Hello sandwich time.

So that idea I had to use my Ginger and Sweet Potato Latkes in a veggie version of a bánh mì resulted in a ridiculously good sandwich.

What knocked this sandwich out of the park for me was the Spicy-Sweet Quick Pickles. I followed the pickle directions from this Catfish bánh mì by Five And Spice recipe and added some heat. Next time I’m at the grocery store I’m definitely scoping out the fish counter to see if they have catfish because the marinade sounds delicious. Plus, I prefer broiled fish over fried.

Moving on. Halfway through making the bánh mì I realized I had forgotten to pick up cilantro. I love cilantro, so I was tempted to stop what I was doing and race back to the store, but I had kind of reached the point of no return in the sandwich making process where everything was done and I was spreading the yogurt sauce on the bread. Next time, and there will be a next time, I’ll probably sub out the mixed greens for cilantro.

Ginger and Sweet Potato Latke Bánh Mì with Spicy-Sweet Quick Pickles, makes one big or two small sandwiches

Sandwich Ingredients:

1 batch of Ginger and Sweet Potato Latkes, recipe found here

Sriracha Yogurt sauce (mix a couple tablespoons plain Greek yogurt with sriracha to taste)

Handful of baby mixed greens, washed

1/2 ripe avocado, sliced

smal pile of Spicy-Sweet Quick Pickles (recipe below)

6-inch portion of baguette, left whole or cut into two 3-inch portions, toasted

Pickle Ingredients, makes about 2 cups pickled veggies:

3 medium carrots, peeled

4 quarter-sized red radishes, washed

1/2 medium cucumber, peeled

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 Tbs. kosher salk

2 Tbs. honey

1/2 tsp. dried chili pepper flakes

Method:

1. For the pickles combine vinegar, water, salt, honey, and chili pepper flakes in a container with a lid and about a 3 or 4 cup capacity (I used a Gladware thing. Use whatever is handy). Slice the radishes into thin rounds. Cut the cucumber in two, scoop out the seed with a spoon, and cut into thin half moons. Use a vegetable peeler and peel the carrots into thin, noodle-esque strips. Put the veggies into the pickling brine and let sit for at least 30 minutes before using. Pickles will last in the refrigerator for a few days. If you finish the pickles before then, don’t throw out the brine! You can reuse it again for a new batch. Discard the brine when it becomes cloudy.

2. Smear each piece of toasted baguette with a healthy dollop of sriracha yogurt. Use more or less depending on your liking.

3. Place lettuce on top of the bottom of the sandwich.

4. Place latkes on top of the lettuce.

5. Put pickles on top of the latkes. Use as many or as few as you like.

6. Put sliced avocado on top of the yogurt sauce on the top slice of baguette.

7. Put the sandwich together and serve with a nice, cold beverage. I cracked open my last Yuengling, which I can’t buy in Indiana, for this sandwich. Yeah, IT’S THAT GOOD.

We have a winner.

Want a quick dinner or fairly guilt-free snack? How about a two-bite, crunchy potato pancake that has a taste of the exotic? The you need these Ginger Sweet Potato Latkes.

What I now call the fried kidney bean disaster of 2012 kind of put me off trying to fry things. That is until tonight, when flipping through my favorites on Gojee I realize I have three different recipes for latkes.

I’m a big fan of the potato pancake (Hello, THREE different recipes). Potato and pancake are two very comforting words. And the latkes I want you to try are very comforting, but they’re also not your Bubbie’s latkes.

Good, traditional latkes have a satisfying crunch but a velvety interior and are best with sour cream and applesauce. Then there are latkes that can feel like glue in the mouth.

What I like about latkes is that they are very adaptable and can take on some hearty flavors like blue cheese. And you can swap out your basic Idaho potato for sweet.

There I was, sitting at my computer with three tabs open to my favorite latke recipes and then another came along on Gojee. Reading this spiced latke recipe rocked my world a little bit.

Using the above recipes as guides, I think I’ve come up with my new favorite latke.

Ginger and Sweet Potato Latkes with Sriracha Yogurt Sauce, makes 8 half-dollar or 4 palm size latkes (serves 1)

Latke Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup red onion, small dice

1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced

1 egg

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. all-purpose flour

2 Tbs. grapseed or other neutral oil

Sauce Ingredients:

2 or 3 Tbs. plain greek yogurt

Sriracha sauce to taste

Method:

1. Wrap shredded sweet potato in paper towels and squeeze all the excess moisture out. Repeat squeeze step again with new paper towels, you want to get as much liquid out as you can.

2. Whisk egg in large bowl. Add potato, onion, ginger, cumin, salt and flour. Mix to combine. In 10-inch frying pan or skillet, heat oil over medium heat.

3. Form latkes into half-dollar/palm size patties, again squeezing any liquid out before you fry. Place in hot oil and let fry on each side until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to plate lined with paper towels to drain and sprinkle with a final dusting of salt if you wish. Repeat until all the latke mixture is gone.

4. While latkes are frying, stir yogurt and sriracha in a bowl. Serve with the latkes and enjoy.

I’m in love with these. This was a totally satisfying dinner, not too heavy but it also didn’t have me pawing for the Oreos later. I paired the latkes with the last bit of my baby greens, so all in all I feel this is a fairly healthy meal.

Great on their own, I imagine these would be amazing in a vegetarian bánh mì on crusty bread with pickled carrots, radishes and cucumbers, topped with lettuce and the sriracha yogurt sauce.

I still have a sweet potato left. I know what’s for dinner tomorrow.

I love Falafel = أنا أحب فلافل

I hope that you are having a good week. Mine seems to be flying by–will it really be Wednesday in a few hours?

Monday I missed two of my classes because I was standing outside a parking garage waiting for it to explode. Luckily it didn’t. Somehow I don’t think the 20 feet between me and the building, that may or may not have been rigged with a bomb, would have spared me. The “suspicious package” (insert hysterical laughter here) turned out to be non-threatening. You can read my story here.

On to the food. I’m going to continue my little trip around the world with Falafel.

Falafel, according to Wikipedia, is a “fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas and/or fava beans.” Read the rest of Wiki’s post here. I’ve never had falafel made with fava beans. Now that I think about I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a fava bean. A little too Hannibal Lecter for me.

The recipe I followed (sort of) is from the blog Dinner with Julie. It is as follows

Ingredients

1, 19 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I couldn’t find a 19 oz. can so I used a 15 oz. Worked just as well)

1 small onion, chopped (variety doesn’t matter. I used red because I like the color)

2-4 cloves garlic, peeled

2 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped (Don’t use dried.)

2 Tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped (What did I just say? “Just Say No” to dried herbage!)

1 tsp. cumin (use ground it’s easier; if you use whole seeds toast them first)

1/4 tsp. salt

pinch dried chili flakes

1/4 cup all purpose or whole wheat flour, plus extra if needed (AP works well. I might do a combination of the two if using the WW; it could get a little heavy using only WW.)

1 tsp. baking powder

canola oil, for frying

Directions:

1. Combine chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, cumin, salt and chili flakes into a food processor. Pulse the mixture until combined but not puréed. Note: I did not have a food processor large enough on hand, so I mashed the mix with a fork and a wooden spoon. My falafel was probably too lumpy, which is why it fell apart later. Moral of the story: use a food processor.

2. Add the flour and backing powder and mix until you have a soft “dough” that you can roll into balls or patties. I made patties because I like to have a maximum surface area for frying. It’s quicker and a lot less awkward than frying balls…speaking of awkward.

3. Fry in the canola oil. Mark Bittman, the walking recipe encyclopedia, says to make sure the oil is 350*F. To those of you who don’t own a kitchen thermometer (wave your cheapskate flags proudly, I do!), the water-drop test will work. To see if your oil is hot enough, wet your fingers and sprinkle the oil with a few drops of water. If the water sizzles right away, you’re ready to cook. Fry until golden on both sides. When finished, remove the patties from the heat and drain the excess oil on paper towels.

You can serve falafel in pita pockets or over a bed of greens. It goes well with a traditional Tzatziki sauce, a cucumber and yogurt sauce. There’s a good recipe for Tzatziki with the falafel recipe at Dinner with Julie (link above).

About the title of the post: Yes,  the Arabic words do translate in to “I love falafel.” Arabic is read from left to right. I thought I should put some of the Arabic I’m learning to good use.

Do you have any tricks like the water-drop test? Please share them, I love learning new techniques that save me from having to buy a fancy piece of equipment that only serves one specific purpose. Example: the pickle grabber.

Olympic diversions

I was going to write on Valentine’s Day, I swear. The post was drafted and all I needed to add was the photos. Sadly, my ode to the perfect breakfast food–the pancake–went unfinished. I told myself, “You’ll do it later.”

Later never came, but the Olympics did.

You should know, dear Reader, that I am a big hockey fan. While watching a game live is best, the talent on display at the Olympics slices through the television screen.

Despite my home country loyalty (U-S-A! U-S-A!), I am a crazy fan of team Sweden. I will be truly torn if the gold metal match is between the US and Sweden.

The US team is freaking awesome! They totally owned Canada on their home ice (the link is to a video of the full game, thanks NBC Olympic coverage). I loved how the entire arena went silent. Team USA is a young team, but they have the talent to win gold.

Team Sweden is the reigning Olympic champion–taking gold 2006. I watched every single game during the 2006 winter Olympics. I got up at 8 AM on a Sunday to watch them win! I’m also a quarter Swedish (thanks Grandpa!), which is probably why I feel so involved.

Me and Grandpa @ Thanksgiving 2008. Love that Swedish heritage!

Whoever wins the gold in Vancouver will be the best team. But if it comes down to a match between team USA and team Sweden, who do I root for?

On second thought, my team wins either way right? SCORE!

Now that I’ve prattled on about sports, lets get on to the food.

In keeping with the “rooting for other countries” theme, I’m going to tell you a secret: I LOVE ETHNIC FOOD. I’ll take a spicy curry or pad Thai over macaroni and cheese any day of the week.

I’m big into spice, and I have found that Indian food is the best thing to get my spicy fix. I have the local Indian restaurant on speed dial, and you can find me on Fridays at their mouthwatering lunch buffet.

However, sometimes that Gobi craving hits me when I can’t go out to eat. Enter the Indian spice-pouch meal!

That sounds awkward, but it’s not I swear. Basically it’s a little packet of all the spices you need to make an Indian dish–in this case Gobi, or spiced cauliflower–and all you need to add is the other ingredients.

It has been a while since I took this picture and I don’t have the recipe anymore. I do, however, remember the ingredients.

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets

2 roma or plum tomatoes, diced

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

fresh ginger, minced

olive oil

cilantro, for garnish

If you’re interested I will gladly send you the recipe. I remember a big skillet and a lot of simmering.

Totally worth it! This dish was delicious. The package of spices gets an A++. Serve with fluffy basmati rice and a healthy sprinkling of cilantro.

Are you keeping up with the 2010 Olympics? What sports are your favorite? Does your heritage influence any teams you root for?