Here is an easy falafel recipe. You can also see a video on how to make falafel at home very easily. At the end there is a printable recipe of making falafel.
Falafel are vegetarian and vegan fritters. Though not made of meat, they are still rich in proteins as they are made with chickpeas and in many countries with fava beans.
Watch video of easy falafel recipe:
The origin of falafel is controversial, but they were eaten in Egypt long time ago and are national dish of Egypt. Here fava beans are used to prepare falafel. It is in fact eaten throughout Middle East, and people of Lebanon and Palestine consider it to be their dish. It is a very popular street food in Israel. Here they use chickpeas (kabuli chana) to make falafel. People here eat falafel in pita bread pockets with tahini based sauce, pickled vegetables and green salad. They also eat it on its own as snack with tahini sauce and hummus. Now it has become popular in the US and Europe too. In India many Lebanese food joints serve falafel as a part of mezze platter.
Soaked chickpeas for making falafel
Falafels are very easy to make. This recipe uses chickpeas to make falafel. Soak dried chickpeas overnight. They expand to about three times their original size on soaking. So one cup of dried chickpeas will yield three cups of soaked chickpeas. Then grind these soaked chickpeas with onion, garlic, cumin seeds, red chili, lots of fresh parsley and cilantro (coriander leaves). Falafel has grainy texture. It is crunchy from outside and soft from inside. Roughly grind the chickpeas. Add a small amount of all-purpose flour (maida). It acts as a binding agent, and helps to hold together falafels when we fry them in oil. Add some baking powder to make falafel fluffy from the inside. Fry falafels on medium to low flame so that they become crunchy from outside, and are cooked properly from inside.
Falafels are ready
Serve hot falafels with tahini sauce, hummus, and green salad. They will rock any party or get together. You can shape them as balls or as flat patties. When I serve them in Pita bread pockets, I prefer to make flat patty shaped falafels, as this shape fits in the bread easily. But when I serve them to be eaten on their own , I make them ball shaped.
The kebab made from black gram – kale chane ke kabab are very good and healthy snack option. You can try them. Also check the recipe of khandvi that is made from gram flour and buttermilk. Chana rajma lobia salad is my favorite salad made from chickpeas.
Easy falafel recipe
To save or print the recipe, please click on printer button given in the recipe box below.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 20 balls | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 10 minutes | 8 hours |
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Make falafel using dried chickpeas (garbanzo/kabuli chana). Serve hot with tahini sauce and hummus. You can also serve it in pita bread pockets.
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- 1 cup dry chickpeas/garbanzo/kabuli chana soaked overnight
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- salt to taste
- 1 cup parsley finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves/cilantro finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour/maida
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- oil for frying
- Put chickpeas in the jar of food processor (or mixer grinder). Add chopped onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, cumin seeds, red chili powder, and salt to taste. Start grinding. Initially grind using pulse option so that the contents mix up properly. After few minutes stop to check the consistency. We do not want fine paste.
- Add all purpose flour (maida) and baking powder to the chickpeas. Grind once again. When chickpeas are ground with the consistency of very fine grains of chickpeas still visible, stop grinding.
- Empty the contents into a mixing bowl. Heat oil in a wok/kadai. Make small balls of chickpea paste, and fry in hot oil. First test with one falafel. If it breaks down in the oil, add some more all purpose flour to the mixture. When the oil becomes hot, reduce the flame to medium. Fry the falafels till the outer crust turns brown and is crunchy.
- Take out the falafels on wire gauge or kitchen towel to soak the oil. Serve hot with tahini sauce and hummus along with fresh green salad and pickled vegetables.
- Dry chickpeas expand a lot on soaking. One cup dry chickpeas expand to become three cups of soaked chickpeas. Take the quantity of chickpeas according to your need, and adjust the quantity of rest of the ingredients accordingly.
- Roughly ground the chickpeas, and do not make fine paste. Falafel should have grainy consistency.
- If the balls do not hold together, add some more all purpose flour. It acts as a binding agent.
- Fry on low to medium flame so that the outer shell of the falafel becomes hard, and the inner core is cooked properly.
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