Falafel

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Working on the theory that homemade always tastes better, I have tried so many falafel recipes. Even if they taste half decent the texture is questionable (looking at you Jamie).

So please hit me with your excellent and tasty falafel recipes, baked or fried, I don’t mind.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/19/how-to-cook-perfect-falafel

I like the smitten kitchen recipe. They do have a tendency to fall apart when you fry them though. I find leaving the mixture in the fridge for a while before frying helps.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/falafel-burgers

I’ve sucked at making them for years but DH recently nailed flat breads, my hummus and tzatziki are excellent these days and I thought I’d try falafel again and had success with the bbc one above as both a burger and a more traditional small round puck shape - it makes 4 burgers or 10 pucks/patties. I never have fresh herbs in so skipped them.

I’ve given up after 4 attempts over the years as mine fall apart. I just love eating them when find them though

It must be something about chickpeas; took me ages to crack humous.
I see that BBC has a lot of spice in it so should at least be tasty. Thanks, I'll give it a try.

cookingonabootstrap.com/2020/01/22/carrot-coriander-falafels-recipe/
I made these yesterday - turned out beautifully and tasted delicious.

I use the Yotam Ottolenghi recipe which is the Guardian one posted above. But I always use dried chickpeas. I remember years ago hearing Simon Rimmer say to never use tinned chickpeas in falafels.

My mum used to make lovely falafel. She said that you cannot roll them or form them in your hands. They have to be formed by pressure. If using a falafel press, then the trick is not to make them flat like a burger, but to press more mixture in until it's smoothly domed or slightly conical. But her preferred method was to use two dessertspoons to scrape the mixture from spoon to spoon while pressing it into one spoon with the scraping spoon. Difficult to describe! You end up with a sort of three-sided rugby ball.

But dm stopped making falafel decades ago, when we had all left home and she and ddad had to start being more careful with their diets due to their age. So she cannot remember the recipe any more. We even tried once to make falafel together, in the hope that it would trigger her memory, but the resulting falafel were...OK. Both of us agreed they weren't what we remembered.

I just made these yesterday-I used this recipe and they came out delish! www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/my-favorite-falafel-231755

Lots to try here. Thanks everyone.