Felafel

 

Serves 4 – 6 as a first course, 8 or more as a tapa / pour 4 – 6 personnes comme entrée, 8 + comme tapa

250 gm dried broad beans / fèves sechées

1 onion / oignon

4 cloves garlic / gousses d’ail

1 large bunch of coriander leaves or parsley / grande botte de feuilles de coriandre ou persil

juice of 1 lemon / le jus d’un citron

1 tablespoonful ground coriander / cuillerée de coriandre en poudre

salt, pepper / sel, poivre

sunflower oil / huile de tournesol

Soak the beans in cold water for 24 hours.  Remove the skins.  /  Faire tremper les fèves à l'eau froide pour 24 heures. Enlever les pelures.

In a food processor finely chop the onion, parsley or coriander leaves and the garlic and put in a large bowl.  /  Dans un mixeur, hacher finement l’oignon, les feuilles de persil ou coriandre et l’ail et les mettre dans un grand bol.

Process the beans in the food processor until finely chopped but not powdered.  /  Dans le mixeur hacher finement les fèves.

Add to the onion and herb mix in the bowl and mix well with the lemon juice, ground coriander, salt and pepper.  /  Ajouter au mélange d’oignon et d’herbes et mélanger bien avec le jus de citron, le coriandre en poudre, le sel et le poivre.

Form into balls about the size of a walnut and deep fry in sunflower oil until golden.  /  Faire des boules de la mème taille d’un noix et les faire frire jusqu' à elles soient dorées.

Serve warm with slices of lemon, with a green salad or with other mezes or tapas. / Servir tiède accompagné des tranches de citron, une salade verte ou des autres mezes ou tapas.

 

Felafel are middle eastern and north African in origin.  They smell really delicious when they are being cooked.  When I was a child in Libya we were returning from a family outing once when my father said ‘I can smell felafel’, remembering them from his years in Egypt before I was born, so he literally followed his nose and led us to the shop near the souk in Benghazi where felafel were being fried in a huge vat of hot oil open to the street.  It was the first time I’d tasted them and I’ve loved them ever since.  They take a little trouble to make, but it’s worth it!  They can also be made with dried chick peas in the same way, but with chick peas there is no need to peel them.