I still remember my first Falafel: years ago in Jerusalem in front of Jaffa Gate there was a street vendor selling Falafel in pita with lettuce, tomatoes and tahini. I was instantly smitten with the richness of its flavours. And it has become one of my favourite snacks.
This week I was invited to the book vernissage of a friend, a wonderful child therapist and kinesiologist. I promised to bring some appetizers and decided to make tiny Falafel balls and offer a lighter (!) kind of tahini dip to go with it. For easy handling use toothpicks: put it in your Falafel ball and dip it into the sauce.
The following recipe has gluten (flour or bread crumbs) in it, you could substitute the bread crumbs with gluten free flour or xantham gum.
You could also buy a ready made falafel mix but you might know my aversion to their hidden ingredients.
Falafel Recipe
Preparation and cooking time: 2 hours
Yield: 90 tiny Falafel balls
Ingredients
2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans) = 500 g
(or 2 cups dried chickpeas)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
5 tablespoons bread crumbs (or flour)
some lemon zest and juice
Salt + pepper
1 egg
Oil for frying (sunflower or peanut)
Method
Drain chickpeas and rinse well.
When using dried chickpeas: soak overnight, drain well and rinse some more. Place them in a pot with fresh water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat after minutes and simmer for one hour.
Dry roast your cumin and coriander. Let it cool.
Combine (cooled) chickpeas with the other ingredients in blender and gently mix. The result should be a thick not too sticky paste, if necessary add some more bread crumbs.
Fry in 5 cm of oil (175 – 200° C) until golden brown (3 -5 minutes).
Serve hot or cold together with tahini or hummus. It looks nice on a bed of flat parsley when serving as an appetizer.
Tips
Remember Dukka from an earlier post this year? You will find the recipe for it here.I rolled my finished balls in a mixture of bread crumbs and Dukka which gave them a nice finish.
You could also use fresh coriander leaves to garnish
Before frying put the Falafel balls in your freezer for 10 – 15 minutes. I have found that the balls are less prone to disintegrate (stirring too vigourously will result in the same, I know it happened to me).
Be careful with the temperature of your frying oil. It should slightly bubble and make a soft noise. Too low = no good (you end up with a disintegrated mass of dough), too high = no good either (you will burn your goodies).
Comments 13
Awesome – thanks for including the gluten free reference!!!
@JanineRipper Your pleasure is mine! Janine, are you allowed to eat chickpeas again? If so, I have a wonderful recipe for Pakora, let me know.
Hi Barbara!
Thanks for this recipe and especially for the tips! My first attempt to make my own was my last (until now) because they disintegrated in the pan! 🙁
Have you posted about tahini before? What I make is something called hummous tahini! What do you put in tahini?
Lori
@Lori Hi Lori! You are most welcome. At first, I hesitated to include the disintegrating part but I was so frustrated when it happened and when the second batch turned out well – ah, what happiness. And I remember my mother telling the story of how she threw a piece of unwilling dough at the ceiling and how it came down with a loud PLOP. We love that story!
No, I have never posted about Tahini before, I made a lighter version with sesame paste and sour cream this time, I love the Hummus Tahini as well but it is heavy, no? I can send you the recipe if you want, just let me know.
Tomorrow I have a day off and then I will come visiting – roll out the red carpet (or I can use the back door as well, never mind).
Have a great day, Barbara
And now I am so hungry for… balls. Great title, by the way!
I’ve had them before and love the,
Question: Are those your own images?
@dorienmorin Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Dorien, I love spices so why not spice up my blog a little bit? My daughter thinks I should write the way I speak, I am working on it …
And yes, these are all my own photos (with the subtle watermark at the right bottom), most of them taken with an iPhone app and unedited, I could say this makes for more authenticity but to be honest it is a time issue. I hope you like them.
hmmmm I always wondered what falafals, falafels, falafols, what Dorien said were!
@knikkolette Hi, Knikkolette, balls are balls are balls and have different uses …. Thanks, have a lovely day!
Hmmmm, yumm! I was already in my 30s when I first tasted Falafel (thanks to a coworker). You’re making me crave it right now. Thanks for this recipe and the ‘delicious’ photos, Barbara :-))
@jpage.manuel Joy, you are my soulmate (I will tell you more on my part III Rome, thanks for all the lovely comments. Craving lovely food (did you know how closely music is related to that? I had a long discussion about it with a friend last night) is a wonderful thing.
Big hugs, Barbara
Sign me up; I’m ready. Sounds pretty yummy to me………..that.is.all.
@bdorman264 There will always be a reserved seat for you at my table, thanks Bill.
Today we had a lovely 32° C (most uncommon for end of April in Switzerland) and I feel accordingly: from freezing temps and rainy weather to smoldering heat, the world is upside down, I might as well enjoy it!
Hope all is well in FLA and your project is flourishing.
Falafel has become my latest addiction, there are a number of falafel shops around DC and Maryland which are open from 9pm until 4am in the morning. We usually frequent these and have a blast. They are so delicious and the sour cream adds to the taste.
I never thought of preparing my own, but this post can change my thinking…