Fresh Herb Falafel


Lately, I've not been scared of deep frying and so I've been bookmarking recipes that require deep frying without hesitation. I'd never made falafel before, although I love eating them, so this seemed like an opportune time to try them out. The recipe seemed simple enough and since I try and get at least one vegetarian meal in my weekly menu, this fit right in, especially when served with a big salad. You get the protein from the beans, and there's lots of greens and not too much oil. When I measured my oil after deep frying, it seemed like I only used 4 tbsp altogether, which honestly isn't a lot.


These are very fresh tasting falafels from the huge amount of herbs used. The crust with the sesame seeds popping between each bite make is a nice counterpoint to the almost creamy and tender insides. These would work well in a wrap with salad veggies and a thick yogurt sauce or as a side/topper to a salad. I made a quick yogurt-tahini sauce with some dill, garlic and lemon juice all blended together. The sauce worked well even as a salad dressing.


Recipe adapted from Rose Water & Orange Blossom, Maureen Abood
Makes about 30 small falafel

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry chickpeas
1/2 cup dry fava beans (peeled or unpeeled)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 bunch parsley, leaves and tender stems picked
1/2 bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems picked
1 small red onion, peeled and quartered
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp ground cumin, heaping (optional, but highly recommended)
3 cups oil for frying


Instructions:
Soak the chickpeas and fava beans in plenty of water overnight. If the fava beans are with peel, then you can take off the peel after an overnight soak, no biggie. Use your nails to pinch in the peel gap where it's wrinkly and pull it off. It's pretty easy. Drain the chickpeas ad fava beans. In a food processor, process the beans with the salt till they look like breadcrumbs. Add the parsley, cilantro, onion, garlic, cayenne & sesame seeds (and the optional cumin) and process till it forms into a cohesive green mix. It won't be super smooth but it won't be coarse either. The crumbs will be around the size of sesame seeds. Once done, take the mix out in a bowl ad refrigerate for 30 minutes. in the meantime, heat oil in a saucepan (I used 2 quarts) to 375 F. Using two tea spoons, form oblong falafel patties and drop them in the oil. I did them 5 at a time. Let them fry undisturbed for a little bit (to keep the integrity of the patty till they harden) and then using a spider spoon, turn them over to fry evenly on both sides. You might need to turn them a few times to make sure they're frying evenly. Once a nice golden brown all over, drain on a paper towel lined plates. Mine took about 2 minutes for each batch. Serve hot with some yogurt or tahini sauce. I served mine with a mediterranean salad.


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