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I tried to make falafel tonight and it didn't work. Everything went fine until the point of frying the small balls. They either broke up into bits first time round so I try a very shallow fry and made flat finger shaped ones that they remained mushy on the inside.
Having read up it looks like the problem is either 1) the oil is not hot enough or 2) I used canned beans and the chick peas did not dry out properly.
So now I have a large quantity of falafel mixture and not sure what to do with it. Don't want to throw it away. Does anyone have any suggestions?
We're trying to save money so throwing it is not possible.

Thanks.

I'd line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper or baking parchment and grease. Mix some a few tbsp of oil in the mixture and press a thinish layer onto the tray. Bake ina medium oven till it goes a bit dry and starts to crisp.

I make falafel using dried beans and they are pretty much perfect, if I make them using tinned beans I get mush! Have you any dried chickpeas in the house? Or any dried beans? Or even dried yellow lentils? If you have been soak some overnight and blitz in the food processor, add your mix and start again. I think I would go with yellow lentils as they only need 15 minutes soaking then blitz and go hopefully you will get something. Baking in the oven sounds good too, but I like balls

Thanks Cyanarasamba and multipoodles. I roasted them in the oven and now I have yummy crunchy stuff to sprinkle on stir fry veg - nice!!
From now one I will used dried peas. Thanks.

Glad you made something nice out of it! I made falafel this evening for the first time though, using tinned chickpeas, and it worked really well. I did dry the chickpeas on kitchen paper first and squeezed the mixture into little burger shapes so they probably cooked through more than balls. Maybe that would help next time? I'm rubbish at remembering to soak dried pulses the night before so I mostly buy tinned ones.

I know you've solved it now, but I would have just fried the whole lot together as a big pan of mush, like refried beans, then put into flatbreads/pittas with mayo/cheese/salad.

multipoodles do you not need to cook the chickpeas then????

multipoodles don't suppose you could share your recipe????? Please???

lolalotta no need to cook chick peas first, just soak overnight. I will find the recipe later and post it, actually it is a video online I found some time ago and if it's still there I'll get it later for you sorry I'm in work at the minute.

Authentic restaurant or street sellers don't cook the chickpeas they're ground in food processor so resemble more of a course flour. When deep fried they cook very quickly and are very crispy and lush

Oh poodles they sound fab!!! I will buy done dried chickpeas in town this afternoon! Can'y wait to give them a go, I'm a veggie so love things like this!

lolalotta This is the recipe I used here, I used exactly the ingredients he mentioned as it worked the best of all recipes I've tired. Mine were a little darker in cooler when fried but tasted great. I've uploaded a photo in my profile of the last lot I made

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2p_h3s1CPoc&NR=1

Have fun, I absolutely love falafel and this recipe tastes just as good as my favourite Lebonese restaurant's falafel

Sorry darker in colour

Thank you sooooo much! You tube was playing up so haven't seen all of the video yet but noticed it had lots of oil...are they deep fried and if so is that scary to do? Never deep fried anything in my life!

Yes they are deep fried, when making them into balls they are very fragile so don't think they would shallow fry very well, they are exactly like middle eastern restaurants make and they use a tool a bit like a mini potato scoop. I only use the deep fat fryer for falafels and I know it would be healthier to shallow fry but just can't resist the flavour and texture of them done like this