Falafel Recipe!

Falafel is a middle-eastern fast-food recipe made from chickpea. herbs and spices. It is usually served with tahini sauce(made from sesame seeds). It is a very healthy recipe that can be prepared in three ways. Usually, it is deep-fried. But you can also pan-fry or bake it. The taste will be the same as it is made from the same mixture but the texture varies a little bit. I prefer baked falafel over a deep-fried/pan-fried version. There are a few tips and tricks to get a good falafel recipe. In a traditional recipe, for herbs, both parsley and cilantro are used in equal proportions. Since I am not a big fan of parsley, I replaced them with cilantro.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas - 1 cup

Onion - 1 medium-sized

Garlic - 3 cloves

Cilantro - 1 bunch

Green chilies - 4 small

Red chili powder - 1 tsp

Black pepper powder - 2tsp

Coriander powder -1 tsp

Cumin powder -1 tsp

Salt -as needed

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Chickpea flour/ Besan Flour - 2 tbsp

Steps:

1. Soak dry chickpeas for 8 to 10 hrs or overnight. Drain the water and add it to a food processor or mixture. Add some salt and grind it in pulse mode. Add cilantro, onion, green chilies, garlic, and grind it. Do not grind it to a smooth paste.

2. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add chickpea flour, spices and mix it well. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes.

3. Add baking soda to the mixture and form patties. In a baking tray, spray some oil and place the patties. Spray some oil on the top of the patties as well. Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Place the tray in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the patties and spray some more oil.

Serve it hot with some tahini sauce or sauce of your choice. Enjoy!

Tips:

1. Use only dry chickpeas for this recipe. Do not use canned chickpeas as they have more moisture.

2. Use both parsley and cilantro for authentic taste.

3. If you want to use cayenne pepper instead of red chili powder, feel free to use it.

4. If the mixture has moisture, increase the chickpea flour quantity.

5. If you are deep-frying it, do not fry in very hot oil. Fry in medium-hot oil. You can also pan-fry with little oil.

Falafel should be crispy, brown on the outside, and green, fluffy on the inside.