Fun with falfels

I made falafels for the first time a few weeks ago, and it wasn't a bad experiment. I didn't expect them to be quite as good as what you can get from a restaurant or mid-east food shop, simply by virtue of the fact that those falafels are always deep fried and thereby inherently crispy and tasty. I have never deep fried anything in my life and don't intend to start now, so my falafels would be slighlty less crisp, but hopefully just as yummy -- or better.

I found a recipe online that looked approachable, and gave it a go. The ingredients are pretty standard: chick peas and a bit of spices for flavour. Easy peasy. (get it?)

Here's the mix prior to being "patty-fied". I think I would have had better luck with full-sized food processor at my disposal. My mini one got quite a workout with this batch and its wee motor was near to smoking. If this batch looks dry, it was. I probably would have achieved a finer mash in a larger machine, and that likely would have kept the mix together better.

Here they are cooking away. Let me warn you that these little patties are like sponges for the oil. I was quite mean with the fat I put in the pan, and it was gone within seconds. It's very tempting to keep adding more, but I left it as is. Again, more oil likely would have resulted in crispier patties, but I opted for health over crunch this time around.

And here's the finished result, nestled in a pita, topped with some cumin yoghurt and a few cucumber slices. These falafels came together quite quickly and made a really tasty lunch. I won't pretend that my patties stayed together, or were at all crunchy, but they were good. This recipe yields a generous amount, and the falafels themselves are nicely spiced and full of flavour. They were best warm, drizzled with tart yoghurt, but they also weren't too bad cold either when I had the leftovers in a salad the next day.

Next time I might opt for a tablespoon or two of tahini in the mix to see if that keeps the patties together better. I read several recipes that called for this, but I didn't have any on hand, and therefore didn't use. It probably what makes for a more moist falafel that doesn't fall apart.

Falafel
Recipe from Nigel Slater

for 2
2 x 400g tins chickpeas (*I used cooked from dry peas, likely 1 1/2 cups)
6 plump cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsps ground coriander
2 tsps ground cumin
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsps plain flour
1 tbsp chopped parsley
groundnut oil for deep-frying

These fluffy chickpea fritters from Israel are, to my mind, the finest street food of all. They are easy enough to make at home, either in the traditional manner, as deep-fried, slightly flattened balls, or as little flat patties cooked in shallow fat.

Drain, rinse and dry the chickpeas. Blend in a food processor with the garlic, spices and onion till smooth. Scoop into a bowl and stir in the flour and the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir the mixture thoroughly - it should be thick enough to roll into balls. With floured hands, roll the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of golf balls, maybe a little smaller. Deep-fry the balls in 10cm inches hot fat. Alternatively, flatten them into patties and shallow-fry them for 2 minutes on each side, till crisp.

Serve them hot, stuffed into warm pitta bread. Traditionally, a cucumber and tomato salad would be stuffed in there too. Although tahine is one of the traditional lubricants for these crisp fritters, I much prefer yoghurt. Particularly when it has had a little cayenne pepper and some chopped mint stirred into it and is spooned over the falafel as you eat.