Perfectly Crispy Falafel

Crispy, deep fried chickpea falafel, vegan, gluten free, served with hummus and labneh.

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Hello HTS Community

Falafel hails from the middle eastern cuisine and is an absolutely cracker of a vegan and gluten free meal. It is a deep fried patty shaped fritter, made with chickpeas and herbs. Often served on a mediterranean platter with pita, hummus, labneh and tabbouleh, to be eaten as a sandwich or wrap, or can be eaten as it is, or with hot sauce, tahini based dips, the options are endless.

So, on much demand here we have the falafel recipe. This recipe makes about 12-13 medium sized falafel patties, that can be frozen as well in an airtight container for about 4 weeks.

The chickpeas are not cooked, just soaked in water. If you use cooked chickpeas, the falafel patties are soft and miss some level of crunch. Along with chickpeas, I am using fresh coriander leaves with stalk. You can also add about 1/4 cup of dill and parsley leaves if they are available. I served mine on a platter with Black Eyed Beans Hummus, Labneh and salad, and also assembled a burger using the same ingredients.

Ingredients you will need:

• Chickpeas- 1 cup (before soaking)
• Onion- 1 medium, chopped
• Garlic- 4 cloves
• Paprika powder- 1 teaspoon
• Cumin powder- 1 teaspoon
• Black pepper powder- 1 teaspoon
• Salt- to taste
• Clove- 2, crushed
• Baking powder- 1/2 teaspoon
• Cinnamon powder- 2 pinches
• Fresh coriander with stalk- 1 cup, packed
• Sesame seeds- 1 tablespoon
• Oil- for frying

Steps to make Falafel:

• Soak chickpeas for about 15-18 hours in salted water. Next day drain the water and put chickpeas in a mixer-grinder jar.
• With the chickpeas add garlic, onion, spices (cinnamon, paprika, cumin and black pepper), salt, baking powder, fresh coriander leaves with stalk. Blitz these ingredients without using any water into a coarse mixture. Please note that you will need to open the jar and press down the contents, since it is difficult to grind without the use of water. But, have patience and grind the contents.
• Once you have the mixture like the picture below, add sesame seeds and mix with a spatula. Take a tablespoon of the mixture in your palm and try to form a round shape. At this point, without any gluten or anything, it should hold its shape and you would also see some moisture on your palm. This is exactly how we want it.

• Refrigerate this mixture for a minimum of 1/2 hour. It’s good if it gets about 60-70 minutes.
• After refrigeration, form small balls with 1 tablespoon of mixture and press it down gently to form a disc.
• Heat oil to about 180 degrees, or medium hot and deep fry these babies for a minute or two. Serve with hummus, pita, labneh and fresh salad.

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