Daring Dinners: Falafel at Home

Whenever I talk about falafel, even in person, I usually end my sentence with the word "yum". I can't help it, I am just crazy about fried chick pea patties.

Falafel

1 cup dried chick peas, rehydrated overnight

1 white onion

3 cloves garlic

2 stems of parsley, chopped

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

4 tbsp. flour

After soaking my chickpeas over night, I threw them into my blender along with the onion, garlic, parsley and seasonings. It was a little tricky in the blender- a food processor would be much easier to mix everything together. I blended together what I could, and then when the mix stopped blending, I would clean out the paste on the bottom and repeat this process with any leftover solid peas. Once it forms into a chunky paste, it is time to add in the baking powder and flour. The paste can then be formed into little 1.5" round patties, and set aside.

Before frying I prepared my garnishes to stuff into the my pita. This included green leaf lettuce, shredded carrot, chopped up cucumbers, and instead of the traditional tahini, I used Annie's Asian Sesame dressing.

Heat a layer of canola oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Gently place the falafel patties into the oil, and let each side brown nicely for roughly 3-4 minutes. Transfer these onto a plate lined with a paper towel, and then assemble your pita with the garnishes and falafel. Yum.