Falafel is a tasty middle eastern dish. It is mainly prepared with chickpeas. They are fried balls which are soft inside and crispy outside.These fried balls are the staple food item of levantine cuisine (Levantine cuisine belongs to the levant region- mediterranean lands). Falafel always tastes good by itself but to make it as a complete appetizer it is served with hummus.
Now , What is Hummus?? It is a super smooth and creamy dip made with chickpeas, tahini paste and some other ingredients. Making hummus at home, tastes fresh and flavourful. It is so yummy and healthy, even children love to have them which veggies. This delicacies can be best party appetizers too.
INGREDIENTS
Serves - 3 to 4 person
Ingredients to make Falafel
- Chickpea - 1/2 Cup
- Onion - 1 medium, chopped
- Green chilly - 2 nos
- Garlic - 3small pods (peeled)
- Lemon juice -1 Tsp
- Cumin seeds - 1/2 Tsp
- Coriander powder - 1/2 Tsp
- Baking soda - 1/4 Tsp
- Salt - as per the taste
- Cilanto- 2tbsp
- Oil For Deep frying
To Make Falafel
- Soak dried chickpeas for overnight or at least for 6 hours.
- Next morning, strain the chickpeas and add it into the food processor.
- Also add all the remaining ingredients (chopped onion, green chilly, peeled garlic, cumin seeds, lemn juice, coriander powder, baking soda, salt and cilantro into the food processor.
- Pulse it at intervals . Do not grind it to a fine paste because consistency of the mixture will become smooth and will be difficult to shape them into the balls. We want semi dough consistency kind of mixture to shape them into the balls.
- Pulse it till you get a coarse paste of the mixture.
- Take little portion of the mixture in between your palm and start shaping the mixture into small balls
- Heat oil and drop the balls into it. Deep fry the balls till they are evenly brown in colour.
- Once done, take them out of the oil and place it on the paper towel to drain any excess oil.
- Repeat the process with leftover mixture.vDo not overcrowd the falafel while frying.
- Here we go Falafel is ready to be served.
Note: If at all you feel the mixture is sticky while making balls, go ahead and use about 2 to 3 tbsp of bread crumbs to bring the mixture to the right consistency.
Ingredients to make Hummus
For Tahini Paste
White sesame seeds - 1 tbsp (roasted)
Extra Virgin olive oil - !&1/2 tbsp
Note: I found little difficult while grinding roasted white sesame seeds and virgin olive oil into my food processor. I thought, it could be because of less quantity of ingredients used to prepare tahini paste. So I just coarsely grounded them and mixed it in other ingredients of hummus. Then I got the smooth consistency of hummus, as it should be. There was no difference in taste.It tastes exactly the way when tahini paste is added to make hummus. As I wanted to make everything in the scratch, so thought of making tahini paste at home. May be when I make bigger batch of hummus, making tahini paste would be more easier. When you are trying this recipe and if find difficult in making tahini paste at home, you can try my tip or go ahead to use storebought tahini paste (use roasted , not raw).
Other Ingredients to make Hummus
- Chickpea - 1/2 Cup
- Baking soda - a pinch (for cooking)
- Salt - 1/4 tsp
- Tahini Paste - 2 tbsp
- Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp
- Garlic - 2 medium pods
- Cumin Powder - 1/4 Tsp
- Hot Water - 2 to 3 Tbsp
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp (to mix it in the hummus at the end)
- Options to garnish - paprika or red chilly powder , cilantro , extra virgin oil and lemon wedges.
Method To Make Hummus
- Soak dried chickpeas for overnight or at least for 6 hours.
- Cook them with littlle salt and baking soda till they become very soft and mushy.
- Into a food processor, add in roasted white sesame seeds and extra virgin olive oil. Grind it to smooth paste.
- Now add all the remaining ingredients (boiled chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, cumin powder and little salt) into the food processor.Grind it into a smooth paste.
- In between, you can stop the food processor, add hot water into the mixture. Again grind the mixture to bring it to the right consistency.
- Once the paste is smooth and perfect , mix in olive oil and transfer it to a bowl.
- Garnish the hummus with sprinkle paprika or red chilly powder and chopped cilanto.
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