Lebanese Falafel

very nice recipe I must say. Well done

The flavor of this recipe is spectacular. It's a bit of work to chop everything and grind it in the food processor twice but totally worth the effort and time required. I used two onions instead of three (since I forgot to buy extra onion for this recipe and that seemed to work out just fine as far as the composition went.)<br/><br/>My main problem was when I put the balls in the pan to fry they completely fell apart in the oil. The recipe didn't mention how much to use so I filled the pan at least an inch thick (I assume you need to immerse the balls when you are deep frying and since I didn't have a deep fryer I used a work-around). I don't think the 2 tbsp flour was enough to hold the contents together. (I used a brown rice flour...maybe another flour would hold better. Or sprinkling flour on the board when kneading could also help as well (that might be a detail left out that is assumed all would follow but I didn't since I am gluten-free and am trying to limit my flour intake.) It is also quite possible the oil temperature was not hot enough.) <br/><br/>I ended up forming balls using a spatula in an empty skillet with all the extra olive oil absorbed and they still tasted good although they didn't have the firm exterior and shape you normally expect with falafel.<br/><br/>I would definitely try this recipe again to hopefully experiment. If I make it again I would try to remove more of the moisture from all the herbs so the balls are dryer when you mix. I noticed they were a bit saturated with moisture when I rolled them. If anyone has any suggestions or better luck in cooking these so they don't fall apart, please let me know what worked for you.<br/><br/>Also, I could not find dried green fava beans at the neighborhood specialty store (Armenian), regular supermarket or at Whole Foods and Sprouts.<br/><br/>I used canned organic fava which I think worked out as a substitute. But I would like to follow the recipe exactly as prescribed to see if that proves better results. Any ideas where a gal could find green dried fava beans?

Falafel IS Lebanese ;-) There are versions of it all over the Middle-East, but the Libanon is it's birthplace (homous: same story) As it was -and is- very basic food, all frills are omitted. Beans, cumin, parsley, salt, served with flat bread. Sometimes some tomatoslices, but that's it..

Very, very nice! I made this for the family tonight~my son is vegan, and introduced this to us about 2 years ago. We have falafel parties now! I really like the garlic and red chili pepper addition. The two flavors stood out, but remained smooth in flavor. Perfect! I browned these quickly in a skillet, and finished warming in my minature oven. Thanks, Jubes! Delish-O.