Falafel 쌈 [Ssam]

If you've ever been to a Korean barbecue place, you'll notice that you usually get a bunch of side dishes-lettuce, rice, bean sprouts, sautéed spinach, kimchi, and others. In my opinion, the tastiest way to enjoy the Korean barbecue experience is to wrap your rice and meat in a leaf of lettuce along with some side dishes of your choice, and of course, with 쌈장 [ssam jang], a salty and spicy fermented paste. This lettuce wrap is called a 쌈 [ssam]. Sometimes you end up putting too much stuff in it out of excitement, but you must shove the whole thing in your mouth or else you won't get the full flavor experience. 

Now enter falafel. I actually wasn't introduced to it until early in my college career when my friend took me to a small, family owned falafel place in town. The bite size pieces of fried falafel were crunchy on the outside, softer on the inside, mildly spicy, salty, and hearty. Fast forward a few years and I finally decided to attempt to make my own. 

It obviously doesn't look as pretty and perfect as store-bought falafel, but I used this recipe from Buzzfeed and they turned out okay for a first try! I struggled a bit because I tried blending the ingredients in a blender instead of a food processor, but that didn't work so I ended up just mashing everything together with a bottle of olive oil, hence the pieces of onion sticking out. 

Now here is where I face my problem. Usually, falafel is served on pita with tomatoes, cucumbers, pickled onions, and tahini. I did not have pita or cucumbers or pickled onions. The only thing I felt like I could put on top of my falafel was some tomatoes. How sad. AND I had some tahini paste, but had no idea how to turn it into a sauce. Like always, I ended up working with what I had. 

For the sauce, I took 1/2 cup of tahini paste and 1/2 cup of water, squeezed all the juice out of one lemon, minced two cloves of garlic, added a teaspoon of salt, and whisked it all together. I've been trying to eyeball things more and learn on my own rather than running immediately to Google for recipes, especially with food items that I think I can afford to f*ck up and try again. To my own surprise, the sauce turned out pretty good! 

As for putting together the falafel, I decided to turn it into a ssam. On a leaf of lettuce, I added some tahini sauce, then placed the falafel on top so that it would stick a little. Then I added some chopped tomatoes and the surprise ingredient, kimchi. I also had a jar of pickles I would've liked to use, but I couldn't open the jar. I then wrapped the lettuce into a ball and shoved the whole thing into my mouth. 

I was scared, not only because I immediately realized that the wrap was too big for my mouth (lol) but also because I had no idea what this flavor combination would taste like. I just had to chew to find out. 

Thankfully, the hearty falafel, sweet tomato, nutty tahini, and pungent kimchi worked together gracefully. There was no particular flavor that overpowered the others and the lack of pita actually enabled me to taste all of them without being muddled by the taste of bread. (I still love pita, though.) I know that in some areas of the United States, kimchi is widely loved and learned about, but in other areas, it is still shunned for its shocking appearance and smell. If you're up for an adventure, I would highly suggest adding kimchi to dishes you already know, such as falafel or fried rice. It's a great way to introduce yourself to new senses without feeling too overwhelmed. 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and just as a disclaimer, I'm not a cook or a chef, just a college kid trying to make food that I enjoy with what I have :)