Recipe: Falafel

My boyfriend made this falafel recipe on Monday and it was delicious and much better than the store-bought kind that I get at Safeway. He doubled the recipe for the two of us.

Ingredients

1 cup canned chickpeas

1/2 large onion, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley (or you can buy the kind that comes in a tube)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro (or you can buy the kind that comes in a tube)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon chili powder
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
4-6 tablespoons flour
Vegetable oil for frying

Directions

1. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.
2. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.
3. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts, or use a falafel scoop, available in Middle-Eastern markets.
4. Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

We made the sauce you can find here except we omitted the mayo and cucumbers but added in some paprika this time. We stuffed the falafel in a pita with some lettuce and tomato. Delicious!