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1 lb (450gr) of DRY chickpeas
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley if enough however if you love parsley as much as we do you can use a whole bunch.
1 small onion, roughly chopped
5 or so cloves of garlic, you can use fresh garlic or roasted....we love raw!
2 tbsp flour or chickpea flour (chickpea is gluten free)
2 tbs of mustard, we like using salt + MUSTARD sesame mustard or sweet-hot mustard for a little kick and more texture.
2 tsp of sea salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3-5 drops of sesame oil
1 tsp baking powder, this can be skipped but it does make the falafal more fluffy.
1/4 cup sesame seeds
Oil for frying - grapeseed is our favourite.
Pour the chickpeas into a large bowl and cover them by about 3 inches of cold water. Cover the bowl and let them soak overnight in a cool place. Soak for 12 hours and up to 24 until tender. This will produce 4-5 cups of beans.
Drain the chick peas and give them a rinse. Pour them into a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients. You don't want to over load your processor so do it in batches.
Pulse ingredients together until a rough, coarse crumb forms. Scrape sides once in a while to push the mixture down. You are looking for a coarse texture. Too coarse it won't hold together too smooth you will end up with hummus!
Once the mixture reaches the desired consistency, pour it out into a bowl and make sure it's evenly mixed up to assure that the mixture is even throughout. If there are whole chickpeas left mash them up with a fork.
Cover the bowl with saran and refrigerate for 1-2 hours, to let all the ingredients get to know each other.
Fill a skillet with grapeseed oil it has a high smoke temp so it's perfect for frying...approximetly 1.5 inches. A good way to tell if your oil is the right temp is to stick a back of a chopstick or wooden spoon handle into the pan touching the skillet. There is a tiny bit of moisture in the wood and it will very slightly bubble up. Heat the oil slowly over medium heat. The ideal temperature to fry falafel is between 360 and 375 degrees F.
Take your flafel mixture and form small 1 inch balls or use a small ice cream scoop....you can form balls or little patties. They will maybe feel slightly loose but as soon as they hit the hot oil they will bind together, you can also add a little bit more chickpea flour for better if need be.
We like to fry a test falafel in the center of the pan to make sure we got the right temp. If the oil is at perfect temp they should take about 2-3 mins per side to brown up. If they get very brown very fast your oil is definetly too hot, turn it down a bit, wait until is cools slightly and do another tester.
Take them out with a flat bottom skimmer and let them drain on paper towels. Best served hot with hummus or tzatziki alone or in a pita with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion.
Enjoy this healthy, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and most importantly delicious meal. happy eating!
