Spinach Soup with Yogurt

(Original recipe makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 cup brown lentils

1/2 cup rice

4 cups or 250 grams spinach, chopped

2 garlic gloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Salt and black pepper

1/2 to 2 cups plain yogurt

Vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon dried mint

Directions:

First, cook lentils and rice together until completely cook. Add chopped spinach, minced garlic turmeric, salt and black pepper. Let the soup cook for 10 more minutes until all the ingredients cook together.

Pour yogurt into a medium bowl. Add three ladle's worth of the mixture to the yogurt and mix them well. Then, pour back the mixture into the pot and mix with the rest of the soup. Let the soup cook for 10 more minutes until it thickens.

In a small pan, add vegetable oil (3 - 4 tablespoons or more) and fry the chopped onion until golden brown. Place the onion in a small dish and put aside. Turn off the stove and add the dried mint to the remaining hot oil in the pan. Remove the pan from the stove immediately and put aside.

Serve the soup in a soup bowl and put the fried onion and mint on the top.

My Notes:

This is one of those easy recipes that can be made in less than 1 hour.

If you are looking for a delicious and nutritious vegetarian recipe to put on your dining table during cold winter days, this would be the right one.

Falafel with Tahini Sauce

These small deep-fried falafels are one of the best options for a veggie dinner or lunch. They are very tasty, delicious, and easy to make.

Ingredients: 

300 g dried chickpeas

1 small onion or ½ of a big onion

3-4 clove garlic,

3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons cheek pea flour or all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Kosher salt

1 egg

Vegetable oil (for frying the falafels)

Directions:

For this recipe, you need to prepare the chickpeas in advance. What you need to do is to pour some cold water on top of the chickpeas and soak them overnight. Then, drain and rinse the chickpeas.

Then you will need to use a food processor or blender. Pour the chickpeas along with onion, parsley, garlic, flour, and the different spices. Mix them all together until you gain a coarse and rough form of the paste. If your food processor is not big enough to mix all the ingredients in the same time, do this process in two to three steps. After that, pour the mixture into a bigger bowl and add the egg. Taste the paste to see if it needs more salt or other spices.

Pour the vegetable oil in a small and deep pot to cover 1/3 the surface. Let the oil get hot enough before adding the falafels. Take one tablespoon of the paste, shape it in your hand and drop it into the hot oil. Fry the falafels in batches of 4-5 at a time till golden brown. Place them on a paper towel and let them drain. Serve them hot and fresh.

Tahini sauce:

2 tablespoons yogurt

1 tablespoon tahini

1 clove crushed garlic

Pepper and salt

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Taste it if it needs more salt. Serve the sauce along with the falafels

My Notes:

• I usually serve the falafels with diced tomatoes, tahini sauce, pickles, onion, or even hummus.
• You can eat these delicious falafels as a wrap using pita bread or serve them into a plate.
• What exactly you need to notice about this recipe is to prepare the dried chickpeas in advance. By soaking them in cold water during the night. After that, they are ready to be mixed with other ingredients.
• For this recipe, never cook the chickpeas or use ready chickpeas in the can.
• You will have almost 30 falafels in the end.