Falafel

Serve these falafel stuffed into toasted pita breads with tahini sauce; add chopped tomato and cucumber, seasoned yoghurt and also some chilli sauce.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
200g	whole dried broad beans, soaked in plenty of cold water overnight or throughout the day, (or use tinned broad beans)
1	garlic cloves, finely chopped
1	small onion, finely diced
A large bunch	fresh coriander, long stalks removed and finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped
A large bunch	fresh parsley, long stalks removed and finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped
1 teaspoon	coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon	cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 teaspoon	salt
1/2 teaspoon	black pepper or chilli flakes, or to taste
	sunflower oil, for frying the falafel
	* tahini sauce [rid:40398], to serve

Rinse the soaked beans, then drain well and put into a food processor. Add the garlic, onion, herbs, spices, salt and chilli flakes/pepper and blend with about 100ml of water until you have a smooth green paste.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a moderate heat and fry a teaspoon of the mixture to check the seasoning. Adjust with more salt and/or chilli/pepper if necessary. Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to about 150°C.
Heat some oil in a medium-sized and high-sided saucepan – about a 5cm depth of oil is good – until very hot. If you have a digital thermometer, the temperature of the oil should be about 180°C. The mixture is quite wet and the oil is very hot, so be careful here. Using two dessert spoons, one to shape and one to scrape the mixture off, drop a spoonful of the batter into the hot oil – it should bubble and fry, quickly turning crisp and golden brown. Flip the falafel over to fry on the other side. Work in small batches, 3 or 4 at a time, removing the falafel with a slotted spoon when crisp.
Reserve the cooked falafel on a plate or baking dish in the warm oven and continue to fry the rest of the mix.
When the falafel mix is all used up, serve the falafel with the tahini sauce.