Falafel

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of dry chick peas (1kg)

• 2 cups of dry fava beans ( choose the ones that are peeled) Soak overnight (500g)

• 1 onion

• ½ head of garlic (about 8 cloves peeled)

The Herbs:

• 1 bunch coriander

• ½ bunch flat leaf parsley

• ¼ bunch mint

The Seasonings:

• 2 tsp salt (or more to taste)

• 2 tsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp ground coriander

• ½ tsp cayenne pepper

• ½ tsp pepper

• A pinch of ground cardamom

Method:

1. Pour peas & beans into a large bowl and cover with 3” of cold water. Leave to soak overnight. They will double in size as they soak.

2. Rinse & strain the chick peas & beans (no cooking involved)

3. Put all the ingredients into a food processor & process until a rough course meal forms.

4. Scrape sides of mixer and continue to pulse until the mix is between cous cous and a paste. Don’t go too far, you don’t want hummus texture!

5. Heat a fry pan with olive oil & form disc/pattie like shapes & shallow fry in a couple inches of medium heat oil. Each falafel should take 2-3 minutes on each side to cook. If it goes brown before this your oil is too hot, and the falafel will not be cooked on the inside!

Tahini Sauce

• Roughly a half cup Tahina

• 2 cloves of crushed garlic

• 1/2 lemon juiced

• water

• salt

I use a pestle to make this sauce. In a bowl add the crushed garlic, tahina, salt, lemon juice & stir, it will be the consistency of peanut butter at this stage, keep stirring & adding the water & lemon juice till the consistency is a little thinner than yoghurt...use this as a dipping sauce.