Falafel

Ok, it's been ages since I've done anything here. Sorry. Don't know if anyone noticed anyway...

Anyway, I've developed a recipe from scratch, with a little development and I'm quite proud of it.

Most of the falafel recipes I've tried over the years have used whole chickpeas, either dried ones soaked or tinned and then mashed or whizzed in a whizzy whiz food processor thing.

From Ottolenghi to Anissa Helou, Claudia Roden to Greg Malouf, and I've always had trouble with them falling to pieces at the frying stage. Sometimes I've resorted to egg to bind them - inauthentic I know, but when faced with crumbling yummy and a rumbling tummy, needs must.

I've also often used those packets of dried falafel mix you can get from health food shops, supermarkets and Whole Foods. (There's a great one available from http://www.sharafsfood.co.uk/ who runs a great little cafe, Mirage, in Cheltenham.)

Reading the ingredients of some of these (though not Sam's from Sharaf's, his are special), I saw that some of these used breadcrumbs and chickpea flour rather than chickpeas. So I started experimenting...

It worked! Sort of; seasoning was off a bit, texture was a little heavy, so a few more tweaks and this where I am now with this recipe. Some of the ingredients seem a little odd, but try it, it works I think (let me know if you agree, disagree or anything-agree).

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