Chickpea Falafel

Falafel is a popular middle eastern food made of a mixture of chickpea, herbs and spices that are made into small balls. This vegan dish is made with simple ingredients and you just wonder how easy is it to prepare !!!

I have tried the deep fried recipe of the Falafel. You can bake it too.

Ingredients (Makes 30 small pieces)

Soaking time – overnight Preparation time – 10 mins Cooking time – 20 mins

• Chickpea – 1 cup
• Onion – 1 medium, roughly chopped
• Garlic – 7 cloves, roughly chopped
• Coriander leaves – 1/2 bunch, roughly chopped
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Cumin powder – 2 tsp
• Coriander powder – 2 tsp
• Baking soda – 1 tsp
• White Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp
• Lemon juice – 1 tsp
• Salt – as needed
• Pepper – as needed
• Oil – to deep fry

Tahini Sauce

• Sesame oil – 1 tsp
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp
• White sesame seeds – 4 tbsp
• Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
• Cumin powder – 1/4 tsp
• Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped
• Water – as required

Steps

• Soak the chickpeas overnight in water.
• Drain the chickpeas and dry it to make sure that it is not moist.

• Dry roast white sesame seeds till golden brown.
• Add the dried chickpeas, onion, garlic, 1 tbsp of roasted sesame seeds and blend it.
• Add coriander leaves, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, baking soda, lemon juice, salt and pepper to the blended mixture and mix well.

• Use your hands to form small sized balls.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the falafel balls.

• Fry until golden brown.
• To prepare the tahini sauce, dry roast the sesame seeds and add it to a blender along with all the other ingredients and blend it smooth.

Serve the Falafel with the Tahini sauce !!!

Key points

• Make sure to soak the chickpeas overnight.
• Dry the chickpeas completely before preparing Falafel.
• Based on your spice levels, adjust the red chilli powder.