Falafel
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This falafel recipe has been a labor of love, sweat, and tears. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but I have never failed so much on a dish than falafel. (Baking aside, but that’s another story) The first few times I tried to make falafel, I ended up with a pile of goopy grainy chickpea mess at the bottom of hot oil. On a later attempt, they somewhat resembled falafel but 90% of the falafel ball was in crumbles, again, at the bottom of the oil.
What was I doing wrong? Basically, it came down to canned versus dried chickpeas. Since I was using canned chickpeas, the starches in the dried/raw chickpeas that act as the binder were lost in the cooking and canning process. After a couple more attempts using dried chickpeas, I finally ended with this great recipe!
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Ingredients
- 1 cup dried chickpeas
- 1 cup onion(s) chopped
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 cup parsley, cilantro, and/or mint chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp flour
- 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- 24 hours prior - Rinse chickpeas and soak in water a large bowl. Make sure to put plenty of water as the chickpeas will triple in size.
- Drain chickpeas and place all ingredients except flour in a food processor.
- If your food processor is not large enough, you can mix everything in a bowl and process in batches
- Process the mixture until minced but not pureed.
- Add flour and pulse until combined.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover, and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Shape and press mixture into walnut-sized balls or patties.
- Heat oil in a deep pan or cast iron skillet to between 350 ºF and 375 ºF.
- Test fry one ball and if successful, fry 4-5 balls at a time for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.
- Drain on a paper towel and serve with garnish and sauce.
Rating added.