Falafel, naturally vegan is delicious and crispy fritters/balls that are popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. These are made with chickpeas, fresh herbs, and few spices. I love to enjoy them in warm wraps, pita, sandwiches, and salads.
Here, I’m sharing how to make fried falafel and as well as baked falafel.
About this recipe
Falafel is a popular vegan dish in Middle Eastern cuisine made with chickpeas (garbanzo beans), fresh herbs, and few spices. The mixture is then shaped into small balls like lemon size, either deep fry or baked till they become golden brown and crisp from outside and tender, delicious, and full of fresh herbs from inside.
This Mediterranean dish is enjoyed as street food and often served in Middle Eastern cuisine as a part of small meals. It’s often served immediately after cooking as an appetizer, snack, or side dish with your favorite dipping sauce or dips like hummus and tahini sauce, or stuffed in a pita pocket, wraps, or between slices of bread with fresh veggies to make a tasty sandwich.
You need simple and everyday ingredients to make Falafel. It is easy to make and healthy. Make sure, while making falafel use high-quality ingredients for the falafel mixture.
To make falafel, you need to grind chickpeas with other ingredients, shape them into balls or patties, and deep fry them.
Ingredients
Falafel is naturally gluten-free and made with a few simple ingredients. Here’s the i樂威壯 ngredients list used
The most important ingredient is dried chickpeas which have been soaked in water for 7-8 hours or overnight) that will give your falafel mixture the right consistency and taste. I have not used canned chickpeas. If you want, you can add about ½ teaspoon of baking soda while soaking which helps to soften the chickpeas (optional).
Fresh herbs like fresh parsley, cilantro are used to give heaps of flavor and a beautiful vibrant green color inside to your falafel. These two delicious herbs are the key to this authentic recipe.
Onion – I used white onion but you can also use red or yellow onion for a slightly stronger flavor as well.
Garlic- always uses fresh garlic cloves instead of using garlic powder.
Few spices like cumin, cardamom, salt, black pepper to taste, and green chilli are used often in Middle Eastern cooking, which gives an authentic taste.
Baking Soda – This is completely optional. It gives falafel an airy and fluffy texture to the falafel.
Serving Suggestions
Falafel is typically served hot with a generous amount of tahini or hummus sauce on the streets of the Middle East.
This can be also stuffed between bread slices to make it a sandwich or also garb in warm pita pockets.
You may also serve as a salad with fresh veggies like fresh diced tomatoes, shredded purple cabbage, cucumbers, or topped on a simple green salad.
Falafel also tastes good with cilantro chutney and even tomato sauce.
Here is my recipe of delicious deep-fried Falafel Balls along with a few tips and tricks that you can try at home.
Are you ready to make homemade falafel?
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Falafel
- Total Time: 55 mins.
- Yield: 6 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Falafel is a traditional dish from Middle Eastern cuisine. A deep-fried ball or fritter made with a simple combination of chickpeas, herbs, and spices. Crispy from outside, moist from inside that you can easily make at home. Here is how to make both the fried and baked falafel.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) soaked overnight (don’t use canned or cooked chickpeas)
- ½ cup onion, roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 cup fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped (optional)
- 1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 green chilli
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons chickpea flour (besan)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Wash the chickpeas for 2-3 times in water.
- Then soak the chickpeas in enough water overnight or for at least 7-8 hours.
- As they become triple in size, drain all the water, rinse well, and then transfer them to a colander to drain the water completely.
- In a food processor or mixer grinder jar, add the drained chickpeas, onion, parsley leaves, cilantro leaves, green chilli, garlic cloves, black pepper, cumin powder, cardamom powder, and salt to taste.
- Then blend the mixture several times in small intervals of time until you get a semi coarse mixture, but not puréed. Do not add water while blending the mixture. Scrape the sides with a spatula for even blending the mixture.
- Remove the mixture into a bowl.
- Add chickpea flour to the falafel mixture.
- Mix well and then cover it with a lid and refrigerate it for about 1 hour if possible.
- Just before frying, add the baking soda to the falafel mixture and mix well with a spoon.
- Using your hands or an ice cream scoop, take a small lemon-sized portion and shape them into round balls.
- If the mixture is too wet, add a little more chickpea flour to hold together easily to shape into balls. If it’s too dry and crumbly, add a teaspoon of water or lemon juice.
For Deep-Frying Falafel
- Once the balls are formed, heat the oil on a medium-high flame.
- Carefully, drop the 6-8 balls at a time into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry them until crispy and golden brown on the outside. Then transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate to remove excess oil.
For Baked Falafel
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a parchment paper on a large baking tray.
- Place the round falafel balls on the baking tray. Drizzle generously oil on the balls (this helps to make them moist and crisp since we’re not frying). Bake it for 15 minutes. Flip over and bake for more10 to 12 minutes until golden brown and crisp on the outside.
Serving
- Serve falafel with a tahini dip or hummus or with cilantro chutney and tomato ketchup. You can also stuff them in pita bread as a sandwich.
Notes
- Do not use canned chickpeas or cooked chickpeas. They won’t work in this recipe.
- As per your taste, adjust the amount of parsley and cilantro leaves.
- Do not over blend the mixture. Blend until you get a semi-coarse mixture but not in purée form. Do not blend the mixture too coarse as you will not be able to make falafel balls.
- Instead of frying, you can also use the shallow frying process or even bake them into the oven.
- The oil should be medium hot so that the falafel balls can cook evenly from the inside out. If the oil is too hot, your falafel balls will be browned from outside too quickly and raw from inside.
- Baking soda is optional. It helps to make the softest, fluffy falafel.
- While frying, the falafel should be crispy from the outside and soft from the inside.
- Prep Time: 45 mins.
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Appetizers & snack
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
