Levantine · Main
Falafel
Soaked — never cooked — chickpeas are non-negotiable; the coarse grind fries into a crackling crust around a steamy, herb-green heart
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- Dried chickpeas, soaked 24 h — 350 g
- Onion — 100 g
- Garlic cloves — 12 g
- Coriander (leaves and stems) — 60 g
- Flat-leaf parsley — 40 g
- Ground cumin — 6 g
- Ground coriander — 5 g
- Fine sea salt — 10 g
- Bicarbonate of soda — 3 g
- Sesame seeds — 20 g
- Neutral oil for frying — 1500 ml
- Tahini — 120 g
- Lemon juice — 50 ml
- Iced water — 90 ml
Method
- Drain chickpeas thoroughly. Grind with onion, garlic, herbs, spices and salt in a processor to coarse couscous texture — scrape often, do not purée.
- Rest the mix 30 min chilled so the starches hydrate.
- Tarator: whisk tahini with lemon, a pinch of salt, then iced water until pourable and pale.
- Just before frying, work bicarbonate into the mix. Form 25 g pucks with wet hands; press sesame seeds onto one face.
- Fry at 170 °C, 3–4 min, until deep brown and floating confidently. Drain on a rack.
- Salt immediately out of the oil.