Falafel

Okay, I swear, I am not trying to take over the blog, but I have been trying out a lot of new recipes lately. Some are just too good to keep to myself. Here is another one. I got this from my aunt who got it from her friend who is from Jerusalem. They were sooo good. They had such a good flavor and were very moist in the middle. Here you go:

Falafel

1 bag garbanzo beans (8-12 oz.)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 loaf of bread soaked in water and squeezed of excess water
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
3 tsp. cumin powder
3 T. parsley, chopped
3 tsp. baking powder
salt & pepper to taste

• Soak garbanzos overnight (or for quick method, pour boiling water over beans and let stand for 3 hours)
• Do not cook
• Run beans through a meat grinder or food processor to make a pasty mix
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
• Form into 1" balls (wet hands if mixture is too sticky)
• Deep fry in hot oil (350 degrees)

Tastes best when hot. You can serve balls in pita bread with finely chopped salad of tomatoes and cucumbers and season with hummus and salsa.

Here are my notes:
I used a heavy wheat bread (it was kind of wierd and slightly gross to soak the bread and then drain the water and it really does not take very long to soak up water) that is a little bit sweet. So, it made the falafel slightly sweet, which actually tasted really good.

Also, the food processor was almost too full with the bread and beans, but it still worked well.

I used a small cookie scoop to shape them and then I sort of flattened them out a little before I fried them. They are easier to stuff in a pita if they are a little flatter.

Enjoy!

P.S. The leftover dough freezes very well!