A delicious homemade falafel recipe you can make and enjoy at home!
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Before I was diagnosed with Celiac Matt and I would eat at an unpretentious little Mediterranean cafe for dinner on the regular. Everyone only spoke mild english but they knew their way around tabouleh and falafels. What I would do to have another one of their falafels. But since I can’t I decided it was time to make my own.
I always found soaking dry beans ambitious. Why put in the extra effort to soak and cook them when I can use canned beans? Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy whole foods, and don’t even get me started on cost effectiveness. I am frugal to a fault.
After testing out homemade falafel recipes, I now know canned chickpeas just aren’t as good – plain and simple. I highly recommend soaking dried beans for this recipe. It really only adds an extra two minutes. You simply cover them with water, leave them be for a day and throw ’em in the fridge. It’s actually very gratifying to see them double in size. If you simply have a can of chickpeas in the pantry and not a day to spare (I feel ya!) canned chickpeas will work too.
This recipe is fairly simple but requires a bit of finesse. When you form your falafel mixture into balls do it gently or they will fall apart. A portion scoop is incredibly helpful for this (and a million other things I might add). You want the mixture to look like this. If you try to pack them too hard with your fingers they won’t form into a ball.
Falafel ingredients:
- Chickpeas, dried and soaked or canned
- Garlic
- Salt
- Cumin
- Parsley
- Lemon Juice
- Baking Powder
- All Purpose Flour
- Canola Oil, for frying
How to Fry the Falafels:
Another important component to this recipe is your fry technique. Frying food can be a tricky skill to learn. It is critical the oil is up to the correct temperature so the falafels don’t absorb too much oil and become greasy. On the other-hand if the oil gets too hot the falafels will get over browned and be dry.
You want to fry each side quickly, only a minute per side, or the exterior will be overdone and the interior dry. Use a fry thermometer to make sure the temperature is correct and if you need to bring the oil temperature down quickly you can add a little more oil to the pot to bring it down.
Since falafels can only be described as friggin amazing they are worth the extra effort. Enjoy them on the side or throw them in a pita for lunch with your favorite Tzatziki sauce.
Homemade Falafel Recipe
Equipment
- Food processor
- Dutch Oven or Deep fryer
Ingredients
- 8 oz dried chickpeas
- 3/4 t. minced garlic
- 1 t. kosher salt
- 3/4 t. cumin
- 1/4 C. loose leaf parsley
- 1/2 t. lemon juice
- 1 t. baking powder
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour*
- Canola Oil for frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl, soak 1 1/4 cup dried chickpeas with 2 cups of water for 24 hours. Drain, cover and refrigerate in a small bowl until ready for use.
Heat 2 inches of oil in a dutch oven until the temperature on a thermometer reaches 375 Fahrenheit.
While the oil comes to temperature in a food processor process 2 cups chickpeas, minced garlic, salt, cumin, parsley, lemon juice, baking powder, and all purpose flour until the mixture is very fine. Stop and scrape the the mixture with a small spatula periodically if necessary.
Using a small portion scoop, form rounded scoops into balls gently using your fingers. If you form them too hard they will fall apart.
Once the temperature reaches 375 degrees, place half of your falafels into the hot oil and fry 1 minute. Using a spider or small skimmer, turn falafels gently and fry 1 minute on the other side. Immediately remove falafels with spider and place on paper towel lined plate.
Enjoy once immediately cooled. Serve with tzatziki or your favorite sauce.
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