Falachos

Falalalala, Fa-Laaaaaaaa-Chos!

So if everything's either nachos or a sandwich, then this is the ideal, perfectly rounded, eternal food - because it's both. At once. It's like an edible ying-yang. Taste the rainbow.

You won't miss the cheese. That yellow stuff? Red pepper hummus spiked with turmeric, just a pinch, for color's sake more than flavor's. Ladled over the pile like you would refried beans - warm and thin.

For me, falafel is like this: bite through the chewy pita, hit garlicy hummus, tahini starts running, then lettuce, tomato, onion, maybe - ah, there's the hot sauce - then warm, soft falafel, and crunchy pickles. Chew. Grin like your tongue just won the lottery.

They're all there, those textures, but here, you experience them differently. A little tahini, pickle, falafel this bite, crunchy pita, hot sauce, lettuce, another. Sometimes you get lucky and get it all on one chip. The better you build your pile, the easier that happens.

When I make nachos, here's how I do it:

Chips, first layer - toasted in the broiler
Beans
Cheese
Tiny bit of protein (soy chorizo, mushroom mole, whateva you're using)
More chips
Broil
Beans
Cheese
Protein
Salsa
Guac
Jalapeno
Drizzle of cashew sour cream
Shredded Lettuce
nom.

Falachos, pretty similar:

Pita Chips (cut pita or lavash into triangular chips, toss with a tblspoon of olive oil, tsp cumin, tsp salt, bake at 400 for 12 minutes)
Hummus
Tahini
Crumbled Falafel
More Chips
Hummus
Falafel
Tahini
Tabbouleh Salsa (basically, all the veggies in tabbouleh minus the bulgar)
Pickle dice (Israeli pickles and pickled turnips, used here)
Hot sauce
more Tahini
Shredded Lettuce
nom.

You guys, I'm sure, have a fav hummus recipe, and although I've done fresh chickpea falafel in the past, this time I used the Fantastic Foods mix, which worked fine. But for ideal Falacho creation, I have two pieces of advice:

Get yee two reusable squeeze bottles - one for hot sauce, the other, tahini. Control your thinner sauces and paint with them, getting a bit of flavor on every chip.

Top your pile with something pretty and delicioso, like a well-aged Kalamata olive. The old "cherry-on-top" trick. Get's 'em every time.

Now, go make your own. And don't you dare pick up a fork.