SC - Re: Falafel like recipe from Apicius
ChannonM at aol.com
ChannonM at aol.com
Thu Jun 29 13:36:18 PDT 2000
In a message dated 6/29/00 12:05:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
owner-sca-cooks at ansteorra.org writes:
> If you look at the Counterfeit in the Miscellany, from (I believe) one of
> the Andalusion cookery books, you'll see that the spices used and the
> resulting product are almost exactly what is used in modern falafel
> recipes (Though I'll tell you that while we no longer use lavendar, we
> REALLY should as it adds a lot to the falafel).
>
> Cu drag,
> Bogdan
Here I have prepared my own redacted recipes based on the extant recipes of
Apicius for puls. I have chosen to use ground chick peas as the base, and
the result is very much like the middle eastern falafel.
Book V, Section I contains five recipes using spelt, and wheat for a mush
These recipes are then duplicated in Section V, using barley Chick peas
are used in several Apician recipes and were served in simple taverns
(popinae or thermoploia), which offered hot or cold wine according to the
season, cakes made with chick peas, focaccias, and other ready to eat
items... amoung the most popular items wee cakes of chickpeas; their vendors
were assured a lucrative business
There are varied ingredients that accompany the spelt pulses, including;
pepper , lovage, fennel-seed, liquamen and wine. Dried peas are boiled
and then cooked with coriander, cumin, pepper, lovage, caraway, dill, fresh
basil, liquamen and wine. Lentils are cooked with the additional spices of
soriander, mint, rue, and pennyroyal.
In perusing my middle eastern cookbook by Tess Mallos, I reviewed the
falafel recipe and found that not only are chick peas used but fava beans as
well.
The ingredients were so close to those mentioned in the Apicius recipes that
I decided to reproduce it in its entirety for use as a viable Fried Puls
dish.
Falafel or dried bean croquettes
makes about 35
Cooking time 5-6 minutes each lot
1 cup fava beans
1 cup chick peas
water
1 medium sized onion
2 cloves garlic
½ cup finely chopped parsley
pinch hot chili pepper*
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda**
salt
freshly ground black pepper
oil for deep frying
1. Put fava beans in a bowl and cover with 3 cups cold water. Leave to soak
for 48 hours, changing water once each day, twice in hot weather.
2. Put chick peas in 3 cups cold water and soak for 12-15 hours.
3. Drain beans and peas and remove skins as directed in section on Skinning
Pulses. ***
4. Combine uncooked beans and peas with roughly chopped onion and garlic and
grind twice in food grinder using fine screen or process in food processor in
2 lots.
5. Combine with parsley, chili pepper, coriander, cumin and soda and add
salt and pepper to tast. Knead well and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
6. Shape a tablespoon mixture ata time into balls, then flatten into thick
patties 4 cm (1 ½ inches) in diameter. Place on a tray and leave for 30
minutes at room tremperature.
7 Deep fry in hot oil, 6-8 at a time, and cook for 5-6 minutes, turning to
brown evenly. When well browned, remove and drain on paper towels.
8 Serve hot as an appetizer with Taratour bi Tahini**** or in split khoubiz
with the same sauce and salad vegetables .
*the chili pepper is a New World pepper and was not available to until post
16C.
** I believe the soda is used as a binder
*** The author explains that chick peas, green or brown lentils can be
skinned by rubbing handfuls of soaking beans together and letting them drop
back into the bowl, skimming the skins off the top. Fava beans must be
skinned after soaking for 48 hours by being squeezed firmly. However she
also states that these beans can be purchased with out the skin ful nabed
in Arabic. My personal choice is to go with the final comment.
**** Taratour bi Tahini
2 cloves garlic
salt
½ cup tahini paste (pureed sesame seed)
¼-1/2 cup cold water
½ cup lemon juice
Combine in a food processor; tahini and garlic, Add lemon juice and water
alternately, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Blend
in salt to taste.
Adapted Recipe
The recipe that I reproduced here relys on three things. Firstly, the
ingredients of the Apician recipes as mentioned earlier. Secondly, the
reports of Chickpea cakes sold in taverns per the previous reference to
Ilaria Giacosas book. And finally, it relys upon the Apician recipe for the
method of cooking as follows;
Book VII Section XIII, 6
Another Sweet. Take best wheat flour and cook it in the hot water so that it
forms a very hard paste, then spread it on a plate. When cold cut it up for
sweets, and fry in best oil. Lift out, pour honey over, sprinkle with pepper,
and serve.
. By inference, and observation (there are no extant recipes that I can point
to and say , see, there it is, in black and white), I have concluded that
a Fried Puls in the manner I have reproduced would have been a very
feasible and realistic dish to serve in Imperial Rome
Fried Puls or Chick pea Croquettes
1 cup fava beans
1 cup chick peas
water
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup finely chopped lovage
¼ cup finely chopped parsley or cilantro(a member of the coriander family
)
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp anchovy paste
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for deep frying
1. Put fava beans in a bowl and cover with 3 cups cold water. Leave to soak
for 48 hours, changing water once each day, twice in hot weather.
2. Put chick peas in 3 cups cold water and soak for 12-15 hours.
3. Drain beans and peas and remove skins as directed in section on Skinning
Pulses. ***
4. Combine uncooked beans and peas with roughly chopped onion and garlic and
grind twice in food grinder using fine screen or process in food processor in
2 lots.
5. Combine with parsley, chili pepper, coriander, cumin and soda and add
salt and pepper to tast. Knead well and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
6. Shape a tablespoon mixture ata time into balls, then flatten into thick
patties 4 cm (1 ½ inches) in diameter. Place on a tray and leave for 30
minutes at room tremperature.
7 Deep fry in hot oil, 6-8 at a time, and cook for 5-6 minutes, turning to
brown evenly. When well browned, remove and drain on paper towels.
Serve alone for a more authentic dish, or if desired with the previously
mentioned recipe for Tahini sauce. Although upon reflection, the ingredients
are not far off from the gazpacho ingredients based on the Roman Army
rations. In this case Ill let you decide.
Hauviette
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