Falafel w/ Dill & Green Onions
Falafel is incredibly fun and relatively easy to make at home. Just soak chickpeas and blend with garlic, shallots, green onions, and dill. You can mix and match your own flavor profiles to taste. But the same basic principles apply. Use DRIED, not CANNED chickpeas because they must be soaked and not cooked. Pulse in the food processor until crumbly. And fry with your preferred method of choice. I lightly fried mine in oil on the stove, but you can also deep fry, air fry, or bake falafel.
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Skillet (preferably cast iron)
- Stovetop (or Deep Fryer)
Ingredients
- 1 c. dried chickpeas soaked overnight (NOT canned & NOT cooked)
- 1/2 shallot minced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp. salt
- dash pepper
- dash cayenne powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. coriander
- 1/8 tsp. fenugreek (optional, if you can find it)
- 3 sprigs green onion
- 1 c. dill (~1/2 bunch, you can also use parsley, cilantro, dill, or any combination thereof)
- dollop high-heat oil
Instructions
Soak Chickpeas
- Place dried chickpeas in a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak overnight, or for 12-24 hours.The chickpeas will roughly double in size, so make sure to use a large enough bowl and add enough water to accommodate this. Roughly 2-3 inches should be enough. Although it can also help to drain and refill with cold water at least once, especially if you’re soaking for more than 12 hours.
Prepare Falafel
- After at least 12 hours, drain the water from the chickpeas.
- Place all ingredients, except for the high heat oil, into a food processor. Pulse until chickpeas just start to break down. You don’t want large chunks of chickpeas or onions, but you also don’t want a paste. You’re shooting for roughly the texture of very coarse cornmeal.
- Remove from the food processor and chill for at least 15 minutes.
- Ball up a little of the chilled batter. They should be about an inch wide and you should be able to get about two dozen falafel out of this recipe.
Lightly Fry
- Meanwhile, heat high-temperature cooking oil over medium-high heat. I like to do this in a cast iron pan, but any high-temperature skillet is fine.
- Gently slide into the oil with a slotted metal spoon or deep fryer basket. The heated oil may sputter, so don't do this with your hands and keep your face away from the oil!
- Cook for 2-3 minutes and then rotate, cooking another 2-3 minutes until the falafel is crisp and lightly browned on the outside.It can be helpful to do this is small batches. If the falafel comes out super hard a crispy or if the oil spatters violently when you add the batter, turn down the temperature and let rest for a few minutes before proceeding again. The goal is a light fry, not a deep fry.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- Do not let the chickpeas soak for more than 24 hours! This is important. Chickpeas need to absorb water to soften them enough to eat. However, soaking up too much water can make them difficult to fry. Twelve hours is ideal. Although there is some wiggle room there. Just don't let them soak for more than 24 hours.
- This is also why you don’t want to use cooked or canned chickpeas. Chickpeas need to be soaked before they’re cooked. They will absorb even more liquid during the process, though. When chickpeas over-hydrate, their starch molecules will burst. Best case scenario, this can leave you with a gritty texture. Worst case scenario, your falafels are going to break apart during the frying process.
- I don’t like to deep fry things. It requires more oil than I’m willing to put into most endeavors, is potentially quite messy, and I just simply don’t like consuming that much oil! So, oftentimes I’ll lightly fry or air fry things. You can certainly fill a high heat pot with high heat oil and deep fry falafel, though. This will cut your cooking time down. I have more specific instructions for this in the article above.