Falafel Questions

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

ray2047

Assistant Cook
Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Messages
9
Location
Houston
First time maker of falafel and I have a couple of questions. The garbanzo beans (chickpeas) I am soaking seems to have taken a long time to absorb any water. I've soaked them for 36 hours now and they have increased by less then double in size. No real change the first day. Is that normal?

I have only a mini food processor so I will need to do it in batches. In searching on the water absorption problem I saw a question about could you use a grinder but it wasn't really answered. I have a #10 grinder with a 3/16" plate. Has anybody here tried using a meat grinder?
 
Last edited:
Did you actually cook the beans? After soaking them, you supposed to cook them. Personally I use canned garbanozo beans. The end result is not affected.
 
Thank you for the reply but no I haven't cooked them. Every recipe I have read says to process them after soaking. You cook after you have made the balls or patties. Most articles also say using dried or fresh beans is much better then canned. Am I misreading the instructions below?

Pour the chickpeas into a large bowl and cover them by about 3 inches of cold water. Let them soak overnight. They will double in size as they soak – you will have between 4 and 5 cups of beans after soaking.

Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans well. Pour them into your food processor along with the chopped onion, garlic cloves, parsley, flour, salt, cumin, ground coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cardamom.

Pulse all ingredients together until a rough, coarse meal forms. Scrape the sides of the processor periodically and push the mixture down the sides. Do not over-process or create a paste; you want it similar to the texture of couscous.

Fill a skillet with vegetable oil to a depth of 1 ½ inches. I prefer to use cooking oil with a high smoke point, like grapeseed. Heat the oil slowly over medium heat. Meanwhile, form falafel mixture into round balls or slider-shaped patties using wet hands or a falafel scoop.

Source:Falafel - Traditional Recipe for Chickpea Falafel
 
Most recipes use soaked, ground, uncooked chickpeas.

36 hours is too long to soak, IMO. Especially if left on the counter. The beans will start to ferment.
 
They might be old. =( But without cooking them, they'll never get as plump as the ones you'd find out of a can (because the ones from a can are cooked).

I've made a falafel loaf recipe that didn't require them to be pre-cooked before it was put into the bread pan and baked. It was very tasty! So the method of not requiring the beans to be cooked prior to forming the falafel into balls, or patties or a loaf, is legit.
 
Last edited:
They were kept in the refrigerator while soaking. I was thinking maybe old also. I may just dump these and buy a different brand from a different store.

Does any one have a comment on my question about using a meat grinder instead of a food processor?

Thanks all for the replies so far.
 
Nothing wrong with meat grinder, you'll "chunky" humus.

The recipe you have probaly talks about some type of fresh beans, or fresher than what you can get here, in the states in the store. I would cook them. Also you could try to soak them in hot water and not in the refrigerator. But I can almost guarantee you that beans that you buy in a regular store you will not get normal humus just by soaking them. They are like rocks hard.
 
I always leave mine out on the counter to soak. Not sure if that would make a difference or not in how much they "plump".
 
I'd give it a go withthe current soaked batch of chickpeas.

I would not use a meat grinder. You need a smooth and even consistancy.
 
The best falafel are made with a hand crank countertop meat grinder, or electric if you have one, for the right texture. Use uncooked, soaked chickpeas.
 
Last edited:
Forget everything I said, I appologise, for some reason I thought you were talking abouyt humus. gee, time for vacation ... sorry again.
 
The best falafel are made with a hand crank countertop meat grinder, or electric if you have one, for the right texture. Use uncooked, soaked chickpeas.
Now you tell me after I did it in batches in a mini food processor.::) Will knownext time thank you for the advice. Is that done with a plate with 3/16" holes?
 
I had never tasted falafel till today but I liked it. Most I baked into patties and froze but for supper I made balls and deep fried in grape seed oil. I have to say the taste is different but I certainly liked it.

A bit of O/T why I was experimenting. Because of a stroke the doctor made me cut out red meat. That left fish which I can't stand and chicken which I soon came to dread. I had been substituting rice for meat for supper recently but that was getting boring. I looks like falafel will be a good alternative.

Oh and a little search on the web indicated most restaurants use a meat grinder to grind the beans so that will be my experiment next time I make falafel. Next, pita bread.

Thanks all. You made my evening meal special.
 
I had never tasted falafel till today but I liked it. Most I baked into patties and froze but for supper I made balls and deep fried in grape seed oil. I have to say the taste is different but I certainly liked it.

A bit of O/T why I was experimenting. Because of a stroke the doctor made me cut out red meat. That left fish which I can't stand and chicken which I soon came to dread. I had been substituting rice for meat for supper recently but that was getting boring. I looks like falafel will be a good alternative.

Oh and a little search on the web indicated most restaurants use a meat grinder to grind the beans so that will be my experiment next time I make falafel. Next, pita bread.

Thanks all. You made my evening meal special.

Glad you're still here with us! You brought back college memories, Ray. Here is my old roommate's falafel recipe, from wayyy back. I thought it was the best (and indeed the only one) I'd ever had! Moosewood was THE cookbook way back then!

http://www.culinate.com/content/1706/Falafel
 
I had never tasted falafel till today but I liked it. Most I baked into patties and froze but for supper I made balls and deep fried in grape seed oil. I have to say the taste is different but I certainly liked it.

A bit of O/T why I was experimenting. Because of a stroke the doctor made me cut out red meat. That left fish which I can't stand and chicken which I soon came to dread. I had been substituting rice for meat for supper recently but that was getting boring. I looks like falafel will be a good alternative.

Oh and a little search on the web indicated most restaurants use a meat grinder to grind the beans so that will be my experiment next time I make falafel. Next, pita bread.

Thanks all. You made my evening meal special.
Pita bread is really easy. I make the dough in my bread machine. I have made them with wholewheat+chickpea flour, and a variety of other flours.
 
Interesting recipe and the spices are somewhat different. The one I used had cardamon and coriander with turmeric optional. Thanks. Fun to experiment.

I like the wholewheat floor for the pita. Probably wait a while before trying that.
 
Interesting recipe and the spices are somewhat different. The one I used had cardamon and coriander with turmeric optional. Thanks. Fun to experiment.

I like the wholewheat floor for the pita. Probably wait a while before trying that.
Here's the way I make pita in the bread machine:

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f104/what-are-you-baking-today-42650-271.html#post1241638

You can use water instead of the buttermilk and omit the egg (I raise laying hens, so tend to use the egg). You can also use EVOO or another heart-friendly oil instead of the butter.
 
Back
Top Bottom