/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.4997883]

Have you ever made falafel? Is it easy?

[Artistic Daze No.4997930]

>>4997883

From a box, yes, from soaked chickpeas, no.

I think you just need to know how they're made and to eat a good example. There's a shop around the corner that makes falafel wraps, I had some and was able to figure out how to make them.

[Anonymous No.4998071]

>>4997883
Yes.

Yes.

Just remember that the oil needs to be hot or the balls'll fall appart in the pot.

[Anonymous No.4998080]

Yes.
It's actually quite easy.
Falafel made from fresh (or dried and cooked) fava beans is the BEST. Don't buy those crap boxed mixes, they're not as tender and flavorful as fresh.

[Anonymous No.4998358]

ya it's easy but you need the spices.

[Anonymous No.4998377]

>yellow interior
Those are filthy juden falafel. Proper falafel is green inside because it's made from fava held together with chickpea flour. They are not made from chickpeas only.

[Anonymous No.4998384]

>>4997883
Are these things good at all? A falafel shop just opened right near by but these things are kind of intimidating

[Anonymous No.4998394]

>>4998384
Depends. If made by Israelis, no. They will be bland balls of ground chickpeas with no spices. Not bad, but not tasty, either. Just bland.
If made by any other Middle Easterners/Arabs, they will be flavourful, spiced (but not pungent; typically, no chilies are used) patties or logs of ground fava and/or chickpea held together with chickpea flour. Egyptians and Levantines use just fava, but North Africans, Yemeni and Iraqis use fava and chickpeas. 'Fal' means 'fava' in Egyptian Arabic and the dish originated amongst Egyptian Christians.
Lebanese often grill/griddle them rather than deep-fry, usually as patties unless from a Lebanese restaurant in a predominantly non-Arab area. In that situation, they will be identical to Israeli ones because they want to make money by feeding people what they already know rather than challenging them with something alien.

[Anonymous No.4998398]

Made it from scratch once. Didn't have a food processor so I had to mash the chickpeas by hand, very laborious. Ended up with a very chunky mixture that kinda broke apart a little when fried. All in all, it was pretty decent though.

[Anonymous No.4998403]

I like falafel. I tried to make some myself and they fell apart though.

[Anonymous No.4998416]

>>4998398
>>4998403
You need chickpea flour/gram flour/chana besan.
You mix that into the ground/mashed fava/chickpeas and it holds together.

[Anonymous No.4998493]

>>4998384

it literally just tastes like ground legumes with spices how afraid of food can you get

[Anonymous No.4998946]

>>4997883
yes, they are easy, I made some with hydrated chickpeas (favas are too expensive here), and they came out pretty good

[Anonymous No.4998980]

>>4997883

I've made falafels, once sucessfully, once not.

The first time I soaked dried chickpeas and the falafels turned out beautifully and held together like champs

The second time I used canned chickpeas and the falafels fell apart the second they hit the oil.

I'm assuming using canned chickpeas just doesn't work because there is too much moisture? Anyone else ever have this experience?

[Anonymous No.4998984]

made falafel with canned chickpeas once.
mashing them with a potato masher was a pain in the ass but they came out alright.
would probably have been better if i soaked chickpeas myself instead, will be sure to try that next time.

[Anonymous No.4998992]

>>4998980
canned chickpeas can work, but you need to add flour to help bind them.

[Anonymous No.4999009]

>>4998992

yea idk I tried that, as well as adding some bread, probably just didn't use enough, if i ever have to use canned again i'll add in a shit ton of flour

[Anonymous No.4999019]

>>4999009
what, bread? why'd you do that?

find a recipe that's built around canned peas, it'll tell you exactly how much flour you need.

[Anonymous No.4999059]

no need to make it when i could go to one

[Anonymous No.4999061]

I've made both from boxes and from chickpeas as well and definitely the soaked chickpeas one is better. Too easy to overfry them though imo

[Anonymous No.4999128]

>>4999059
Oh gawd yes, Mamouns. I go once a year in May. Eat falafel and drink twisted tea for the rest of the night. Love New York

[Anonymous No.4999169]

>>4998394
>Depends. If made by Israelis, no. They will be bland balls of ground chickpeas with no spices. Not bad, but not tasty, either. Just bland.
That's not true tho

[Anonymous No.4999557]

>>4997883

Yes. It's hard as hell to get it right. Just get it from some arab that's been making it his whole life.

[Anonymous No.4999593]

>>4998394

Citation on originating with Egyptian Christians? My understanding is it goes much, much further back.

[Anonymous No.4999595]

What's the rule on using oil, anyway? How many times can I reuse, say, canola oil for frying falafels? Straining it and refrigerating it of course.

[Anonymous No.4999634]

>>4999595
Once, deep frying is unhealthy enough as is, but reheating the oil is really, really unhealthy. Something about non-animal oil turning in to transfats. Can't rally remember, and I'm on my phone. But once is the rule of thumb

[Anonymous No.5000215]

>>4999634
I've never heard his before.
I always reuse oil very successfully

[Anonymous No.5000220]

Isn't falafel just deep fried hummus balls

[Anonymous No.5000226]

>>4999634
very false

[Anonymous No.5000227]

greetings from ck.booru

[Anonymous No.5000229]

>>5000220

try deep-frying hummus and see how far you get

[Anonymous No.5000238]

>>5000227
And number two. Thanks, BubbleBurst.

[Anonymous No.5000241]

>>4999634

My understanding is that's only if you burnt the hell out of your oil.