Saturday, October 20, 2012

212. Felafels


I've been "taught" how to make felafels by an actual Egyptian (who call it ta'amiah), and the recipe ran something like this: drained cans of chickpeas, parsley, onion, potato, flour, and eggs. Add water if too thick. It turns out that five of the seven ingredients listed are a complete no-no for successful felafel making, and the addition of water being the fatal error.

But that's not all. I finally learnt the real proper method to make delicious crunchy felafels... by a Frenchman! Bernard, to be exact.
La Cuisine de Bernard almost feels like a treasure too good to share. His recipes are tried and tested to optimize success, and success it is.
Give credit where credit is due, I always say.
So, the secret is to soak dried chickpeas in cold water for 24 hours, then dry them really, really well.
Canned chickpeas? Failure. Water? Disaster. Flour? Eggs? Potato? Noooooo.



Ingredients:

2 cups dried chickpeas
6 cloves garlic
1/2 an onion
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup coriander, chopped
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, roasted
2 tsp powdered coriander
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

To serve, optional:
1 cup yogurt
2 Tbsp tahini

Left: dried chickpea. Right: a re-hydrated chickpea.
Dry the re-hydrated chickpeas well.

Form between 2 tablespoons then slide into hot oil.

Method:

Cover the chickpeas in cold water for 24 hours.
Drain, dry well using paper towels.
Place the chickpeas, parsley, coriander, onion, and garlic in a food processor.
Process until fine and homogeneous.
Transfer to a bowl and add the sesame, baking soda, cumin, coriander, chili, salt and pepper.
Mix well.
Form individual felafels by compressing the mixture between two tablespoons facing each other (bi-convex).
Slide the patty from the spoon directly into hot oil.
Fry until golden brown, flip and fry on other side.
Remove and let drain from excess oil on paper towel lined plate.
To serve, mix the yogurt and tahini and put in a small bowl.
Dip the felafels in the yogurt mixture and enjoy.



 صحة و عافية


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love this website!

Anonymous said...

Thank you do much Maryam the felafel came out petfect. I only made very few changes i omitted sesame seeds since i didn't have it on hand, i soaked the chickpeas for 21 hours and I cut down on the garlic by half. This is the real deal insanely delicious vegetarian burgers it can not get any better. Our neighbors from Lebanon and Palestine used to send us those as a friendly gesture but believe me this recipe is the real deal, very authentic. In the beginning I thought the falafel wasn't going to hold their shape and was tempted to add an egg as a binder but please don't do that. I found out very quickly that by dropping them with the spoon slowly in the hot oil they will hold their shape. I have a pic but don't know how to onload it here ? Thank you again Maryam. Sarah.

Anonymous said...

Ah i also made the yogurt and tahini mix very nice. Sarah

Maryam said...

That's fantastic, Sarah! As we Iraqis say (roughly translated): long live your hands! You simply must try it next time with sesame seeds, it makes it even better. Unfortunately you cannot upload pictures into the blog comments section, but I would be happy to receive them via email and post them on the blog. You can find my email address at the top right hand of the blog (as seen on web view, not mobile view).

Maryam said...

Yes, this express "tarator" sauce is the perfect dip for felafels.

Anonymous said...

I tried to find your email address with no luck I think I have to be a member of the website so I will sign up for it inshallah when I get time. Thank you Maryam. - Sarah

Maryam said...

No problem! It's maryamcw(at)yahoo(dot)com