CHICKPEA FALAFEL
- 2 cups dry chickpeas (you must start with dry, do NOT substitute canned, they will not work!)
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 3 – 5 cloves garlic
- 1 ½ tablespoon flour or chickpea flour
- 1 ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- pinch of ground cardamom
- vegetable oil for frying
Pour the chickpeas into a large bowl and cover them with cold water. Let them soak overnight.
Drain and rinse well. Pour them into your food processor along with the chopped onion, garlic cloves, parsley, flour or chickpea flour (use chickpea flour to make gluten free), salt, cumin, ground coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cardamom.
Pulse all ingredients together until a rough, coarse meal forms. Scrape the sides of the processor periodically and push the mixture down the sides. Process till the mixture is somewhere between the texture of couscous and a paste. You want the mixture to hold together, and a more paste-like consistency will help with that, but don’t overprocess, you don’t want it turning into hummus!
Once the mixture reaches the desired consistency, pour it out into a bowl and use a fork to stir; this will make the texture more even throughout. Remove any large chickpea chunks that the processor missed.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 – 2 hours.
Form into balls and shallow fry in medium oil, drain on paper towel and serve!
Notes:
I added fresh coriander leaves and one grated carrot and omitted the flour.
They were fine and never fell apart.
Notes from the original recipe:
If the balls won’t hold together, place the mixture back in the processor again and continue processing to make it more paste-like. Keep in mind that the balls will be delicate at first; if you can get them into the hot oil, they will bind together and stick. If they still won’t hold together, you can try adding 2 – 3 tablespoons of flour or chickpea flour to the mixture. If they still won’t hold, add 1 – 2 eggs to the mix. This should fix any issues you are having.
Photo: Lesdee Gloak Bam
