I love Falafel with all its fixings — for me, that means the Falafel itself, good whole wheat Pita (I prefer Lebanese style Pita), creamy Hummus, Jerusalem/Israeli Salad, Tahina and good hot sauce, which for me is either Z’hug or Harif. What an amazing combination of flavors and textures!
FALAFEL MIX
(Makes 1.5 Pints – or 27 3/4 oz. balls or patties)
Ingredients
- Fava beans – dried, split, peeled – about 1-1/2 cups or half a one-pound bag. You will need 3-1/2 cups after the beans have been soaked overnight & drained. If these fava beans are not available, dried chickpeas will work.
- Garlic, 2 cloves or 1 tsp.
- Onion, 1/2 large Spanish onion
- Parsley, 3 oz.
- Salt, 1 tsp.
- Cumin, 1 tsp.
- Allspice, 1 tsp.
- Szeged hot paprika, 1 tsp.
Directions
- Wash parsley, then wrap in white cloth towel to dry.
- Drain pre-soaked fava beans (or chickpeas) thoroughly.
- Place cut-up parsley and onion in the processor bowl. Add garlic and seasonings.
- Turn processor on for 30 seconds, then scrape down. Process another 30 seconds and scrape down again.
- Add 3-1/2 cups soaked, drained beans.
- Pulse 10 times, then scrape down. Repeat this step 3 times (for a total of 30 pulses).
- Process for 30 seconds-1 minute, then stop and push mix toward the middle.
- Process until mixture looks uniformly processed into coarse meal.
To make the Falafel, shape into balls. A candy scoop helps this process. Drop into deep oil pre-heated to 375 degrees, and fry until done, about 3 minutes. I like my Falafel with a lot of green, which may make make them turn darker when they fry.