Falafel – How To Make Falafel From Chickpeas
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Falafel - Ever since this original middle eastern Lebanese food has made an entry in the streets of America and Europe as popular street food, it has been loved by all. Simply made from chickpea/garbanzo beans which are deep-fried, these falafel balls are served as Falafel Pita sandwich topped with hummus and tahini sauce. This street food from Israel can be a nourishing and complete Vegan food meal if it's served along with veggies. So here is the recipe for homemade falafel.
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Ingredients
- Dry Chickpea / garbanzo beans Soaked for 8 hours - 1 Cup (250 ml)
- Onion - 1 medium size Chopped
- Bread Crumbs - 1 Cup
- Garlic cloves - 4
- Small Green cardamom Pods - 3
- Black Peppers corns - 8
- Mint leaves - 10
- Green Chillies - 2
- Coriander leaves - 1/2 Cup
- Lime - 1
- Oil for deep frying
- Pinch of Soda
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Instructions
- Soak 1 cup dry chickpeas in 3 cups of water for 8 hours or overnight. Once soaked It will increase the volume of garbanzo beans.
- Using canned chickpeas is one of the options but not recommended as it would contain a lot of water and they are too soft for the falafel.
- Crush green cardamon and remove the skin. Crush black peppercorns. Drain the water after 8 hours and the volume of chickpeas would increase.
- Put chickpeas in the food processor along with chopped onion, garlic cloves, crushed green cardamom, crushed black peppercorns, green chilies, coriander leaves, salt as per taste and lemon juice from one lemon.
- Pulse it to an extent that it forms a coarse paste, scrape the sides of food processor to avoid the whole chickpea chunks. Pulse it few times.
- Transfer this chickpeas paste to a bowl.
- How to prepare homemade breadcrumb flour - breadcrumbs give a crunchy and crispy look and texture to falafel however chickpea flour can also be used in place of breadcrumbs.
- Take 3 slices of brown whole wheat bread and pulse it to form the powder.
- Mix the breadcrumbs in the chickpea paste and add a pinch of baking soda to give the fluffy texture to the falafel.
- Heat 2 inches Oil in a deep pan as falafel needs deep frying to be crispy.
- While the oil is getting ready and reaches its smoking temperature, prepare equal sized ball with the chickpea paste. Usually 1 tablespoon of paste is sufficient to make one ball. The size can be adjusted as per your preference.
- Once the oil is hot, simmer it to medium flame and drop in the one falafel ball gently in the oil. If the oil is ready it will bubble up and brown the falafel.
- Ensure that the flame is medium otherwise it will burn the falafel from outside, turning them to brown and black in color but still uncooked from inside.
- Once tested, fry them in batches of 6 -7 as you would not want to waste the oil in the pan. With the help of the slotted spoon, keep turning each ball after 2-3 minutes, till whole ball turns brown. Turning avoids burning.
- Drain the excess oil with the help of the kitchen towel.
- How to serve Falafel Pita - Falafel pita is the most popular street food across Middle East and America and here is the simple way to serve it.
- Prepare the hummus (Recipe shared in notes section), some lettuce salad leaves, tahini sauce and few thin slices of onion and diced tomatoes.
- Cut the pita bread to make the pita pocket and fill in the layer of hummus lettuce leaves, onion and tomatoes. Stuff in the falafel balls. Squeeze some tahini sauce on top or any dip of your choice.
Notes
Check out Homemade Hummus recipe to be served with Falafel.
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About the Author :
Meera Girdhar loves to add twists and turns to simple dishes to make them more mouth-watering, presentable, healthy and of course different. Her love for perfection and try to achieve it to a level that satisfies her made her start her blog Exotic and Easy. Additionally, she is heading HR of an IIT/IIM start-up and always enjoy to manage three worlds – home, career, and taste-buds. You can follow her blog – Exoticneasy or connect with her on her facebook page. Follow her on Plattershare, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus too.
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Looks yummy