed up. 

Fried Scallops

I'm having a pizza party tonight so I'm not going to post about that, I might have already posted too many pizza recipes. Instead, here's some scallops! I got some little tiny scallops for Alex to put on his pizza, and wanted to fry some of them. They were a great pre-pizza snack. 

Fried Scallops

1 c tiny scallops

1/2 c cornmeal

1/4 instant potatoes (optional)

1 t salt

1/2 t paprika

1/2 c milk

1 t hot sauce

oil for frying

Combine the hot sause and milk, then dump in all the scallops. Combine the cornmeal, potatoes, salt and paprika. Heat the oil to shimmering. Working a few at a time, shake the milk off the scallops and dredge in the cornmeal mixture. Fry in oil in small batches for a few minutes until crispy and browned, about 2 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels and eat immediately. 

Cornmeal fried oysters

I ate my first oyster on Thanksgiving last year. Since then, I've eaten plenty, but all raw. I love the slippery feel as they slide down my throat, the way they taste like the ocean, and how beautiful the insides of their shells are, while the outsides are so ugly and plain, I've never had a cooked oyster. What a waste! Why cook something so perfect as it is! I much prefer most of my seafood raw. But, since my dad suggested it (and he was paying), I figured it was worth a shot. Plus, the oysters that come already shucked are way less appetizing than the ones that are laying in their beautiful, pearlescent half shells. And, obviously, I liked them. Honestly, I'll eat anything fried (as long as it's gluten free). I'm a sucker for greasy, salty, bready treats. And this is a good one.

Fried Oysters

1 container shucked oysters, drained (save the juice for something else*)
1/2 c cornmeal
sat and pepper
oil for frying
hot sauce

Mix the cornmeal with some salt and pepper (you know, to taste, a big pinch of each) and dredge the oysters in the cornmeal. Heat up oil to shimmering (Dad used a wok, because we were making Chinese food next, but use whatever pan you'd like) and fry the oysters until the cornmeal starts to turn golden brown. Remove and fry any remaining oysters, serve immediately with little drops of hot sauce, and if you're like me and like salt, a tiny bit more salt.

*Suggested uses for oyster juice- make some soup, maybe with broth and potatoes and onions, add the oyster juice, and stir in some cream at the end, for a chowder that's got a tiny hint of oyster, or freeze the oyster juice and add it to some other soup, or use it to cook vegetables in, or add it to rice cooking water.

The Best fried chicken

I love anything that's been fried. Since I can't really eat fried food at restaurants (not like I go out to eat often) I have to make everything at home. I have made this recipe a few times, it's super simple and soo flavorful and really really good. I almost always just buy chicken thighs since they are cheapest, but last time I cut up a whole chicken and it was just as good. This isn't your regular fried chicken, the meat is incredible and moist and flavorful and juicy, while the skin is crisp and oh so good. Yum. 

Fried Chicken

This is Pim's recipe, but I never have all the right things to follow her recipe exactly. This is how I make it, with things I always have in the house. 

chicken pieces

oil for frying

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and slightly crushed

1/2 t pepper

3/4 t salt

1/3 c fish sauce

1-2 T hot sauce 

1 T ginger, sliced thinly

1/2 c rice flour

1/2 c sweet rice flour

1/2 t chili powder

In a large bowl, mix together garlic, pepper, salt, fish sauce, hot sauce, and ginger. Dump the chicken into the bowl, toss to coat, and let rest in the fridge for half an hour (or longer). 

Preheat oven to 350 (skip this if you're using boneless chicken). Heat 3/4" of oil over medium heat. 

Mix the rice flours and chili powder together. Take chicken pieces out of marinade, shake off any ginger or garlic pieces, and dredge meat in flour mixture. Fry in batches, a few minutes per side, until crisp and browned. If your meat isn't cooked (cut into a piece, if the juice doesn't run clear then keep cooking. Or, meat should be around 160 degrees), place on a cookie sheet and bake 10-15 minutes until all the meat is cooked. 

Jalapeno Poppers

Man, is it summer. While I am still trapped inside the house, it is still H O T. We don't have air conditioner downstairs, where I spend most of my time (circling back and forth from the kitchen, to living room to watch tv and crochet, to the dining room for the computer) sitting in front of various fans and eating as many popsicles as possible. And since I'm barely cooking, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to eat. I found this recipe in this months Gourmet. I can sit at the table and do prep work, but not stand at the stove and cook, so I did most of the work while Alex fried.
Jalapeno Poppers
8 large sized jalapenos
about 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar and mozzerella)
1 T hot sauce
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper
1 c gf breadcrumbs
3/4 c rice flour

Cut the jalapenos from the stem to the tip on one side, and then cut a cross right below the stem, forming a T. Hopefully you have some rubber gloves (if not make sure you don't rub your eyes or pick your nose for a while), and you can reach in and scrape everything out. I tried this with a knife and it didn't work as well and took 3 times as long. Repeat with all the peppers. Mix the cheese with the hot sauce, and a good pinch of salt and sprinkle of pepper. Stuff each pepper with the cheese mix, packing it tight. Dredge each pepper in rice flour, then egg, then crumbs. Careful, because the crumbs won't want to stick. Place aside, gently, and repeat. The Gourmet recipe said to double dip them in the egg and crumbs, but that didn't work with my crumbs, it just made everything slide off into the egg wash.
Gently fry the peppers in batches of 2 or 3 in hot oil, drain on a paper towel, and serve immediately. If your fiance refuses to eat them, they can be stored in the fridge and reheated in the toaster oven for a few minutes at 350.

Ugly but delicious spring rolls with sweet chili sauce

I ran into this recipe on glutenfreeda.com for spring rolls. I wasn’t too interested in their filling, but I’ve had rice paper wrappers in my cabinet for a while and have been itching to use them. So I threw together a bunch of stuff I had in the fridge and made some awesome, but very ugly. I think I might make them again with dinner. These can have pretty much whatever you want in them.

Sweet Chili Sauce
1/3 c rice vinegar
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c water
1 t chili flakes

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer until almost reduced by half. If it gets too thick when cooled, add a little more water and reheat.

Spring rolls

About 8oz mixed mushrooms
3 baby bok choy
1 t grated ginger
2 scallions
1 carrot, peeled
a handful of spinach
2 t soy sauce
1 t mirin
about 1/4 lb thinly sliced pork, or chicken, or tofu
1/4 package of rice noodles
1 egg white
1 package rice paper wrappers, found in the Asian section of your grocery store

Soak the rice noodles in a bowl of hot water until softened. Thinly slice your mushrooms and carrots and put in separate piles. Cut the leaves off the bok choy and set aside, thinly slice the bottoms and add to the carrot pile. Slice the scallions thinly and set aside. Cut the spinach and boy choy leaves into strips.

Heat 1 T oil in a pan (wok if you have one). Add the ginger and scallions and cook for a few seconds, then add the pork. Cook until no longer pink on the outside, then add the carrots and bok choy bottoms. Cook together a few minutes, then add the mushrooms. Once those have cooked most of the way through, add the spinach, bok choy leaves, soy sauce, noodles, and mirin. Cook until liquid is mostly gone and greens are wilted. Pour filling into a strainer, and set aside to cool/drain for a few minutes. Once cooled, fill a shallow bowl with hot water. Dip one rice wrapper into the water and hold it there until softened. You will know when it’s ready. Lay the wrapper carefully on your work surface, and put about a tablespoon of filling in the center.

Pull the bottom half up, then fold over the right side and then the left.Squoosh the filling in as tight as you can, wet the last side with egg white, and then fold over. Set aside, and repeat until all the filling is gone. Heat about an inch of oil in a pan, and when shimmering, slowly drop in the first roll. Let fry for a few minutes, then flip, carefully. It will puff up all crazy but don’t worry. That’s why they’re ugly. Once you feel they’re fried enough, drain on a paper towel and repeat. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

Step-by-Step Guide to Making Chicken Kiev

I got the March Saveur recently and it's theme is butter. They had a recipe for chicken Kiev that looked stunning. This is how I made it. I baked it after quickly frying it because I was afraid the butter would ooze out after 25 minutes of frying, and also because gf breadcrumbs brown much faster than regular ones and I didn't want burned-crust Kiev.

Step 1: Make lemon-dill butter. Mash up a stick of good butter (room temperature) with the juice of 1/2 lemon (or less), a good handful of dill, finely chopped, salt and pepper and a big pinch of cayenne. Step 2: Form the butter into a log shape, and wrap in plastic wrap.Step 3: Refrigerate the butter log for 2 hours, or stick in the freezer for about 1/2 an hour. Step 4: While the butter is chilling, pound flat your chicken breasts between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Use a mallet if you have it, or a rolling pin of heavy pan. Step 5: Assemble your ingredients. Cut the butter into 4 equal sized pieces, put 1 c rice flour into a bowl, beat 2 eggs in a seperate bowl, and mix salt and pepper and some dried thyme in a bowl with about 2 c breadcrumbs (I toast then process in the food processor gf bread from the grocery store, since I don't like eating it). Have ready a large plate to put your finished chicken onto.
Step 6: Roll the chicken securely around the butter logs. You can flatten or reshape them as necessary. Fold the ends over, then roll, making sure it will securely hold the butter. Step 7: Dredge the rolled pieces carefully in the flour, then the egg, then the crumbs. Press the crumbs into the chicken and then gently shake off excess. Place on empty plate, then repeat.

Step 8: Chill for 2 hours.
Step 9: Fry chicken, carefully sliding into the oil, sealed side down. Preheat the oven to 350. Turn chicken when well browned, carefully, so you don't squeeze out the butter. Transfer to a pan, and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

fast homemade french fries

I wanted some fries after work today, so I made some. I had a clean potato I had decided not to use last night with dinner, so I sliced it up into thin strips while I heated up about 1/4" of oil, fried them all at once about 3 minutes, drained them on a paper towel, salt and peppered them, and ate them up with BBQ sauce! YUM!

Spicy Chinese Chicken with Broccoli

I’ve been craving Chinese food. You know, the kind we gluten-free people can’t eat anymore because all the soy sauce in America tht’s used in restaurants (with exceptions of the growing few wonderful restaurants that are sensitive to us). I haven’t cooked Chinese food in a while, none of my cookbooks have very good recipes, and I’m about to throw the slow computer internet I have out the window. So I struggled through some websites and got the gist of what I wanted to do, and came up with this. It’s based off some recipe from the food network I won’t try to find again because I’m so fed up with the computer. ALSO this can be made with tofu, with egg omitted, to make this delicious and vegan/vegetarian. I actually wanted to add tofu to the chicken, thinking we had some, but I wasn’t able to find it. Bummer. Also also, other vegetables can be added, I just had broccoli on hand. Serve this over rice. I love things fried
with cornstarch, it makes a great tempura-ey crispy batter. You could even just make this chicken and eat it without the sauce.


Spicy Chinese Chicken with Broccoli

Marinade:
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (hold flavor better and are way cheaper than breasts), cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 c wheat free tamari
splash of rice vinegar
1 T minced ginger
2 t chili oil

Mix everything together, chill for half an hour.

Batter:
1 egg
3/4 c cornstarch
1/3 c water
splash sesame oil

Mix together. Heat oil in a pan, about 1/4” deep. Take chicken pieces out of the marinade, dip each into the egg mix, then drop into the hot oil. Fry in batches, flipping after a minute, then draining on paper towels when finished. Each piece should be done within 4 minutes, depending on how big you cut them.Sauce:
1 T chili-garlic sauce (more to taste)
2 t minced ginger
4 T wheat-free tamari
2 c stock, or water
2 T rice vinegar
2 T honey
2 T brown sugar
2 t chili flakes
Broccoli, cut up onions, your choice of vegetables
2 T oil
2 T cornstarch+2 T water, mixed together
Rice for serving

Cook the vegetables to almost done in the oil. Add the tamari, stock, vinegar, honey, brown sugar, and chili flakes. Bring to a boil, stirring, then add the cornstarch mixture. Cook about a minute until thickened, then stir in the chicken and cook another minute or two. Serve immediately.

chilaquiles, or the most delicious, easy dinner ever

When Dana came to visit over Thanksgiving, we ordered from the Mexican place down the street (around the corner, really, Taqueria Los Jalapenos), that Alex, Sarah and I love. Everything there is great, the woman who runs it laughs at us because we get so much food for so few people, and it's a good "I don't feel like cooking tonight let's order out" option. They redo their menu every few months, and something was added that we hadn't had before. Chilaquiles. The menu reads: Tortillas en salsa verde con huevo, bistek, o pollo. We called to see if it was corn or flour tortillas, and it's corn. So we ordered, with chicken, and it was delicious. Except for one thing. It was too spicy for us to eat more than a few bites at once. Dana and I both like spicy food (bet you never saw that coming, Ma!) but this burned our mouths. And lips. But it was so good. So we kept eating, alternating with whatever else we got (I don't remember).
But we kept thinking about it. Maybe a month later, Dana emailed me to tell me she made it at home, after looking it up on the web. She said it was so good! And that I should make it ASAP. That ASAP turned into last week. I finally made it. I did it a little different than she did, I baked mine istead of making it on the stovetop, and I used cheddar instead of queso fresco because I didn't have it. And Oh My God it was good. I made it for myself on a day that I didn't think Alex would be home, but he ended up coming home early and eating with me. We licked the pot clean. It was so good. Chilaquiles are a mixture of salsa, chips, and cheese, with meat or other things if you want to add them. The day after I made them I was telling my co-workers about them, because we usually have "What did you have for dinner last night" discussions. Both the people I was talking to about it went home and made it that night, one with soy chicken and the other with ground beef. They both came back the next day raving. My mom made it last night, she said it was too spicy (don't use spicy salsa!!) but that her boyfriend loved it. If I wasn't worried about getting sick of it, I'd make it every night for at least a week.
My recipe is in no way authentic, but it is delicious. Add whatever you want to it, make it without cheese, without meat or use different meat, use a red salsa instead of green. Use stale tortilla chips instead of frying your own. Bake the tortillas in the oven (as my mom did) instead of frying them for a less greasier option. Use your imagination.

Chilaquiles
1 jar salsa, I love this with Frontera verde, not so much with the 365 Wholefoods pictured at the top, it was too spicy for me, but Alex and Sarah liked it.
1 package (6-12) corn tortillas, or a bag of stale tortilla chips
a few pieces of chicken (or leftover chicken)
your choice of cheese
sour cream
1/2 to 1 c chicken broth or water

Heat the oven to 350.
Cut the tortillas into strips or triangles. Heat a pan of oil, fry the chips quickly and drain on paper towels. I like to salt them when they're just out of the oil, then eat some while I'm frying the rest.
Heat the salsa and broth in a pan, add chicken. Cook chicken through, cut up into small pieces or shred. Grate the cheese.
In alternating layers, place into a casserole dish: salsa first, then chips, then chicken, then the salsa-stock mix, then cheese. Repeat until you have no more chips left, sprinkle cheese all over the top and dot with sour cream. Bake 20-45 minutes, however long you want to wait. If you don't care that the chips will disintegrate, cook for longer.

100th post: falafel party

So this is my 100th post. I started this blog a while ago, it sucked until pretty recently, and now I have 100 posts. Thats a lot. Thanks everyone!

I got my new camera from my dad (Christmas present) on Wednesday. It's awesome. I'm writing this post as the software is downloading/being installed, let's hope it doesn't take too long because I wanted to write this post while my dinner is cooking. I went to New York for my days off this week, Wed and came home on Friday. I saw my dad, ate a great meal at Barbuto in the West Village, then hung out with my sister, went to the Met (my favorite place), saw some friends play a show at the Knitting Factory, then overslept, bought some books, then came home to my sweet boyfriend cooking me lamb for dinner.However, before I left for New York, I made falafel. I've never made falafel, I haven't had it since I went gluten-free since everywhere I've been has put flour in it, or fried it with the breaded foods. At work we've been making a lot of wraps with them, and I wanted to make my own. So I went home, looked up some stuff, and dove in. I had a can of chickpeas, and some tahini in the fridge, that was pretty much all I needed. Once I started, I decided I should make some stuff to go with the falafel.

I made Kate's GF Wrap bread, lemon-tahini sauce, spicy cucumber salad, and served it with roasted red peppers and thin sliced cucumbers. It was so good. And cheap, and easy, and awesome. Falafel (recipe from epicurious.com)
1 can chickpeas
1/2 onion, rough chopped
2 T parsley
1 t salt
1/2-1 t hot sauce (I love chili-garlic sauce)
4 cloves garlic
1 t cumin
1 t baking powder
4-6 T chickpea flour

Process the onion, garlic, parsley and salt in the food processor until pretty fine. Drain the chickpeas, dump them in with the hot sauce and cumin. Process until the chickpeas are pretty finely ground, or to your taste. Some people like chunky chickpeas in their falafel. I don't really. Sprinkle the baking powder and chickpea flour on top, process again just until it comes together. Use more or less chickpea flour if necessary. If you don't have chickpea flour, any flour of your choice would be good I'm sure. Stick the mixture in the fridge for a few hours. Once its totally chilled, roll into little balls and fry two to four minutes on each side until crispy and delicious smelling.

Tahini sauce
1/2 c tahini
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 c yogurt
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 t (or more) garlic oil
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t chili powder

Mix everything together, let sit for a bit to meld flavors. Or serve right away.

Spicy Cucumber Salad
1/2 large cucumber, or more, cut up into small pieces
2 shallots, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
a big splash of your favorite vinegar, I used rice
A big splash of olive or garlic oil
Chili flakes, to taste
A splash of chili oil

Mix everything together, let chill out for a while to let the flavors blend.