Falafel
Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern dish made from ground chickpeas, herbs and spices. They are shaped into small round or flattened balls and deep-fried until crisp. These are best enjoyed fresh. This recipe makes 18-25 falafel balls, depending on size.Before You StartThe chickpeas need to soak for 8-24 hours. The prep time stated (50 minutes) assumes you are also prepping the tahini sauce and other accompaniments to make pitta pockets. See the 'Notes' section at the end with suggestions for how to prep these. The prep time to make the falafel balls on their own will be about 20 minutes.
Servings: 4 people
Equipment
- Large food processor - required; this is not a blending job you can replace with manual chopping.
- Deep fat fryer or large saucepan and a thermometer.
- Small food processor/stick blender - for making tahini sauce (optional, but highly recommended).
Ingredients
- 225 g dried chickpeas
- baking soda
- salt
- water
- two handfuls parsley and/or coriander (cilantro) leaves about 30g in total
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- freshly ground black pepper
- teaspoon baking powder
For Frying
- neutral-flavoured vegetable oil (1-3 litres, depending what vessel you're using)
Whipped Tahini Sauce
- 130 g tahini (note)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 100 ml cold water
Optional Accompaniments
- Pita/pitta breads
- 1 tomato
- ½ cucumber
- houmous
- tomato sauce/ketchup
- Tabasco Sauce (optional)
- finely shredded lettuce
- finely shredded purple cabbage
Instructions
- Soak chickpeas - combine two litres of water, two teaspoons of baking soda and a tablespoon of salt in a large bowl. Add the dried chickpeas. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature for 8-24 hours. No need to refrigerate. Drain, rinse and add fresh water, baking soda and salt halfway through soak time (don't stress if you forget).225 g dried chickpeasbaking sodasaltwater
- Whipped Tahini Sauce - blend tahini, lemon juice, pepper and salt in a small food processor. With the food processor running, stream in enough cold water to reach a creamy consistency. It will first break, fear not! Keep adding water slowly until it comes together, is light and smooth and holds a soft peak. It will firm up a little if refrigerated. Set aside until ready to use.freshly ground black pepper2 tablespoons lemon juice130 g tahini100 ml cold water½ teaspoon salt
- Drain, Rinse & Dry – the chickpeas before transferring to your food processor. A salad spinner works well to dry the chickpeas. Otherwise, shake off excess water in a sieve and use some paper towel to dab off excess moisture.
- Make Falafel Mix - add the fresh herbs, 1 and ½ teaspoons of salt, cayenne, cumin, coriander and about ¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper to the chickpeas. Process in short bursts, redistributing the mix often, until the mixture resembles wet sand. There should be some nubbly bits. It should hold shape when pinched together between your fingers. Transfer the falafel mix to a large bowl. Note: if you're making in advance, cover and refrigerate at this stage until ready to proceed (it's best if we add the last ingredient, the baking powder, when ready to fry).salttwo handfuls parsley and/or coriander (cilantro) leaves⅛ teaspoon cayenne½ teaspoon ground cumin½ teaspoon ground corianderfreshly ground black pepper
- Heat Oil - Preheat oil to 180°C.neutral-flavoured vegetable oil
- Baking Powder – sprinkle the baking powder over the falafel and mix through well.teaspoon baking powder
- Form Balls - with a very light touch, form balls of the mixture in your hands, about a heaped tablespoon’s-worth each (25g). No need to weigh each one though! Flatten slightly.
- Fry Balls - fry for 4 minutes until the outside is golden brown. Turn halfway if not completely immersed in oil. Don’t overcrowd the fryer; be prepared to cook in at least a couple of batches.
Notes
Tahini - is a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Tahini will tend to separate – a solid layer with an oily top. The amount of water you’ll need to add to get a pourable consistency will depend on how solid the tahini you use is. Always buy hulled tahini. The husk of the sesame seed is very bitter and hulled tahini will provide a smoother, sweeter taste. If it doesn’t state one way or the other, it will likely be hulled.