Thursday, March 6, 2008

Falafel with tahini sauce - فلافل





Serves a lot! At least 9 sandwiches

Ingredients:
For the falafel mix:
1 1/2 cups of dried fava beans (found in Middle Eastern stores, since I couldn't find it elsewhere)
1 1/2 cups of dried chickpeas
1 cup of fresh chopped cilantro
1 cup of fresh chopped parsley
1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of allspice
1 teaspoon coriander seeds (fined not whole ones)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Salt, pepper

For the tahini sauce:
Tahini paste, lemon juice, water, some chopped parsley

* Vegetable oil for frying the falafel patties

Soak the dried fava beans and chickpeas in water for 12 hours or overnight then drain. Put all the falafel mix ingredients (except the baking powder and baking soda) in the mixer until you obtain a paste. Then add the baking soda and powder, fold them all together and let the mix sit for an hour. Meanwhile, prepare the tahini sauce by adding about 3 tablespoons of tahini and 3 tablespoons of water, then the juice of a small lemon and a tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley. You might need to add more or less water, it depends really on the kind of tahini paste you have.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, then with a tablespoon or a small ice cream scoop, take some of the falafel mix and drop in the hot oil, turn after two minutes, until golden on both sides then let them drain on a paper towel.

To make a falafel sandwich:
Put the falafel patties in pita bread, spread some tahini sauce on top, some fresh chopped parsley, sliced tomatoes and some pickled jalapenos. I like mine with Tabbouli on the side.