Falafel - Fritter or Wrap?

Origin

The word falāfil is of Arabic origin. There is a lot of from this borrowed from this but it all comes down to: filfal, from Aramaic pilpāl 'small round thing, peppercorn', derived from palpēl 'to be round, roll' which clearly describes the shape of the bean fritters called falafel. It became used in English in 1941.

The origin of falafel is a little controversial. It definitely comes from the middle east but the exact place is what causes the problems; Egypt, Israel, and Palestine all claim it was them that created falafel.

In Egypt a similar recipe for ta’amia may be the parent food leading me to believe that it is also the origin place of falafel. More specifically it’s thought that its origin is Alexandria and since that is a port city falafel quickly became a fast food. It would be wrapped in paper and sent on its way and this would have been an easy way to export the food, recipe and name form there.

I also found out that the way I make falafel is not technically correct! You’re actually not supposed to cook your beans! They are soaked and then ground up just like that. Unfortunately, I don't have the tools to do this properly right now so I'm sticking with the “modern way.” Perhaps in the future I will go for a more accurate recipe. Until then I'll continue working on perfecting and experimenting with this one!

Ingredients
all link on ingredients are to the ingredient spotlight posts of this blog

2 cups cooked Chickpeas
¾ cup Fresh parsley (as is, not chopped or pressed)
1/8 - 1/4 of a red onion
¼ cup* Flour (AP or Chickpea)
2-3 cloves Garlic
½ tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Cumin

Oil for cooking








Tools

Food processor
Bowl
Frying pan or heavy bottomed pot

Directions

Grab your food processor and toss in your chickpeas, onion, garlic and parsley. Process these ingredients until no large pieces are left. A little texture in your mixture is fine but large chunks will make it hard to get the mixture to stick together. Add in all the spices and pulse a few times to mix them in.

Move your mixture to a bowl and stir in the baking powder.

A little bit at a time mix in your flour. You want to add only as much as is needed to get the mixture to stick together. You will then want to move the mixture to your fridge and let sit for an hour.

** I think I made a mistake here and you would be better off making falls and then chilling those. So i will be trying that method and will update this if i decide that's a better option.

Heat, on medium heat, about a half inch of cooking oil in your pan while you begin the balling process. You want to use about two tablespoons of mixture for each falafel and roll it into a ball or disk (i did disks because i thought they'd cook nicer since I wasn't deep frying them.) Once you have a few for reference it's not necessary to keep measuring if you feel confident eyeballing it.

 
 
 

You will want to cook each falafel until both sides are golden brown. For me it took about 3 minutes each side. The less you touch them the faster and better that searing will be.

Remove to a paper towel or cooling rack (with something underneath it) to let the excess oil come away. You can serve them right away, hot; let them cool, or; store in an airtight container to eat later.

 
 
 

Serving

Historically falafel was eaten as an appetizer with dip. Not too long after it found a new way to be served with pita or other flat breads. Modernly we know it this way and the word has become synonymous with the sandwich or wrap itself. However, falafel is a fantastic vegetarian alternative in many ways. My favourites are still these two traditional ways but falafel can be used to top salads, as burger patties or meatballs! I could even see them being used on kebabs (you'd have to be careful though.) I haven't personally tried them all of these ways so if you choose to branch out please let me know in the comments below how your experimentation went!

Short and Gritty

Ingredients

2 cups cooked Chickpeas
¾ cup Fresh parsley (as is, not chopped or pressed)
1/8 - 1/4 of a red onion
¼ cup* Flour (AP or Chickpea)
2-3 cloves Garlic
½ tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Cumin

Oil for cooking

Tools

Food processor
Bowl
Frying pan or heavy bottomed pot

 

Directions

1. In food processor combine chickpeas, onion, garlic and parsley until fine.
2. Add spices and pulse
3. Remove to bowl and stir in baking powder

4. Slowly add flour until mixture can be moulded

5. Refrigerate for an hour

6. Make balls of about 2 tbsp mixture

7. Fry both sides until golden brown, about 3 minutes each side

8. Let drip, and/or cool, and serve or store.