I fondly remember the years I worked in a falafel shop on Barcelona's Rambla. Do you find it hard to believe that frying falafel balls and potatoes when it is more than 30ºC outside, serving masses of tourists can be a good memory? It is true that sometimes I began 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 a 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 tweezers, pitas and potatoes, I was at ease. In addition, among co-workers we were like a big family, bonds always well greased with sunflower oil, we identified ourselves 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 came out from 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, climbing on the bar before our incredulous, expectant and amused eyes. , only to put the chair back in its place and walk out without another glance as soon as the song was over.

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

However, wrapping some tasty vegetable dumplings together with fresh vegetables and a delicious sauce is something I could never get enough 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 frying pan at 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 non- stick frying pan, Le Creuset wood 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 . Let your imagination run wild and let us know 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 having meatballs left over, 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) plain flour + more to roll out
• 12g fresh yeast or half a sachet of dry yeast
• ½ tablespoon baking powder (chemical yeast)
• ½ cup of water
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For the “meatballs”:

• 1 cup cooked brown or semi brown rice
• 1 cup of cooked chickpeas
• 1 large or two small aubergines
• 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 of Greek yogurt
• The zest and a tablespoon of juice of an organic lemon
• ½ cucumber grated
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 handful of fresh mint and basil (you can substitute parsley or cilantro)
• Salt and pepper

To accompany:

• Avocado
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• cucumber

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

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 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 into 4. Put both, together with the unpeeled garlic cloves, on a baking tray, sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Grill the vegetables for 15-18 min, until golden brown.
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 be careful, we want to preserve texture.
9. Pour the meatball batter into a bowl and add the feta cheese, breaking it into small pieces with your hands.
10. Shape the meatballs. You can do it with a spoon and your hands, but if you want them perfectly shaped and uniform in size, I recommend the kitchen craft meatball maker . Have a bowl of water next to you and soak the tongs 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, the lemon zest and juice, the syrup, salt and pepper. Finely chop the herbs and add them.
12. Prepare the tortillas. Remove the dough from the fridge and remove it from 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. Sprinkle the countertop with plenty of flour and place one of the balls of dough on top. Flip it over so it is floured on both sides. Stretch the dough in a round shape with a rolling pin, taking care that there is enough flour, so that the dough does not stick (since it can be deformed). 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. Turn it over when it starts to have brown spots (about 2 min) and repeat on the other side. Remove from pan and cook next. 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. Put the meatballs in carefully, one at a time, 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 have everything ready to prepare some delicious wraps!

---