F is for Falafel

F is for Falafel! I've been to Israel 3 times - 2016, 2018, and 2020. The first time I went I didn't even try Falafel. On the second and third trips I ate it as often as I could! There is something magical about Falafel hot out of the grease! On this last trip, I had the best Falafel of all! It literally came straight out of the grease into our mouths.

In Israel, when you order a falafel sandwich, it looks something like the picture below. I borrowed this picture from the internet. The sandwich is served in a pita/flat bread with salad, tahini, and pickles. Sometimes there are other pickled vegetables alongside - on our first trip, they served purple pickled cauliflower as a side! (I didn't try it!!)

I've mentioned this in several other blog posts, but we flew home from Tel Aviv and arrived back in the USA on February 14, 2020. We were home just a few short weeks before the world closed down due to Covid-19. I began ordering my groceries online via Shipt and stayed home (and tipped Shipt shoppers well!). Do y'all remember how we couldn't find toilet paper and paper towels and Clorox wipes? Well, I decided I wanted to make homemade Falafel since we weren't going anywhere and there was evidently a shortage of canned Chick Peas because there were none available!! I had to go totally from scratch.

When the Shipt shopper couldn't find canned chickpeas, she texted a picture of dried chickpeas and said, "will these work?" 

I had to soak them and cook them before I could blend them into the much anticipated Falafel. These are so good made at home - even in the air fryer!! I should make them sometime for our supper club (when we start getting back together) and ask Mark to deep fry them in his fish fryer. For our first round of Falafel, I also couldn't find tahini. A Falafel sandwich needs tahini!

Falafel

First of all - do not wait until you are ready to eat to start preparing these. "Batter" has to sit in fridge for a couple of hours before you cook.

2 cups cooked chickpeas or you can probably substitute one can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 small onion, chopped

1 cube of frozen garlic (or 1 garlic clove minced)

1/3 cup roughly chopped parsley

1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro (I had no idea that cilantro was in Falafel until I started searching for recipes! If you are one of those people who hates cilantro, you can't "taste" it like in salsa - it just makes the Falafel more flavorful)

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 tablespoons all purpose flour, plus more if dough is too sticky (I use White Lily)

Pam spray (or whatever brand you have on hand)

These are great toppings if you want to include on your grocery list:

hummus, diced fresh tomatoes, diced cucumber, some people like chopped onion (I don't do raw onions well - they give me a massive headache!!), pita bread, tahini, lemon juice

After draining the chickpeas, put them on a paper towel and roll them around a little to absorb any excess water.

Put onions and garlic in the bowl of a food processor (use the blade in the bottom). Add parsley, cilantro, cumin, salt, and red pepper flakes. (don't add the chickpeas yet)

Process until blended (takes about 45 seconds). NOW add the chickpeas and use the pulse button 2 or 3 times until just blended, but not pureed.

Add the baking powder and the flour and before pulsing again, use a spatula and scrape the sides of the food processor bowl. Pulse 2 to 3 times.

You can leave your mixture in the food processor bowl and remove and cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours OR you can scrape mixture into a regular bowl, cover, and refrigerate (depends on how many dishes you want to wash).

After mixture is thoroughly chilled, shape the falafel mixture into 12 balls. If mixture is too sticky, you can add a tiny bit more flour, add flour to your hands, and flour to your work surface. One or all should help.

Preheat the air fryer to 350F. 

Place Falafel in air fryer and spray each one with pam (or other oil). Leave space between each ball. Cook 14 minutes until golden brown. Turn about halfway through and spray again with Pam and continue cooking.

Serve with toppings and enjoy.

When they are deep fried, they

are crustier on the outside but

the flavor of these was still

good . . and a lot less

fattening.

If you have read this recipe and think "no way am I going to do all of that" I understand. It is worth it to me but sometimes we all need a shortcut. Trader Joe's has a frozen falafel product that is good.

We also tried the Knorr mix. I'll rate these three.

1. Homemade was the best

2. Trader Joe's frozen Falafel is next

3. Knorr was driest. 

Have you eaten Falafel? Do you like Middle Eastern food? What labor intensive recipe do you make from scratch?