Falafel, Out of the Box

If you want falafel, a lot of people think the only place to get it is a middle eastern restaurant. Some of the more adventuresome know that you can buy a box of falafel mix, add water and fry it up. Or, you can make them from scratch.

First, assemble the ingredients (flour not shown). You'll only need half of that onion, about 1 cup chopped. As for the fresh mint, feel free to throw in pretty much whatever you want. Fresh herbs, spices.

For the chickpeas, you'll want to soak the hull them, just like for the hummus. For everything else that's choppable, chop it.

Throw the chickpeas in the food processor, and pulse until they're broken up and rough.

Don't make it a paste just yet. Add the chopped vegetables, herbs, spices, salt, and baking soda, and pulse again until everything is well mixed.

This is the most tricky part. You'll have a dough-like substance. It may be dry, it may be wet. If it's wet, and you try to fry it, the falafel will just break up in the oil and make a huge, awful mess. Trust me. You'll want to add flour, a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough is a little more wet than a chocolate chip cookie dough. The balls, when you form them, should be firm and keep their shape, but very malleable.

Form the dough into balls, and drop them in canola oil, about 375 degrees, or medium-high heat. Keep an eye of the falafel if you're frying it in a pan, and flip it when the bottom is firm and starts to darken, and flip them over. The whole process will take between 4 and 5 minutes.

You can also bake the falafel in a oven at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. Try flattening the falafel a little beforehand, if you're going this route.

Serve the falafel with the hummus from last week, either as finger food, or in a pita.

Ingredients:

1 16 oz can of chickpeas, or two cups dried, and soaked in water overnight

1 handful of fresh parsely

1 cup of chopped onion (one small, or 1/2 a medium onion)

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons of baking powder

4 mint leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Flour to firm the dough

Directions:

Soak and hull the chickpeas, roughly chop the fresh vegetables and herbs.

Pulse the chickpeas in a food processor until they're rough and broken up.

Add the onion, garlic, parsley, mint, salt, pepper, and baking soda to the food processor and pulse until you have a homogenous dough.

Pour out the dough onto a counter or parchment paper and add flour, as needed, by kneading it into the dough. The end dough should be slightly wetter than cookie dough, but cohesive. Form the dough into balls.

Preheat frying oil to 375. Test one falafel ball, if it breaks apart in the oil, add more flour to the dough, and re-form the balls.

Fry for 2-2.5 minutes per side, or 5 minutes if the oil covers the falafel.

Serve.

Comments

[Heathe]

Don't serve with hummus - that's redundant. Serve with fresh tahini, shredded iceberg and chopped dill pickles inside a fresh pita. Next time - show how to make fresh pita.