“You need to have a good relationship with your masher.” Stephen says, halfway through mashing his falafel mixture. Falafel is a popular Lebanese dish, made predominantly from chickpeas.
This quick and simple recipe pairs with an extremely wide variety of middle eastern food, and is a good protein for any occasions.
Speaking of protein, watch our video to see Stephen make his falafel recipe with a potato masher, and raw force of will.
Stephen’s Falafel tips
The most significant ingredient in falafel is the parsley, which Stephen chops up finely. “The fineness of the parsley doesn’t matter so much.” he says, while working. “It will mostly impact the colour of your falafel at the end.” especially since he’s going to mash the falafel later. It just needs to be fine enough to mix in. “I like a nice green falafel.”
He combines his parsley, chickpeas and spices into his mixing bowl.
“The spices are all to your liking.” he says. He likes cumin, so he uses a lot.
Falafel is a simple recipe, with one big step: the mashing. Stephen does this by hand for his recipe, but recommends you use a food processor if you have one. “It takes some effort. If you’re not sweating, you’re not mashing enough.”
He says that with a food processor falafel can be prepared in under 5 minutes, omitting baking time of course.
But if you do decide to mash by hand, invest in a good masher. “It will just make you happier.”
Stephen lays out his falafel on a baking sheet with a little oil coating it. He flips each falafel puck once to get oil on both sides. It will help with the cooking.
He puts them in the oven for 30 minutes. He forgets to flip them until 25 minutes, but they still come out golden brown.
Stephen says serve your falafel with tahini sauce, and tabouli!
Dietary notes
Dairy free, nut free, peanut free, vegetarian, vegan
What you’ll need:
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (15 mL) cumin
1 teaspoon (5 mL) coriander
3 tablespoons (45 mL) flour
Salt
Pepper
Oil for baking
Steps:
Combine chickpeas, shallots, garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, flour, salt and pepper and mash or blend until you have a gritty mixture which holds together.
Pour some oil on your baking sheet.
Form the mixture into pucks approximately 1 inch in diameter.
Place each puck on the baking sheet. Rub it in the oil, flip it, and rub it in the oil again, so that each puck has a little oil coating both sides.
Bake at 450 for 30 minutes, flipping once, until golden.
Serve with tahini sauce, and enjoy!
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