I’ve been craving some middle eastern fare for the past few days and after spending an afternoon in downtown Birmingham at the Magic City Art Connection with the enticing scent of gyros wafting in the afternoon air, I think it’s high time to get my falafel on for date night dinner!
One word of advice, plan ahead! This isn’t the recipe for you if it’s 3:00 in the afternoon and you’re jonesing for falafel for dinner (like I was!). You need to buy dry garbanzo beans and let them soak overnight. Don’t get the canned beans. They just don’t have the consistency that re-hydrated dried beans have.
Falafel
Ingredients
Method
- Place the dried chickpeas in a bowl and cover with water by several inches. Soak overnight (at least 12 hours). Drain thoroughly before using.
- Add soaked chickpeas, onion, parsley, garlic, flour, salt, cumin, coriander, black pepper, cayenne, and cardamom to a food processor.
- Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse couscous—a textured paste that still has some granularity.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate for about 1 hour to allow it to firm up.
- Just before forming the falafel balls, stir in the baking powder. Then form the mixture into balls roughly golf-ball or ping-pong-ball size. Place formed balls on a tray until ready to fry.
- Pour oil into a sauté pan to about 1½ inches deep and heat to 375°F (190°C).
- Carefully place falafel balls into the hot oil. Fry 2–3 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels or a wire rack.
- Serve hot with hummus, yogurt dill sauce, grilled vegetables, and pita.
Notes
Soaked dried beans produce the correct texture for falafel; canned chickpeas are too soft and can cause the mixture to fall apart. If the falafel mixture falls apart while frying, return it to the food processor and add 1 egg or a little more flour (for a vegan option) to help bind the mixture. Make ahead tip: The uncooked falafel balls can be refrigerated for several days before frying.
You might ask why not just add the baking powder to the food processor step. You can add it in the food processor, but for falafel it’s usually better not to. Here’s why.
Baking powder creates gas bubbles that expand when heated. In falafel, that gives you a lighter interior, less dense texture, and slightly puffy center. But baking powder is double-acting, meaning it reacts twice: when hydrated (mixed with the moist chickpea mixture) and when heated (in the hot oil).
If you add it to the food processor the first reaction begins immediately when moisture hits it, then the mixture sits in the refrigerator for an hour and much of that gas escapes before frying.
Then enjoy with hummus, tabbouleh, grilled vegetables, a nice sauvignon blanc and top it off with baklava and some Turkish coffee!
Cheers,
Ed