Transcription
Falafel is something that brings so much joy and happiness to my life. I really, I can't get enough of falafel. It's another one of our mezze dishes. It's typically something that's eaten in the morning or for lunch. Like, it's a daytime dish. It's not really an evening thing.
And there's a few things that constitute a good falafel in my opinion. Number one is, it needs to be crispy and crunchy. If it's not crispy and crunchy, that's not falafel. There's a lot of these chain restaurants here that offer falafel, but it's soft and it's dry. And I don't understand why anybody would want that or order that or why they would even sell that. That's not good. But I guess to those that don't know any better, like, that's what they're going to put together. But once you have a really good, proper falafel, you're never going to settle for something like that again.
The second thing is, falafel needs to be served with tahina or tahini. No hummus, no baba ghanoush, none of that. Falafel goes hand in hand with tahina. And it's just a flavor profile thing. Like, they go so perfectly together that I don't want to imagine it any other way. And even if you try it another way, it's never going to be as good as with tahina. So, that's the second thing. It must be served with tahina.
Now, in the Levant, we do our falafel with chickpeas, um, and it's spiced with a few herbs as well. And you'll typically see it on the inside, it's more of a brown color. And then in Egypt, they do their falafel is called ta'ameya. And theirs is done with fava beans instead, and it's actually super, super green inside. And for me, that green is so, what's the word? Appetizing. It's just so appetizing when you see that green inside. It's like fresh. It, it just draws me in. So, I do a happy medium mix where I make my falafel with chickpeas, but I use an absurd amount of herbs to give it that green color. That's just the way I like to have falafel, but you don't have to use as much herbs as I do, and you're going to get the exact same result. It's going to be just as tasty. I'm just doing it for the visual aspect. So, it's important to understand the differences between falafel from the Levant and Egypt or ta'ameya. Um, and I'm doing this happy medium, but I want to stress that we just honor where this comes from and the traditional aspect of this. It's something that brings everybody together. It's a very beautiful dish, and I really hope that this is something you can give a try. So, let's just jump right into it. This is how you make falafel.
>> [music] [music] >> All right. This video, I'm going to step through a few different things. So, I'll have all the sections broken down as always for you to reference and skip to whatever part of this recipe that you need. But first things first, falafel must be made with dry chickpeas. You can't make it with canned. The reason is, canned chickpeas are already cooked, and we don't want to use cooked chickpeas. We want the raw, hydrated chickpeas. So,
>> [music] >> I have one cup of chickpeas here, and I'm going to let them soak overnight in plenty of room temp water so that they can hydrate. Or actually, germinate is the proper term. I was informed in my hummus video that the proper word is germinate. So, I learned something. And the next day, you'll have chickpeas that are basically doubled in size. And I also learned that you can use this water for your plants. So, if you have any plants that are thirsty, that need watering, you can use this, and they'll probably love it. Uh, but if not, you can just strain it and set it aside.
Next, we have the herbs. Like I mentioned, I use a lot of herbs. Like, I'm doing one bunch of cilantro and one bunch of flat-leaf parsley. This is going to get me that really green color I'm looking for, but if you don't want it green, you can always just use a handful of each. It's really up to you. There's no wrong amount here. So, like always, give these guys a good rinse and then spin them dry and then go ahead and set them aside as well.
Next, you're going to need one yellow onion. Go ahead and slice off both ends and then down the middle. And then give them a rough medium dice, I'd say. Doesn't have to be perfect by any means. And set those aside. And then finally, you'll want a few garlic cloves. I'm using three small garlic cloves here. And that's literally it. That's all you need to make falafel. We'll season them, but in terms of raw ingredients, this is it.
So, now let's actually go and make the falafel. For me, I like to use a meat grinder. I have the attachment that goes onto the KitchenAid uh stand mixer. And if you don't have that, a food processor is the next best thing. I'd say though, you want a large food processor because we have a lot of chickpeas and stuff to blitz up here, and the small one is going to be a pain. So, if you have a large food processor, that's the best way to go about this. And the instructions I'm going to give for the grinder are pretty much identical for the food processor, so you can go ahead and follow step by step with me.
What I like to do first is run all the ingredients through first, one by one, to ensure that they're broken down nicely. So, I'm going to do the chickpeas, give those a run through the grinder first. And you can see how nice and fluffy that these come out right away. And then I'm going to put the onion and garlic through. This is going to come out really wet and soupy looking. Um, it's going to add a lot of moisture to the mix. And then finally, the herbs. When you run this through the machine, it's going to come out as like, dark, mushy green consistency, and that's totally fine. Um, and once everything's gone through the grinder, you can see the bowl here. Everything's there. I'm just going to give it a quick mix by hand and then, um, I'm going to throw all of it back through the grinder one final time. And you'll see here that now it's going to come together and create this beautiful bright green falafel come right through.
If you are using the food processor, obviously, you'll just be adding everything to the food processor one by one. So, start with the chickpeas, and then add your garlic and onions, and then add your herbs. And once you have everything blitzed together, you can remove it and kind of give it a rough mix by hand, and then throw it back in. You can also just use a spatula and keep scraping down the sides every so often and blitz it. Um, and then just keep running that until you have a very even distribution of everything. I will say though, just note that the food processor is going to get you a more fine paste-like consistency, and the meat grinder is going to give you a bit more of like a fluffy consistency because it obviously can't process as fine as the food processor. There's no issue with either outcome. Uh, it's just something to take note of in case you're wondering why yours might look different or you're, you know, anxious that yours looks different than how mine does. It doesn't matter. Um, it works perfectly fine out of the food processor as a paste like that.
But this green mix here, like, this is one of my favorite things. I know I say that a lot, and everything is my favorite, but it's just my favorite. Like, look how beautiful and appetizing this green is. I absolutely love it. And now we season. The core seasonings you're going to need are coriander, cumin, [music] and salt. I like to add a touch of heat, so I'll throw in a bit of cayenne pepper, but that's totally optional. You don't need it at all. For the coriander and cumin, I do about a tablespoon of each. Um, you can go less depending on how like fragrant you want it to be with those spices. Uh, that's totally up to you. It's a personal preference on the amount of spice, but it needs to be coriander and cumin. And then obviously, salt it to taste. And [music] the cayenne pepper, I just put enough for myself to feel a subtle burn, but nothing, nothing spicy. I don't want a spicy falafel. I just want a very subtle heat to it. Mix that all together really well, and that is it. That's how you make falafel. Go ahead and set that aside, and we'll come back to this towards the end of the video because now we need to switch over and prep all the sides that are going to go with this. So, that when we eat the falafel, we want to eat it hot, and the sides are all ready to go.
All right. Let's start with the tahini. In Arabic, it's tahina, and in English, tahini. Tahina, like you kind of blend the T and the [music] H together. Tahina. But I'm just going to say tahini cuz I'm talking in English. You'll want to get about a half cup of tahini, and I'm at the end of my jar here. So, [music] I'm just going to use the rest of it. It was about a half a cup, maybe a little bit more. Um, but I'm just going to pour all of that into a small bowl.
>> And then next, you'll need the juice of one lemon. I try to pick super soft and smooth lemons. Those always have the most juice. Um, and the amount of lemon juice you need is a personal choice. I like a bit more tang, so I go for like, really juicy lemons. Um, but all you need is one lemon regardless of the amount of juice. And the reason it's up to you is because we're going to use water to thin this out. So, if you prefer more lemony flavor, use more lemon juice, and then you'll have to use less water to get the consistency that we want.
Next, you're going to salt it to taste, and then just like I said, we're going to dial this in slowly by adding water. I add anywhere from a half tablespoon to a full tablespoon of water at a time, and then I whisk, whisk, whisk until it's fully incorporated. And then you're going to repeat that. Add a little bit of water and then whisk, whisk, whisk until you have like a thick consistency, um, that kind of falls off the whisk easily, but also it's like, not overly watery. You want a happy medium. And you can see here how mine looks. This is, it's much easier to just show you. So, this is what mine looks like. This is what I go for because as this sits on the side, it's going to thicken naturally by itself. The tahini is just going to get thicker as it sits around, especially if you put it in the fridge. So, I go slightly watery, and then that way, as it sits, it's going to thicken it to exactly the consistency I'm looking for.
And now we're going to move on to our other sides. First, I'm getting, get a head of romaine lettuce. Uh, I chop off both ends of the lettuce, break down the leaves, and then give them a good wash and spin them dry. And then from there, stack the leaves on top of each other, and I go for a pretty thin cut. So, bunch these guys up really tight and slice away. And then place them all in a bowl. We always use these bowls. I don't know why, but it's part of the vibe, so [music] we have to keep the experience authentic.
And then next, we have a Roma tomato. Again, it doesn't have to be a Roma tomato. Get whatever tomato looks the best when you're at the store or the market. Um, I'll sometimes use vine ripe tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Campari tomatoes. >> [music] >> They all work perfectly. I've actually never used or even thought to use heirloom tomatoes. Uh, so those could be really nice too when they're in season. Um, but slice them up. I like to do half moon slices for the tomato, and then place them in the bowl with the lettuce.
And next, you're going to get some Middle Eastern style pickles. These are wild cucumbers that are soaked in vinegar. Obviously, it's a pickle. Uh, but they have this distinct kind of matte olive green color, and they're very small, which I think gives them more flavor. You can find these at your local Middle Eastern market. Maybe even a European market will have something similar. Um, but what I'm going to do with them is just slice them up into matchstick size strips, and then I'm going to add them to the bowl. I am missing pickled turnips. Those are the really bright purple ones. You know what I'm talking about? I don't like them, to be honest. They're not my favorite, but traditionally, you should include them as part of this bowl. It is one of the essential garnishes that go with falafel. I'm just not a fan of them. I know I'm not going to eat them, so I don't want to waste it. And then that's it for the sides. So, you can set all of this aside, and let's switch back over to the falafel.
Traditionally, falafel is deep fried, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. This is how you can guarantee that nice crispy exterior. Uh, personally, I don't like it any other way. If I'm going to have falafel, it needs to be deep fried. Now, if deep frying isn't your thing, I think you can brush them generously with some oil and then use an air fryer, and you could get a good result, but I don't know for sure. I don't have an air fryer. Others bake it to make it a bit healthier, but I've never been able to get a good result baking it. So, if you have any success making crispy falafel without having to deep fry, please share cuz I would actually really like to know. I'm very curious cuz I've never been successful in it, and I'm sure someone else watching this video will appreciate [music] the info.
So, to fry these, I'm going to add enough oil to coat, you know, 1 inch deep to a small pot, and then I'm going to place that on high heat, and I'm going to wait for it to heat up to about 350° F. That's the prime temperature for frying pretty much anything. And while that heats up, I'm going to go back to the falafel mix and I'm going to add about a half tablespoon of baking powder to the falafel and put that in just before you fry. This helps bind the falafel together and also, more importantly, it keeps the interior nice and fluffy, so we don't get the center to come out like, really dense. Um, it's not 100% necessary, but it helps. And also, we use these falafel scoops or presses or molds, whatever you want to call it. Basically, you pull back the lever, use a spoon to fill in the mold or the shape, and then shape it up with the spoon, and then just drop this in, release the lever, and it pops right out and into the oil. I'm going to fry five at a time so I don't overcrowd the pot, and I'm going to let them sizzle for about four to five minutes until you have a nice crispy exterior. I did lower the heat down to about medium, medium low at this point so I don't obliterate them. You know, these are, these are herbs, and I don't want it to get destroyed sitting in hot oil, so drop the heat down to maintain a steady temperature rather than keep the flames on high where it's just going to keep getting hotter. You know, we don't want to overdo it.
And once you have these beautiful crispy falafel, remove them from the oil and place on a wire rack so all the excess oil can drip, and we can maintain a nice crisp on them. You don't have to fry the whole batch at once. This mix is good to stay in the fridge for about a week, but obviously, the sooner you make them, the better. I don't like to reheat frying oil too often. Like, if I'm going to fry something, I'm going to use that oil maximum three times before I toss it. So, I went ahead and just fried everything at once, and in total, this made me about 30 to 35 pieces using just one cup of chickpeas. So, that's a pretty decent amount. You know, a good bang for your buck there. And that's it. You have some beautiful fried crispy falafel ready to go.
Lastly, we need some bread, and today I'm making a wrap with these. So, I have the thin large pita. Uh, I'm going to quickly heat that up over the stove top, and you're done. And I'm going to throw this table together and appreciate that beautiful spread. Like I mentioned in the beginning, I'm going to make a sandwich for myself, so I'm going to layer everything together first, starting with the lettuce and the tomatoes and pickle. I'm going to throw the falafel on top, and I do like to smash the falafel ahead of time. It just makes it easier to wrap, and you know, I don't want to struggle wrapping this. And then I like to garnish with a little bit of Aleppo pepper and some extra parsley. And then some shatta, which is our hot sauce. And that's it. You have a perfect falafel wrap.
I say in every video that I have the falafel right here below me. There's two ways you can eat this. You can get this as a sandwich or a wrap, just like what I'm doing right now. But the traditional way is when you're eating this as a mezze, you're going to have your bowl of falafel sitting here like this, and everybody has like, some bread, so you're just going to rip up your bread, and then you're going to throw a piece of falafel in there, add your toppings to it, and eat that. But I want a sandwich today, so I'm going to wrap this up as a sandwich, but it's just essentially a big piece of bread, right? It's the same thing. So, here we go. If you're making a sandwich, you got to wrap it with the big pita bread. Don't use those small pieces of bread. If you're doing a wrap, big bread. Oh my god. Turn the camera off. I don't want you to see what I'm about to do to this thing. So good.
I should say, falafel's traditionally eaten with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, traditional like cucumber pickles, and also pickled turnips, which I don't have here today. I'm not the biggest fan of them, so I go without it, but traditionally, you're going to have pickled turnips in there. And then you serve it with tahini on top, tahini. And then the last thing, if you like spice and heat, you throw on some shatta, which is our version of hot sauce, the hot pepper sauce. So, shatta is the last thing on top, and then you can garnish it with a little bit of parsley and whatever else you want on top, but that, that's how you make falafel.
Falafel is just something so, so easy to do. It's really not that difficult, and I hope it this video can be like a reference for you in the future to come back to and try whenever you're trying to make falafel, because this, like, once you try falafel this way, it's, there's no other way to go about it. I will never, ever, ever go to a store or a restaurant buy pre-made falafel. If it's not crispy, crunchy, I don't want it. So, be mindful of that when you're looking. Um, and that way you can get a good point of reference >> [music] >> for falafel. So, yeah. So, yeah. Um, until next time. Peace. >> [music]