Café Moor, Leeds Kirkgate Market

Last time I wrote about the market I was a bit negative about the current state of affairs regarding the redevelopment saga, so it's time to redress the balance and talk about the good things that are happening.

Credit where it's due, the management team (or whoever is responsible for getting stalls let to new businesses) are doing a good job on the food and drink front. The range of places to eat in the market has improved immeasurably over the last year or two, and progress on this front shows no sign of abating.

To add to May's Recipes, Maxi's Rotisserie, the rotating occupiers at the Source, the Turkish stall and the Caribbean one we now have Café Moor, perhaps the most high profile of the recent openings. As an aside, can anyone recommend any of the traditional market caffs, some of them must be good and they deserve attention too?

Café Moor have taken the big stall right inside one of the main Vicar Lane entrances, in the pretty part of the market, and have made an effort to make the place look the part, draping the stall with carpets and putting on an attractive display of hummous, salads and such-like.

Shawarma and falafel are the name of the game, wraps of either are just three quid including salads and sauces. The falafel wrap I had was faultless, as good as any I had in the Middle East the other year. Frying the little balls of goodness to order is the key, the result being fresh, light and nutty as opposed to the leaden, mealy golf balls you end up with when they've sat around all day.

Chilli sauce and hummous were also exemplary, clearly home-made rather than bought in, and the salad extends to at least seven or eight different items including some quality pickles. Good, stretchy wrap bread too.

The guys running the place are friendly, the food is lovely and the price is right. Give it a try.


9/10

1904 Hall
Kirkgate Market
Leeds
LS2 7HY

Kebab week: Falafel

It's debatable whether falafels can really be classified as a kebab at all. They're not made from meat and they're not grilled. Not a kebab you may say. On the other hand they're often eaten stuffed in a pitta bread with salad and sauces. Is that not a kebab?

Anyhow Wikipedia says they count, and so do I.

Why I've never made falafel before I really don't know. They're ridiculously easy and much nicer than shop bought versions. These were light, moist and really fresh tasting as opposed to the dry, heavy dull specimens you often find. I think the handful of peas really helped.

I don't have a deep fat fryer but a few minutes either side in a centimetre of oil in the frying pan worked fine. I ate them stuffed in pitta with yoghurt sauce, mango and chilli sauce, salad and pickles.

For the falafels, makes 12-14

1 tin chickpeas
2 cloves garlic
1 chilli
2 big handfuls parsley
lots of salt and pepper
handful of freshly shelled peas
1 dsp plain flour

To serve

Pitta bread
lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion
pickled gherkins and chillies
shop bought mango and chilli sauce
yoghurt sauce (greek yoghurt thinned with lemon juice)

1. Blitz all of the falafel ingredients in a food processor, then roll into little balls about 1 inch across.

2. Shallow fry them in a centimetre of hot oil for about 10 minutes, leave to form a good crust before turning otherwise they'll fall to bits. Deep frying them would probably be better if you've got the equipment.

3. Serve immediately in warm pitta bread with salad and sauce.