Dissident Island

To make falafel patties:

1 kg of cooked, very well-drained chickpeas (leave them to strain for a hour in a colander before mixing)
300g of finely minced onions
2 cloves of crushed garlic
a handful of de-stemmed fresh coriander and/or parsley leaves, finely minced
1 1/2 tablespoons of ground cumin
1 tablespoon of ground coriander
4 tablespoons of salt (use less if you are using tinned chickpeas as they will have salt added already)
3 tablespoons of flour
a few tablespoons of sunflower oil
OPTIONAL: 1 tablepoon of lemon / lime juice, cayenne pepper powder to taste, or use 'harisa' (middle eastern hot pepper puree) to make it spicey

Mix it up!

Pour the chickpeas into a big bowl. Get a potato masher and mash the heck out of 'em. Then start adding the other ingredients (with the exception of the flour) listed above, mashing away at the chickpeas as you go along. Once you've added everything, then start whisking in the flour and continue mashing. Once everything is nicely mixed and mashed, take a heaping tablespoon full of the mix into your (clean!) hands. First form a ball and then pat the mixture into a round thin pattie. Take care to smooth the edges if they crack.

Fry it up!

With experimentation, this recipe holds up better in shallow frying rather than deep frying. So to shallow fry the falafel mix, add a tablespoon of oil to a non-stick frying pan and put it over a medium-high flame. Once the pan has heated up, add several of the prepared patties and cook on medium-high for about 2 minutes. After this, turn down the heat to medium and cook the patties for between 7 and 10 minutes. Then turn them over (they will be quite darkened from the frying). Add another tablespoon of oil if it looks like the oil has been soaked up, and continue cooking the paties for another 7 to 10 minutes, or until the pattie is thoroughly hot through-out and crispy on the outside. Serve hot, with fresh pita bread, cucumber, tomato, hot sauce, hummus and pretty much any condiment. Also tasty cold and great for packed lunched and eating on the go. You can make the patties in advance and store them in the fridge for several days for a quick and easy meal. Yay falafel!

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