They say you never forget your first falafel, well mine was at Banksy's art exhibition 'Dismaland' in September 2015, this was three months before I would make the decision to sign up to Veganuary and I'll never ever forget the taste. I didn't at the time even consider that it was a plant-based Vegan option, it just tasted so damn good.
Since that treasured moment in time, watching the sunset from the Tropicana on Weston beach, falafel and somerset cider in hand, thinking it was a perfect day, I have tried so many recipes to recreate it, only for them to be not quite right in either texture or taste.
So I messed around with the key ingredients canned chickpeas then dried chickpeas, tweaking the cumin etc until I came up with this one. And it's pretty freaking close to my hazy day, end of summer feeling, Dismaland falafel.
So here's what you need....
IMPORTANT - you must soak the chickpeas overnight, I've lost count of the times I have forgotten and couldn't make this recipe on the day I wanted to and NO canned chickpeas won't do. And another warning you will end up with sticking falafel mix hands but trust me it will be worth it.
- 1 cup of dried chickpeas (soaked for 24 hours/overnight)
- 1 medium sized onion (chopped)
- 4 cloves of garlic (pressed)
- 1 handful of fresh parsley
- 1 handful of fresh coriander (or cilantro if you are from the USA)
- 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds (grounded, I use a pestle and mortar)
- 2 teaspoons of coriander seeds (again grounded, I do these with the cumin seeds)
- a pinch of Salt and Pepper
What to do ..............
So you need to rinse the pre-soaked chickpeas really really well, let them drain before placing them in a food processor, add all the other ingredients and pulse for 30 seconds, use a spatula to scrap the sides and blitz again for another 30 seconds, you want to repeat this last step until you have a fine course mixture.
At this point you could put your mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until you want to start cooking them, this help them to stick together. However I have made these straight from the food processor and they work perfectly well.
Then here comes the messy part, take a dessert spoon and spoonful some mixture into your hands, roll each one in to a small ball, you don't want them too big or they will fall apart.
Add them to a shallow pan of cooking oil on a medium heat. I cook six at a time.
When they start to brown you will need to keep turning them until they are cooked on all sides.
Then I place the cooked falafels in a baking tray and place in a warm oven, you are just keeping them warm so you don't want a hot oven!
And then cook another batch of six and repeat until you have used all the mixture or you have enough, as you could save the mixture in a covered container in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
So you need to rinse the pre-soaked chickpeas really really well, let them drain before placing them in a food processor, add all the other ingredients and pulse for 30 seconds, use a spatula to scrap the sides and blitz again for another 30 seconds, you want to repeat this last step until you have a fine course mixture.
At this point you could put your mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until you want to start cooking them, this help them to stick together. However I have made these straight from the food processor and they work perfectly well.
Then here comes the messy part, take a dessert spoon and spoonful some mixture into your hands, roll each one in to a small ball, you don't want them too big or they will fall apart.
Add them to a shallow pan of cooking oil on a medium heat. I cook six at a time.
When they start to brown you will need to keep turning them until they are cooked on all sides.
And then cook another batch of six and repeat until you have used all the mixture or you have enough, as you could save the mixture in a covered container in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
So how do I eat my falafels, well they are great just served with some hummus as a snack but if I'm serving these for a meal then this is what I do.....
- Take a tortilla wrap
- Spread a layer of hummus in the middle
- Add whatever salad you like, pickled gherkins work well in there too
- Add vegan mayo
- Add three falafels
- Add sweet chilli sauce or hot sauce
- Add fresh coriander/cilantro or your favourite fresh herb
- Wrap
- AND EAT and then repeat if hungry!
Enjoy and let me know how they turned out. Stay kind :)
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