343-Making Falafel From Scratch…Almost

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Today I discuss making falafel, a middle eastern dish that is very common as a street food and claimed as the national dish in many countries. It’s made from chick peas and flavored with onion, garlic, parsley, lemon, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper etc.

Typically it’s deep fried but my version is oil free and either baked or sauteed in a non-stick pan. Most falafel is served inside pita bread and adorned with tahini sauce, cucumbers, tomatoes and sometimes yogurt.

The video below shows a traditional deep fried version of falafel…ingredients are similar but not the same, still a good reference.

343-Making Falafel From Scratch...Almost

 

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Author: Chef Keith Snow

Recipe type: lunch

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Ingredients

• 2 cans garbanzo beans-chick peas
• ½ cup white onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• bunch chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp coriander
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ cup quinoa flour or chick pea flour

Method

1. Place all ingredients into the bowl of your food processor, pulse well to combine...but not to make mush, having large pieces of beans is ok.
2. Make rounds out of the falafel, use ¼ cup of mixture, roll it up, then flatten to disc shape.
3. Cook falafel on sheet tray in 450 degree pre heated oven or fry in non-stick skillet with just some cooking spray.
4. Falafel just need to be browned...then assemble using pita or even flour tortillas, garnish with fresh vegetables such as cucumber, tomatoes, lacto fermented cabbage etc.
5. A simple tahini sauce can be fixed for this....
6. NOTES: if mixture is too wet..just add more flour until the consistency is right to make the shapes you want.

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