Thread: How to make falafels

Being a little awed after seeing the Dawgs great cooking threads I am a little self-conscious of my own very amateur efforts, but here goes.

I enjoy these little fried balls, great wrapped in a tortilla or Pita with Hummus and tabbouleh.

You will need
One cup of cooked Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans.
One cup of Chopped parsley
One Chopped onion
a few cloves of chopped Garlic
2 Table spoons Flour to bind it all together.
A couple of Tsp of Cummin and the same of ground coriander, I also like to add some fresh coriander.
Pepper & salt
Villa have the Garbanzo beans, dry and canned and I get my fresh Parsley from Makro although Villa will have that at 3 x the price.
You will need to soak beans over nite and cook for 1 hrs unless they are canned.



Having collected all the ingredients, put them in a pot or food processor and mash it all up, I had to use a mortar and Pestle as my expensive Bosh FP has gone tits up.



Having it all mashed into a nice thick paste, roll them into balls, not too big just a nice mouth full.



Heat enough oil to at least half cover them, oil should be around 200c but as my little darlings seem to have lost my infrared temperature gauge I guessed at the temperature. If anything its a little hot.




Get them nice and brown, about 5 mins at this temperature, they may look over cooked but they aren't, roll em around a bit and drain.



Ready to eat, I like to give them a good drain so I give them 5 mins on paper towels in a warm convection oven.



I like to serve them wrapped in Tortillas or Pita with Hummus and some greens or Tabbouleh.
Easy to make because they don't fall apart when frying and if desired you can add other spices, chilli flakes etc.

Looks good Peter.
I was in Nong Khai at the Friendship Bridge Farang Food Store yesterday.

Frozen flour tortillas: 220 baht for 10. BG posted a tortilla recipe a few weeks ago -- have to dig it up.

They look fab, will try out your recipe for lunch.

Originally Posted by Texpat

Looks good Peter.
I was in Nong Khai at the Friendship Bridge Farang Food Store yesterday.

Frozen flour tortillas: 220 baht for 10. BG posted a tortilla recipe a few weeks ago -- have to dig it up.

220 for 10, someone is trying to get rich quickly, the last lot I brought 2 weeks ago at Villa were 65 Bt for 10.
We need to start our own Tortilla factory Tex, many Mexicans living around where you are? or will we have to import some?

Gonna make those up as well. Really nice looking. Thanks.

Can you get Hummus in Tops?

PP,

Great job!!!! I've always felt the same as you...a bit ashamed of my poor humble cooking skills, but that looked damn good.

I would have to say that would make a really nice beer snack as well!

Yes excellent beer snack CS,

Minime, not seen Hummus for sale here but you can buy the ingrediants, again the old chick peas, Tahini and lemon juice , Olive oil. I belive I put Hummus recipe up here not long ago, or maybe I forgot.

Great thread, one of my favourite meals, but I've been here so long, I've forgot all about them, Cheers.

I love Mid Eastern, Greek & Mediterranean food, there were quite a few Greek restaurants in Melbourne, we used to go to one particular one every week and some of the Balkan restaurants in Sydney fabulous food.

Cheers PP, I spent a year in Israel and every Tuesday night we would go for falafel. The store holders would throw the falafel balls as high as they could and catch them in the pitta bread.

Looks great! A little yogurt with cucumbers on the side and you got your self a meal.

Villa sells Hummus. Imported from Aussieland.

Looking great PP! I think I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow. I like the way you put the text over your pics on the recipe too, nice touch.

Originally Posted by peterpan

there were quite a few Greek restaurants in Melbourne

No shit, Melbourne has the largest Greek population of any city outside Athens.

Bloody wogs.

Yum. Look great, PP.

Originally Posted by EmperorTud

Originally Posted by peterpan

there were quite a few Greek restaurants in Melbourne

No shit, Melbourne has the largest Greek population of any city outside Athens.

Bloody wogs.

Sydney has the greatest kiwi population outside of Auckland but don't see too many Kiwi restaurants in Sidders.

Originally Posted by November Rain

Yum. Look great, PP.

Thank you sweetheart I may come down to HH and cook you some in October as long as you promise to stop the dogs from barking and waking us up in the morning.

^ Hehehe. I'll keep 'em quiet.

anybody need any tips I was a pro chef for 11 years (not Thai cooking though!!)

Piss up at my place this weekend Peter if you want to take your appron off for a bit and do some manly stuff like ride a bike then sit in a hot shed and drink cold beer

I've also purchased Humas at Carefour.
Barry

(Found on the web this morning. I tried this recipe, and it works pretty well. No problem at all, except I have a hard time getting the tortilla to be round )


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Flour Tortilla Recipe


This is a simple, easy to make flour tortilla recipe. My grandmother always made homemade tortillas for us. It was a way for her to nourish her family. She made the best tortillas! Tortillas can be part of the meal, a bread to compliment or a delicious dessert.

3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Instructions:

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add vegetable shortening or lard. Or use a combination of half lard, half shortening. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.

Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do not need very hot water.

Knead the dough for a few minutes.

Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form about 12 small dough balls. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.

This is a good time to heat up the flat bottomed frying pan. You will want to set it at medium to high heat. If it is too hot the tortillas will cook too fast.

Now you can roll out the dough with your tortilla rolling pin. It is a good idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. Lay the rolling pin in the center of the dough ball and roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the dough and turn it. Again, rolling pin in the center and roll. Roll them out fairly thin.

Lay your tortilla on the hot flat bottomed frying pan. It takes just a few seconds to cook. Flip to the other side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. Place them in a towel. If you would like you can use a tortilla warmer to keep them warm longer.

They are ready to be served!

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Originally Posted by DOCTOR KOONG

anybody need any tips I was a pro chef for 11 years (not Thai cooking though!!)

I am from the U.S. and never in my life have I been able to eat hot-spicy foods. And, my cooking skills were limited in the U.S. and even more so here because my Thai wife doesn't have an oven. So, I am losing weight. Down from 163 lbs to 141. So, I'd like to see more receipes like PP just offered up. I've never heard of that food, but it sure looks good. Also, we go to Nong Kai about once a month and I didn't know about that Farang grocery store. And, are those convection ovens expensive? Can you bake anything in them like you would with gas ore electric ovens?

I hope you will have some help coming soon as my golf clubs are getting kinda heavy.

Lastly, I want to compliment all you members on your helpfulness, humor and great PC skills. I wish I knew my way around a PC like you guys. But, I'm "old and retarded" a maybe not supposed to know that stuff. Good thing I'm slim though or I'd be insulted off this forum...LMAO

Originally Posted by xlineshooter

I am from the U.S.

Never mind, we are all good guys here and no ones perfect.
Lots of questions here but convection oven you can get here, small ones are cheap and OK for somethings and the bigger ones (microwave combination style) are bloody expensive. Just try a conventional gas style oven, there was an old thread about them here.
The store at NK is just before the friendship bride on the RH side.