Falafel

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Dissegna Produce have been selling their locally grown chickpeas at the Capital Region Farmers Market for a month or so. They have such wonderful produce so I finally decided to buy some. I knew I wanted to make falafel with them. It took me a while to get around to it, but boy was it worth it!

These are delicious as a snack on their own (I scoffed many this way), but serving them in a wrap with herb salad, roasted chilli sauce and labne took them to a whole other level of amazing.

Makes 12 small falafel

1	cup	dried chickpeas
4	cloves	garlic
1		red onion
2	teaspoons	cumin seeds, roughly ground
1	teaspoon	ground coriander
1/4	teaspoon	fresh coriander roots (optional)
1/8	teaspoon	salt
2	tablespoons	fresh parsley, roughly chopped
		oil for frying

Soak the chickpeas in water overnight. Drain the chickpeas.

Roughly grind the cumin seeds in a mortar and pestle. Add the coriander root and pound to a paste.

Place the garlic and red onion to the food processor and roughly chop. Gradually add the chickpeas, spices, salt and fresh parsley then process to a course paste.

When you are ready to cook the falafel, fill a deep sided frying pan with 2 centimetres of oil. Heat the oil until a chickpea crumb rises to the top as soon as it’s dropped in the pan.

Use a clean soup spoon to take a generous scoop of falafel mix from the processor. Press the spoon into the palm of your hand to compress the mixture. Use the spoon to help you keep the falafel in a circular shape. Drop the falafel into the hot oil. Rinse the spoon and repeat, cooking the falafel in batches till they are all cooked to dark golden brown.

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