JamesH wrote:

Gunsotsu wrote:

JamesH wrote:Well that fucking sucked...I just tried my hand at falafel and it totally fell apart in the oil. Fuck me! What the hell did I do wrong? Garbanzos, parsley, etc, the usual, blah blah. I made the balls/patties and put them in vegetable oil at about 350. WTF? They completely fell apart and I didn't even touch them for about 4 minutes until they were turning brown.

What the hell did I do wrong? Not add an egg for binding? I was really looking forward to falafel and tzatziki tonight. Dammit!

What recipe did you follow? The only time I've ever had that happen to me my mixture was too wet or the oil wasn't hot enough.

I loosely followed this:

15 oz. can of garbanzos, rinsed and drained
~1/2 cup fresh parsley
~2 tbsp. lemon juice
a few cloves garlic
dash of salt, pepper, baking soda
~1 tbsp. olive oil
~a few tsp. ground cumin
~1/8-1/4 cup general purpose flour

I blended it all and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Formed into balls ~1.5" diameter the next evening. Heated veg. oil to shimmering. Dropped in a couple of balls in oil about 2.5" deep and they started bubbling right away. I think I had the oil temp at about 350, but I didn't use a thermometer. Left in for about 4 minutes until they started turning light brown. Then when I tried to turn them with a slotted spoon, they just fell completely apart.

They felt firm and didn't fall apart while sitting on a plate after I formed the balls while I was waiting for the oil to heat up.

Does elevation have anything to do with it? I'm at 7200 ft. Maybe the oil wasn't as hot as I thought it was.

For felafel I've always used dried garbanzos soaked overnight. Cooked garbanzos would be too mushy I'd imagine.

Here's the recipe I use (for 4 servings):

1.25 cups dried garbanzos soaked overnight and then drained and chopped to a coarse chunky/mealy texture
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup packed fresh Italian parsley leaves - minced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 ground red pepper
2 TBS flour

mix all this together - form into patties with wet hands then let the patties sit 15-20 minutes before frying at 350°.

Since it's just me and the wife, I'll make double batches and form the mixture into loaves maybe 5 inches wide by 2 inches high. Wrap these loaves in plastic, then aluminum foil and freeze them. When you want felafel, set a loaf out of the freezer for a half hour or so then cut 1/2"-3/4" thick slices off and fry it up.

Never had a problem with it falling apart.

You idiots are totally gonna get us put on a watch list with all this discussion about terrorist food.

Dbluefish for about $150 you can get a three knife set from global - pairing/veggie/santoku. Check Cutlery and more online. They have good sale deals.

I still love my low end chefs knife. It's Henkels or Wustoff from Target, I think it's 10".

Ya...I think the canned garbanzos were my problem. Too much moisture.