Felafel is a delicious vegan meatball you put inside a pita bread and eat like a sandwich. It come back to you now? I found these recipes online. Every time you find a new ingredient in one version that isn’t in the other version, use that ingredient. Borrow from ‘em all.
I. The Israeli Version for Falafel
Ingredients:
• 8 oz chick peas (not canned, please. See note at the end.)
• 3 Tablespoons Wheat meal or Cracked wheat or Bulgur.
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped as fine as possible.
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ tsp. white pepper Directions:
1. Soak chick peas in water for 8 hours. Drain and grind.
2. Soak Wheat meal or substitute in water for 2 hours. Drain and grind.
3. Mix all ingredients together.
4. Form balls about ¾ inch diameter.
5. Deep fry until golden brown (best fried in a net or a deep fryer).
6. Serve in pita bread, Hummus, Tahini sauce, tomatoes-cucumbers-parsley-lemon juice on some dark green salad all go inside.
Note: It is possible to use canned chick peas.
However, it is not as good, and you have more weight (because they are
pre-cooked, and absorbed water)
II. Falafel
Ingredients:
• 4 c. uncooked chickpeas
• ¼ c. packed chopped cilantro
• ¼ c. packed chopped parsley
• 3 T garlic (powder or chopped fresh)
• ¼ onion
• 2 T olive oil (!)
• 1 t. each salt & pepper
• ¼ c tahini
• ¼ c baking powder(optional)
Directions:
Soak beans overnight. Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until it’s combined, Scraping down the sides as needed. don’t add any water or extra oil. Bake or fry in olive oil until golden brown, take time so the insides are all cooked as well. This recipe goes well with a simple tahini sauce.
Falafel III
Ingredients:
• 1 ½ cup dried garbanzo beans
• ¾ cup cilantro
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 5-7 cloves garlic
• ½ tsp cumin and vegetable oil for frying.
Directions:
To serve: Ingredients:
• 4 pita breads with pockets, halved
• lettuce, tomato, cucumber-chopped & mixed together with a pinch of salt
• tahini
• hot sauce (recipe follows)
Directions: Soak the chick peas overnight. The next day, drain & blend together with the rest of the ingredients in a food processor ‘til fine. Make into small patty shapes & shallow fry with very little oil. (Alternately, you can deep fry, if you can afford all that fat.) Hot sauce: Put 1 tomato in hot boiling water for 1 mandarin & peel. Chop roughly. Blend together, very well, with 2 or 3 garlic cloves, ¾ tsp chili powder (or chili paste is better), salt & very little sugar (if desired).
To serve: Break falafel balls into bite size pieces. Mix the salad with some tahini & add in the falafel pieces. (This way, you get the taste of falafel in every bite.) Stuff into the pita pockets & serve with the hot sauce & additional tahini.
Serves: 4-6.
Preparation time: 20 -30 mins.
IV. Falafel
Ingredients: * 2 ½ cups washed chickpeas
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
• 1 tbs chopped coriander leaves (optional)
• 3 crushed garlic cloves
• ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
• 1tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ¼ cup flour
• oil for frying but not CANOLA. Use PEANUT, SOY, or CORN!
Soak chickpeas overnight in 10 cups hot water and baking soda. Drain. Grind in a blender or food processor until fine. Add spices and flour. If mixture is too dry, add a few drops of water. Make small balls about 1 ¼ “ (3 cm) in diameter. Place on waxed paper or a greased baking sheet. Heat the oil and deep fry a few balls at a time for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Keep balls warm. Makes 60-70 falafel (or falafel) balls.
To serve: Stuff 6 balls in a fresh pita bread together with humus, tehina, fresh vegetable salad and hot pepper sauce. Eat warm.
RAW HUMMUS- Raw foodsians soak chickpeas overnight. Grind them. They’re ready. They’re sprouting. They’re alive. Some people soak overnight, then cook the beans until soft. Drain. MASH. Both schools MASH. Add fresh garlic, squeezed in, soy sauce, chile sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, raw lemon juice, cilantro, mashing as you add.
TAHINA or TAHINI isn’t something you make. It comes ready made in a glass jar at middle eastern shops. In L.A. all super markets have a foreign section with tahini. It’s like soft peanut butter, made of ground up sesame seeds, very high in calcium. Add lemon juice to thin it to the consistency of buttermilk, shoot some squeezed garlic in there too. Couldn’t hurt. Chop flat parsley or coriander into it, but first wash the greens, dry on a tea towel!! Why? CUZ SAND is not an ingredient!.
A website full of two thousand year old recipes
from Greece offers this falafel recipe:
http://www.greek-recipe.com/modules.php?name=categories2
ANCIENT GREEK METHOD: INGREDIENTS
· 1/2 kg chick peas a little over a pound
· 2 medium onions, chopped
· Salt,
· Pepper
· parsley,
· dill,
· oregano
· 1 mashed tomato (optional)
· Dry breadcrumb
· Flour for binding the mixture and for coating
· Some crumbled feta cheese or any grated cheese (optional)
· 1 or 2 eggs
· Olive Oil for frying (you can update this as peanut fries higher, better)
METHOD
Soak the chick peas in water overnight. Drain and mash with a mixer. Place in a bowl and add chopped onion, mashed tomato, breadcrumb, finely chopped parsley, dill, oregano, salt and pepper. Add cheese, beaten eggs and a little flour to bind. Mix well, form into small balls and coat in flour. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.