A meal in a Pita pocket

A quick summer meal in a Pita Pocket.

I was watching the show the Chew this week and Daphne Oz made a burger in a pita with salad that reminded me of  a similar recipe I made up years ago.

My recipe is based on what I had at home and what I tasted once at a Caravan multicultural event where I had a falafel that tasted a bit different than other falafels that I tasted.

I never had falafel mix handy so I would use ground meat instead.

I was probably in my 20's when i created this and I tend to make it the most in the summer when the tomatoes and cucumbers are in season and taste their best.

Here's my version

Ingredients:

1 tomato chopped

1 cucumber quartered and chopped

4 mini dill pickles (I use Bick's)

2 iceberg lettuce leaves ripped into small pieces

1 tsp harissa chili paste or you could add dry chili flakes or cayenne for heat.

1 green pepper (i didn't have one this time but usually put it in)

salt and pepper to taste

Tzaziki (cucumbers, dill, lemon juice, salt and greek yoghurt)

Pita Bread

Mini Meatballs

- 1 pound of ground beef

- a couple of tbsp's of bread crumbs

- 1 egg

- salt and pepper

- 1 garlic clove

- 1 tbsp of onion powder or fresh onion

- 1 tbsp fresh or dried parsley

Directions:

Mix the mini meatball mixture and roll into about 1" round balls and pan fry in olive oil until fully cooked and brown.

In a bowl combine tomatoes, cucumber, pickles, lettuce, chili paste, green pepper and salt and pepper.

Toast the Pita bread until warm or you can toast it on a grill pan just until it is hot but before it gets hard.    Cut it in half.

Add about 3 or 4 mini meatballs into the pita pockets.

Add the Tzatziki and salad mixture and fill it but do not overstuff it.

That's it..  It takes a bit of prep but it's really quick to assemble.

Other options that I have used in the past instead of tzatziki were adding Hummus, sour cream, Tahini sauce with lemon juice depending on what I had in the fridge.   

So you can experiment a bit to make it the way you like it.