Problematic Falafels

 I have been postponing making hummus until I found tahini, but after only looking at one grocery store, I decided I didn't want to wait and would make hummus without it. I'm still hoping to find tahini and make hummus again. So, recipe three was Hummus, without tahini. It was delicious. We added a little extra garlic and thought it turned out well. To go with our hummus, we attempted to make Falafel , recipe number four. The recipe had a number of suggestions for what to do if the mixture doesn't stick together before you fry it, but it assured us that once you get it frying in the oil, it will all stick together. Well, we had no trouble forming the mixture beforehand, but the frying was pretty problematic. We started with eight falafels and ended up with two and a half. First, the oil was too cool, then too hot, then too cool again. One of the falafels was burned on the outside and not even warm on the inside and many of them just disintegrated in the oil. It was a mess and pretty disappointing. But the falafels we managed to cook tasted good. And with all that hummus and some pita bread and a freshly picked tomato, we ended up with a delicious meal, whew!