Homemade Falafel Recipe (Vegan, Gluten-free)
Falafel is a delicious and addictive Middle Eastern fast food recipe prepared using chickpeas, herbs, and spices. These fritters (patties or balls) are crispy on the outside with a light and tender texture inside.
Servings: 20 falafel
Calories: 39kcal
Equipment
- Pan for frying
Ingredients
- 1 cup Chickpeas or Garbanzo, dried
- 1 Onion , roughly chopped, medium sized
- 5 cloves Garlic
- ½ cup Cilantro or Coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 ½ cups Parsley , roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin seeds or ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon Coriander seeds or ground coriander
- 5 Black peppercorns or approximately ¼ teaspoon pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon Red chile powder or Cayenne powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt , adjust to taste
- 2 tablespoon Sesame seeds (optional)
- 2 tablespoon Chickpea flour or all purpose flour (optional, check tips)
- Oil for frying
Instructions
Soak the dried chickpeas.
- Pour the chickpeas into a large container with cold water and let it soak overnight. See that it is properly covered in water. They will double in size as they soak.1 cup Chickpeas
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
Make the falafel mixture
- Add chickpeas into a food processor, blender, or chopper and coarsely grind. Do not add any water during this process. Transfer this to a bowl.
- Grind onions, garlic, cilantro, parsley, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, red chile powder, and salt in a food processor, scraping down the sides as necessary until the mixture is finely ground. Transfer this to the same bowl. (If you have a large food processor, you can blend everything together.)1 Onion, 5 cloves Garlic, ½ cup Cilantro, 1 ½ cups Parsley, ¼ tsp Cumin seeds, ½ tsp Coriander seeds, 5 Black peppercorns, ½ tsp Red chile powder, 1 ½ tsp Salt
- Now mix all the ingredients and sesame seeds and knead them with your hand to get a dough texture. That is, it should hold together when pressed with your hands. If it's too dry, you can splash some water and knead. If it is too wet, add chickpea flour or all-purpose flour. (check tips)2 tbsp Sesame seeds, 2 tbsp Chickpea flour
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour before frying.
Form falafel patties or balls
- Divide the mixture into 20 equal portions. With your moistened hands, shape them into balls or patties. (check tips)
- Do not flatten them too much.
Fry crispy falafel
- Heat oil in pan on medium flame for frying.Oil
- Cook the falafel in batches on medium flame until they are crispy and golden brown all over. This might take about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Transfer it to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- If you cannot form balls from the dough, you may have to transfer it to a food processor again to make it finer. If you still have trouble binding, add 2 to 3 tablespoon of all-purpose flour or, corn flour or chickpea flour and knead.
- What I generally like to do is to just try frying one falafel before the first batch to see if the dough has bound nicely and if the oil is at the right temperature.
- See that the oil is not too hot. This will brown your falafel faster but remain uncooked from the inside. The best practice is to always fry on medium flame once the oil is hot and the cooking time is approximately 5 to 6 minutes.
- To check if the oil is hot, drop a piece of dough, and it should sizzle and come up immediately. The temperature should be approximately 375 degrees F.
- Never overcrowd the pan if you want crispy falafel.
- You can substitute cumin seeds and coriander seeds with their respective powders.
- Fava beans can be used instead of chickpeas to make falafel.
Nutrition
Calories: 39kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 179mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 424IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg