Falafel

 

I love falafel.  They're like vegetarian meatballs made out of delicious chickpeas, which is one of my favorite foods in the world.  

I have been making these all the time lately.  I go through these major chickpea phases where I crave falafel, hummus, and pita like crazy.   

Let's get right to it!

Ingredients (3-4 servings):

½ medium onion, finely chopped

1 green onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed OR 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

½ tsp parsley (fresh is great too)

juice of half a lemon

a few dashes of water

 2-3 tbsp flour

(Turmeric might be the ingredient that's harder to find in basic grocery stores.  It's a bright yellow powder that I get at Indian grocery stores.  I've seen turmeric in spice aisles at non-specialized grocery stores too, but you might have to ask.)

First, food process or blend onion, green onion, and garlic until finely minced.  You can do this whole thing with a knife, but it saves a lot of time to use a processor.  I love my mini-prep :)  If you don't have one, ask for one for your birthday.  Do it.  Do it. 

 

Now, you add chickpeas.  I personally think it's better to use soaked, uncooked chickpeas because of the texture it gives.  On the other hand, if I use the canned kind, they're always there and require no prep.  Both are perfectly fine, but make sure that if you're using dried chickpeas, you give them a good overnight soak so they aren't still hard as pebbles when you go to process them.

Blend it until the mix is nice and smooth, then add your spices.  

Add water in small amounts until the whole batter is not clumpy.  It should be a smooth paste, not unlike hummus.  And you can totally eat a spoonful of falafel batter.  

Now, to kinda firm it up, add flour to the batter.  It should make it smoother and less sticky.

  

Heat up a skillet, add some oil, and saute dollops of falafel in the pan.  Squish it down gently to make it flat.  Fry for about 10 minutes on each side.  

OR!  You also omit the oil altogether and bake these in the oven at 425F for 20 minutes on one side, then 10-15 on the other.  They still taste pretty great that way, and it cuts out the calories.  It's up to you. 

When you're done, you get these beautiful little golden brown disks of goodness.  They're fantastic served with pita bread.

Hope you enjoy!

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For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.