Falafel E-Book

Dunja Gulin

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 116

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Falafel are deep-fried balls or patties of chickpea or broad beans, with added herbs, spices, onion and garlic and are widely eaten across the Middle East. While the style varies from region to region, they're usually enjoyed in a wrap or pitta with salad, tahini, pickles and a spicy sauce. Long popular in Britain, particularly among immigrant communities, falafel are now a nationwide staple, and have swiftly become one of our most popular fast foods. It's not hard to see why: they also fall into that wondrous overlapping category of being crave-worthy and satisfying, as well as nutritious and fairly low in fat. What's more, they are a brilliant source of protein for those who don't eat meat. They are rich in fibre and modern falafel are often made with added vegetables, nuts and seeds, lentils, or grains, as are many of the delicious recipes in this book. Try the Fennel & Lemon Scented Falafel or Juicy Brown Rice Faux-lafel. Find Crunchy Sesame Falafel or Falafel Croquettes or enjoy snacks such as tasty Mediterranean Seed Falafel, all packed with good stuff, and very low fat. Whip up a drizzle such as Home-made Tahini Sauce, as the perfect complement your hot, freshly cooked patties. Finally, make tangy quick pickles, crisp herby salads and easy flatbreads so you can serve your freshly cooked falafel with all the trimmings and enjoy it as its best.

Leseprobe

FALAFEL

FALAFEL

Delicious recipes for Middle eastern-style patties, plus sauces, pickles, salads & breads

with recipes by

DUNJA GULIN

Designer Geoff Borin

Creative Director Leslie Harrington

Senior Editor Abi Waters

Editorial Director Julia Charles

Production Manager Gordana Simakovic

Indexer Vanessa Bird

First published in 2023 by

Ryland Peters & Small

20–21 Jockey’s Fields

341 E 116th St

London WC1R 4BW

New York, NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text © Dunja Gulin, plus Ghillie Basan, Matt Follas, Kathy Kordalis, Theo A. Michaels, Hannah Miles, Louise Pickford, Claire Power, Leah Vanderveldt, Laura Washburn Hutton and Sarah Wilkinson 2023

Design and photographs © Ryland Peters & Small 2023

See page 160 for full credits.

Recipes in this book by Dunja Gulin have previously been published by Ryland Peters & Small in Falafel Forever, Tahini, Hummus is Where the Heart Is and The Gut Health Cookbook.

ISBN: 978-1-78879-527-2

E-ISBN: 978-1-7887-9565-4

The authors' moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. US Library of Congress cataloguing-in-publication data has been applied for.

Printed in China

Notes

• Both British (Metric) and American (Imperial plus US cups) measurements are included in these recipes for your convenience; however it is important to work with one set of measurements and not alternate between the two when following a recipe.

• All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified. A teaspoon is 5 ml and a tablespoon is 15 ml.

• Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperature. Recipes in this book were tested using a regular oven. If using a fan-assisted/convection oven, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for adjusting temperatures.

• When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before using. If you can only find treated fruit, scrub well in warm soapy water before using.

• Always use sterilized jars. For more information visit the Food Standards Agency (FSA) website in the UK or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) website in the US.

• Everyone’s hummus intake is different, but for this book we have assumed an approximate serving amount of 50 g/2 oz. hummus for one small serving or 100 g/3½ oz. for one large serving per person.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Tips & Tricks

cooking chickpeas

Fried Falafels

Baked Falafels

No-cook Falafels

Meals & More

Dips

Sauces, DRESSINGS & Pickles

Pittas, Flatbreads & Crackers

index

credits

INTRODUCTION

Growing up, I’d never heard of falafel, let alone eaten it or seen it being prepared – it’s not something you would find on the streets of the small town in Istria, Croatia, where I was raised in the 1980s. However, all the ingredients were readily available and could be frequently found in the kitchens of my grandmas and my parents; chickpeas/garbanzo beans were a staple, especially in stews and for salads. Actually, my grandma has been cultivating chickpeas/garbanzo beans since the 1960s and, even today, each time I visit her I know that a huge bag of them will be waiting for me on my way out!

It wasn’t until the late 1990s, when I moved to London as a young foodie on a mission to discover new tastes, that I first saw and tasted falafel. I clearly remember that Saturday in Shepherd’s Bush Market when a falafel stall caught my attention. I had no smartphone to take me to a good vegetarian restaurant and there were no website reviews telling me what’s tasty and what’s not – looking for food in a big city was a totally different experience back then! I asked the vendor a couple of questions, and as soon as I heard the word ‘chickpeas’, I knew that was it! The wrap I bought was like nothing I had tasted before – warm fritters wrapped in pitta bread with just the right balance of creaminess and tanginess from the hummus and the pickles and the added veggies.

Wow! It wasn’t long before I copied a falafel recipe from a Middle Eastern cookbook in a bookstore, and I have been making my own falafel ever since.

My grandma’s chickpeas/garbanzo beans are still the most important ingredient to me when making falafel. However, over time, I have experimented with many other ingredients that can be used to make alternative falafel-like dishes. This means that people who don’t like fried foods, or who find traditional falafel difficult to digest, or even those who are following a raw food diet, don’t have to miss out on enjoying a good falafel-like meal.

I sincerely hope you will like my selection of fried, baked and raw falafels and everything that goes well with them from hummus to pickles to pitta breads. Enjoy!

TIPS & TRICKS

I make all kinds of falafels, and I find that when people try them or see a photo the questions usually start popping up: How come they aren’t falling apart or soaking up all the oil? How do I achieve the fine crust and the juicy inside? What is the secret ingredient that makes them so tasty? These, along with many other questions, reveals that making really good falafel can be a tricky business. Now that I think of it, there are a couple of crucial moments where a small mistake can make the difference between a perfect falafel and a falafel mix that ends up being thrown away! So, dear foodie friends, it is my duty to reveal all my tips and tricks, and I sincerely hope you find these instructions helpful.

• When making falafel with soaked chickpeas/garbanzo beans, make sure they are soaked for at least 24 hours. Not only will the 24-hour soak make them softer and easier to blend, but the falafel will be easier to digest and you’ll feel lighter and more nourished after a falafel meal.

• When making cooked grain-based and bean-based falafel, if using leftover grains and beans, make sure they are at room temperature, not fridge-cold.

• When vegetables are part of the falafel mix, chop them or grate them finely. Otherwise, bigger pieces might cause the mix to fall apart during frying.

• Mix well, or even knead the falafel mixture for a while, until all the ingredients are well combined.

• For deep-fried falafel, never use bread crumbs to bind the mixture if it seems wet – your falafel will fall apart and soak up loads of oil. This rule is for deep-fried falafel only; for shallow-frying or baking, adding bread crumbs to the mix is okay.

• Most falafel mixes have to sit for at least half an hour to bind well.

• Use a small heavy-bottomed stainless-steel or cast-iron pan/skillet for frying.

• Falafels made from soaked chickpeas/garbanzo beans or lentils need to fry for longer than falafels made from cooked grains or beans in order to be cooked properly.

• Add enough oil to the pan for deep-frying (at least 3 fingers up from the bottom of the saucepan).

• Heat the oil until it starts ‘moving’ – the right temperature of the frying oil is really important. If the oil isn’t hot enough, the falafel will sink, soak up loads of oil and start falling apart. If, on the other hand, the oil is too hot, the falafel will burn from the outside and stay uncooked on the inside.

• Once you place a couple of falafels in the pan, the oil should immediately sizzle and foam. If this does not happen, you need to preheat the oil a bit more.

• Overcrowding the pan will result in a dramatic drop in oil temperature and this will cause the falafel to fall apart and/or turn oily and remain uncooked. How many to cook at once depends on the size of your pan, but there should always be some free space left.

• If you’re making a big batch of falafels that are rolled into flour or seeds, you’ll probably, at some point, need to filter the oil through a steel sieve/strainer to remove burnt flour and food particles. These would, otherwise, spoil the taste and make the last batch taste bitter and burnt.

• Once the falafels are well browned (it is especially important to well-fry falafels that are made with soaked beans), use a skimmer to take them out and place them on a paper towel-lined plate. The oil mark on the towel should be small and not widely spread around your falafel. They should be compact, with a thin crust and a juicy inside, and should only lightly grease your fingers.

• Uncooked falafel mix made with soaked chickpeas/garbanzo beans can be frozen, and so can formed, uncooked falafel and already-fried leftover falafel. My advice is to fry the entire amount, and then freeze the leftovers. This way you only need to defrost them, drizzle some oil over and bake in the oven until crispy. They taste almost better than freshly fried falafel!

cooking chickpeas

The first thing you have to do to make a good hummus is cook the chickpeas/garbanzo beans well, so that they are soft, easier to digest and can be made into a creamy paste. I cook mine from scratch – it’s a cheaper and healthier option than using canned ones, and the resulting hummus is divine. Dried chickpeas and beans need to be soaked for at least 12 hours before cooking. This step cannot be skipped as you could have stomach-ache and bloating if they aren’t soaked and cooked properly.

Pressure-cooking

180 g/1 cup chickpeas/garbanzo beans or other hard beans

1.9 litres/8 cups water, for soaking

700 ml/3 cups water, or more if needed, for cooking

2 dried bay leaves

5-cm/2-inch piece of kombu seaweed (optional)

I prefer to use a stove-top pressure cooker for cooking beans, since it’s easy, doesn’t require constant attention and beans cooked this way are softer and easier to digest. You do not need to have an expensive type of pressure cooker with a fancy lid that no one knows how to put together; there are inexpensive, mechanical, Italian-style models available, which will serve you for decades!

Soak the chickpeas or other beans in the soaking water for 12 hours. Drain, add to the pressure cooker, cover with the fresh water for cooking and bring to the boil. Drain, rinse well and cover again with fresh water, 3–4 cm/1¼–1½ inches above the level of chickpeas or beans. Add the bay leaves and kombu (if using). Secure the lid and allow to boil over a medium heat until it starts hissing and the pressure valve comes up. Reduce the heat to low (just enough to hear a low hissing sound of the steam coming out of the valve), and cook for 1 hour. Turn off the heat, allow the pressure to drop and open the lid.

The chickpeas or beans should be soft. If not using immediately, let cool, place in a glass container with a tight lid covered in cooking water and keep refrigerated. They can last for about 10 days.

Boiling

180 g/1 cup chickpeas/garbanzo beans or other hard beans

1.9 litres/8 cups water, for soaking

820 ml/3½ cups water, or more if needed, for cooking

2 dried bay leaves

5-cm/2-inch piece of kombu seaweed(optional)

If you don’t own a pressure cooker, you can cook chickpeas or other beans in a regular, heavy-bottomed pot by boiling them until soft. It usually takes longer than pressure-cooking, and the cooking time depends a lot on the type of beans used, their size and age – beans that are older are harder and need to be cooked for longer. Soak the chickpeas or other beans in the soaking water for 12 hours. Drain, cover with fresh water (enough to cover) and bring to the boil. Drain, rinse well and cover again with 820 ml/3½ cups of water for cooking. Add the bay leaves and kombu (if using). Let boil over a high heat, uncovered. With a slotted spoon, remove any foam that might appear. Lower the heat, cover and cook until tender; 1 hour or more. Check every 20 minutes and add more hot water if needed. The chickpeas or beans should be tender when done.

Shock method

180 g/1 cup chickpeas/garbanzo beans or other hard beans

1.9 litres/8 cups water, for soaking

600 ml/2½ cups water, plus more cold water for topping up, for cooking

2 dried bay leaves

5-cm/2-inch piece of kombu seaweed (optional)

This method is a bit more demanding and requires constant attention. You have to keep adding cold water during the cooking process, ‘shocking’ the hot beans to make their skins softer and easier to digest. The best type of pot to use is a heavy, cast-iron pot with a ‘drop’ lid that fits inside the pot. Beans cooked this way are sweeter-tasting and delicious.

Soak the chickpeas or other beans in the water for soaking for 12 hours. Drain, cover with fresh water (enough to cover) and let boil. Drain, rinse well and cover with the 600 ml/2½ cups of fresh water. Add the bay leaves and kombu (if using). Let boil over a medium heat, uncovered. With a slotted spoon, remove any foam that might appear. Lower the heat and float a lid that is smaller than the diameter of the saucepan on top of the beans. Keep an eye on the water level, removing the lid and adding more cold water down the side each time the water level becomes low. Continue cooking until they are tender; 1–2 hours.

fried falafels