Well, I’m back in LA, and back in the kitchen. After a few weeks of great Indian, Malay, and Chinese food, I’ve been in the mood to play with an entirely different set of flavors. My most recent experiment was with falafel – and my one break with tradition was to use carrot greens rather than parsley. I only gave the ingredients a couple of quick pulses in the food processor, which made for a more interesting texture than you get with falafel mix – and of course the flavors were much fresher.

Carrot green falafel (serves 3)

Ingredients

• 2 cups chickpeas (pre-soaked & cooked, or canned)
• ½ red onion
• ½ cup carrot greens
• 1 serrano pepper, seeded
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6 Tbsp flour
• ¾ tsp cumin
• ¾ tsp salt
• Olive oil for cooking

Directions

Chop the red onion, greens, serrano pepper and garlic coarsely. Put the chopped ingredients in a food processor with the chickpeas, and give them a few quick pulses. You should end up with a coarse mixture, and be able to make out specks of green, beige and red.

Put the mixture in a bowl, and add the baking powder, flour, cumin and salt. Mix all the ingredients evenly using your hands (because it’s more fun), and form the resulting paste into (about) nine small patties.

Fill a deep skillet with about one eighth of an inch of oil, and place the skillet over medium heat. Toss a small speck of falafel mixture into the oil; when bubbles start to form around it, the oil is ready.

Fry the falafel patties for about two minutes on each side, until they are golden brown. I served mine with flat bread, tomatoes and tahini sauce (a quick mix of tahini paste, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, chopped carrot greens and garlic – everything to taste).