Street Food

I love street food. It's so filthy and visceral and I seek it out wherever I go. There's something special, communal, about the immediacy and anonymity of picking up a meal from a street stall, often after a long wait in a queue, and wandering off somewhere to eat it. Street food is often ugly, always fast food, typically served long after normal business hours, mostly hand-held, inherently low-brow, invariably cheap, and, with a few exceptions, very tasty.

Before we go further, I want to clarify something. I mention that these things are always “fast food”, but I use the term in a very literal way. All of the street foods I like so much are quick to serve, 'fast food' in the tradition sense. I even include in this list burgers, shorthand for Fast Food (capitol F), but I do not consider international burger chains candidates for either my list nor my late night snacks.

It's a particular obsession that shapes my life to some extent. I usually plan travel first by picking a destination, and then outlining the local things I must try. I fit sightseeing into the gaps between. I'm not necessarily talking about the strangest, or oldest, or biggest, I just want to eat what, say, you would eat if you were out in your home town looking for a cheap, take-away meal. I'm talking about burgers and tacos and reuben sandwiches and pupusa and Philly cheese steaks and tamale and roasted nuts and udon noodles and frozen treats and hotdogs and pad see ew and meat pies and shrimp gumbo in sourdough bread bowls. I am very aware, for the record, that eating food from greasy stands and tiny counters in the depths of major cities is courting gastroenteritis, but I'll take my chances. I'm not giving up street food.



My current street food obsession is a world-wide, late-night staple – a falafel roll. Falafel, for those of you unfamiliar, is a small, fried patty made primarily from ground chickpeas. The dish, originally from Egypt, is flavored with onion, garlic, and a variety of spices, and is deliciously crunchy, light, nutty, and filling. When served up at kebab shops in roll form, a few of the freshly cooked little guys are tucked into a flatbread with a bit of salad, some hummus, and chili sauce. I adore the combination of hot, crisp, fried with cool, crisp lettuce. Add to this that I am absolutely addicted to chili (I usually as for enough chili sauce to “melt my face off”) and this street meal is an absolute winner for me.



Remember me saying these foods begin to shape my life? I often choose a falafel roll over a proper night's rest; the kebab shop near my house is open until very late, so when I finish work, long past midnight, and should be heading home to bed, I find myself wandering about with a roll in my hand.

Falafel Roll

I am so tempted to forgo this week's recipe, thus saving time which I could be spending buying myself another falafel roll (and suggesting you go do the same). However, that's not the way we roll here at OHC. Here's how to make one for yourself:



Falafel

This recipe makes a lot of falafel. It's hard to work in smaller quantities. I shape but do not cook the remaining falafel, and freeze them for later. The rest of the quantities below are for about 4 rolls.

250g chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
½ brown onion, rough chop
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 Tbsp chopped coriander
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
½ c breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 egg
1 ½ tsp baking soda

Oil for frying

Drain the soaked chickpeas. In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, the onion and the garlic and blitz until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. The mix should be damp when you squeeze it, but will not hold together. Turn into a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients, except for the baking soda. Season and set aside for at least half an hour.

After resting, the mix should have come together nicely and will now hold it's shape when formed into small balls. Shape the falafel mix into golfball-sized balls, and then squash them down into small disks. Heat about 2 cm of oil in a small pan on medium high heat. Just before the oil starts smoking, add a batch of falafel, enough to fill, but not crowd the pan, you want a cm or two between each falafel. Fry for 2-3 minutes, until deep brown, adjusting heat as you cook to maintain a hot oil temperature. Flip, and continue cooking 2-3 minutes more, until evenly colored. Remove and drain on paper towels. Cook enough to allow 3 per roll. Serve hot in flatbread (below) with some shredded lettuce, tomato, hummus (below) and lashings of chili sauce (also below).

Flatbread

Right, I'm actually a pretty handy baker, but I've not much experience with flatbreads, especially leavened flatbreads (I make a pretty decent tortilla). The short version: these were tasty, but could have been prettier.

100g wholemeal flour
200g plain flour
60ml water
1 tsp honey
7g dried yeast (1 pkt)
1 tsp sea salt flakes
2 Tbsp olive oil
180ml water

Begin by activating the yeast in the 60ml of water with the honey dissolved in. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. When the yeast begins to foam a bit, about 10 minutes, add the mixture to the dry ingredients along with the remaining water and the olive oil. Bring together and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be sticky but still workable. Rest the dough, covered, in an oiled bowl until doubled – about an hour.

While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to the highest setting, with a stone on the lowest rack. If you don't have a stone, invert a tray so that you have a hot, flat surface onto which you can slide your flatbreads.

When the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide into four. Cover with a damp cloth or cling film and rest 20 minutes. Roll out with a rolling pin or by stretching with your hands until the dough is a large round, about ¼ cm thick. Transfer to a bakers peel or the back of a lightly floured tray and slide onto the hot stone or tray in your oven. Bake about 3 minutes, flip, make a minute or 2 more, and remove from oven. Repeat with the rest. Cover the cooked breads with a towel.

Chili Sauce

There's something wrong with the chilies in OZ at the moment. I used a variety of what was available at market – long reds, birdseye, jalapeño – and my sauce still doesn't have enough kick. Good luck to you.

1 brown onion, rough chop
2 cloves garlic, peeled and cracked
2 birds eye chilies, rough chop
4 long red chilies, rough chop
1 jalapeño chilies, rough chop
3 tomatos, rough chop
2 Tbsp tom paste

Gently sauté the onions and the garlic in a bit of oil until they are soft and sweet, but do not color much. Transfer to a food processor with all the remaining ingredients and blitz until smooth. Return to the heat and simmer until reduced by at least half. Season and serve at room temp.

Hummus

100g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 clove garlic, peeled and cracked
juice of one small lemon
60 ml olive oil
1 Tbsp tahini

Drain the chickpeas and cover with plenty of fresh water in a pot. Simmer the chickpeas for one hour, until quite soft and creamy. Transfer to a food processor and blitz, adding the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and tahini. Process until smooth. Season, taste, adding more of the oil, garlic, lemon, or tahini as needed. The hummus should be creamy, rich, nutty from the tahini, with a tangy, clean after taste, thanks to the lemon.