RECIPE – Chickpea Falafel
Our family just loves Falafel. It may be because of all the ingredients that we put in the pita bread and the sauces. As you eat it, it starts to drip, but you cannot stop eating … sooooo good!
When making them yourself, remember to soak the chickpeas the night before. Today I put them in water before going off to work… home for 5 pm they had doubled in size. But just in case I have a little trick I use to speed things up, see below picture.
Falafel plate, with everything! as much as you can fit…chips are extra!
To speed things up
At times you decide you want Falafel but have forgotten to soak the chickpeas. You can use pre-cooked ones from a can, but it is just not the same. So, I put them in a pot of cold water and bring them to the boil. I let them cook on high for 5 minutes them drain and use as if they were soaked. Works for me.
RECIPE
Chickpea Falafel
For me the essential ingredients apart from the chickpeas of course are cumin, garlic and plenty of parsley. I love it when you open them and they are green inside. When I make them, there are rarely enough, any left-overs go to lunches, everyone wants some…it gives the chef a big smile!
INGREDIENTS
2 cups of dry Chickpeas ( soaked overnight ) 8 garlic cloves – minced1 or 2 yellow onions – finely chopped1 or 2 big handfuls of parsley – chopped ( use stems and all, they have great flavour)4 Tbsp of flour2 tsp of baking powder ( optional )2 Tbsp of ground cumin2 Tbsp of ground coriander1 tsp sea salt … maybe a little more1 tsp of black pepperVegetable oil to fry them
METHOD
1. Drain the soaked chickpeas and place in a big bowl.2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix them up well.3. Using a food processor, reduce it all to a crumbly texture. You will need to do this in batches, about 4 times. You may need to use a spatula to scrape the sides so you can get it all evenly crumbled.4. Taste the mixture, you may need a little more salt.5. Now squeeze some in your hand, does it stick together? If not, add a little water until it sticks together. Allow to rest 15 minutes before making balls.
Frying;6. Deep frying is perhaps not the healthiest but Falafel just taste best this way. ( make an exception this time, well worth it. )7. In a small pot, heat 2 cm / 1 inch of oil. Once hot, test it with one, it should be sizzling well. Add a few more but not too many or you will lower the temperature and they will not crisp up easily.8. After a few minutes turn each one so they get brown all over. Take them out and place on kitchen paper to soak up some of the oil.9. Stuff into a pita bread or eat as is with plenty of salads, hummus and Tahini sauce, ( found under sauces in Hungry Soul Cookbook )
I squash the falafel when I put them in the pita. Lovely green from all that parsley.
Did you know?
Egyptian Falafels are considered by some as the best tasting Falafel and they are not made from chickpeas. They were made with fava beans, broad beans ( fool – Arabic translation ).
I once made them from soya beans … they are a little different, but no one noticed. As long as you have plenty of garlic, cumin and parsley!
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