The BEST Falafel Recipe
My biffy, Ashly, sent me a text the other day that just read “Do you have a fail-proof falafel recipe?” Why didn’t I have a falafel recipe yet? Falafel are the ultimate Middle Eastern Street Food, made in every home, and as common nature as french fries in the American Diet. So where was my take on them?
I was now on a mission and it had to be quick! What did I love most about the perfect tasting falafel? It had to meet a few requirements:
There has to be equal ratio of crunchy exterior to fluffy interior
No mushiness in the center of the falafel
I had to taste more than just cumin and coriander which means plenty of herbs and aromatics
Now, take into consideration that depending on where you are in the Middle East, the taste and preparation of the falafel varies. Egyptians, who are credited as having invented these tasty little golden nuggets, use split Fava beans in place of garbanzo beans, and tahini inside the mix. Palestinians and Israelis add in hot sauce and water and use a meat grinder in place of a food processor. The Lebanese method uses a mix of fava beans and garbanzo beans and baking soda and sesame seeds are added to the mix. So many different ways to make falafel, which route do you take?
After loads of research and tons of recipe tasting, I dove head first into a big batch of falafel and came out extremely happy. I used a combination of methods I learned from years of trial and error in my own kitchen, Bon Appetit’s reasoning for not grinding the mixture into a pulp, and Serious Eats scientific explanation for all the reasons I chose to cook mine the way I did. Here are a few things to keep in mind when making your falafel:
absolutely use dry garbanzo beans soaked overnight, preferably 36 hours, changing the water out after 24 hours. I checked with my mother and aunts, other tried and trusted websites and my instincts… dry beans are non-negotiable.
Using dry, soaked garbanzo beans means you don’t need to add baking soda or flour to your mixture. They will come out light and fluffy inside because the beans cook just enough once fried if they’ve soaked long enough.
Keep the size of your falafel smaller than you think. About the size of a golf ball is what I am for. This way, you get a nice crunch with every bite. I remembered traveling through Jordan and Egypt and how good the falafel was everywhere I went! The reason? The falafel were small. Keeping the falafel small is the key to crispy crunchy falafel!
They MUST be chilled before frying to prevent them from falling apart.
Make sure your frying oil stays around 350F to keep the falafel from burning or sogging up too much oil. Adjust the temperature when necesssary.
I made a video so you can see just how easy you can make falafel. Scroll to the bottom of this post!
Falafel Ingredients
Make sure to chill rolled Falafel
Pandemic Adaptability
So, as I am writing this post, I realize we are in an uncertain time with a Pandemic in the midst of our daily lives. Which means that you may or may not have the ability to source all of the ingredients needed to make the perfect falafel. Have no fear. My main motive here is that your method yields tasty results. The rest is non-essential (sorry, this word might be triggering for some Phoenicians, including myself!) to making a tasty falafel. Make sure you follow rules 1-5 above. Where can you substitute or bend the rules a little?
Having dried beans is a must for me when we are dealing with stretching out grocery runs, being in lock downs, etc. I made sure to grab a few lbs of bulk bin beans on every trip to the store I made! That means plenty of lentils, fava beans, garbanzos, navy beans, white beans, etc. If you don’t have lentils, you can do like the Egyptians do and use split fava beans, or try and even mix garbanzos or fava beans!
If you don’t have all the herbs needed it’s ok! Just make sure the ratio of herbs to beans is pretty equal. I used 2 cups of beans to roughly 2 cups of herbs. Which means you can use just parsley and cilantro or a little more of one over the other. Or use scallions and parsley, or parsley cilantro and mint…etc. You get the idea don’t you? Use what you have and have fun with it! Just keep in mind, if you go full on with the mint, you might have over done it!
Do you only have shallots and no garlic or scallions? Fine! No shallots, scallions or garlic? Use a quarter of a white or yellow onion. I won’t tell anyone.
Don’t have all the dry spices? Skip the dried mint and fennel powder if you have to. Those were my added touches to make the perfect tasting falafel. Cumin and Coriander are pretty common place in the spice cabinet. If you want to know where to find the dry mint and fennel? Your local Middle Eastern Grocer will definitely have them stocked!
