Palestinian falafel made with raw chickpeas, fresh herbs and cumin, fried, then served in pita bread with tahini sauce.
On Saturday mornings, the smell of frying oil and cumin makes you hungry before youโve even had your coffee. The falafel come out of the oil piping hot, their craggy crust crackling as you bite in and giving way to a soft green interior full of parsley and cilantro.
Tuck them into a warm pita with a spoonful of tahini sauce, a few crunchy vegetables and some nice sour pickles. The surprise comes with the first bite: so much lightness from chickpeas that have never seen a pot.
What Is Falafel?
Falafel is a fried ball of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and then blended raw with onion, garlic, flat-leaf parsley, fresh cilantro and spices. The mixture is deliberately kept grainy, a little coarser than hummus. It contains no flour or egg: the raw starch in the chickpeas binds it in the hot oil. The dish is entirely plant-based, so it belongs with the other legume recipes.
The word is Arabic, and its origin is still debated. One theory links it to the Coptic pha la phel, โwith many beans,โ another to ful, Arabic for fava bean. In Egypt, people generally say taโmeya, except in Alexandria, which has kept the name falafel.
From Egyptian Taโmeya to the Stalls of Jerusalem
Falafel started out in Egypt, as a patty made from dried split fava beans. One theory makes it a Lenten dish of the Coptic Christians, who went without meat during fasts, while another has it born in Alexandria at the end of the 19th century. After World War I, the recipe spread to the Levant: Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
In the Levant, chickpeas are more common than fava beans, so cooks made the switch. You can taste the difference: fava bean taโmeya is light and very green inside, while chickpea falafel has a nuttier flavor and a crunchier crust. Itโs this version that caught on in Europe and America.
In Jerusalemโs Old City, falafel is eaten for breakfast. Vendors fry it in the morning and sell it at their stalls, in paper bags filled according to how much you want to spend. At home, people like to make it on weekends, with chickpeas put to soak the night before.
The Main Ingredients in Falafel
Everything rests on 250 g of dried chickpeas. They soak overnight, doubling or tripling in volume, then go into the food processor raw. Cooked or canned chickpeas would give you a mixture that falls apart in the oil. If you can find dried split fava beans at a Middle Eastern grocery store, they can replace up to half the chickpeas.
The onion and garlic bring the flavor, and the flat-leaf parsley and fresh cilantro give the inside its green color. A red or green chile adds heat, but itโs optional. For spices, thereโs ground cumin (not to be confused with black cumin), ground coriander and salt. The baking powder goes in last, just before frying, to lighten the inside.
At the table, everyone fills their own pita with falafel, tahini sauce, assorted vegetables and pickles. Tahini sauce, made from a paste of sesame seeds, adds a creamy, slightly bitter note. The tang of the pickles cuts through the richness of the fried food.
Technique Tips for Successful Falafel
Stop the food processor before the mixture turns smooth. It should stay a little grainy, or the falafel will come out dense and heavy.
If you have a falafel scoop, drop the balls straight into the oil. If not, roll walnut-sized balls between your hands, then flatten them very slightly between your palms.
Heat 5 to 7 cm of oil to 180 ยฐC. Fry without crowding the wok, so the oil doesnโt cool down, for about 5 minutes, until deep golden brown.
Eat the falafel as soon as they come out of the oil, while the crust is still crackly. Without the baking powder, the mixture keeps for a few days in the fridge or a few months in the freezer: just add the baking powder when youโre ready to fry.
Ingredients
Soaking
- 250 g chickpeas dried
Falafel Mixture
- 1 onion
- 2 small garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro fresh, chopped
- 1 chili pepper red or green, optional
- 1 teaspoon cumin ground
- 1 teaspoon coriander ground
- 1 teaspoon salt
Frying and Serving
- Vegetable oil, 5 to 7 cm deep in the wok or frying pan
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Pita bread
- Tahini sauce
- Assorted vegetables
- Pickles
Instructions
Soaking
- The day before, put the dried chickpeas in a large mixing bowl and cover them with plenty of water: they will double or even triple in size.250 g chickpeas
- Let soak overnight.
- The next day, drain the soaked chickpeas without cooking them: they are blended raw. Cooked or canned chickpeas would make a mixture that falls apart in the oil.
Falafel Mixture
- Put the onion, garlic, parsley, fresh cilantro and chili pepper in the bowl of the food processor.1 onion, 2 small garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley,, 2 tablespoons cilantro, 1 chili pepper
- Process until everything is finely chopped.
- Add the drained chickpeas.
- Process again, stopping now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until everything forms a coarse paste.
- Stop before the mixture turns smooth: it should stay a little grainier than hummus, which is what keeps the falafel light and fluffy.
- Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
- Add the cumin, ground coriander and salt.1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon salt
- Mix until well combined.
- At this point, if you are not frying the falafel right away, the mixture will keep for a few days in the refrigerator or a few months in the freezer.
Frying and Serving
- Pour the oil into a large wok or a large frying pan.Vegetable oil,
- Heat it over medium-high heat until it reaches 180ยฐC.
- While the oil heats, sprinkle the baking powder over the mixture and mix well: the baking powder goes in only now, just before frying.1 teaspoon baking powder
- Using a falafel scoop, drop the balls one at a time into the hot oil, without overcrowding the pan, so the oil does not cool down.
- If you do not have a falafel scoop, roll the mixture between your hands into walnut-sized balls, then flatten them very slightly between your palms before lowering them into the oil.
- Fry for about 5 minutes, until the falafel are a deep golden brown.
- Remove them from the oil with a skimmer.
- Drain them on paper towels.
- Serve with the pita bread, tahini sauce, assorted vegetables and pickles.Pita bread, Tahini sauce, Assorted vegetables, Pickles
