Lebanese | mycooksNclicks

(Chickpea and spinach fritters with Chickpea dip)

Falafel is the Middle eastern food, often served with pita bread or with dip/sauces.

Its an deep fried ball/patty, it can be baked also. I tried the fried version 🙂 .

I happened to eat this for first time in food court in New Delhi. We liked it, and then there was a request placed by my hubby to try making them at home. Well, me being a complete foodie don’t need requests to try out new stuff at home but it always makes me feel nice when hubby asks for it….I googled and got to know what are the main ingredients for making falafel.

In south India deep fried fritters/vadai is made with Bengal gram (split). We soak the Bengal gram overnight and then grind it coarse along with onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli and dill leaves and deep fried. These can be eaten with coconut chutney and they are heavenly.

Falafel is also done in the same way. Soak chickpea (dried) overnight, drain and grind it coarse with onion, ginger, garlic, coriander, parsley.

I replaced coriander and parsley with spinach as I did not have them when I decided to make.

Ingredients

2 cups Dried Chickpeas (kabuli chana)
1 bunch washed and chopped spinach
2 medium size Onions , finely chopped
½ tbsp fresh young ginger, grated
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tbsp cornflour
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Drain them and remove all water.
In food processor add all the above mentioned ingredients except for breadcrumbs and cornflour.
Once the coarse mixture is done, add bread crumbs and cornflour and grind or mix well.
If you take the mix in hand and make a ball it should not fall off. If there is still moisture in the mixture then frying will not be possible.
Add more breadcrumbs and cornflour , but be careful to not over add as it will change the taste.
Now take some mix in your hand and make either balls/patties.
Do the same for rest of mix and refrigerate for atleast one hour.
Heat oil in pan/kadai .
The temperature of oil should be 350 deg F.
Deep fry the falafel until golden brown.

Serve them hot with dip/sauce

Hummus is once such middle eastern dip. This is also made of chickpea but the chickpeas are boiled and then mashed.

Ingredients

2 cups dry chick peas
2 tsp salt
juice of half of a lemon
3 tbsp tahini (seasame paste)
1 tbsp ground cumin
2-3 garlic cloves
½ cup water (or more if needed)
⅓ cup olive oil

Method

Soak chick peas overnight.
Cook in pressure cooker until it becomes soft and mushy.
Add everything in processor and grind to make a smooth paste.