Falafel

250g dried chickpeas
3-4tbsp bulghar wheat
1 large onion
5 garlic cloves
5tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
5tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
3tbsp ground cumin
1tbsp ground coriander
2tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
pinch of cayenne
Freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
3-4 tbsp gram flour
vegetable oil for deep frying

Soak the chickpeas for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Drain and rinse.
Put the chickpeas in a medium size pan and cover with about 1 litre of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 min, adding more water if required. Drain.
Grind the chickpeas in a food processor. Put the ground chickpeas into a bowl, and stir in the bulghar wheat.
Put the onion, garlic, parsley, fresh coriander, ground cumin, ground coriander, baking powder, salt and cayenne in the food processor and season with pepper. Process to form a spicy paste. Add this to the chick pea mixture in the bowl.
Add 100ml water and the egg to the bowl. Stir in the flour, adding a little more water if the mixture is too dry, or more flour if it is too wet. Using wet hands, shape the mixture into about 40 walnut sized patties.
Heat the oil in a deep fryer until it is hot enough to brown a cube of bread in 30 seconds. Add the falafel patties to the oil in batches and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

These were so good! They were right up there with the best falafel that I have had. The outside was perfectly crispy, and the insides were full of flavor. They had a beautiful texture, not just mushy in the middle, and they were not too dry. They were also pretty easy to make, as long as you are comfortable with deep frying.

I did like the recipe said and used dried chickpeas, which I soaked overnight and then boiled, but after I drained them I weighed them. The 250g of dried had become about 600g of prepared chickpeas. Next time I make this, I am going to see if I can get the same results with tinned ones. I think 2 tins would be just about right.

When it comes to the frying, do be careful because they can fall apart easily, both when you are putting them in, and when you are turning them over. You have to be pretty gentle. It’s also a good idea to do many small batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan. That’s true whenever you are deep frying, because it will cause the temperature of the oil to drop just enough to make the food taste overly greasy. It’s also important in this case because you have to be able to see each individual one so that you can turn them and remove them gently. My last batch got a bit lost in the fog of overcrowding and I wound up with a bunch of really tasty, but broken falafel-y chunks.

I served these with pitta bread, hummus, baba ganoush, olives and peppers. It was beautiful. I have been meaning to learn to make these for a while, and this recipe, from New Flavours of the Jewish Table.
did not disappoint. I will definitely make these again.