Falafel
Deep-fried in oil and beautiful. That’s a home-cooked falafel for you.
Recently, my friends have invested in air fryers and I wanted to share a recipe that’s wonderfully light and air-fryable. This recipe is full of flavour and chili. You can omit the chili but if you do, consider adding a spicy pepper to the mix for taste.
Did you know: Falafels are a middle-eastern snack. It is often wrapped in flatbreads and served with a tahini sauce or hummus or chili. Deep-fried, it is calorie-dense. But if fried in avocado oil and shaped into fritters, it can be healthy. This recipe can also b modified into a burger patty. You will comfortably get 6 of them from this mixture.
Ingredients for more than 2 dozen falafels
1 1/2 cup dried chickpeas (soaked overnight)
1/2 onion
1 cup coriander
1 cup flat-leaf parsley
1 green chili
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon chickpea flour
½ tablespoon baking soda
sesame seeds for dusting
Method
Soak dry chickpeas overnight in cold water. Cover it well because the chickpeas will swell.
Drain and add chickpeas, onion, coriander, chilies, garlic, and spices to a food processor. Blend well until everything resembles grainy sand.
Add lemon juice, chickpea flour, and baking soda to the bowl and mix it well with a spoon.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate this for 30 minutes.
Roll 1 tablespoon of the mixture into round balls and deep fry them or air fry until they're golden.
You can dust them with sesame seeds afterward and smash them in pita bread with hummus or tzatziki.
Top tip to air fry: Spray the entire basket with Spray-And-Cook. Add all the falafel balls to the basket and space them apart just a little. Spray over them very lightly. Air fry for 8 minutes at 350 F. Give it a wobble and air fry for another 6-8 minutes.
