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Falafel recipe
It’s hard to believe how easy it is to make delicious homemade falafel,
crispy golden balls made from fresh chickpeas, herbs and garlic.
Serve in a warm pita with vegetables and good tahini, and you’ll see that you don’t even need to go out to buy falafel when you can make the real deal right at home.
I’ve been making homemade falafel with this recipe for years and now I hope you’ll try it as well.
These can be baked instead of fried and they’re also vegan friendly.
This recipe is perfection!
Makes around 30 balls
Ingredients:
200 grams dried chickpeas (1 cup), soaked for 12 hours in cold water
If you already have pre-soaked beans then it’s about 2.15 cups, or around 400 grams chickpeas, post soaking.
3 slices of challah / bread, soaked in water and then squeezed to get rid of excess water
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 bunch parsley
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
Ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
Preparation:
1. Drain the soaking chickpeas.
2. Place all the ingredients, including the chickpeas, in a food processor and process until you get a uniform mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Form balls that are slightly smaller than a ping pong ball and refrigerate for two hours.
3. You can deep or shallow fry the balls until they are nice and golden all around. It’s important that the heat isn’t too high because the balls will brown on the outside before they cook on the inside.
4. Remove and let drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
5. To bake:
Preheat an oven to 180°C. Add 3 Tbsp oil to the mixture. Line a baking tray with greased parchment paper. Flatten the balls and bake for around 30 minutes until golden. Flip and bake on the other side for 10-15 minutes.
Good to know…
You can prepare the balls up to the frying stage a day before and keep refrigerated.
You can make the mixture a day beforehand.
You can freeze the balls. It’s really important just to soak the chickpeas and not to cook them. Soak for up to 12 hours, not longer.
When you squeeze the bread, make sure you squeeze all the water out.
When you are preparing the balls, if you feel that they are too soft, squeeze them to remove excess moisture. If the balls are too moist, they’ll fall apart during frying.
One more thing, don’t over-process the mixture in the food processor. It’s supposed to be thick and not runny.
DO NOT use canned or frozen chickpeas, the falafel will fall apart during frying.
Instead of the bread, you can use 1/3 cup breadcrumbs and add it directly to the mixture.
Don’t have any parsley? Get some. You can’t make falafel without parsley.
You can freeze the chickpeas after soaking and draining.
I wouldn’t recommend making the falafel in advance, it’s best when served fresh.
