What you need
500g dried chickpeas (about 2 cups, not canned!), breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, parsley, cumin powder, black pepper, baking powder, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, couscous, and lettuce (optional: corn starch, sesame seeds, and jalapeƱos)
What you do
Falafel (yields about 16 balls)
- Soak 500g dried chickpeas overnight in water, then drain them before blending.
- Blend 400g chickpeas (reserve the remaining 100g for hummus), Ā½ onion, 3-4 cloves garlic, 1 bunch parsley, 1T salt, 1T cumin powder, 1T black pepper, 1T baking powder, and 3T breadcrumbs (optional: 1T corn starch, 2T sesame seeds) in a blender until well combined.
- Shape the mixture into 1.5-inch round balls or small patties.
- Deep-fry, rolling them in the oil until the surface turns golden brown. Transfer to a frying rack to cool and drain.
Garlic sauce
- Blend 70g garlic first.
- Gradually add 40ml lemon juice, 200ml olive oil, 0.5T water, and 1T salt while blending.
- Adjust salt and lemon juice to taste.
Tahini sauce
- Blend 60g tahini, 20g lemon juice, 30g garlic, 1g salt, and 25g water until smooth.
Hummus
- Blend 100g chickpeas, 1T tahini, 0.5T lemon juice, 2g cumin, 2g garlic powder, 2g salt, 30g olive oil, and 1T water until smooth.
- Add more water if needed and blend again for a creamy texture.
Once done, place the falafel, couscous, garlic sauce/tahini sauce or both, jalapeƱos, lettuce, and hummus into a bowl (I used Instant Couscous from Near Eastš).
Lab notes
For my first try, I used canned chickpeas, and they scattered all over the frying oil, which turned into a bit of a disasterš¬ I learned the hard way that you need to use dried chickpeas and soak them beforehand. I hope you won’t make the same mistakeš¤
I found that the garlic sauce ended up being a bit too sour, and I’m not sure where that came from.
I absolutely loved the combination of nutty flavors and the spiciness from the jalapeƱos.