Falafel - A middle Eastern Chickpea fritter

 

                I was too busy these days that I hardly had time for blogging and other stuff. To be frank I had totally forgotten about blogging while I was busy with guests, parties and kids. Back in my home land, it was eventful with weddings, 'salkarams' and family gatherings. I was as much sad as was enthusiastic on hearing the 'visheshams' about the weddings parties of the cousins, which I missed so pathetically. After all, that is what living abroad is all about, right? Missing most of the happenings in home land. Sigh!!

               So back to blogging, I thought of sharing the recipe of Falafel, which I made some time back and was sitting in my draft for ages. It is a popular street snack in the Middle East. Just like 'parippuvadas' for us Keralites ;) It is eaten as such or kept inside a sandwich and eaten with tahini or sesame paste. I make it here as a tea time snack...Crispy n rich in flavour,it's healthy compared to other finger foods like french fries.

Here is the recipe...


Things you need:

1 cup dried chick peas
1 large onion,chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup coriander leaves/cilantro, chopped
1 tsp mint leaves, chopped
1 tsp coriander pdr(malli podi)
1 tsp powdered cumin (jeeraka podi)
1/4 tsp cardamom pdr
2 tbsp flour
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method:

•  Wash chickpeas, put them in a large bowl and top the bowl with cold water to cover them by 3-4 inches. Let them soak overnight and then drain them completely in a colander.
• Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor. Process until you get grainy mixture, that resembles breadcrumbs. Tip the minced chickpeas into a bowl. Keep it aside.
• Add roughly chopped onions, chopped herbs, chillies, spices and garlic into the food processor again and pulse until coarse. Add minced chickpeas into this and pulse until well combined. Mixture should not be fine, but grainy as couscous.
• Tip the whole mixture into a large bowl. Sprinkle in adequate salt. Mix well using a spoon until thoroughly combined. 
•  Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts or patties or use a falafel scoop to form shapes. I formed balls with 2 tablespoon of mixture.
• Heat 2 inches of oil in a deep pan or wok and fry 1 ball to test. It must float to the surface as soon as you put it in the hot oil.Oil should not be too hot so that you get felafels that are cooked only outside leaving the inside uncooked. Keep the heat to medium and fry the balls until they are almost brown. Drain on paper towels.