Unlike most of America's other favorite fast foods, falafel is rarely attempted at home, which is a shame, since it's very simple to do, and even a relative novice like me can get some very decent results. One word of warning: you do need to know you're going to have a craving for this a full day before you actually want to eat it.
Ingredients
- dry garbanzo beans: 1 cup
- yellow onion: 0.5 piece (diced)
- fresh flat-leaf parsley: 0.5 cup (chopped)
- garlic: 4 clove (minced)
- all-purpose flour: 1 Tbsp (or more if needed)
- lemon juice: 2 tsp
- ½ teaspoons salt: 1 piece (to taste)
- ground cumin: 1 tsp
- ground coriander: 0.5 tsp
- baking soda: 0.25 tsp
- cayenne pepper: 0.125 tsp
- oil for frying:
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
-
Place garbanzo beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 12 to 24 hours. Drain.
-
Blend garbanzo beans, onion, parsley, garlic, flour, lemon juice, salt, cumin, coriander, baking soda, and cayenne pepper together in a food processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until mixture is finely ground and holds together when pressed. Transfer garbanzo mixture to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until flavors blend, 1 to 2 hours.
-
Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
-
Divide dough into 12 portions and roll each with moistened hands into a ball.
-
Working in batches, cook falafel balls in hot oil until browned and crispy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to drain.
