Dinner During Dora

Cloud had a great idea for a series of posts on "Dinner During Dora"--you know, meals that you can whip up in the time between "Hey, are you ready to explore!?" and the final "Click!"

That's 22 minutes if you're using On-Demand cable, or DVD, which we do. Go!

Felafel During Dora:

You need:

* red onion

* tomato

* avocado

* lemon juice

* mayonnaise

* felafel mix

* pitas (I like to use tortillas instead -- less bread-y)

You do:

1. Mix felafel mix in a bowl according to directions: it should look a tiny bit soupy, but let it sit for a few minutes to start to thicken into a paste.

2. Peel and chop the avocado; in a medium sized bowl, mash it together with a tablespoon or so of lemon juice, and about a half cup of mayo. Dice a smallish tomato, and about a quarter cup of red onion, and stir in. This is the sauce.

3. Shallow fry the felafel: fill a frying pan about 1/2" deep in cooking oil. Heat it up to medium high. Roll felafel mix in your hands into Little-People-figurine sized balls. Fry on one side for about three minutes until golden brown. Flip 'em over and fry for another three minutes. Remove them from the pan onto a plate with some paper towels: blot!

4. Open the pitas. Spread thickly with the sauce. Drop or crumble fried felafel balls onto the sauce. Roll up and secure with a toothpick.

5. Serve with a simple green salad. (This stuff is FILLING.)

I usually have enough time to set the table, even, when I make this. Do you guys like felafels? God's gift to vegetarians, if you ask me. Yum! And meatatarian Pynchon often requests this meal, hooray.