Israeli Salad, aka Chopped Salad, Israel.

I’m sure this weekend a lot of you, falafel lovers, will enjoy a nice pita pocket filled with those nice crunchy chickpea balls. The Rugby World Cup is beginning just as I write these lines, and pita with falafel just sounds like the right fix for a game night dinner, doesn’t it?!

First of all, did you know my first cookbook got published? It’s called Cookbook #1: A French Girl’s Cooking Adventures in Her Kitchen, and it’s available online, you’re just a click away, RIGHT HERE!

Although I’m always pretty excited by the idea of hand-making then munching on the falafel balls along with a nice hummus dip, but I have to say I really enjoy eating the pita pocket filled with additional raw veggies, in order to give it a little more flavor balance and to turn it into a healthier dish. Because, let’s be honest, the sole falafel / hummus / pita bread combination isn’t exactly the healthy type of meal as there is more or less visible /and invisible oil about everywhere (and not just a bit of it). The best raw veggies mix you can make for pita with falafel is the Israeli salad, or “chopped salad” as they call it in Israel, which you can easily understand from the fact that all veggies are chopped, in equally sized little cubes.

      

The Israeli Salad is served as a dish of its own or as a side dish in Israel, but is also used inside pita sandwiches as a filling. You can basically make your choice, change your mind, and eat it in multiple ways throughout a single meal if it pleases you, hahaha! Tonight, before the game started, we spread hummus on the inside of the pita bread, added some chopped salad, slid 2 or 3 falafels, and topped it all with a drizzle of Tehina (aka tahini).

The ingredients of the official recipe are tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, parsley, and a salad vinaigrette made of garlic, mint leaves, olive oil and lemon juice. You cannot get rid of one of the veggies, but you can slightly adapt the sauce to your taste and make smart switches if desired. Which I did, of course! In my recipe, I withdrew the mint leaves and garlic of the sauce, and added to the veggies some chopped pieces of green bell pepper, and chopped leaves of Chinese cabbage (clear green part only).

INGREDIENTS (for 4 half-pita pockets)

• 2 pita breads, cut in half, carefully opened
• homemade hummus (find the recipe here)
• 1 big tomato
• 1/3 of a medium cucumber
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 handful of chopped parsley
• 1/3 of a green bell pepper
• 1 handful of chopped Chinese cabbage green leaves
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice
• falafels
• tehina / tahini

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop the cucumber, tomato, bell pepper and onion in little cubes of equal size.
2. Chop the fresh parsley and Chinese cabbage leaves, and combine with the other veggies.
3. Add the olive oil and the lemon juice, stir to combine well.
4. Open the pita bread, spread hummus, add in the salad, slide in the falafel balls, drizzle with a bit of tehina. Enjoy!!

Created and Written by Sophie Rebibo-Halimi, © 2015 All Rights Reserved.