Falafel - Shallow Fry Method

Deep fried falafel are the best anytime. These shallow fried falafel are for those days when you feel guilty of having hogged over so many fried stuff in the recent past and would want to keep a watch on the diet but yet relish what you like.

Usually falafel doesn't require any cooking of garbanzo/chickpea. But since I am using the shallow fried method I chose to cook them. These are just simple to make and are not that heavy as the fried version. Which means you could eat one or two extra to get yourself full, if that is what you are looking forward to.

My lil one was fast asleep after an eventful day at the park and so I got a little extra time to style and click, in a long time. So pardon me if you find it a picture heavy post :).

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups of chickpea/garbanzo, soaked overnight
2. 2 tbsp of roughly chopped spring onions
3. 2-3 tbsp of chopped parsley leaves
4. 2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves
5. 2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6. 1 tbsp of all purpose flour
7. 1 tsp of roasted cumin powder
8. 1 tsp of roasted coriander powder
9. 1/2 tsp of red chilly powder
10. 1/4 tsp of baking soda
11. 1 tsp of lemon juice
12. 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder
13. Salt to taste
14. 3-4 tbsp of oil

Method

• Wash the chickpea thoroughly. Pressure cook it with just the required amount of water untill it is soft. For me it took, 1 whistle on high heat followed by 2 whistle on medium heat.
• Transfer it into a bender along with the ingredients 2-5. Pulse/grind it.
• Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add the ingredients 6-13. Mix it all together untill the ingredients get evenly distributed.
• Divide the mixture into golf size balls and flatten them into a patty.
• Refrigerate the patties for 2-3 hours.
• Heat the oil in a pan. Once hot, turn the heat down to low. Place patty in the pan and fry it turning it when needed, to get them evenly fried on both sides.
• Remove it onto a plate lined with kitchen towel.
• Serve it warm with some pita bread and Hummus/ Tahini dip.

Tips

1. Do not grind the mixture too much. You would just need to pulse it down to get a coarse mixture.
2. Shallow fry the patty on low heat, to ensure that the patty does get a crisp and golden outer surface and gets cooked in the inside too.
3. You could choose to bake the patty as a healthier option. Grease the baking tray with some oil and brush the oil on the patties. Bake it at 400 F for a good 15 minutes and then flipping and continuing to cook for another 5 minutes should do the job.