Fabulous Falafel
A plate of flavourful falafel balls served with pita bread stuffed with tahini yoghurt, sliced tomatoes, pickles, cucumber, lettuce and rocket is popular at iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast after sunset during Ramadan (Feb 28th-March 30th, 2025). Optional additions include baba gannouj, hummus and chopped green chillies.
About this Recipe
By: Sheridan Rogers
Make sure to begin your preparation 24 hours ahead and to use dried chickpeas, not canned or cooked chickpeas, and to soak them overnight. It helps to have wet hands when forming the patties. To deep fry them, add about 7.5cm oil to the frying pan and heat to 180C (it’s ready when a cube of bread sizzles slowly and turns a pale golden brown). I prefer to fry mine in a shallow film of oil.
Ingredients
Makes about 30
- dried chickpeas, 300g (2 1/2 cups)
- water, to cover
- bi-carbonate of soda, 1/2 teaspoon
- fresh flat parsley leaves, 11/2 cups
- fresh coriander leaves, 1 1/2 cups
- fresh celery leaves, 1 cup
- small brown onion, 1, quartered
- long green chilli, 1, roughly chopped
- garlic, 6 – 8 cloves, peeled
- ground cumin, 1 tablespoon (heaped)
- ground coriander, 1 tablespoon (heaped)
- sea salt, 1 teaspoon
- baking powder, 1 teaspoon
- toasted sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons
- vegetable oil, for frying
- Tahini Yoghurt Sauce:
- natural yoghurt, 185ml
- tahini paste, 3 tablespoons
- garlic, 1 clove, crushed
- lemon, 1, juiced
The day before, soak the chickpeas in the water and bi-carbonate of soda. Next day, drain well and pat dry on a teatowel.
Place the chickpeas in the large bowl of a food processor or Thermomix with the fresh herbs, onion, garlic and spices, pulsing on and off every 30-40 seconds and scraping down the sides until mixture resembles the texture of coarse sand.
Transfer to a container and cover tightly. Refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.
Remove from fridge and stir through the baking powder and sesame seeds.
Use your hands, an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to form small balls, about 28g each.
If the mix is too dry, add a little water or lemon juice. If too wet, add a tablespoon of plain flour or chickpea flour.
Heat the oil in a frying pan (see above), drop the patties in and fry 3 minutes on each side or until crispy and medium brown on the outside. Remove to a platter lined with paper towels. Work in batches to avoid crowding the falafel in the pan.
Serve the falafel hot in pita pockets or Lebanese bread drizzled with Yoghurt Tahini Sauce along with some pickled turnips, sliced tomatoes and cucumber, lettuce and rocket.
For the Tahini Yoghurt Sauce: mix all the ingredients together. Thin with a litle water if needed – it should be the consistency of honey. Taste and adjust flavours with more salt or lemon juice.