Pico de Gallo is a typical Mexican garnish, or salsa, traditionally served with fajitas, tacos, burritos, and anything made with flour tortillas. My recipe is a slight variation on the classic Mexican version which was given to me by a Mexican amigo.
I’ve reduced the number of chilli peppers by half compared to the original recipe, as I found it was almost too hot for my taste (and I like it HOT!), and definitely too hot for most of my friends and family.  If you’re particularly adverse to spicy food, you can go ahead and halve the amount again, or even cut out the jalapeños completely, although this will take away slightly from the authenticity of the dish.  If you’re a fire-eater, you can double it back up again to 4 or more jalapeños.
If you don’t have or can’t get fresh limes, lemons make a decent substitution. It won’t be quite as good, but it’ll work in a pinch.  The same thing goes for the fresh coriander. You could substitute it with fresh Italian parsley (they’re from the same family), but again, it won’t taste quite like it should.  Lastly, if you can’t get fresh jalapeño peppers, you could substitute any other fresh hot peppers.  If none are available, then you should use the dried variety, or dried pepper flakes.
This recipe doesn’t keep very well, so you should try to use it the same day as you make it. Why not try it with my vegetarian burritos?
I’ve always loved falafel, but I’ve never really been very big on deep frying, so I decided to try baking them in the oven instead. Â The result was this oven baked falafel recipe, which tastes even better than the classic fried version, if I do say so myself!
Traditionally, falafel is served wrapped in unleavened bread and garnished with lettuce, cucumber, onions, tomatoes and a littler tahini (sesame seed paste) Â sauce, or arranged on a plate with the same ingredients. Â Personally, I usually just eat them along with whatever salad I have at hand. For a more filling meal, eat them with rice, like this Indian-style brown rice.
500g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in abundant water
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
5 medium onions, peeled and halved
15g fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped very fine
15g fresh coriander, chopped very fine
2tsp salt
2tbsp flour
½tsp paprika
½tsp baking soda
½tsp freshly ground black pepper
½tsp ground cumin
½tsp ground cinnamon
3tsp baking powder
250ml water
Instructions
Using an electric blender or food processor, blend the onion and garlic together to form a paste.
Mix the chopped fresh coriander and flat-leaf parsley into the onion and garlic paste.
Add the prepared chickpeas to the mixture and blend again with the food processor or blender. The final consistency should be a little bit lumpy.
In a separate bowl, mix together the paprika, baking soda, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon and baking soda.
Add the spice mixture to the chickpea mixture and stir well, making sure the spices are evenly distributed throughout the mix.
Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to set for at least an hour and a half.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Grease a baking sheet with a little olive oil or vegetable oil.
Drop tablespoonful-sized balls of the chickpea mixture onto the baking sheet, leaving a few centimetres between each ball and also between the balls and the edge of the tray.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the top sides of the falafel balls have turned golden.
Remove from the oven and let cool on the tray for 5 minutes.
Transfer the falafel balls to a plate and repeat the process with the remaining batter.
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