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 flatbread. I sometimes turn them into burgers too. This middle-eastern recipe is definitely a treat.
I usually served these Crispy Falafel with some Tahini sauce, chilli, onion, tomatoes and cucumber. However, this time I did make some Tzatziki. Will post the recipe for that soon.
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 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’s forgot that’s it’s deep-fried and enjoy it.
After all I am sure it’s not made that often to feel guilty. I make falafels every few months and when I do I want to enjoy it.
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.
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
- 2 tbsp chickpea flour
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 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, chickpea flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Blitz, adding the water until it resembles a coarse paste like mixture
- Roll the mixture into small balls or whatever size you prefer
- 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
- 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
- If you are using a small pan to fry the falafels you may require less oil. Just ensure the falafels are covered with the oil when frying
