Falafel

Servings

45 balls

Prep

20 min

Cook

10 min

Most homemade products are better than ready-made ones or commercial ones. As for Falafel, I like it homemade or from a Kebab house. The first time I made Falafel, I did not have a big food processor. I had a tiny one meant for maximum 2 medium onions. My good friend was with me at that time and we spent a good 45 minutes blending the chickpeas with the other ingredients. The end product was nice and tasty but it didn’t taste much like Falafel. Instead, it tasted like Marsala Vadai (an Indian snack made from Chana Dal). Our guess was we added too much cumin seeds to our mixture. We still gobbled it up with some tortilla’s and had a good laugh about it.

I prefer using dried chickpeas (soaked overnight) instead of the canned ones and it gives the Falafel a better texture. I find canned chickpeas too mushy for Falafel, so it shall be reserved for Hummus. This recipe can last about 3 days in the fridge and up to 6 months in the freezer.

Use Falafel for stuffing pita bread with tzatziki sauce or just a snack on it’s own.

Ingredients

1½ cups Dried Chickpeas (to be soaked overnight)
½ cup Onion
⅓ cup Coriander
4 cloves Garlic
2 teaspoons Salt
2 teaspoons Cumin Powder
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds (optional)
2 teaspoons Coriander Powder
½ teaspoon Black Pepper
½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika Powder
½ cup Gram Flour (Chickpea Flour)
For frying Peanut Oil

Directions:

Soak chickpeas overnight in a large bowl of salted water. Make sure there is enough water as the chickpeas will expand up to double it’s dried size.
Drain chickpeas and rinse.
Roughly chop onions, garlic, and coriander.
Add all ingredients to food processor and blend till chickpeas resemble small grains and slightly pasty. Over blending will result into Hummus. You might have to use a spatula in between to mix ingredients so it blends evenly.
Transfer to a sealable bag or container and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Add frying oil to pan or wok and heat it up to medium high.
Scoop out Falafel and shape into balls or desired shape. I use about 1 tablespoon per ball.
Deep fry on medium high heat till golden brown.

Tips: