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2009-04-23

Rockin' Recipe: Falafel

Rockin' Recipes
Image by brighterworlds

Be still my heart.

Falafel makes me smile. Laugh. Sing. Dance.

It is hands down my favorite food. Well, right up there with Thai food. And my mom's lasagna recipe. And the perfect Southern macaroni and cheese.

What can I say? I do love to eat.

Are you feeling the need for some culture? How about a little Mediterranean food? Why don't we hop on over to Israel and get us some yummy, nummy falafel? (Oh, my mouth is watering!)

The Stuff You'll Need:

2 cups dried chickpeas
1 large onion
1 bunch parsley
4 cloves of garlic
1 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
½ t. cayenne pepper
1 t. baking powder
½-¾ c. flour

How to Make 'Em:

Soak your chickpeas overnight. The next morning, drain chickpeas. In a food processor, combine ¼ of all ingredients at a time and pulse till you get a coarse paste. Add enough flour to hold the mixture together. You should be able to form a ball in your hand with the paste. Repeat till all of your ingredients have been made into a paste and combine in a large bowl.

Cover and refrigerate for several hours.

Heat oil in skillet or deep fryer. (I use coconut oil in a skillet as it's a more stable oil for cooking purposes--especially at higher temperatures.) Form one ball (about 1 ½ inches) and test fry. If it falls apart, try adding a little more flour to your paste.

Form the rest of your paste into 1 ½ inch balls. Fry for a few minutes on each side or until golden brown. Be careful not to overfill your skillet.

Serve warm with tahini sauce, pita bread, sliced or diced tomatoes and cucumbers. Oh, yum!

This recipe will serve about eight--but it also freezes beautifully, so you can pop leftovers in the freezer for another day.

My recipe is a combination of Sally Fallon's from Nourishing Traditions and this recipe.

For more yummy meatless maindish recipes, please visit the Ultimate Recipe Swap at LifeasMOM!

Do you like falafel? Have you ever tried it?

5 comments:

jenna said...

mmmm falafel. i love mediterranean, but like chinese I usually leave the cooking to a restaurant. might have to try these at home sometime. i love cooking with fresh herbs, parsley is very nutrient dense. thanks for sharing on lifeasmom.

FishMama said...

We saw this on Bobby Flay's Throwdown and have been wanting to try it. Thanks for sharing a recipe for it.

(Love the look of your blog, btw.)

Liz@Hoosier Homemade said...

Never had it, but it sounds really good. Thanks for sharing!
~Liz

Talya said...

WOW - falafel brings back serious memories of living in Israel. I'm the kind of person who can find good food virtually anywhere, and in Israel it was very easy to find all sorts of yumminess virtually anywhere. Street vendors in Jerusalem sell the best falafel on fresh, chewy pita bread (the kind you can't find or make anywhere else). so yes, just the name falafel makes me want to board a plane to Tel Aviv....(not even kidding!). Not sure if I can try this recipe, it makes me too homesick! :)

Brianna said...

@Jenna--I'm definitely no gourmet cook, so these are definitely doable at home! :)

@FishMama--Thanks for the compliment!

@Liz--You're welcome!

@Talya--Ooooohhhh. I would LOVE to have some real deal street stand falafel. What did you eat on your falafel?

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