Falafel - Second Attempt

I tried making falafel for Matt and Anna the other night. The first attempt didn't go so well; the first few patties went in whole but never came out. They didn't stay together and just degenerated into a chickpea crumble at the bottom of the pan. Fortunately Matt was around and suggested adding more flour to the mixture, which saved the day. I was able to cook two batches successfully before the oil turned to chickpea sludge and we had to stop due to health code violations.

I tried following Alton Brown's recipe:

1 pound dried chickpeas, sorted and rinsed

1 teaspoon whole cumin seed

1 teaspoon whole coriander seed

2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

4 small scallions, trimmed and finely chopped

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

2 quarts peanut oil

Pita bread, warmed, for serving

I made a few adjustments: I used 3 cans of chickpeas instead of soaking my own pound. I used soybean oil instead of peanut oil and finally I added about a cup of fava bean flour to dry out the mixture. I just kept adding the flour until the mixture had the texture of cookie dough and then fried 'em up!

To actually make the mix you just put the oil in a pot with tall sides (to avoid spill over of hot oil; I learned that this is pretty important) and heat it to 350 degrees. In the meantime put all the other ingredients other than the flour in a food processor and pulse until there are no more whole chickpeas. Add in the flour, mix with your hands, and form into the shapes you want to fry! I made patties that were about an inch and a half in diameter. Then to cook just put gently in the oil and cook until golden brown. For me this took about 7-8 minutes.

For sides and dressing I cut up some cucumbers and tomatoes, added some parsley, and put that in one bowl. In another I put chopped pickles, in another yogurt mixed with chopped parsley and finally one with tahini mixed with lemon juice.To make a falafel I took a pita, put in some cooked falafel and then add pickles (a must!), some tomato/cukes and either tahini sauce or yogurt sauce. They turned out pretty good and were really easy to make :)