Like most things Israel-Palestine, Falafel is steeped in politics. Both countries claim Falafel as their national dish. I was able to find a number of articles from both sides decrying the other for claiming Falafel. These two articles in particular stood out, “No Matter Where It Originated, Falafel Is Still Israel’s National Food” and “Israeli Appropriation of Falafel“, I think these articles titles speak for themselves,. What was interesting to me was that I was unable to find any significant differences in how Falafel is prepared in these two countries.
I used this recipe from Epicurious, but quadrupled the recipe. Originally I had used the measurements given in the recipe but found that the yield was too tiny. Not satisfied with the pictures I took the first time I made the Falafel, I decided to redo the recipe to take better pictures. The amounts I used that deviate from the original recipe are as follows.
- 4 cups Chickpeas
- 2 onions
- 8 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 8 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 4 teaspoons dried hot red pepper
- 16 teaspoons garlic
- 4 teaspoons cumin
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 16 tablespoons flour
With these amounts, there was enough to feed four adults comfortably. The recipe is so affordable, you can scale the ingredients easily to feed more people if needed.
To start you rinse the chickpeas if using canned chickpeas. If using dried chickpeas, reevaluate your life choices.
Next chop the onions small enough to fit into the food processor/blender you are using. I used my friend’s Ninja blender which made the job much easier. Before blending, add the spices and the parsley/cilantro.
The layers look pretty in the food processor.
Unfortunately beauty is fleeting in a blender.
Once blended put the mixture into the fridge covered for several hours.
Forming the patties was the worst part of the process. Using a Falafel scoop did not make the job any easier. Forming anything in regards to cooking is a pain in the ass. However, I was happy with the yield of Falafel when quadrupling the recipe. Not pictured is that even after forming all these patties, there is still more Falafel mixture.
After frying, they kind of look like Tater tots. It takes about 4 minutes to fry a batch of Falafel. The astute observer would notice that they are no longer patty shaped. When removing the patties from the trays, they would often get stuck a little bit which caused them to roll up. A little extra flour to the mixture would have prevented this but it did not ruin the dish.
For those that do not know, the Falafel is just the fried balls of chickpeas,onion, and spices. It is not the pita sandwich or the salad. I decided to serve the Falafel with the recipe authors recommendation of green pepper, onion, tomato, tahini, harissa, and hummus,
Finally a constructed Falafel pita sandwich. Falafel is awesome; it is a fried treat that does not make you feel like you are going to clog your arteries. If you have never had Falafel before, you should get a good blender and make this recipe, you wont regret it.
Looks great