Falafel is a popular traditional Middle Eastern food made from chickpea as the main ingredient. It is great as a healthy snack, starter or a quick lunch. Although falafel is readily available in most supermarkets, I prefer to make falafel myself, not only to ensure it is wheat/gluten-free, but also I like to add a lot of parsley and use good oil for frying. This homemade falafel tastes much nicer compared to supermarket bought version, which is quite dry. It is very easy and cheap to make falafel at home. Try it for yourself...
Ingredients
(make about 12 balls)
200g dry chickpeas, soaked in water overnight (or at least 10 hours) and well drained
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 handfuls flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp gluten-free flour (e.g gram flour or rice flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
Olive oil or avocado oil for frying
For tahini sauce:
1 tbsp tahini paste
2 tbsp warm water (more or less)
2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
a pinch of sea salt and chopped coriander leaves
Put the chickpeas and onion in a food processor bowl and blend for a few minutes until the texture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the rest of the ingredients and blend again until well combined. Scoop out 1 table spoonful of the mixture and make it into a ball (If the mixture is too wet, add a bit more of flour and blend again). Put the falafels in the fridge to rest for about 1 hour (don't skip this, otherwise the falafel ball might fall apart easily during frying).
To make tahini sauce, add all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well until combine (adjust the thickness to your liking).
Fry the falafel in the oil using low-medium heat until lightly golden brown. Serve warm with the tahini sauce.
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