Falafel is a 100% local Arabian food and one of the most local foods in the Arab world, especially Egypt, where falafel is considered one of the main dishes for breakfast for most of the Arab people.
It is a meal for poor people, and an appetizer for rich people, falafel match levels between people. It is still a beloved recipe for both rich and poor people with its various recipes.
Falafel is a part and parcel of the Egyptians’ history that became an essential element in the breakfast of the modern era that most people prefer it with bean in regular days, because of its valuable nutrition, and its ability to overcome hunger.
Although Egyptians agreed on its ingredients, its name varies from place to another as it is named in the north areas “Falafel” and it is named in the middle, and south parts “Tamiya”.
There is a lot of food that belongs to the Arab world that also spread in Israel when the Jews were dispersed before establishing Israel in 1948. When the Jews came back to Israel in the 70th, the Israeli cooking skills were developed, because of the return of the Jews and their experience with the Arab world, that made the Jewish kitchen very similar to the Arabic kitchen especially in the ways of cooking, and also the dished itself.
The most common Arabic dishes in the Israeli culture are: Tabbouleh, Hummus with Tahini, Baba Ghanoug, Falafel and much more.
There are two ways to prepare Falafel and we will discuss both the Egyptian, and Levant recipes:
Levant falafel recipe for “Syria, Lebanon and Palestine”:
Ingredients:
500 g. Hummus “soaked for 12 hours”
1000 g. peeled bean “soaked for 12 hours”
3 pieces of onion “cut into small cubes”
6 garlic cloves
Cup of water “for mixing in the blender”
Bunch of parsley “1 cup”
Bunch of minced coriander “1 cup”
2 tbsp. ground cumin “essential”
1 tbsp. dried dill “as preference”
1 tbsp. Sumac “as preference”
1 tbsp. red pepper “as preference”
1 tsp. baking powder or baking soda “essential”
1 tsp. black pepper “as preference”
1 tbsp. salt “as preference”
Frying oil
Preparation:
Take the hummus and bean out of soaking water and make sure you got all the water away from them, then mix in the blender, and make sure to grind one, or more time to get the mixture smooth.
Keep mixing then add between time, and time the other ingredient such as onions, garlic, parsley, and coriander.
After you finish mixing all the ingredients, put the falafel’s dough in a bowl, and mix well then add cumin, dill, salt, and pepper, and then mix with your hand.
Add a tsp. of baking soda, that gives more strength to the dough, then put the dough in the fridge at least for 2 hours.
Before using the dough, take a piece of the dough, and make a small ball with it then fold it well to make it more flat than it is round.
Put oil In a pan over heat, and wait till it gets very hot, then put the falafel’s pieces in the frying oil, and fry till it becomes brown, gold then take it out of oil (frying doesn’t take more than 5 minutes).
Falafel is served with white bread, Tahini and green salad.
Important Note: if your family is not big then you can freeze the leftovers of the dough in small plastic bags, then when you need to use it, add some baking soda to it, and shape it as we mentioned above. It can be saved in the freezer for about 3 months, so make sure to write the date on the plastic bags.
Tahini sauce recipe:
4 tbsp. yogurt
3 tbsp. tahini
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Salt
Mix the ingredients well and serve cold.
By the way, the taste of the tahini sauce is very similar to the tahini sauce of the fresh, and cooked chicken. Just add some onion, and use if you cooked grilled chicken.
Falafel and Tahini sandwich recipe:
Fried falafel
White Arabic bread
Tahini sauce
Salad “Pickled cucumber, tomato, parsley, pepper, and pickled pepper”
Egyptian falafel recipe:
1 cup peeled bean
1 bunch green onion
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch dill
1 bunch green coriander
1 large garlic head
1 tbsp. dried dill
¼ tsp. baking soda or baking powder
Sesame “as preference”
Preparation:
-Soak the bean for full night.
-Take the bean out of water, and add green onion, parsley, drill, green coriander in the blender and mince well.
-Mince the garlic, dried dill, salt, and then add the previous mixture, and mix well.
-Add baking soda over the mixture and mix well.
-Shape the dough as balls, and flat them slightly by hand, and add sesame over each piece if you prefer and then fry in oil.
Serve hot with hot bread, tomato, green salad, tahini and pickles.
