Need a great Falafel recipe

[woodburner]

Have had a jones for great falafel, but not in the restaurant... wanna make some at home. My recipe doesn't seem right (has chickpeas and all the goodies held together with flour), so can anyone share a recipe for classic falafel to make at home? Thanks.

[howchow]

This is made with peas and can be pan fried in a small amount of oil rather than deep fried...it is great served with some minted yogurt...if you would like to try something different...

FALAFEL
1/2 cup dried green split peas
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

MINTED YOGURT
1/2 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped mint
Salt and freshly ground pepper

grind the split peas to a powder in a spice grinder. In a food processor, pulse the thawed peas a few times. Add the ground split peas, onion, flour, parsley, garlic, coriander, cumin, baking powder, cayenne, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of salt and process until thoroughly combined. Form the mixture into 12 falafel. Refrigerate the falafel until firm. In a bowl,
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the falafel patties in two batches to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat until browned, crisp and heated through, about 3 minutes per side.

[woodburner]

Appreciate everyone's replies... I've been looking around and NO other recipe has flour in it... ugh. Will try these now...

[woodburner]

So... PLEASE HELP ME make sure I get this right: The garbanzos get soaked overnight, then ground up with all the other stuff, but they do NOT get cooked first? I have used canned beans before, which were cooked/soft. Maybe that's also why my falafel was not right. The recipes I'm seeing now say soak, then grind (no cook). Is this right? Thanks.

[piccola]

Dried beans, soaked but not cooked. That's right.

[inuksuk]

I spent 20 years in NYC looking for great falafel. (I did some other things too, like had a life, but that's not important here and now.) The third best falafel I had, and the only one of the top 3 I can give you the recipe for is this one: http://www.kenter.demon.nl/recipes/rf... Moshe's Falafel as served from the cart on 46th St. and 6th Ave. since anyone can remember.

[LeTimmy]

Hey thanks for the recipe inuksuk. I'll have to give it a shot but c'mon not even the 2nd best recipe can be shared :)

[inuksuk]

Sorry, what I meant was that I don't have to recipes to share. The best falafel was at a place on lower Broadway (near city hall) that disappeared over 10 years ago. The second best was and still is at Pick a Pita in the Garment District: http://www.menupages.com/restaurantde... If you can get their recipe please, please, please post it here.

[woodburner]

On those top three picks, how would you characterize the differences in those falafel? Can you describe what made them different and placed them 1, 2 and 3?

We're really splittin chickpeas now!

[inuksuk]

First of all all three places served the falafel balls just as they came out of the deep fryer, they never sat in a warming tray or under a heat lamp. (That was the secret shame of the famous Mamoun's Falafel in the Village: http://www.mamounsfalafel.com/ ) Of course that was easy at Moshe's Falafel cart because they literally make the sandwiches as fast as they can sell them. Actually not quite as fast. But at the other two places, no matter how slow business was, they made you wait while they cooked fresh.

Moshe's patties are a little denser than the other two, maybe that's just my personal taste but I like the lighter patties. Pick a Pita had the best hot sauce, a blazing green thing that I could not get enough of. All three kept their salad toppings perfectly fresh. The guy a Pick a Pita once proudly told me that at the end of the day he threw out all the chopped lettuce and what not and started fresh every day. That long gone place on lower Broadway however, they came up with a perfect combination of lettuces (the lettuce has to be perfectly fresh and perfectly dry) red onion for bite and cucumber for coolness. Some shreds of green and red cabbage for texture and colour and there you had it.

[oakjoan]

Was watching a Bittman video on the NYT site and noticed he has one on falafel. Check it out. He soaks dried chickpeas and then grinds them up for falafel (adding other ingredients) w/out pre-cooking. His falafel looked really good.

[LeTimmy]

While their are many variations of falafel depending on region. Of all the recipes i've tried using half chickpeas and half fava beans soaked over night produced the best tasting. I would omit the flour and use baking powder. 1/2 Tablespoon to every cup of chickpeas/fava. Use canola oil and make sure oil is nice and hot(350-360) before adding.