Aubergine falafel wrap with yogurt sauce

I fondly remember the years I worked in a falafel shop on the Rambla in Barcelona. Do you find it hard to believe that frying falafel and potato balls when it's over 30ºC outside, serving masses of tourists can be a good memory? It's true that sometimes I started to hate the whole of humanity pushing my way to work through a mass of people who, unlike me, were on vacation, busy taking selfies, drinking sangria and wearing Mexican hats that for some strange reason that still escapes me, they associate with Spain and that the souvenir shops are in charge of supplying.

But once in the tiny space, without putting up useless resistance as I let myself be impregnated with the smell of grease, playing music at full volume that helped me turn each routine movement into a kind of dance between tongs, pitas and potatoes, I was at ease. It adds up that among co-workers we were like a big family, links always well greased with sunflower oil, we identified each other by this penetrating smell and after eight or nine hours of work we still hadn't gotten so tired of each other that we didn't have the desire to share a beer on hot Barcelona nights, at 3 in the morning when we left behind the apron.

And, the boulevard, apart from housing the mass of tourists with somewhat uniform behavior, also makes madness flourish, especially at night. And so I remember being in the store, listening to the Beatles, without any customers, when a girl entered, took a chair as an imaginary guitar, began to dance around the store, getting on the bar before our incredulous, expectant and amused eyes. , only to put the chair back in its place and walk out without another look as soon as the song was over.

But even if I had endured several years in this job, I quickly got tired of eating the always the same falafel whose aroma was on my skin after each work shift. It wasn't until about two years after I left this job for a research fellowship at the university that I felt like trying one again.

However, wrapping tasty vegetable meatballs together with fresh vegetables and a delicious sauce is something I could never get tired of. Eating a wrap like this, with your fingers, is celebrating life and the senses. And here is the recipe for a good one. Roasted aubergines and mushrooms give an intense flavor to the balls (without being fried, in the non-stick pan of le Creuset they can be made with very little oil, without sticking), and wrapped in a homemade tortilla and with a good portion of a fresh yogurt sauce with cucumber, herbs and lemon, you will not want to stop eating.

Le Creuset nonstick frying pan , Le Creuset wooden grinder , De Buyer iron skillet

Grades

• Here I am giving you 3 recipes in one, feel free to make them separately: you can accompany the meatballs with salad instead of eating them like falafel, you can fill the tortillas in the form of a quesadilla or use the sauce to accompany whatever you want . Leave the reins to your imagination and you will tell us in the comments.
• You can also buy wheat tortillas if you don't feel like a laborious meal.
• The recipe gives for many meatballs, you can keep in the fridge or freeze the leftovers.
• It is an ideal recipe to do a little batch cooking. Apart from the fact that you will have leftover meatballs, you can prepare more rice for the next meal. You can also make more roasted eggplant and mushrooms to use later.

Ingredients

For the tortillas (wraps):

• 285g (2 cups) wheat flour + more to spread
• 12g fresh yeast or half a packet of dry yeast
• ½ tablespoon of baking powder (chemical yeast)
• ½ cup of water
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

For the "meatballs":

• 1 cup of cooked brown or semi-brown rice
• 1 cup of cooked chickpeas
• 1 large eggplant or two small ones
• 1 Tray (about 300g) of mushrooms
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• a handful of parsley
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil + more for frying
• 180g feta cheese
• Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• The zest and a tablespoon of juice of an organic lemon
• ½ grated cucumber
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 handful of fresh mint and basil (you can substitute parsley or cilantro)
• Salt and pepper

To accompany:

• Avocado
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• cucumber

Kitchen Craft meatball tongs , Pallarés iron knife and Luigi Bormioli seasoning oil can

Elaboration

1. Start with the dough for the tortillas . Put the flour in a bowl , add the salt and chemical yeast and mix.
2. Make a mold in the middle and add the yeast, yogurt and water.
3. Mix carefully with a kitchen spoon or spatula , then use your hands to knead.
4. Add the oil and continue kneading until you obtain a homogeneous and elastic ball.
5. Let the dough rest for at least 1 hour (and a maximum of 12-18 hours) in the fridge. The dough rises the same, but it is more stable and easier to work with when it comes out of the fridge.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the dough for the meatballs . Preheat the oven in grill mode.
7. Cut the aubergine into 1cm cubes, clean and cut the mushrooms in 4. Put both, together with the unpeeled garlic cloves, on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Grill the vegetables for 15-18min, until golden.
8. Add the roasted vegetables (peeling the garlic) and the rest of the ingredients, except the feta cheese, to a food processor. Pulse a few times, but carefully, we want to preserve texture.
9. Pour the dough for the meatballs into a bowl and add the feta cheese, breaking it into small pieces with your hands.
10. Shape the meatballs. You can do this with a spoon and your hands, but if you want them perfectly shaped and evenly sized, I recommend the kitchen craft Meatball Maker . Keep a bowl of water nearby and soak the tong after each meatball to prevent the dough from sticking.
11. Now, before frying (or while baking) the meatballs, I recommend preparing the sauce. Grate the cucumber and put it in a bowl with the yogurt, lemon zest and juice, syrup, salt and pepper. Chop the herbs finely and add them.
12. Prepare the tortillas. Remove the dough from the fridge and take it out of the bowl. Cut it into 6 equal pieces and form homogeneous balls by placing your hand on top, pressing gently with the back of your palm, making circular movements.
13. Dust the counter with plenty of flour and place one of the dough balls on top. Turn it over, so that it is floured on both sides. Stretch the dough into a round shape with a rolling pin, taking care that there is enough flour, so that the dough does not stick (since this can deform it). They should be so thin that they are almost translucent (a diameter of about 28cm). Repeat until all are ready.
14. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Insert the tortilla carefully. Flip it over when it starts to get brown spots (about 2min) and repeat on the other side. Remove from the pan and cook the next one. Store the made tortillas in a clean, slightly damp kitchen towel to keep them elastic.
15. Now it's time to fry the meatballs. Heat a nonstick skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat.
16. Carefully layer the meatballs, one by one, turning continuously to keep their round shape, until they develop a golden crust.
17. Prepare a plate with slices of avocado, tomato, cucumber and lettuce leaves (you can also use nectarines or peaches instead of tomato, you can add onion, etc.)

You already have everything ready to prepare some delicious wraps!

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