Here is the thing about falafel -- it’s always a little dry. Sure, it’s a great
vehicle for all those moist and juicy things that people stuff into falafel sandwiches,
but left to its own devices, it’s just not my thing. So I set out to create a chickpea
fritter that would be my thing -- crispy on the outside, fluffy and moist on the inside.
For the rest of this video, I’ll refer to this dish as falafel, because it’s short
and convenient. No need to get angry in the comments. I know it’s not authentic. It’s
better.
First, let’s address the elephant in the room -- deep frying. I hate deep frying. I
avoid it like the plague. The bad news is that falafel does require deep frying. No
other cooking method will produce the right texture. The good news is that you need very
little oil if you use the right pan. Falafel cooks insanely fast -- maybe 2 minutes. So,
you could, and even should do it in small batches so that you don’t burn them. Other
than that, this dish is actually very convenient. Most of the ingredients are pantry items and
the uncooked balls freeze extremely well, so if you make a big batch you can have almost
instant falafel whenever you want.
A day in advance we need to soak 185g of dry chickpeas. Just cover them with cold water
by a few inches and let them sit at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
Then wipe out the bowl you used to soak them and dry them a bit on a paper towel.
What makes these fritters tender and moist is carrots, though I am sure it would also
work with sweet potatoes, or butternut squash. Peel and coarsely chop the carrots. Place
them into a small pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Set over medium
heat, cover, and cook until the carrots are brown and tender. Mine took 10 minutes, but
your mileage will vary based on your pan and stove. Now let the carrots cool a bit so that
we can put them into the food processor. My food processor is rather small (it’s only
7 cups), so I’ll process my chickpeas and veggies separately, but if you have a big
processor you can dump everything in all at once.
Scrape your bowl frequently so that you get an even texture. We want it very finely ground,
but not smooth. The chickpeas look good, let’s get them out into a bowl and do the veggies.
We’ll need 1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped. 1 sliced garlic clove and a crazy
amount of herbs. I am using cilantro, but parsley and mint also work great. Put them
all into the processor, add the cooled carrots with all their oil, and puree. Just like with
chickpeas, scrape down regularly.
When the veggies look like this, add them to the chickpeas. You can spice this mixture
any way you want. I like a heaping teaspoon of smoked paprika, a heaping teaspoon of coriander,
and a heaping teaspoon of cumin. Cayenne would be great in this, and if it wasn’t for my
kids, I’d add some. For salt, I use 8.5 grams. Based on my recent video, I was totally
wrong about only 1% of people having a scale accurate enough to weight salt. Tons of you
chimed in saying you do have a high precision scale. See, that’s why I voted to legalize
marijuana. I tell you guys, I’ve never felt democracy at work like I did when reading
those comments.
So back to salt. Yes, we need 8.5 grams. That’s 1 tablespoon of diamond crystal kosher salt
or 1.5 teaspoons of table salt, for all the other salts either weigh or use your judgement.
1 more tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses, 2 Tbsp of flour and
give it all a mix. Once you have a homogeneous mixture, add a heaping ¼ tsp baking soda
and a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice to activate it. Mix it all in and chill
the mixture in the fridge for about 20 minutes before shaping, though it’s completely doable
to shape immediately because unlike traditional falafel, we have a lot of binders here to
hold our chickpeas together.
While our mixture is chilling, let’s make the tahini sauce. Grate one garlic clove on
a microplane zester. Add 2 Tbsp of lemon juice, 3 Tbsp of well stirred tahini and mix well.
It’s totally normal for tahini to stiffen when you mix it with lemon juice. See how
my mixture became very thick. A more traditional option is to thin it out with water. But since
nothing I’ve done so far was traditional, why start now. Let’s just go for what tastes
best and that is half a cup of greek yogurt or sourcream. Add a generous pinch of salt,
mix and taste for salt and acidity. This is the kind of sauce where you really don’t
need to measure anything. You can just go with your gut.
Ok, we are ready to shape our falafel.
Scoop out a level Tablespoon of the chickpea mixture and get it out with a little spoon
onto a working surface. I use a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. The reason it
has polka dots on it is because I am reusing it from baking cream puffs. Yes, the cream
puff video is on its way. Once all your mixture is portioned out. Gently roll each pile between
barely damp hands. Don’t handle them too much. It’s a very quick and gentle roll.
And don’t worry if they are not perfectly round.
I know they look tiny, but they will expand a bit when they cook and this size will ensure
that the outside and inside are cooked at the same time.
If you want to save them for later. Place the cookie sheet into the freezer until the
falafel balls become hard and then move them into a freezer bag. No need to defrost them.
You can drop them into the oil frozen and they’ll come out as good as if you just
shaped them.
My perfect deep frying pot is this non-stick little one that’s shaped like a bowl. Having
a small diameter on the bottom of the pot means that I’ll need very little oil. Tall
walls keep all the splatter contained and the non-stick coating makes it very easy to
wash. You can certainly use a stainless steel pot, but the walls will require a bit of scrubbing
when you are done.
Put an inch of neutral oil like canola into the pot. You can use grapeseed, safflower,
peanut, avocado or whatever oil you read on whatever website is good for you. When the
oil reaches 350F, drop in your ball. Oh gosh! That did not sound right. I promise it’s
a family friendly channel. You can use your fingers at your own risk, but a spoon is a
lot safer. Wait about 30 seconds for them to brown and flip them over. Don’t worry
if some of them will flip back. They tend to prefer one side more than the other and
that’s ok. Once they look nice and brown, get them out with a slotted spoon and put
on a paper towel lined plate. Return the oil back to 350F and put in the next batch. You
might need to add a little more oil between batches.
Like any fried food, falafel should be eaten right away. I mean give them a few minutes
to cool off and dig in. I’ll be honest with you. I wouldn’t put these in a sandwich.
They are too delicate to be squashed in a pita and soaked in tomato juices. But on their
own, they are just heavenly. This could totally be an appetizer in some chic tapas bar that
would charge $18 for 5 of these little flitters.
I can think of infinite variations on this dish by changing up the spicing and the vegetables,
so if you come up with your own cool twist on falafel, let me know.
Here are more culinary tutorials for you to check out and if you are ever in the Boston
area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.