Well Being in the Kitchen

Falafel (2 ways)

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Little chickpea patties, perfectly spiced and slightly crunchy on the outside.  Falafel are something that I did not discover until my adult years, but since then, I have made up for the lack.  I have yet to travel to a country where falafel is the specialty, but after trying around, my favorite falafel was at a Lebanese restaurant in Paris.  I tried to search for the restaurant online so that I could give you a link or an address, but I haven’t been able to find it so far.  Their falafel was so good though!  It was always on my list of places to go when I visit Paris.

so much better than the canned version!

While I have great affection for falafel, I prefer my falafel to be very lightly fried, or not fried at all, which is why C. and I prefer to have homemade falafel when possible.  Personally, one of the most important ingredients is fresh chickpeas…  I know that soaking and cooking chickpeas seems like so much more work, but it is totally worth it!  And personally I don’t think it is more work, it just takes some planning ahead.  Try comparing them sometime and I think you will taste the difference!  If you are overwhelmed by the idea of making falafel and cooking your own chickpeas, take it easy and just start with making the falafel, but once you get more confident…definitely try it!

The recipe below is the same for both ways of cooking, but I will give you 2 options to cook them.

(more…)