Mamta's Kitchen

Falafel - Middle Eastern Chickpea Balls

Falafel - Middle Eastern Chickpea Balls

Mamta Gupta

MainSnackVegetarian

Picture by Steven Lister

This is a popular dish in Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries but it is very suitable for serving as an Indian snack as well. Many variations exist. Makes approximately 8.

Ingredients

  • 400 gm. tinned chickpeas in brine or 1 cup dry chick peas

  • A good pinch of soda bicarbonate to cook, if using dry chickpeas

  • 1 slice white bread

  • 1 onion (100 gm.), peeled and roughly chopped

  • 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

  • 1-2 garlic cloves, peeled

  • 1 green chilli, stalk removed

  • Juice of 1/2 a lime

  • Salt, to taste. Tinned chickpeas are already salted and need less salt.

  • 1/4 tsp. chilli powder (optional)

  • 1 tsp. coriander powder

  • 1 level tsp. cumin powder

  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder, no more, or they will break during frying

  • 2 tbsp. green coriander leaves (some people add parsley or even basil), finely chopped

  • 1 standard egg, lightly beaten, or 1 heaped tbsp. chickpea flour (besan)

  • Oil for deep frying

Instructions

  1. If using dry chickpeas, soak overnight or at least for a few hours. Adding a pinch of soda bicarbonate cooks them faster. Cook in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. You can boil them on medium heat for 1/2 hour to 40 minutes.

  2. Drain and allow to cool. Alternatively, use tinned chickpeas. They work reasonably well.

  3. Make bread crumbs in a food processor from the bread slice. Keep aside.

  4. Place chickpeas in a food-processor and grind to a rough paste. Transfer to a bowl.

  5. Place onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies in the food processor and chop until fine, but not a paste. Grinding onions to a paste leaves too much water. If too watery, squeeze some water out. You can chop these by hand, if you prefer.

  6. Add to the same bowl as chickpeas along with bread crumbs, lime juice, salt, chilli powder, coriander, cumin, baking powder, chopped coriander leaves and egg. Mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning.

  7. Put the mix in the fridge for 30-60 minutes. This helps to infuse flavours, firm the mix somewhat and improve binding.

  8. Heat oil in a wok or karahi. The oil should be hot, so the falafels crisp and brown outside quickly and not break up.

  9. Take about 1 tablespoon (or less) of this mix and roll into small balls with greased or wetted hands. The mix is quite soft, so only gentle moulding is required. You can drop dollops of the mix into oil with a spoon, if you prefer.

  10. Add one 'test ball' to check the temperature of the oil first. If the temperature is correct, the ball should rise to the surface sizzling, quickly. If not hot enough, it is more likely to break up. If this happens, make sure that you remove/lift out all crumbs from oil with a metal sieve, before continuing further. Otherwise all your other falafels may also break up. If your test ball breaks up, adding a little chickpea flour/plain floor/1/2 a beaten egg usually solves the problem.

  11. Fry 4-5 balls at a time, not too many, and fry until brown and crisp all over. If you fry too many balls together, they may collide against each other and break.

  12. Turn over only once, as they are quite fragile. You can do this gently, with the help of a tablespoon or a wooden spatula.

Notes

  • You can shallow fry them in a non-stick pan. To do this well, it is easier if you flatten them and make burger shapes.

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