The people live in Berlin knows that there are a lot of Arabic, Turkish and other Middle Eastern shops. What do they have in common? They all sell chickpeas cheaper than any German store!! In fact, Chinese stores and Indian stores also sell them much much cheaper than German stores. The golden rule is: buy the ingredients from people who eat them.
These are nice crunchy balls that keep me going for more! I just love the flavor when cumin is added to chickpea anything (like the crunchy roasted chickpeas previously posted)!
Chickpeas and cumin are BFF (best friend forever)!
These are a few of the ingredients that used in my falafel
It can totally be eaten as a whole fulling meal itself. Garnishing with parsley leaves and some diced up tomatoes. I am tempted to say that falafel is a really nice summer finger food, snack or meal. I guess it can also be made for a small gathering as a finger food or snack. Anyways, you get the idea, it's a small delight all by itself!
Falafel
Preparation time: 10 - 15 minutes (plus 8 hours of chickpea soaking)
Frying time: 20 - 30 minutes
Yield: about 15 - 20 balls of size 3 - 3.5 cm
| Metrics Measurements | U.S. Measurements | Ingredients |
| 240 mL | 1 cup | dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) (Kichererbsen) (I don't think you can use canned chickpeas for this recipe, the flavor the the crunchiness not going to be there if you use the canned chickpeas) |
| (15 mL) | (1 tbsp) | ¼ lemon, juiced (use lime if you can't fine lemon, or improvise with vinegar if you really can't find both) |
| (5 mL) | (1 tsp) | ¼ of a fresh thin chili pepper, finely chopped (Pepperoni) (if you can't find chili pepper, use chili flakes or chili powder) |
| 205 mL | ¾ cup | fresh parsley, finely chopped (Petersilie) (if you can't find fresh parsley, use fresh cilantro/coriander tender parts) |
| 5 mL | 1 tsp | ground coriander seeds |
| 15 mL | 1 tbsp | ground cumin (Cumin ist kein "Kümmel") |
| 5 mL (10g) | 1 tsp | salt |
| 2.5 mL | ½ tsp | ground black pepper |
| 2.5 mL | ½ tsp | baking soda (Natron) |
| 15 mL | 1 tbsp | sesame seeds (roasted or unroasted) |
Direction:
1. Soak the chickpeas for at least 8 hours or over night, till it is soaked to the center. Warm water soaks faster. Chickpeas grow about 1/3 of its dried size after fully soaked. (Listen to the chickpea soak, it makes sounds!!)
2. Drain water out of the chickpeas and put the chickpeas into a blender or food processor. Even though you drained the water out, but the chickpeas are soaked so fully that its water is enough.
3. Blend the chickpeas till it is in fine and consistent small pieces. You may need to stop and stir by spoon then continue blending a couple of times. You want them to be into small pieces (about 1mm to 2 mm), but not into a smooth paste. When finished, dump it out into a bowl.
Chickpeas in the blender, almost finished and what it looks like when it is completely finished
4. Juice the lemon into the bowl. Add ground coriander seed, cumin, salt, black pepper, baking soda and sesame seeds into the mixture and mix well.
5. Heat up a pan with a 2-mm layer of vegetable oil over medium heat.
6. Meanwhile, form the chickpea mixture into small balls of around 3 - 3.5 cm in diameter and put them onto the frying pan. Turn the balls around after 3 - 5 minutes or when it gets light brownish tan. Once the balls have tan all around, you can take them out and dig in!!
Serve with some diced tomatoes, cucumbers and some parsley as garnish!
The fine pieces of chickpeas after finished blending
Spices are mixed into the chickpea mass
Frying the falafel balls
How it looks like on the inside of the falafel balls
Do you have more chickpeas and don't know what to do with them? Here's hummus recipe and roasted chickpeas recipe!
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