Falafel
Abhipriya Raghav
Falafel is a deep fried fritter made with chickpeas along with few spices and herbs.
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Soaking Time 8 hours hrs
Total Time 8 hours hrs 40 minutes mins
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Snack
Cuisine Middle Eastern
- 1 cup dried chickpeas
- 1 medium onion
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 3 green chili
- 1 cup parsley
- 1 cup coriander leaves
- ½ tsp black pepper powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- salt, as required
- ½ tsp baking soda
- oil, as required for frying
Wash and soak the chickpeas in enough water for at least 6 hours or over night.
Drain all the water and grind the chickpeas in a food processor. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add the onions, green chili, garlic, parsley and coriander leaves in a food processor and grind it.
To the mixing bowl, add the ground onion-herb mixture along with all the spice powders and salt as needed. Combine everything well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before frying.
Just before frying, add the baking soda and mix well.
Heat sufficient oil in a kadai on low-medium heat. Shape the mixture into balls or patties and fry them until golden brown on all sides.
Serve hot with hummus or tahini by the side.
- Do not use canned chickpeas. Dried and soaked chickpeas gives a very food texture and flavor.
- Do not add any water while grinding the chickpeas.
- My food processor cannot accommodate everything. So, I ground everything separately.
- Add cayenne pepper according to your taste.
- Adding baking soda is completely optional. You can even add baking powder instead.
- If you mixture is falling apart, then chill it for some more time.
- Add some all purpose flour for binding if required.
- You can deep fry, shallow fry or even bake the patties.
Keyword appetizer, chickpeas, falafel, fritters, hummus, middle eastern, pita bread, snack