It’s been a while since I made Crispy Falafel, that’s because I forget to soak my chickpeas. Finally I remembered and I soaked my chickpeas for a whole day and a half. Chickpeas has to be soaked to get it beautifully soft. We love having them in pita bread or wraps. I sometimes turn them into burgers too. This middle-eastern recipe is definitely a treat.
I served my Crispy Falafel with some Tahini sauce, chilli, onion, tomatoes and cucumber. All tucked into fresh pita breads. It was absolutely heavenly. Although I don’t deep fry things often, these falafels have to be deep-fried for it to get that crisp outer coating. Cooking it any other way does dry it out. Trust me I have tried other methods and it just doesn’t work the same. So let us put our “issues” aside and enjoy them just for a moment.
If you use a “healthier” oil like avocado oil, the guilt will be less. I often use Avocado or Peanut oil when deep-frying stuff.
My pantry always has chickpea flour so I use it in my falafel mix. If you don’t have some you can use normal flour. I also love adding chilli to everything so I add a hint of chilli flakes to my mixture and garlic of course. I also added some freshly roasted and ground cumin and coriander.
Making falafels is not a huge mission, everything goes into the food processor and it’s done in a jiffy. Frying doesn’t take that long too.I rolled my falafel in some chickpea flour before frying them. I found that this just held everything together nicely. You don’t have to but I think it helps. These falafels are great in a wrap, in pita bread, in a salad or all on it’s own dipped in some Tahini Sauce.
More chickpea recipes to try:
Chickpea Butternut Curry with Coconut Milk
Crispy Falafel
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried chickpeas soaked for 12 hours or more
- 1&1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh coriander
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- 3 + 2 tbsp chickpea flour
- 2 large clove garlic
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp water
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
Tahini Sauce
- 2 tbsp tahini paste
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 2-3 tbsp water
- salt
Instructions
- Soak chickpeas for 12 hours or more. Drain, rinse and dry the chickpeas thoroughly
- Place all the ingredients, chickpeas, cumin, coriander, chilli flakes, fresh coriander, fresh parsley, onion, 3 tbsp chickpea flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Blitz, adding the water until it resembles a coarse mixture
- Place the mixture in a bowl and divide them into 15 equal sized balls. Place them on a plate lined with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes
- Roll the falafel balls in more chickpea flour, very lightly, before frying
- Heat 2 cups oil, on medium heat, and fry the falafel for about 2 minutes each side until golden brown
Tahini Sauce
- Place everything in a bowl and whisk. You can adjust the lemon juice, salt and water according to your preference. Should be a "drizzle" consistency
Notes
- After I removed my falafel from the fridge I rolled them lightly in more chickpea flour, it is not necessary but I did it just as an extra precaution
- You can use normal cake flour in place of the chickpea flour
- I do not use a thermometre to test my oil. I place a piece of mixture in the oil and if it bubbles and rises I know my oil is at the right temperature
