Adapted from the serious eats recipe, which mostly means I added more herbs because I think their stuff is always low on seasoning.
A fryer is your friend here, it makes the actual cooking a breeze. Otherwise just do your best with a pot, a stove, and an instant read thermometer. You do want to use a lot of oil, enough to submerge the falafel; they’re meant to be deep fried.
One note on forming the falafel: I find that the best way to get them to be the round shape you want is to squeeze them, but that forces some of the water out, and if you just put them on a plate, they expand again and become dry and hard to handle. I really find the best thing to do is to form the balls and drop them directly into the fry basket or oil as you go. They’ll hold their shape much better. If you’re using a deep fryer, this is perfect, because you can make as make as can fit in your fry basket and then just drop them all in at once. And seriously, deep fryers are like thirty bucks at walmart. I kind of think it’s worth it.
Anyway.
Not much else to say. It’s falafel! It’s great.
Ingredients
1/2 pound dried chickpeas
1 ounce chopped fresh cilantro (about one cup)
1 ounce chopped fresh mint (about one cup)
1 ounce chopped fresh parsley (about one cup)
8 cloves garlic
6 scallions, white and light green parts only, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt
oil for frying
Directions
First, take the chickpeas and put them in a container. Add a generous amount of water, enough to allow the chickpeas to at least triple in volume. Cover and let stand overnight until they – believe it or not! – triple in volume. Drain and let dry.
Add the herbs and garlic to a food processor and grind them up; then add a handful of the remaining ingredients to the food processor at a time, pulsing each time until it’s ground up and sticks to the side of the bowl. Continue adding handfuls until everything is ground up and has the consistency of couscous. Cover the mixture and chill in the fridge for at least fifteen minutes.
Heat your oil to 375 and remove the mixture from the fridge. Take a heaping tablespoon and gently form it into a ball – don’t roll it like you’re making meatballs, it won’t hold together. Just kind of pat it gently and put each one aside.
Working in batches, add as many falafel to the oil as you can and fry for 5-7 minutes, or until cooked through. Set on paper towels to drain and enjoy!
eatbensmeat 