Homemade falafel
Polpette di ceci
Homemade falafel can make a family devour incredible amounts of dried beans. Here is a relatively easy recipe for making them from scratch.
Don’t know why, but my cupboards seem to be literally stuffed with dried beans, lentils, chickpeas and other cereals. Which was why I started experimenting with homemade falafel. The first attempts failed miserably, but now I’ve learned the trick of making a paste that is not too dry and not too smooth to hold together. It works. And they taste unbelievably good.
Serve the falafel as finger food, antipasti or as a proper main course.
Ingredients
500 g dried chickpeas
2 onions
2 gloves of garlic
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 bunch of fresh coriander
Oil for deep frying
Preparation
Soak the dried chickpeas for at least 24 hours. (I haven’t tried to use canned chickpeas, but fear they might be too mushy)
Drain the chickpeas and blend them with onion, garlic and spices in a food processor. (You need a pretty strong machine to get the job done without too much hassle)
Add baking powder and chopped fresh coriander
Heat up the oil and fry walnut sized lumps of the chickpea mixture until golden brown
Place on absorbent paper for a few seconds.
Serve the homemade falafel hot accompanied by bread and salad.
More falafel style recipes
Making homemade falafel is never easy, but this recipe is doable. And it tastes great.
Looks good to me! Having tried a very similar recipe using canned chickpeas I can confirm that yes – it is too mushy. They tear themselves apart as soon as you add them to the oil!
I love falafels but only ever buy the powdered mix. Theses look simple enough to make and I’m sure they are way more flavourful. Now that we’re into fall I think about cooking a whole lot more so I’ll try these too.
Have you thought about a cookbook?