Fawafels!

Quick Pumpkin Update: This week, I made 3 pumpkin dishes. On Wednesday, I ate all three for each meal: pumpkin rice porridge for breakfast, pumpkin hummus for lunch, and pumpkin lasagne for dinner.

Fawafels (f/əwa:fəl/: a Lebanese inspired dish consisting of waffels and falafels)

Downtown Ottawa is sprinkled with Shawarma shops. Being inducted into the shawarma lifestyle is an important part of high school initiation. A seasoned high school student should be competent with the following unwritten rules:

1. One should always be able to find the nearest shawarma shop… even blindfolded.   

2. When handed a foil-wrapped shawarma, one should know the top from the bottom. Furthermore, one should know how to unwrap the foil. 

3. Upon completion of eating the shawarma, there should be a limited garlicky mess residing in the foil.

4. One should know the owner’s first name of their favourite shawarma shop.

5. One should never discriminate against those with shawarma breath. 

A real shawarma is not vegetarian friendly. Fortunately for me, there’s a close alternative: falafel wraps. The first time I was served falafels, my mother was ecstatic to watch me gobble down a foreign meal complaint free. 

“Kerry, you must love falafels!” my mother remarked as she replaced my crumb-inhabited plate with my dessert.

“No Mom, they’re disgusting. I just want my dessert”, eight-year old me replied.

Naomi, the witty creator of the word "fawafel". 

The next time she served falafels, fourteen-year-old-me ate them complaint free and with enjoyment.  

Although I had remembered that moment years before, I had not remembered falafels being the culprit of my disgust. I had a hard time believing my mother when she told me it was these chickpea-balls-of-delicious I regarded with such distaste.

Nevertheless, I now love falafels. And today’s waffles take a spin on the popular Lebanese cuisine, that has monopolized downtown Ottawa. I’m calling them, “Fawafels” — a term first coined in 2012, by my brilliant roommate.

Garlic-Tahini Waffles with Quinoa Flour

 

½ cup quinoa flour

1 cup all purpose

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 ¼ cups milk

1 egg

2 tbsp tahini

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

Have your roommate mince the garlic. Combine the dry ingredients (including the garlic). Blend the wet ingredients until frothy and tahini is completely combined. Add wet over dry and combine. Stir in olive oil.

Serve with falafels, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions and any yogurt or sour cream based sauce (I did sour cream, lemon juice, and tahini).

Notes on recipe: The consistency of these waffles were perfect: completely crisp! The quinoa flour makes these extra savoury for sandwich wraps.

Back to School Waffles

There was once a time when the first day of school was poignant. A new outfit was chosen, an elaborate lunch was made (perhaps with note tucked into the Tupperware), pencil cases were filled and binders were labelled with the utmost organization. I can remember my past first days of school like a flashbulb memory.

In grade three, I spent the walk to school convincing my dad I was entering grade four. In grade four, I had him believing I was entering grade five. I was elated on my first day of grade 6 to wear my new uniform. And by grade seven, realizing I looked like a broccoli, I was not.

Once you’ve hit university, the first day of classes is more or less anticlimactic. Your parents are no longer waiting, camera in hand, to take a picture of you and your siblings fully equipped with backpacks and nervous smiles. Nevertheless, the first day back feels more like a new year than does January 1^st.  As such, I always try to accomplish certain resolutions: make my bed with hospital corners, wear matching socks, and eat a hearty breakfast. 

A back to school breakfast should be more exciting than cereal, but less time consuming than breakfast flambé a la mode. The preparation should not interfere with hospital-corner making, or matching sock finding time. It should be nutritious with an element of guiltless je-ne-sais-quoi. The final product? — banana-oatmeal waffles with a dash of choco chips!

Banana-Oatmeal Waffles

1.5 tbsp butter, melted

1 cup oats

1 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

cinnamon, nutmeg

1.5 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup milk

½ cup sour cream

2 eggs, separated

2 bananas, finely chopped

¼ cup chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients. Whisk together milk, sour cream, and yolk. Pour wet over dry. Stir in bananas and chocolate chips. Stir in melted butter. Fold in egg whites. 

Recipe note: Although quite tasty, in consistency, these waffles were not the epitome of perfection. They were, for lack of a better word, saggy. They were not soggy (an issue I’ve faced before); but they were not crisp. Solution: after removing from iron, place directly on a cooling rack, then, in a 250 degree oven while making the rest. 

Pumpkin Chilli

Evenings are now accompanied by turning leaves and cool breezes. My favourite season is creeping in with each drop of a degree. And there is only one way to celebrate: pull out the dusty knitting needles and stock up on pumpkin! 

Last year, I was not overly adventurous with my pumpkin escapades. This year, I want to take pumpkin an adventure through corners of cookbooks it has yet to discover and break it free of any stereotypes. I am starting with pumpkin chilli. I cannot take the credit for this inspired recipe, as it is adapted from a fantastic blog, “Sweet Salty Spicy”. 

Unfortunately, there is no new waffle recipe today. I will be serving the chilli with the leftover cheddar-cornmeal waffles that have been awaiting their flight from the freezer.

Pumpkin Chilli (Adapted from Sweet Salty Spicy blog)

Olive oil

1 red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery

½ sweet potato, finely diced

1 ¼ cup kidney beans (not canned)

1 cup white/lima beans (not canned)

½ can pumpkin puree

½ can chopped tomatoes

½ tbsp. cumin

2 tbsp chilli powder

Heat oil. Add garlic, onions. Lightly sautee. Add veggies. Cook 10 minutes. Add other ingredients, minus pumpkin puree. Stir in water from cooking kidney beans until desired thickness. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in pumpkin puree and cook another few minutes.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and toasted cheddar-cornmeal waffles.