Falafel
Ingredients:
- Chickpeas, 1cup
- Onion, 1 medium
- Garlic, 2-3 cloves
- Parsley, finely chopped, ¼ cup ( you can use a mix of coriander and parsley or just coriander as well)
- Roasted cumin powder, ½ tsp (simply dry roast/toast the cumin seeds and grind them to use or skip and increase the quantity of regular cumin powder)
- Cumin powder, ½ tsp
- Coriander powder, ½ tsp (optional)
- Red chili powder, ¼ tsp (optional but gives a nice kick! I have added green chilies as well at times with the mix, but that’s just meJ)
- Pepper powder, ¼ tsp
- Salt, to taste
- Lemon juice, 2 tbsp
- Olive oil, 1 tbsp
- Maida/ Regular Flour, 2 tbsp
- Oil, for frying
Instructions:
Wash and soak the chickpeas overnight/8-10 hours in cold water. They will double up in size as they soak, so ensure the bowl you use is big enough and there is ample water for soaking.Drain and rinse the chickpeas well. Put them into a food processor with the garlic and pulse till you get coarse bread crumbs consistency. Pls. be careful while doing this and don’t let the chickpeas form into a paste like consistency as then your falafel will have no texture to them.
And texture is the reason why I separately grate the onion (squeeze out the juice) and finely chop the parsley by hand instead of dumping everything together in the food processor.
Once done, mix everything together in a big mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate the mix for a couple of hours to let the flavors develop.
Heat the Paniyaram pan on low heat and add a spoonful of the paste into each indent. Once the falafels start pulling away from the side, add a few drops of oil on the sides of each one. When one side is crisp golden brown and top is set, turn the other side and cook till the other side is also crisp brown
If you are deep frying these: with slightly wet hands, shape into balls in the size you prefer. Test one first to ensure that they don’t break apart. If they do, add a little more flour to the mix. Test again, if it still falls apart, you can add an egg. (see see see, told you my method was so much more hassle free didn’t I !!J). Fry on medium heat till golden brown on both sides.
Serve with Hummus and Tzatziki as a snack or stuff in pita pockets with add-ons of your choice
Hummus and Tzatziki recipes are already on the blog here: Hummus recipe and Tzatziki recipe (I skipped on topping up the hummus with more olive oil this time and we still loved itJ )
