Falafel is a crisp, deep-fried, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean fritter cooked with fresh herbs and chickpeas. It is a very well-liked street dish, particularly in nations like Egypt, Lebanon, and Turkey. Falafel is a multipurpose patty that can be eaten on its own with a dip, in a falafel sandwich on pita bread, or in a mezze platter.
Hummus is a creamy and smooth dip made using cooked Chickpeas, Tahini Paste, Garlic and Olive Oil. It is a quintessential part of the Mezze Platter and pairs well with Falafel. Tahini Sauce is one of the most popular sauces in Middle East and the base of this sauce is Tahini Paste which is a paste made from roasted white sesame seeds and oil
You will be blown away by the taste of all three of the recipes in this post, I promise. The inside of this falafel is mushy, and the outside is really crunchy. It has a faint taste of spices like paprika, cumin, and coriander, as well as a lot of herbaceous flavors like mint, parsley, and coriander. It tastes amazing when combined with the nutty-flavored Tahini Sauce and the silky-smooth Hummus.
Around the world, falafel has become more and more popular as a vegetarian or vegan dish. When eaten without the pita bread, it is also gluten-free. Despite being deep-fried, it is a healthier snack than other options because it is made with chickpeas, which are high in protein.
In the Middle East, tahini sauce is just as vital as ketchup is to Americans when it comes to dips. Many appetizers and mezze platters sold in this area are served with this sauce as an addition. The foundation of this sauce is tahini paste. Although tahini paste is typically purchased from stores, it is simple to make at yourself.
Simply slow roast white sesame seeds until they just start to change color, then crush them with salt and oil to a thin paste to produce your own tahini paste. A diluted form of tahini paste, tahini sauce is topped with parsley or coriander leaves and a few more flavoring components like lemon juice and garlic.
Serving Suggestion
Falafel can be served as a snack, as part of a Mezze platter, or as a hearty dinner in the form of a Pita bread pocket Falafel sandwich. Serving falafel hot enhances its flavor.
A mezze platter is a type of Middle Eastern appetizer board that includes pita bread, a variety of dips, fresh vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes, grilled eggplant, and cheeses like Feta. From this, the guests can create the snack plate of their choice.
Making a sandwich out of falafel is another common way to serve it. To prepare a Falafel sandwich, cut open a pita bread, top with hummus and Tahini sauce, and stuff the pita pocket with lettuce, tomato, onions, cucumber, a few Falafel, and crumbled Feta cheese.
Falafel with Hummus & Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
Method
- Soak 1.5 cups of chickpeas overnight. Drain the water completely
- Add the drained chickpeas, mint, parsley, and fresh coriander leaves to a mixer jar. Use additional coriander leaves in place of parsley if you don't have any.
- Add all the remaining ingredients except baking powder (onion, garlic, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder or Paprika, salt to taste) If parsley isn't available, use more coriander leaves instead.
- Pulse grind to a coarse paste. Do not add water while grinding and also do not grind it too fine. Coarse batter will yield crispy falafel.
- Refrigerate this batter for at least 1 hour as it will help firm up and easy to shape them.
- Just before frying the falafel, add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to make the Falafel light. Mix well.
- Shape the falafel in balls by rolling them between your palm
- Prepare all the remaining falafel.
- Heat oil in a kadai. Once the oil is medium hot, drop the falafel into oil carefully.
- Make sure to keep the flame medium while frying the falafel. Turn and toss them intermittently.
- Drain them from oil once they are deep golden brown in colour. Make note to take bit earlier than the desired colour, as falafel continue to change colour even after taking it out of the oil. Continue frying the remaining Falafel.
- Dry roast 100 grams of white sesame seeds in a pan on a low flame. It should just change colour and not turn brown. Cool the sesame seeds completely before grinding
- Add the sesame seeds to a mixer jar and grind. Initially it would look powdery, but when you continue grinding, the natural oil in sesame seeds will turn it into a coarse paste.
- Now add salt and around 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Grind further to turn into a smooth paste.
- Transfer to a bowl. Tahini paste is ready and can be stored in refrigerator for 3 to 4 weeks easily.
- Soak 0.5 cup of dry chickpeas overnight. Drain the water. Pressure cook the chickpeas with some salt and fresh water for around 8 to 9 whistles or till the chickpeas are soft
- Remove the skin from the chickpea by rubbing it. This will make the Hummus smooth and creamy.
- Cool the chickpeas and then transfer to a mixer jar. Add some salt, garlic, cumin powder and 1 tablespoon olive oil, juice of 1 lime, 2 tablespoons of Tahini paste and grind.
- Add some of the reserved stock used to cook chickpeas and grind further to a smooth thick paste.
- Transfer the hummus to a shallow bowl and using the back of a spoon, create some swirls in it.
- Drizzle some olive oil on top of it. Sprinkle some paprika powder or kashmiri red chilli powder, and fresh chopped parsley or coriander. Hummus is ready
- Grind 3 cloves of garlic with some salt. Next add the Tahini paste, juice of 1 lime and some water.
- Once sauce type consistency is reached, transfer to a bowl and add fresh parsley or coriander to garnish. Tahini sauce is ready.
- Cut open Pita bread and in the pita pocket, add lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cucumber , 1 tablespoon of Hummus and crumble some feta cheese. Add couple of hot Falafel. Top with some Tahini sauce.
Notes
- Make sure to drain the water from soaked chickpeas completely before grinding it. Also do not add any water while grinding it.
- Just pulse grind the chickpeas and make a coarse paste. Do not grind to a smooth paste. Coarse batter yields crispy falafel.
- If the batter is loose, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of besan or gram flour to adjust the consistency. Also refrigerating the batter for at least one hour helps to firm up the batter.
- Make sure to fry falafel in medium flame, so that it is cooked thoroughly from inside and also get a uniform colour.
- Falafel tastes best when served hot
- While making the Tahini paste, be careful while roasting the sesame seeds. It is to be roasted on low flame till it just starts to change colour.
- Removing the skin from cooked chickpeas yields a smooth Hummus.
