advertisement


How to make decent falafel

avole

The wise never post on Internet forums
One of the few dishes as popular with meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans, falafel tends to be something you buy rather than make, even though the ingredients are common. The problem is not that it requires exotica, but that, unless you use raw chickpeas to startwith, you are lost. And that, unfortunately, is the difficult bit.

Now you can find recipes in lots of books, but, judging from a cursory look at my sister's cookery books, few if any bite the the bullet. Put simply, any recipe that asks you to add flour, cook the chickpeas first, use tins of same or add any binding agent deserves the worst possible punishment: to be hidden behind books detailing the wit and wisdom of BJ or (shudder) DT. The secret is simple enough, the process is the difficult bit.

  1. Start with whole dried chickpeas. They should be soaked in water overnight, and you should change the water once or twice if possible
  2. Drain the chickpeas, and put them in a sieve or similar so they dry off for a while. you shouldn't see any drips if you shake them around a bit
  3. This is the important bit ! Put them in your best blender and grind them, little by little, into the smallest particles you possibly can. If your blender produces lumpy grinds, pat it politely on the head and demote it to things it can handle, like sitting quietly in the back of a cupboard. Seriously, you want a paste with a little texture, not lumpy bits which will disintegrate the moment you put them in the hot oil
  4. Add whatever spices and herbs you want, but nothing that will add water to a mix which already has enough. I tend to add parsley or coriander leaves, dried red pepper or chillies and salt, but that changes according to what sauce I'll use. Garlic, yes, onion, but not too much, and hand chopped small, not the semi-liquid blenders can produce with onions. Mix thoroughly
  5. Chuck on those non-latex sterile gloves COVID-19 has forced on many of us. I'd say make sure they're skin-tight, but I haven't found any that aren't, and I don't have large hands. I say gloves not for hygiene's sake, but because they make smoother, non-sticky falafels than you can otherwise
  6. Make the falafel, about 3 cms or so in diameter. I use a heaped dessert spoon of the mix, but, to be honest, you soon end up digging out roughly the right amound with fingers alone. You should squeeze the mix hard, and, if you want to mix it with the pros, gently roll the mix into smooth round balls of paste. That's easier said than done, by the way, and the first few tend to turn into rugby balls before they collapse in your hand
  7. Leave the apprentice falafel balls for 15-30 minutes. Not sure if this does much, by the way, buy my theory is they dry a bit on the outside so are less likely to disintegrate in the boiling oil
  8. Cook in hot oil. This should cover each falafel
  9. Stand back and feel really chuffed when you see your beloved balls are not only in one piece, but they don't look like splitting and spattering all over the pan, not to mention the kitchen floor
Like all these things, it sounds harder than it is, and the secret really is in that good blender.

Oh, there's a caveat. Don't try them, whatever you do. Sure way your partners will have falafel free zones on their plates, because you've eaten the lot :)
 
I've had three goes and not come close to matching what one buys in restaurants and posh food vans. Either bullets or fragile overly light affairs owing to too much bicarb.

Do post a recipe if you crack it.

Good luck.
 
One of the few dishes as popular with meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans, falafel tends to be something you buy rather than make, even though the ingredients are common. The problem is not that it requires exotica, but that, unless you use raw chickpeas to startwith, you are lost. And that, unfortunately, is the difficult bit.

Now you can find recipes in lots of books, but, judging from a cursory look at my sister's cookery books, few if any bite the the bullet. Put simply, any recipe that asks you to add flour, cook the chickpeas first, use tins of same or add any binding agent deserves the worst possible punishment: to be hidden behind books detailing the wit and wisdom of BJ or (shudder) DT. The secret is simple enough, the process is the difficult bit.

  1. Start with whole dried chickpeas. They should be soaked in water overnight, and you should change the water once or twice if possible
  2. Drain the chickpeas, and put them in a sieve or similar so they dry off for a while. you shouldn't see any drips if you shake them around a bit
  3. This is the important bit ! Put them in your best blender and grind them, little by little, into the smallest particles you possibly can. If your blender produces lumpy grinds, pat it politely on the head and demote it to things it can handle, like sitting quietly in the back of a cupboard. Seriously, you want a paste with a little texture, not lumpy bits which will disintegrate the moment you put them in the hot oil
  4. Add whatever spices and herbs you want, but nothing that will add water to a mix which already has enough. I tend to add parsley or coriander leaves, dried red pepper or chillies and salt, but that changes according to what sauce I'll use. Garlic, yes, onion, but not too much, and hand chopped small, not the semi-liquid blenders can produce with onions. Mix thoroughly
  5. Chuck on those non-latex sterile gloves COVID-19 has forced on many of us. I'd say make sure they're skin-tight, but I haven't found any that aren't, and I don't have large hands. I say gloves not for hygiene's sake, but because they make smoother, non-sticky falafels than you can otherwise
  6. Make the falafel, about 3 cms or so in diameter. I use a heaped dessert spoon of the mix, but, to be honest, you soon end up digging out roughly the right amound with fingers alone. You should squeeze the mix hard, and, if you want to mix it with the pros, gently roll the mix into smooth round balls of paste. That's easier said than done, by the way, and the first few tend to turn into rugby balls before they collapse in your hand
  7. Leave the apprentice falafel balls for 15-30 minutes. Not sure if this does much, by the way, buy my theory is they dry a bit on the outside so are less likely to disintegrate in the boiling oil
  8. Cook in hot oil. This should cover each falafel
  9. Stand back and feel really chuffed when you see your beloved balls are not only in one piece, but they don't look like splitting and spattering all over the pan, not to mention the kitchen floor
Like all these things, it sounds harder than it is, and the secret really is in that good blender.

Oh, there's a caveat. Don't try them, whatever you do. Sure way your partners will have falafel free zones on their plates, because you've eaten the lot :)

I’ve been thinking about making falafel a lot recently and you’ve just pushed me over the top.
 
we make them regularly from both dried and jarred chickpeas, with no discernible difference in taste and minor differences in texture. I dont use a blender. we break up the chickpeas in a mortar a pestle and push the resulting paste through a drum sieve to achieve a smooth paste. we do add garlic and sometimes onion.

this recipe and the instructions from my almost 1st (Israeli) FiL direct my efforts.

https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/falafel/

the Egyptian version with fava beans is tastier
 
the Egyptian version with fava beans is tastier

Only if you are American.
Fava beans are a group of different cultivars, the one common in the UK being broad beans, which is what I beleive are the commonest bean used in Egypt/Middle East. Americans call various things, including broad beans, fava beans, which is not incorrect.

You obviously have to start with mature, dry beans, not the usual unripe, green broad beans that we commonly eat here in the UK. Certainly going to be way stronger taste than chickpeas.

Yet another Americaism creeping in to replace perfectly good centuries-old Englaish names for things, not least foods.

Sea bass, romaine, beets............................
 
Yet another Americaism creeping in to replace perfectly good centuries-old Englaish names for things, not least foods.

does it matter? The empire vanished a long time ago..........

In all my time in Egypt the surrounding countries, i have only ever heard them referred to as fava beans.
 
In all my time in Egypt the surrounding countries, i have only ever heard them referred to as fava beans.

That is because the world learns American English, not English English - very simple really.

Do you eat egg plant or zucchini? Rutabaga? Do you drink beer, ale or lager (subtly different meanings in the US). Split pin or cotter pin?

Al very well until Americanisms get adopted that actually have totally different meaning in English English, if the morons using the words did but know.
 
Actually, Fava is derived from the Latin Faba. My understanding is that in general use today in the UK, Broad Bean refers to the fresh bean, and Fava the dried.

Anyway this anodyne pendantry has ruined an interesting cooking thread.......
 
You are right on several counts, Vinny. Falafel is primarily an Israeli name, although the dish itself isn't uncommon elsewhere. I'm intending to try the fava/broad beans, but am still delighted I finally got the falafels right in texture and taste.

I eat aubergines in France and egg plants in Australia, courgettes here and zucchini in Oz, which is the same plant there as here. Not sure it really matters, though, to be honest.
 
Not sure it really matters, though, to be honest.

Just eating away at perfectly good English English. American and Oz English are English plus loads of, mainly, E European words. As I said, perfectly harmless until people adopt American names for things that actually mean something entirely different in English English, if they did but know.

Not food related but Excalfactoria/Coturnix chinensis has been known as CPQ in English English since for ever. Known as button-quail in the US, and increasingly so in the UK it seems. The hassle there is that button-quail, in English English are hemipodes - members of the order Charadriformes. As I said above - what about split and cotter pins?

Why do we call bass, sea bass now? Becuse the US has freshwater species that they call bass - we have only ever had sea-water bass and they have been called bass since for ever.
 
I've had three goes and not come close to matching what one buys in restaurants and posh food vans. Either bullets or fragile overly light affairs owing to too much bicarb.

Do post a recipe if you crack it.

Good luck.
This is/was my experience. The point is that, to a large extent, a fixed recipe isn't necessary, falafel will never taste right until the texture is correct. Mine do, and I could post a recipe, but why bother? Haute cuisine wants fixed recipes and tastes, but street food, which is what falafel essentially is, allows a range of tasted. That doesn't necessarily mean totally different, but the falafel I make, for example can be snack or in curry or tomato sauces. The curry will have some curry powder in, but not enough to swamp the taste, whilst if I make a pasta dish with falafel as the non-meat balls I keep the ingredients down to the basics.

Despite what others have said, chick peas do have a distinctive taste, and not necessarily a subtle one. Tinned chick peas have vague memories of the right taste, but you can't use them to make falafel without adding heaps of flour, and the texture is near going to be close. As to bicarbonate, omit, it is as simple as that. If you do use bicarb, only invite your worst enemies or DT for a meal.
 
Correct, but why is fava bean used in the UK today? Because it has been adopted from American English, beacuse we have no tradition of eating mature, dry broad beans.
Its popularity increased enormously when an exotic chef mentioned that fava beans go well with liver and a nice Chianti.
 
Haute cuisine wants fixed recipes and tastes

It doesn't though, there is a base, and the chef will continue to taste and alter until the desired output is achieved.

Tinned chick peas have vague memories of the right taste, but you can't use them to make falafel

actually you can. We do with both tinned and dried depending on the time available, little or no additional flour and no discernable difference in taste or texture.

oh and get a falafel scoop, it makes life much easier...

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=171524623589

have you ever tried mixing a few whole chickpeas into the paste? Adds a delicious textural sensation
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Wrong about the haute cuisine, at least here in France. A good example is Boeuf Bourgogne, whose taste should always be the same - my profs argument was that, since people order that expecting it to have certain ingredients and taste, then cooks should not add or change anything. If they do, diners can and do complain, which means endless meetings for kitchen staff to ensure it never happens again.

Surprised about the tinned chickpeas - they always seemed cooked and mushy to me, but that's here in my local B1en, with home brand Auchan products, so will try again. Oddly enough, I have a tin that was intended for dhall ....
 
Surprised about the tinned chickpeas - they always seemed cooked and mushy to me, but that's here in my local B1en

interestingly we found the cheaper the tin of chickpeas the drier they were..... we bought some real cheapy tins in the first lockdown from a local shop (IIRC 49p for 400g TRS brand) and they were very dry and not at all soft - I should add they kind of had a grey tinge that wasnt very appetising to look at

higher quality jarred Spanish Garbanzos are softer and more creamy

https://brindisa.com/products/garba...9Wow_wrddjwPFu9ynY3jozYJCOORlUrBoCy1kQAvD_BwE
 


advertisement


Back
Top