It's truly a Mediterranean delight for us vegetarian food lovers.
During my UAE stay I used to relish Falafel whenever we used to dine out with family. It was indeed a treat to have freshly fried Falafel in front of you and served hot with warm freshly tandoored pita bread, hummus, tahini, and some other Mediterranean dips. Believe me that taste still haunts my taste buds.
INGREDIENTS
To make falafel balls
3 cups chickpeas ( 2 cups for falafel and 1 cup for hummus dip )
1 bunch fresh parsley
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2/3 cloves garlic
3 green chilli
1 lemon juice
olive oil
paprika OR sumac spice
salt
To make hummus dip
1 cup pressure cooked chickpeas
tahini paste ( sesame seeds and olive oil paste )
salt
paprika OR sumac spice
- BLEND ALL INTO A FINE SMOOTH PASTE.
PROCEDURE
1) This process requires some pre- prepping. Soak 3 cups of chickpeas / chole overnight in sufficient water and add salt. Next morning drain the water and wash the chickpeas. Remove 1 cup of chickpeas aside to pressure cook it for making hummus.
2) Wash and clean fresh parsley thoroughly under tap water.
3) The mix to make falafel is coarse in texture so choose the " S " blade in whatever blender OR food processor you are using which will give the desired coarse texture. Add into the blender OR food processor pre soaked chickpeas, garlic cloves, green chilli, lemon juice, sesame seeds OR tahini paste, salt and blend into a coarse texture.
TIP : I like to add sesame seeds instead of tahini paste to control the oil part as sesame seeds also ooze oil.
TIP : I like to add sesame seeds instead of tahini paste to control the oil part as sesame seeds also ooze oil.
4) Add olive oil or water or partly both with spoon if you feel the consistency is dry enough. The mixture should form balls when you form it in hands.
The basic nature of Chickpeas is dry texture so add water with spoon as required and just 1 teaspoon of olive oil as I load my share of olive oil over the hummus dip to give it a silky smooth texture. Trust me, the more the olive oil over the hummus dip the more fantastic it tastes.
5) Heat oil for frying the falafel balls. I prefer peanut oil for frying always. Check by dropping little mix into the hot oil, it should immediately spring up as put in hot oil, if it does then the oil is hot enough to start frying.
Form small balls of falafel mixture and deep fry them on all sides into a golden brown color. Remove the balls into paper towels to drain excess oil.
Plating accompaniments
Today we decided just to make Falafel, hummus with olive oil and paprika sprinkling fresh green onions over it. Believe me, I always get super full just with half pita bread filled with Falafel, hummus and salad so omitted pita bread this time to enjoy just the Falafel to its fullest. The silky soft olive oil and paprika spiced hummus makes a perfect blend with the crunchy and crispy texture of the deep fried Falafel balls.
HAPPY FIESTA !!!
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