Falefel

[OakLeaf]

Falafel is so easy to make! You don't need a mix.

Add to your food processor in this order: parsley, onion, chickpeas soaked but NOT pre-cooked. In a spice grinder or mortar, grind some cumin and a little coriander and red pepper to taste (you can toast the spices a little before grinding if you like), add some garlic if using a mortar and pestle or mince it separately if using a spice grinder, stir all of those in along with a little baking soda. Some recipes call for a couple of tablespoons of wheat flour but I don't think it's necessary. Grind it until it still has a mealy texture but finely enough that it will stick together. Form it into small balls/patties and deep fry in a neutral flavored oil. That's all!

For the tahini sauce, two parts tahini, two parts water, one part lemon juice, salt and red pepper to taste.

Mmmmmmm. We just had some last week actually.

Tahini will keep in the fridge for nearly ever. I much prefer hummus with tahini (and I prefer the toasted tahini to raw). And my favorite hummus is with roasted garlic, although for simplicity's sake I usually just throw lots of raw garlic into the pressure cooker with the chickpeas and cook them all together.

We don't use the food processor for anything except chickpeas... falafel and hummus.


ETA: In some cultures falafel and hummus are made with fava beans instead of or in addition to chickpeas. Peeling them is too much of a PITA for me though.

[withm]

Do a search for falafel on here. Someone posted a recipe along with photos for the process. I have made it several times - it's a great recipe, and very fast and easy to make.

ETA: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...falafel&page=2

This is SmilingCat's recipe - it's great! But the pix don't seem to be here anymore.

[smilingcat]

Yes... I did remove the pic's. oops

Yes its easy to make. no tahini required. The good thing with my recipe is that you don't have to deep fry them. Just bake. They taste just like if you had deep fried them.

Put the falafal in salads, as the "center piece" in your sandwitch, be it in pita bread or between two slices of bread. Or you can just snack out on them.

If you are not sure what I wrote, please drop me a note and I can help you through with it.

enjoy.

Smilingcat

[cylegoddess]

Actually., falafel should be made of broad beans. They are green. I only found this out a while ago. I am allergic to chickpeas so I was happy to find some traditional falafel!

[OakLeaf]

Broad beans are the same thing as fava beans.

If you can get them fresh they may be green... it's been so long since I've seen them, I don't remember. In the USA it's rare to find them fresh (I suppose ethnic markets in big cities would have them regularly). I can only get the dried ones which are red. In either case they need to be peeled.

I've never been to the Middle East or Asia Minor, but the way I understand it is that chickpeas vs. favas is a regional variation rather than a substitution.

[cylegoddess]

fava beans? hey! We can only get them frozen here.