Falafel...made my way!!

Falafel...of course it is falafel and of course it needs to be deep fried…well, noooo!!!...not if you are obsessive over left over oil and end up frying more and more stuff just so that you can finish all that oil in the pan...and definitely not if you want a hassle free life…soooo, out came my non stick Paniyaram pan/ Appapatram / Dutch Poffertjes Pan/ Danish Æbleskive pan (yes, the same pan I had used for Daler Bora/Red Lentil Fritters)…the only thing you need to take care of is to cook at low flame...do I need to mention that this way uses much less oil?...about 3 tsp for the entire batch J

Falafel

Ingredients:

• Chickpeas, 1cup
• Onion, 1 medium
• Garlic, 2-3 cloves
• Parsley, finely chopped, ¼  cup ( you can use a mix of coriander and parsley or just coriander as well)
• Roasted cumin powder, ½ tsp (simply dry roast/toast the cumin seeds and grind them to use or skip and increase the quantity of regular cumin powder)
• Cumin powder, ½ tsp
• Coriander powder, ½ tsp (optional)
• Red chili powder, ¼ tsp (optional but gives a nice kick! I have added green chilies as well at times with the mix, but that’s just me J)
• Pepper powder, ¼ tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Lemon juice, 2 tbsp
• Olive oil, 1 tbsp
• Maida/ Regular Flour, 2 tbsp
• Oil, for frying

Instructions:

Wash and soak the chickpeas overnight/8-10 hours in cold water. They will double up in size as they soak, so ensure the bowl you use is big enough and there is ample water for soaking.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas well.  

Put the chickpeas into a food processor with the garlic and pulse till you get coarse bread crumbs consistency. Please be careful while doing this and don’t let the chickpeas form into a paste like consistency as then your falafel will have no texture.

And texture is the reason why I separately grate the onion (squeeze out the juice) and finely chop the parsley by hand instead of dumping everything together in the food processor.

Once done, mix everything together in a big mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate the mix for a couple of hours to let the flavors develop.

Heat the Paniyaram pan on low heat and add a spoonful of the paste into each indent.

Once the falafels start pulling away from the side, add a few drops of oil on the sides of each one. When one side is crisp golden brown and top is set, turn the other side and cook till the other side is also crisp brown

If you are deep frying these: with slightly wet hands, shape into balls in the size you prefer. Test one first to ensure that they don’t break apart. If they do, add a little more flour to the mix. Test again, if it still falls apart, you can add an egg. (see see see, told you my method was so much more hassle free  didn’t I !! J ). Fry on medium heat till golden brown on both sides.

Serve with Hummus and Tzatziki as a snack or stuff in pita pockets with add-ons of your choice

Hummus and Tzatziki recipes are already on the blog here: Hummus recipe  and Tzatziki recipe (I skipped on topping up the hummus with extra olive oil this time and we still loved it J )