Hul toredo/toredeena falafel?

In English, do you want a falafel sandwich?

Photo by US Masala

I've been wanting to make falafel and if I remembered it correctly, I wasn't very successful the first time I tried.  Just an hour ago, I made my first successful version of this wonderful protein-rich dish from the Middle East.  According to Denise Hazime, founder of DedeMed Mediterranean Cooking, falafel is traditionally made with fava beans.   As the recipe moved North along the Mediterranean, people began to combine it with chickpeas.  Some also use mung beans, I believe.

A bottle of tahini is very expensive here so I didn't bother getting one.  I thought I'd made my own version so what I did was research on the basics and see if I can let go of the other ingredients like the fresh parsley and cilantro.  Although it would taste much better with those fresh herbs.

From what I gathered, I could make a simple falafel with the following ingredients: chickpeas, onions, garlic, parsley, coriander powder, cumin powder, flour, and salt and pepper.  Since I'm just here for one week, I looked at what RJ and his flatmates have in their kitchen.  I saw a bottle of curry powder and thought I'd simply use that instead of coriander and cumin powder.  Instead of using flour also, I used egg as binder.

Here's exactly what I did.  I emptied one 15 oz can of chickpeas in a colander and let it drain for a few hours.  Once the drained, I mashed the chickpeas with a fork, added a handful of chopped white onions, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 teaspoons of curry powder, and 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper.  I then mixed everything together before I added one egg.  Again, I mixed the "dough" well until everything is incorporated.  I let the mixture stand for 10 minutes before I formed it into 1 tablespoon balls.  Then I fried the falafel balls in a medium hot vegetable oil for about 2 minutes per side.  They didn't have paper towels so I simply placed the cooked falafel balls on a plate after frying.

I made a simple garlic sauce by combining 2 cloves of minced garlic in one cup of plain yoghurt... sliced some tomatoes, cucumber, and white onions... arranged the fresh vegetables on a pita bread and placed 2 falafel balls on top.  Spread some garlic-yoghurt sauce on top and folded the bread.  Took my first bite and alhumdoolillah, it was yummy.

For a more professional way of preparing a falafel, here's DedeMed's video on how to make a falafel.  Enjoy.



Lazeez!