Falafel
Falafel is a deep fried fritter made with chickpeas along with few spices and herbs.
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
- 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.