Falafel, or Middle Eastern chickpea fritters, are a great idea for luncheon dishes. Stuffed in pitas and served with a cool cucumber-mint sauce, they can enliven your summer food repertoire. Falafel is thought to have originated in Egypt, but there are many alternative theories, according to this historical site. Although there are prepackaged mixes for the fritters, this recipe for Falafel with Cucumber-Mint Sauce is not difficult to make.
To Cook the Chickpeas
Wash and place 1⁄2 pound of dried chickpeas in a pot with 2 quarts of cold water. Bring to a boil, and boil 5 minutes. Lower the heat to a simmer. Add a whole unpeeled garlic clove, a bay leaf, 4 tablespoons olive oil, and sprigs of fresh thyme.
Cook the dried chickpeas.
Cook for 1 1⁄2 hours or more until tender. Drain off the liquid, discard the garlic, bay leaf, and thyme.
Drain chickpeas.
You can simplify the recipe by using drained, canned cooked chickpeas. However, they are so easy to cook yourself and so much tastier than the canned variety that it’s a shame not to put forth the bit of extra effort.
To Make the Falafel
Place 3⁄4 cup of the cooked, drained chickpeas in a food processor, along with an onion (cut in chunks), two peeled garlic cloves, parsley, fresh mint and cilantro. Process until rather smooth. You don’t want to purée all the chickpeas because they will become too smooth and watery.
Process the herbs.
In a large bowl, mash the remainder of the chickpeas with a potato masher. There will remain some small chunks, but be sure to mash any whole chickpeas.
Mash chickpeas.
Combine the ingredients from the food processor into the mashed chickpeas.
Combine herbs and chickpeas.
In another bowl, beat together eggs, cumin, coriander, lemon juice, salt, pepper, cayenne, and baking powder.
Beat eggs and spices together.
Combine with the chickpea mixture.
Add egg mixture to the chickpeas.
Sprinkle on the flour and add bread crumbs slowly to the mixture. Add only enough bread crumbs to stiffen the mixture enough to hold in patties. Add more or less bread crumbs and flour to achieve that consistency.
Add breadcrumbs and flour to mixture.
Form the mixture into 1 1⁄2-inch patties and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This enables them to hold their shape better when frying.
Form falafel mixture into patties.
Fry the falafel in a large skillet in about 1⁄2-inch or more of oil over medium-high heat, until browned on both sides. Many deep-fry falafel, but I find this unnecessary.
Fry the falafel.
To Make the Cucumber-Mint Sauce
For the cucumbers, I like to use Kirbys because they are crisp and flavorful, but you can substitute large cucumbers. Peel the cucumbers, cut in half, and seed with a spoon. Sprinkle both sides with salt, and place on paper towels, cut-side-down, to drain. This helps to remove as much water as possible from the cucumbers
Drain the cucumbers.
Rinse the cucumbers in cold water, drain, and chop finely. Dry the chopped cucumber in paper towels.
Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, finely chopped mint, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Stir in the the chopped cucumber and chill.
To Serve Falafel with Cucumber-Mint Sauce
Place pitas, bottom-side down, directly on the grates of a gas stove over medium-low heat until they begin to puff up.
Heat the pitas.
Be careful not to let them burn. (If you don’t have a gas stove, heat them in an oven.)
Gently cut the pitas in half and open the pockets. Stuff each pita half with the falafel, and top with the cucumber-mint sauce.
Stuff the pitas with falafel and sauce.
They can also be eaten plain, without pitas. Just pour the sauce over them.
Left-over falafel can be successfully reheated in a 350° oven for about 6 minutes.
Falafel with Cucumber-Mint Sauce.
