I’m most definitely a carnivore and if I’m going to ditch the meat and enjoy a vegetarian meal it better be damn tasty. These falafel hit the brief perfectly. These delicious little balls of chick peas, spices and herbs were much easier to make at home than I thought they’d be and were wonderfully crisp and full of fresh flavours.
These falafel are made with uncooked chick peas and you really will get a better result if you use dried chick peas that you soak overnight. Plus dried chick peas are significantly cheaper than the canned variety. They’re generally available in the bulk bin section of your supermarket, or in the aisle with the packets of lentils and dried beans. But if you don’t have time or access to dried chick peas, go ahead and use a can, drained and rinsed. You will just get a softer texture to your falafel.
The brilliant thing about dried chick peas is you can soak them in bulk and then freeze them so you always have some on hand. For recipes that call for cooked chick peas you can also soak, cook and freeze them. My mum soaks, cooks and freezes several servings at once so she can whip up a hummus at a moments notice – but more on that in another post…
I like my falafel so full of herbs that they’re almost green so I used a lot of fresh parsley and coriander, but you can use as much or as little as you like. If you are using herbs, don’t shy away from using the stalks as well as the leaves. The stalks contain so much flavour, sometimes even more than the leaves, and are perfect in a dish like this where they’re blended up.
Add as much or as little spice as you like too. I love the warmth of ground cumin, and you can add other spices to this very versatile recipe depending on your preference – turmeric, dried chilli, or a pinch of cardamon would all make interesting additions.
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Serves: 24 falafel approx
- 1 cup (250g) dried chickpeas
- ¾ cup flat leaf parsley
- ¾ cup coriander (cilantro)
- ½ brown onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1½ tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp flour, approx
- 1 tsp baking powder
- oil, for frying
- Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Discard any that float. The chick peas will more than double with soaking so make sure there is at least 7cm of water above the chick peas. Soak overnight.
- Drain the chickpeas and pick out any loose skins. Put the chick peas, parsley, coriander, onion, garlic, cumin, ground coriander and salt into the bowl of a food processor and blitz until very finely chopped.
- Sprinkle over the flour and baking powder and then pulse to combine. You want a mixture that will hold together when you press it into a ball shape, and that doesn’t stick to your hands. If the mixture won’t hold, add more flour 1 tbsp at a time until it does.
- Take tablespoons of the falafel mixture and shape into slightly flattened balls. Lay the balls on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and refrigerate until ready to cook. You can cook them straight away if you like but they will hold together much better if they’ve had a couple of hours in the fridge to set first.
- Heat 2 cm of oil in a large, heavy based pan over a medium heat. Carefully place the falafel balls into the oil and gently fry for 5-6 minutes on each side until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels and serve warm.
We enjoyed these delectable little morsels for dinner stuffed into garlic pita pockets with lettuce, cucumber and tomato, drizzled with tahini and yoghurt, but they’d make an interesting lunch wrapped in a tortilla, or a great finger food piled high on a platter with a yoghurt based dipping sauce.
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