Mad About Chickpeas- Falafel
Falafel
- Falafel is Middle Eastern fast food and is made out of fava beans or chickpeas. I can’t imagine having this without Tarator sauce (Middle Eastern tahini sauce made out of tahini, lemon juice and garlic)
- 500g of soaked chickpeas, soak them overnight (about 250g dry)
- (for best results let them sit in a colander to dry after soaking, about 2 hours or so, to get all the water out)
- 1 medium onion, rough chop (goes into blender)
- 20g of parsley
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1.5 teaspoon allspice or 7spice
- 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste.
- Canola oil for lightly frying
Unlike the Hummus, you will not need to cook the pulses and so you can begin by rinsing the chickpeas well and draining them well. then throw em in the food processor. Add the onion, garlic, parsley, allspice, salt and pulse for 2 minutes. Using a tablespoon round the falafel mixture into balls. In sautee pan, heat generous serving of oil and fry the falafel balls for about 2 minutes and then turn over. serve with Tarator.
If freezing, do not fry ahead. You can also grill them but be sure to brush them with olive oil, on both sides.
I can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading your posts, the beautiful photos, the text, it makes me so proud that you are Lebanese and honoring your country this way. Way to go!
How much cumin do you add? Not listed in ingredients….
Hi ben, thanks for bringing the typo to my attention! Corrected and emailed you back.
I’m eager to try this recipe out! You’re really cute, by the way
Actually, cute isn’t strong enough a word. Gorgeous! Umm, erm, back to the recipe. Thanks for sharing this!
babaganouche—–next
Looks really nice and easy, can’t wait to try this out!
Making a perfect falafel is impossible – only god can achieve this!
However, he would be proud of a very rustic interpretation of the crunchy croquette,,,bravo…this is what a falafel should look like!!!
Do they call the sauce “Tarator” in Lebanon? In Bulgaria, Tarator is a lovely cold soup of yoghurt, garlic, cucumbers, salt, dill and (surprise) ground walnut meal. If made thick it goes well on bruschette…
yes it is called tarator. Your tarator sounds lovely i’ll have to try that sometime!
This looks so good… will be trying it. We bought new Ninja and I hope to adapt it will work with that appliance.
twitter: alrady40
I wonder if these turn out ok if i cook them in the oven… they look delicious! Thx.
Do you need to cook a little bit chickpeas before graining them? I try to make them but they did not stay together. What would you recommend for that problem? Thanks a lot
I try again to make falafel. This time I follow exact recipe. it was great. Taste delicious. Thanks again
Great news! It’s a wonderful recipe and I’m glad it worked for you
Thanks for your feedback!
This recipe is FANTASTIC! I am on a stupidly restricted diet by my nutritionist due to health issues and this recipe has all ingredients I love and should have! I replaced the allspice with garam masala which was probably naughty but it was tasty! I served it with your tarator sauce, (which I seriously adore), lettuce and tomato salad and gluten free flat bread which I just found (http://www.celiactravel.com/blog/quick-gluten-free-flatbread/). It was so good. Thank you for your wonderful recipes.