While I was at Walmart yesterday, I found three boxes that made me decide to end my quest for Lebanese ingredients out west. No grocer here seems to know what tahini is!

tabouleh, falafel, and hummus mixes

It felt sacrilegious to buy these, but I was getting desperate! Greek-style falafel doesn’t do much for me!

I made up the hummus and tabouleh first and let them sit for a bit.

hummus and tabouleh (with added tomatoes)

The first taste of both left me relieved. The hummus is flavourful and smooth. The tabouleh is a bit more ‘parsleyish’ than I like, needing some fresh mint, but for a box mix I am quite impressed!

I then mixed up the falafel mix, which would have to sit for ten minutes:

very damp falafel mix

While that sat for a bit, I cut up my mystery fruit. I was right, it’s a melon! It tastes like a canary melon and I’m wondering if this is a miniature version of one. It is VERY sweet.

mystery fruit is a melon!

The falafel mix was getting thicker, but not quite ready yet:

falafel mix getting thicker

Pita offerings are slim out west, but these Greek pitas appeared to be anything but and I took a chance on them:

not-so-Greek pitas

They were stale, of course, so I nuked one for a few seconds with a damp paper towel over top. Took it out and investigated. Sure enough, this was a thin, pocket-style pita, not a thick, pocket-less Greek-style pita. Yay!

stale pocket pita is better than no pita!

I then heated up some oil and while that was going, I dressed up my pita:

a layer of hummus

a layer of tabouleh

Time to check if the oil was hot enough:

that sizzle tells me to get those patties in there!

I don’t have a falafel baller, so I just rolled balls in my hands and lightly flattened them. One minute of frying on each side and voila!

that actually looks like falafel!

Add three falafel patties and the sandwich is done:

The falafel mix was excellent! I could zazoom it up with some toasted sesame seeds next time, and it was definitely missing a drizzle of tahini, but for a lunch at home from three boxes I am very satisfied!

And, yes, I will be eating the leftovers for the next few days. I have no problem with that. 🙂