Falafel

Falafel has long been a mainstay of many Middle Eastern cuisines, how long exactly will it always be is a guess, but it is fair to claim that this chickpea based, and highly addictive snack has been around in one form or another for at least a few millennia.

Food and Cooking, states that chickpeas have been under cultivation in the near East for 7000 years. That is a pretty generous amount of time to come up with a few solid recipes.

So what exactly is falafel?

Dried pulses or peas are soaked until softened, then pureed with herbs and other flavourings and shaped into small cakes or patties. These are then fried until they are crisp on the exterior, and meltingly herby inside. The shape will vary from country to country. In the main, chickpeas are the dried pulse of choice - but there are variations.

Interesting Facts about Falafel!!
The most conspicuous of these is Egypt, which traditionally uses dried broad beans (fava beans) in their falafel, as they do with many other dishes - indeed the national dish is a breakfast stew of broad beans called ful medames. You will also notice the absence of cooking the chickpeas - before they are fried as falafel that is. The chickpeas are simply soaked before they are chopped into pinhead-sized pieces in the food processor. Be wary of any recipe that asks you to boil the chickpeas first, as this will result in mushy-centered falafel, instead of a textured dish, full of integrity.
In Australia, falafel were introduced by Lebanese migrants during the 1970's, and many shocking versions could be had in late-night take-away shops. They were invariably served wrapped in ordinary pita bread, along with lashings of limp iceberg lettuce, underripe tomatoes and thick wedges of raw onion. Sauce - tomato or barbeque?

It is sad that these travesties ever occurred, because a good falafel roll is not all that hard to achieve. Use good pita bread, fill it with ripe tomatoes, crisp lettuce, picked herbs, homemade hummus and freshly cooked falafel, and you have a gastronomic street-food snack that is nigh on impossible to beat in the flavour stakes. Alternatively, serve them alone as snacks, with a sauce to dip into, such as hummus, or thick yoghurt mixed with garlic, sea salt and tahini.

I used to avoid making falafel at home, being under the mistaken impression that they were difficult, messy and arcane. Don't let yourself be put off for the same reasons. The simple fact is - these sensationally tasty snacks are the essence of simplicity to make, and as a bonus - they will almost certainly taste better than anything that you can buy.