Ingredients
250g of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (for min. 8 hours)
50g parsley
½ medium onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp ground cumin
½ tsp baking powder
½ tbsp flour (plain or gram)
½ tbsp sea salt
Oil for frying
Falafel
These crispy chickpea and sesame seed patties are quick and easy to make at home and are a great meat–free meal. These falafel are based on those that my Egyptian grandfather used to make. I have happy memories of these being fried up for breakfast in my grandparents’ house. Drizzled with tahini sauce (recipe below) and eaten almost straight from the hot oil – the smell and the taste were unreal!
A word of warning; it requires that dried chickpeas are soaked overnight. Tinned chickpeas won’t get you the right texture.
Method
1. Add the parsley, onion, and garlic to a food processor and pulse them until roughly chopped.
2. Add the chickpeas and pulse until a coarse meal. Don’t over process. It should have a grainy texture and not a paste. Check that it is the correct texture by taking a bit in your hand and squeezing it into a ball. If it falls apart then process a bit more.
3. Transfer the chickpea mixture to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients.
4. Heat about 1cm of oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat. Test a little mixture in the oil and when it sizzles it’s ready.
5. Shape falafel balls by squeezing a heaped dessert spoon of mixture to make a compact ball and using your finger gently pushing the ball off the spoon and into the oil.
6. Cook for approx 2 minutes on each side until dark brown.
Serve immediately with tahini sauce.
Tip: For the health conscious, the falafel can be baked by heating a little oil on a baking tray, adding the balls and baking for approx 40 minutes, turning halfway through, until brown and crispy.
