Greek Falafels made with chickpeas and spices

I have been a Greek food lover ever since i had my first plate of Spanakopita. Although my reach is as far as vegetarian Greek food goes, i love ever single dish. I have created many dishes with greek flavors and my family approves them every single time. For this Meatless Monday, how about we munch on some home made Falafels !!

My first date dinner with my husband in Montreal was in a boutique Greek style cafe. It was sometime in early Jan and it was snowing blizzards outside the window. The cafe was pretty small but just the perfect amount of cozy that we wanted. I remember us ordering a sample platter which had pita, hummus, falafel, feta fries, Spanakopita and Greek Salad ! I loved all the components of that dish and Falafels and Spanakopita became almost a staple at my place !

One day i decided to make my Falafels from scratch. Read through a few recipes on the internet and understood the basics. I realized it was not all that difficult to create and i am so happy i took up the task ! I love these home made Falafels 🙂

Greek Falafels made with chickpeas and spices

Falafels: Mediterranean Chickpea Patty

Servings: 5-6
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: easy
Print

falafels close up

Ingredients

uncooked chickpeas, soaked overnight or atleast 6 hours (canned chickpeas will not work for this recipe)- 2 cups
chickpea flour – 2 tablespoons
onion-1 medium , roughly chopped
garlic- 4 cloves
fresh coriander- 1/2 cup
dried parsley- 2 tsp
cumin seeds- 1 tsp
dry coriander powder- 2 tsp
salt to taste
red chili powder- 1/2 tsp
black pepper- 1/2 tsp
Oil for shallow frying

Method

Drain out the water from the soaked chickpeas and put them into a food processor.
Add in all the ingredients (except Oil) and blend in the food processor till all comes together and forms a coarse meal.
Remove the mix in a working bowl. Cover with a cling film and refrigerate it for about 2 hours. This will help is binding the mix together.
Once the resting is done, remove from the refrigerator and form into small balls.
Heat Oil in a pan to shallow fry the falafels. I took a broad pan to fry many falafels together. Add approximately 1 inch oil into the pan and heat the oil.
Slowly add in the falafel balls, placing at least 1 inch apart and fry on medium high till golden brown on both sides.
Once done, remove on a paper towel and drain the excess oil. Falafels are ready.
Make this into a Falafel Pita sandwich and enjoy !

I served them in a Pita Falafel sandwich and it was delicious.

Building up the sandwich was fun and i tried making it authentic. Everything, including the Pita bread, was made at home from scratch and the joy of taking that first bite is in-describable ! It was amazing. I would be putting up the Pita bread recipe soon too.

In case you are wondering, my Pita falafel Sandwich was made with :

Pita bread – home made
Tzatziki
Hummus
Falafels
Salad which contained – Banana peppers, Kalamata Olives, Tomatoes and Bell peppers marinated in lemon olive oil dressing.