We usually think of falafel as delicious, deep fried balls of chickpea and herbs usually served with salad, or in a sandwich with hummus and pita bread. This is the traditional Middle Eastern falafel but in Egypt the recipe for falafel uses mashed broad beans (fava beans) instead. So when my broad beans were growing so well that I had to use a ladder to harvest them I thought that I would try making falafel with broad beans.
The recipe below is the traditional Middle Eastern recipe. I used a tin of chickpeas (roughly a cup) and about a cup of broad beans.
2 cups chick peas
3 cups water
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp baking powder
oil for frying
Soak chick peas in water for 4 hours or overnight (or use a tin). Drain and place chickpeas (and broad beans if using) into food processor bowl. Pulse for 30 seconds or until they are finely ground. Add onion, garlic, parsley, coriander, cumin, water and baking powder and process 10 seconds or until mixture is a rough paste. Leave mixture to stand for 30 minutes. This really makes a difference – I didn’t wait with my first batch and they didn’t hold together well.
Shaped heaped tablespoons of falafel mixture into balls (coat with sesame seeds if desired). Squeeze out excess liquid (if mixture is too wet and doesn’t form easily into balls add a small amount of plain flour). Heat oil in a deep heavy-based pan – I just shallow-fried mine. Gently lower prepared falafel balls on a spoon into moderately hot oil. Cook falafel one at a time on spoon for 3-4 minutes, shaking spoon slightly to prevent sticking. When brown, carefully remove from oil with slotted spoon. Drain well on absorbent paper.
Serve with minted yoghurt sauce and pita or flat bread.
Minted Yoghurt Sauce
250ml plain yoghurt
3 tbsp tahini
1 garlic clove, crushed
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt and black pepper
2 tbsp chopped mint
Whisk all the ingredients together.
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