Israel’s national favorite of all is Falafel. Recipes of this treat with various ingredients are available to everyone today. Cooking it at home is quite simple. No special accessories or rare products are required for this.

Falafel - what is it?

The dish in question regularly appears on tables in eastern families. But falafel was especially fond of the inhabitants of Israel. What is it, even a small child knows there. In the country, businessmen, students, and schoolchildren eat it for lunch. We can say that the dish has become a kind of symbol of the country.

The treats discussed are crispy balls of chickpeas or beans with various spices, deep-fried. To prepare them, the bean culture is usually first boiled with seasonings, and then rubbed to a porridge state. The resulting mass is fried in hot oil until a delicious crust appears.

Falafel is served in many ways. For example, balls can be combined with meat or fish as a side dish. They are especially tasty according to the shawarma principle, wrapped in fragrant pita bread, as well as topped with fresh vegetables and spicy sauce.

Classic chickpea falafel - a step by step recipe

Such a treat will appeal not only to vegetarians, but also to everyone who loves unusual spicy oriental dishes. The main thing is not to regret seasonings and, of course, choose a quality chickpea (230 g). Also need to use: 1 tbsp. sesame seeds, a bunch of green onions and cilantro, 3. tsp each lemon juice, coriander, cumin, a pinch of chili pepper, olive oil. How to cook falafel from chickpeas is described in detail below.

  1. The first step is to properly prepare chickpeas for further processing. To do this, the product should be soaked in cold water for several hours (at least 6). Ideally, leave it in the liquid in the refrigerator all night.
  2. Sesame seeds are fried in a dry frying pan until golden, then chopped in a mortar and mixed with a couple of drops of olive oil until a thick slurry is obtained.
  3. Soaked chickpeas with a blender turn into pasta. All spices and chopped herbs are sent to the resulting mass. Olive oil is also added to the ingredients. You can pour it by eye, making sure that in the end the mass was similar in texture to homemade sour cream. All products together also beat well with a blender.
  4. Both mixtures are combined, poured with lemon juice and knead until smooth.
  5. Miniature smooth balls are rolled from the resulting “dough”, which are fried in hot oil. It is most convenient to cook them in a deep saucepan.

Ready meals before serving are laid out on paper napkins to remove excess oil. You can pour it with any yogurt or tomato sauce.

How to cook a dish of green peas?

It’s even easier to cook green pea falafel. For this treat, a frozen product, which is sold in every supermarket today, is perfect. In addition to peas (350 g), you need to use: 1 white onion, a pinch of caraway seeds, zira, coriander and turmeric, a couple of garlic cloves, a bunch of fresh cilantro, 40 g chickpea flour, salt, pepper, oil. Even a novice cook can cook falafel according to this recipe.

  1. Spices are chopped well in a mortar and mixed.
  2. Peas are thawed at room temperature. To do this, you do not need to fill it with warm water or send it to the microwave.
  3. Onions and garlic are chopped in a blender. Then peas are added to them, and the products turn into a uniform dense mass.
  4. It remains to pour into the resulting mixture, finely chopped cilantro and all the spices, as well as salt and pepper the mashed potatoes to taste.
  5. Last of all, chickpea flour is added to the “test”.
  6. The mass turns into small balls, which are deep-fried until crusted.

A treat is served with a green vegetable salad. You can add falafel and beef and tomato meat gravy.

Bean Recipe

Very nutritious is falafel based on white or black beans. It should be boiled until soft. In addition to beans (350 g), you need to use: 170 g of sweet potatoes, 1 tsp. dried onions, and granulated garlic, half lime juice, salt, pepper, oil.

  1. Sweet potatoes are boiled in salted water until tender, and then, together with previously prepared beans, turns into a homogeneous mass.
  2. Seasonings, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste are added to the resulting puree.
  3. Balls of the same size are rolled from the aromatic mass, and then fingers turn into cakes.
  4. Billets on both sides are browned on any vegetable oil.

Ready cakes can be poured with garlic sauce and wrapped in fresh pita bread.

Falafel with the addition of bulgur

In addition to chickpeas, you can add bulgur to falafel. This will make the taste of the finished dish even more interesting. For such a treat you need to use: 230 g of Turkish peas, 70 g of bulgur, 0.5 tsp. cumin, coriander, ground chili pepper and baking powder for dough, 1 white onion, 3-4 cloves of garlic, 120 g of wheat flour.

  1. Chickpeas are soaked in cold water for at least 10 hours.
  2. Soaked Turkish peas, along with onions and a small amount of water (about 3 tablespoons) are turned into a smoothie with a blender.
  3. Salt, chopped garlic, chopped cilantro and bulgur are added to the mass. Let the ingredients stand until the last softens.
  4. It remains to add to the products baking powder, pepper and cumin (mashed).
  5. Flour needs to make the dough thick and sticky. Its quantity can be changed, following the state of the mass.
  6. Balls are molded from the resulting mixture, showered with wheat flour and deep-fried.

Served hot with hummus.

Cooking from chickpea flour

To minimize the cooking process, you can use chickpea flour as a basis. In addition to the main ingredient (230 g), you need to take: 60 g of semolina, a pinch of ground cumin, coriander, curry, cardamom, 1 tsp. soda, white onion, 4 garlic cloves, 50 g gluten-free flour, salt, pepper, corn oil, water.

  1. Chickpea flour is diluted with water to the consistency of a thick slurry.
  2. To the resulting mass is added chopped onions, garlic, semolina, spices, soda, salt, pepper and about 50 ml of warm water.
  3. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed and left for half an hour. During this time, semolina and chickpea flour are soaked.
  4. After this period, gluten-free flour is added to the mass, and tiny balls are formed from it with wet hands.
  5. Round billets are fried until golden in corn oil.

It is most delicious to serve refreshments with thick fermented baked milk and mustard sauce.

Traditional falafel in pita at home

This classic falafel will be a great breakfast, lunch or dinner for the whole family. The dish is tasty and nutritious. To prepare it, you need to take: 450 g of chickpeas, 2 onions, a bunch of fresh cilantro and parsley, 1 tsp. soda, 4 garlic cloves, a pinch of coriander, 6 pits, vegetable salad of any ingredients, seasoned with sour cream with garlic, salt, oil, breadcrumbs.

  1. Turkish peas are poured with a large amount of cold water with soda and cleaned on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, all night. The next morning it will be covered with abundant foam, but this is normal.
  2. In the morning, the chickpeas are washed well, and then, together with onions, garlic and herbs, are passed through a meat grinder or chopped to a puree state using a blender.
  3. Salt and coriander are sent to the resulting "minced meat".
  4. Often, due to the juiciness of greens, the mass turns out to be liquidish. This is easily fixed with breadcrumbs.
  5. After thorough mixing, a thick, dense mixture should appear in the bowl.
  6. Small pieces of "minced meat" are fried in hot oil until golden brown. It is important that the product is deodorized. Regular oil can ruin the taste of treats.
  7. In each pit, an incision is made into which the prepared falafel and vegetable salad are placed.

If the vegetable salad was seasoned with ordinary oil or was cooked without sauce at all, then the dish should be sour cream or unsweetened yogurt with spices before serving.

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