Greek Week: Falafel

I am not sure what inspired me to make falafel the first time.  I think I might have seen a powder falafel mix available at a health food store and then wondered how much more difficult it would be to make falafel from scratch instead of using the mix.  It has been my experience that mixes are not making a complicated process easier but instead they are hiding how easy the original process actually is.

To make the falafel I have used Tyler Florence's recipe with a few tweaks.

After soaking the beans overnight I cook them on low for a few hours until they are soft.  After that all the ingredients can be combined in the food processor.

I have found that I need to add additional binding agents to the mix to form a ball that won't fall apart during the frying.  I add one egg and two tablespoons of flour to the original recipe before I form the falafel balls.

I form the balls to be about the size of a golf ball.  Since I made a large batch I put the extra balls on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer.  After they were frozen solid I bagged six balls at a time so that I could pull them out for future meals.

I fry the balls in about half an inch of vegetable oil over medium heat.  I turn the balls a couple of times to make sure all parts of the exterior are crisp.  They are excellent in a warm pita with some lettuce and greek yogurt dressing.