I love falafel, but I hate deep frying. Most of the alternatives to frying the falafel
that I found online suggest either baking it or air frying it. Both of which are not
my thing. Don’t get me started on baked donuts. That’s a cake. I don’t care if
it has a hole in the middle. Bundt cake has a hole in the middle too, but that doesn’t
make it a donut.
So I don’t really have a way to make falafel without deep frying, but I found a way to
make a completely different dish out of the falafel mix by shaping it into patties and
pan frying it. Super crispy outside, soft inside, great flavor, and like any falafel,
it’s vegan. Since I am not vegan, I serve it with a fried egg, but it would be great
with anything rich and creamy like avocado.
Last year I made a video about a somewhat unusual falafel that is softer and moister
than typical because of the addition of cooked carrots. This recipe is exactly the same.
The only new thing that I’ve discovered is that the wheat flour that I use in this
recipe can be replaced with rice flour if you are making the dish for someone who is
gluten free.
To get the right texture for this dish, you’ll need dry chickpeas soaked overnight. This
is different from canned chickpeas. Canned chickpeas are cooked, so they are a lot softer
than soaked chickpeas. Put 185 grams of dry chickpeas into a bowl, cover very generously
with cold water and let them sit overnight. I goofed and by accident soaked a whole pound
of chickpeas. That’s what happens when you try to make a video at 11pm. Don’t be surprised
that your amount of chickpeas will look smaller. The next day I realized my mistake, and reserved
some of the chickpeas for another project. So for the rest of this video, the amount
will actually look right.
Drain, rinse, and roll them between paper towels to dry. Whenever I get lazy and skip
the drying step, my mixture turns out too wet and doesn’t hold shape during cooking,
so make sure to dry your chickpeas.
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.
Coarsely chop 1 small yellow onion.
Slice 1 garlic clove.
Remove the tough stems and coarsely chop lots of herbs. I am using cilantro, parsley, dill,
and tarragon. But you can use any one of those or mint. Put the onion, garlic, herbs and
chickpeas into the food processor. Add the cooled carrots with all their oil. 8.5 grams
of salt. 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 judgment. 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. 2 tablespoons of all-purpose or rice flour, a heaping ¼
tsp of baking soda, a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses, one more tablespoon of olive oil,
and 1 Tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice. The smart order of ingredients is to do all
the dry first and then all the wet, so that you don’t have to wash your measuring spoons,
but of course in the video I did it in the wrong order that’s why it looked a little
funny with the flour disappearing and then reappearing.
Pulse everything together until mostly mixed. Scrape down the processor and pulse some more
until the mixture is homogeneous, but not smooth. See it should look like tiny little
crumbs.
You can shape and cook the patties right away or refrigerate the mixture for up to a day.
You can also shape the patties and freeze them to cook some other time. I’ll write
up the freezing and defrosting instructions in the description below.
Before we cook our patties, let’s make a labne sauce. Labne is kefir cheese. It is
very similar to Greek yogurt. But it tends to be richer since the main ingredient is
cream instead of milk, and thicker. If you can’t find it, use Greek yogurt or sourcream.
Put a bunch into a bowl. Add 1 garlic clove grated on a microplane zester. A pinch of
salt and some lemon juice. You’ll have to experiment with salt and lemon juice since
the salt and acidity in labne varies from brand to brand.
Set a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add a couple tablespoons of oil with a high
smoke point like canola. I’ll show you a few different ways to shape these patties.
When the oil is hot, put a metal cookie cutter into the pan and add a scoop of the chickpea
mixture. Then use a potato masher to flatten it. If it comes out too thin, add more, and
smash again. After the first one, you’ll know how much mixture you need. Remove the
cookie cutter with tongs since it will be hot and place it into the next spot. Now I
know that I need a heaping scoop. Of course, it’s important for your potato masher to
fit inside your cookie cutter, so check that before you start. Another option is to use
a dry half cup measure to scoop and compress the mixture. Push it out with a spoon and
gently press on it either with a potato masher or a spatula. If it’s a bit sloppy, tidy
it up on the sides.
Flatten out the tops and cook until brown and crispy on the first side. It’s important
to keep the heat moderately low during the whole cooking process. Otherwise your patties
will burn before the inside is hot. You want the first side to take four to five minutes.
Flip them over and brown on the other side.
If the pan ever feels dry, add more oil. Of course, you can experiment with all sorts
of shapes both big and small. If the only tool you have is a spoon, it will still work.
When the second side browns, get the patties out of the pan. If you want to top them with
eggs, you can cook the eggs in the same pan. Turn down the heat to low, add a couple teaspoons
of butter and swirl to coat the bottom. Crack the eggs into the pan and cover. Cook for
a minute and a half and then check every 30 seconds. When the white is almost set except
for a tiny bit around the yolk, take the pan off heat and keep covered for another minute.
At this point, the white should be completely set and you can plate. If you need to make
a YouTube thumbnail, you can cut out the eggs with a cookie cutter. Otherwise, there is
no need for such fussiness.
Spread some garlic labne on a plate. If you want, you can add some greens like arugula
or herbs. Add your chickpea pattie, the egg,
a sprinkle of salt, and a drizzle of olive oil.
This dish could be great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And there are so many fun variations
on this theme. You can try replacing carrots with other root veggies or butternut squash.
You can experiment with all sorts of herbs and spices. I love hearing about your experiments,
so don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know what you tried.
Here are more very detailed 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.