Falafel - It is so Easy!!

After eating at Juniper 61 and Cafe Lulu I have fallen in love with Falafel (along with many other good friends). Since we will not always be able to run down the street and grab some when I get a hankerin' (just wanted to use that word) I decided to learn how.

I started of course with a google search. This gave me thousands of recipes and some background.

Falafel - is a Middle Eastern dish (from Israel, Egypt, etc...) and it is "fast food". The next time you are in the Middle East and run into a McDonald's - order a McFalafel - sounds yummy.

I decided to give it a try the other night. We got home from soccer practice at about 5:30 pm and we were done eating by 6:30 pm. I had done one step the night before, but this is fast and easy!!!

This is essentially the recipe I used (I compared 3 recipes and whittled it down to the common ingredients among them).
1 cup dry Chickpeas, soaked overnight (don't use canned - can be too mushy)
1 onion
2 Tbsp Cilantro
2 Tbsp Parsley
1 tsp Salt
2 cloves Garlic
1 tsp Cumin
Salt and Pepper
~4Tbsp Flour
1tsp Baking Powder

Place drained chickpeas in food processor and onion, parsley, cilantro, salt, garlic, and cumin, Process until blended - not pureed. Sprinkle in baking powder and flour - pulse to combine, You want to be able to form balls without it sticking to your hands. Refrigerate (I only put it in for a few minutes - we were in a hurry).
Form small balls or patties and fry (375 degrees).
[options: coriander (some recipes referred to it fresh = cilantro others the seeds), hot peppers, options are endless.

I did not have time to make pitas and I can't find any worth buying. So we ate it on the side of a salad drizzled with Tahini. I love Tahini - but Juniper 61 does not use it - a recipe from Jess King does -but I could only find it in a large bottle. So skip the Tahini unless you are going to start making lots. You need a feta yogurt sauce - any ideas?

Jayce liked them and Grahn said he would try it again as a sandwich.

Pic to come when I make it again!!