Falafel

Rinse the dried chickpeas and pick out any stones. Put them in a large bowl and cover with cold water by at least 5 cm, because they roughly double in size. Leave them to soak for 12–18 hours at room temperature, or overnight. Drain well. Use dried chickpeas only and never canned or cooked ones, which are too soft and make a paste that falls apart in the oil.

• chickpea300 g

Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Put the drained chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley and coriander, stems included, in a food processor with the cumin, baking soda and a generous pinch of salt. Pulse for 2–3 minutes, scraping down the sides, until the mixture is the texture of coarse, damp sand. Stop before it becomes a smooth purée, which makes dense falafel.

• chickpea300 g
• onion1
• garlic4 cloves
• parsley1 bunch
• coriander1 bunch
• cumin2 tsp
• baking soda0.5 tsp
• saltto taste

Cover the bowl and refrigerate the mixture for at least 30 minutes, so the flavours settle and the mixture firms up. Take a small handful, about 1 heaped tablespoon, and press it firmly between your palms into a ball or a flattened disc about 4 cm across. Make 20 in all. If a ball crumbles, squeeze it harder; if the mixture feels wet, refrigerate it for another 15 minutes.

Pour the oil into a deep pan, to a depth of at least 5 cm, and heat it to 180 °C, checking with a thermometer. Fry the falafel in batches of 5–6 for 3–4 minutes, turning once, until they are deep brown all over. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, drain them on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt. Let the oil come back to temperature between batches.

• frying oil750 mL