The recipe that we use at Le Pichet and Cafe Presse for falafel owes a lot to Claudia Rodin’s seminal cookbook, A Book of Middle Eastern Food.
This recipe will make enough to feed 8 people generously.
Falafel
Ingredients
- 1lb dried chickpeas
- 8 cloves garlic (fat and firm)
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 8 teaspoons ground corriander
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Preparation
| 1. | Soak the chickpeas overnight in 3 times their volume of cold water. |
| 2. | Peel the onion and roughly chop. Peel the garlic and remove the germ. Stem and roughly chop the parsley. Drain the chickpeas. |
| 3. | In the food processor, process in batches the chickpeas, onions, garlic, and parsley until a fine puree. Each batch should contain a mix of all these ingredients. Turn each batch into the bowl of a mixer. |
| 4. | Add the ground spices and baking powder and the salt. Mix with the paddle attachement for 4 minutes. |
| 5. | Heat peanut or other vegetable cooking oil to 350 degrees. Form the falafel into small balls about 1″ in diameter. Fry until crispy and dark golden on the outside and hot all the way through to the middle. Check the seasoning and add more salt the the falafel if necessary. |