Falafel
1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 small onion, finely chopped/minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs (check for being corn-free, of course)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
1 quart vegetable oil for frying
- Mash the garbanzo beans in a large bowl. Stir in the onion, garlic, cilantro, parsley cumin, turmeric, baking powder, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Do not be afraid to use your hands. Shape the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls; you should get 18 to 24*. If the mixture does not hold together, add a little water.
- *If no deep fryer, skip to step 3* Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Carefully drop the balls into the hot oil, and fry until brown. If you do not have a deep fryer, heat the oil in a heavy deep skillet over medium-high heat. You may need to adjust the heat slightly after the first couple of falafels, and be sure to turn frequently so they brown evenly
- If you don't have a deep fryer, it will be a bit tricker but shouldn't be terrible assuming your careful. Take a pot and fill it with 1-2 inches of oil and heat this up very hot and drop the falafel in this, probably need to spin it around to ensure uniform coverage. You know it will be of the proper heat when the falafel bubbles like french fries do in oil just with less intensity. Use tongs for this or you will no longer have fingers. A very, very, important note of this is that if your oil starts smoking at any point in this situation, stop using it immediately, turn off the heat, and dispose of later. If an oil goes over its smoke point it becomes carcinogenic amongst other bad things.
*Note: I only got around 16 of these, maybe I made them a bit larger than it called for or had a smaller amount of garbanzo beans than I had thought. Also, I substituted ginger for turmeric, as they are the same family and similar in some respects. Tumeric would probably have been better, but it turned out to be excellent nonetheless. It will also be much easier if you just mash the beans by hand rather than by any machine, they lack enough moisture to be pureed nicely(I always use a plastic ice cream scoop because it works in a bowl well).
A delightful picture of my falafel frying in a pan, step three style. I fry them in sunflower oil because it's not only very healthy for an oil but it has a smoke point of around 450˚, so I'm very unlikely go over it's smokepoint on my stovetop.
