Falafel is a Mediterranean dish which is made primarily out of chickpeas (choley). Traditionally, Falafels are deep fried or baked balls or patties and have plenty of flavour and texture, thanks to the ingredients like garlic, cumin, onions, salt, chilli and of course chickpea. Falafels can be eaten as is with some good
In this Falafel recipe, contrary to what is done traditionally, I’ve just shallow pan fried the Falafel balls instead
Serves 2 people
Cooking time 20 minutes
Preparation time Soak chickpea overnight
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup cooked or boiled chickpea (
choley ) - 1 cup coriander leaves
- 1⁄3 cup wheat flour (gehu ka
aata ) - 1⁄2 cup chopped onions
- 5-7 garlic pods
- 1 tbsp olive oil for the falafel
mixture - 2-4 tbsp oil for frying (any oil of choice with a high smoke point)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp salt (or according to taste)
- 1⁄2 tsp red chilli powder and cumin seeds
- 1⁄4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
INSTRUCTIONS
- Soak the chickpeas overnight (around 12 hours) and then boil them in a pressure cooker with a little salt for 1 whistle on high flame and 5-6 whistles on low flame.
- Once the chickpeas are cooked, strain them and let them dry completely.
- In a blender or food processor, add cooked chickpeas, coriander (dhania) leaves, chopped onion, garlic, whole wheat flour, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, red chilli powder, crushed black pepper and blend until smooth.
- Put the mixture in a container, cover it and refrigerate the mixture for 1-2 hours or until it is chilled. This is done so the dough comes together. It is important that you cover the container properly before refrigerating so that the mixture doesn’t dry out.
- Take out from the refrigerator once chilled, scoop out the mixture with lightly oiled palms and make patties of your choice of thickness.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan on low to medium flame and shallow fry the patties on both side until golden brown and crisp.
