RECIPE

Falafels

DECEMBER 18, 2020
Edited to correct typos on March 17, 2021
[ SKIP TO RECIPE ]
The first time I had a “falafel” was also the first time I shallow fried any food in my entire life.

Unless it’s a designated falafel shop, most shops or restaurants I know of in my area cross fry gluten and non-gluten items in the same oil. This makes it very difficult to get a safe wheat-free falafel. But then I got lucky…

In 2015, when my friends invited me to visit their family in Israel together, I was over the moon and made a specific request that we visit this one place that makes gluten-free falafels! And my request came true. I didn’t do much research for my trip to Israel since my friends’ parents were hosting us and said they would take care of me including my allergies. I’m not going to lie. I did prepare myself slightly in case of any misunderstandings since I did not expect majority of the people in this world are familiar with food allergies. Well… I had a pleasant surprise that my friends’ parents made the extra effort to find gluten-free alternatives for me and also instructed restaurants very specifically that the food they prepared were gluten-free AND free from the other foods that I’m also allergic to. I will share more about this another time, but Israel is definitely the safest place I’ve had the pleasure of eating in without worrying about my food allergies!

Since I really wanted to make sure I tried at least a falafel during the trip, I found this place called Hakosem on instagram that promotes their gluten-free food, which included their popular falafels! When I told my friends and his parents about this place, which they’ve never heard of, they, of course being the best hosts ever, drove us there! 

There was a line up as we approached the open-concept store. I can’t remember clearly, but I think we were in line for about 15 minutes? I felt a bit embarrassed to have made everyone line-up for something that they’re probably not excited for since this is such a common food for them. 

Hakosem
Shlomo HaMelekh St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel [map]

Hakosem’s open kitchen.

As we got closer into the store, the people in front of us passed down a bowl of falafels for us to sample! When I took my first ever bite of a real falafel, I was overwhelmed. It was perfectly crispy on the surface and fluffy and flavourful on the inside. I thought to myself, “this was what it’s supposed to taste like” as I recalled the bad batch that I made from the dry mix. 

At last when we reached the counter, I let my friend help me order mine the way he grew up eating it minus the pita in Hebrew. In the middle of ordering, my friend exclaimed to me that they had housemate gluten-free pita bread. I was speechless! The man who was manning the sandwich assembling station told us that he stuffed an extra falafel in each of our orders because we were visitors! My friend, who grew up in Tel Aviv, approved these pockets of falafels! He is very honest when it comes to food and will let you know if it isn’t good, so you can definitely take his words for it! It might have been a small little side activity, but it was one of the highlights of this trip for me. Every now and then I think about these falafels I devoured. 

The following years, I was craving these falafels at home. I was desperate to recreate the ones Hakosem made so I tried to look for a description that talks about the ingredients that they use, or even any information about their techniques. It did not take me more that 5 minutes to land on Hakosem’s website to find out that they listed out their recipe! I was able to translate it with Google translate easily and made these falafels at home! 

Mine come out the tasting slightly different, but it was close enough to satisfy my cravings. I’ve also seen a video of the owner of Hakosem demonstrating how they make theirs for a tourism promo special. They’ve shared a version of their recipe here. I’ve eventually adapted it based on the ingredients I have access to at my local grocery stores. 

Inside Hakosem’s falafels.

Inside the falafels I made at home.

Adapted from a recipe by Ariel Rosenthal

Falafels

Yield: about 40 balls
 
INGREDIENTS
  • 400g of dried chickpeas, soaked for 12 hour or overnight, drained
  • 1 bunch of cilantro
  • 1 small onion, cut into quarters
  • 1 ¼ tsp of ground cumin
  • ¾tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of ground coriander
  • 2 tbsp of black sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp of baking soda
  • oil for frying
  • water, if needed
  • chickpea flour, if needed
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. I have a medium-sized food processor, so I split the ingredients and do them in three batches. In a food processor, grind the soaked and drained chickpeas, cilantro and onion until the mixture is blended. The mixture should be coarse, like 2-3 mm sized grains.
  2. Transfer the blended mixture into a large mixing bowl, and continue blending the other batches.
  3. Once all the chickpeas, cilantro and onion are processed, mix in the cumin, coriander, salt, black sesame seeds and baking soda.
  4. The mixture should barely hold together when you gently and loosely press it into a ball. If it doesn’t, mix in 1 tbsp of water at a time until it holds. Mine usually comes out too wet, so I add 1 tbsp of chickpea flour at a time until the mixture holds together just enough to not fall apart in the frying process.
  5. Once you get the mixture to the right consistency, heat about 2 inches of oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat until 180ºC. I like to use a small copper saucepan, which fits about 5 falafels at a time.
  6. When the oil is heated, scoop about 2.5 tablespoon of the mixture (around walnut size), lightly press together into a ball and fry them until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes depending on how your oil and stove top maintains heat. I usually roll them around after 1 minute of frying to make sure them are not stuck together or to the bottom of the pan. You can use a small ice-cream scoop, or a falafel scoop if you’ve invested in one, to measure and shape them as well.
  7. Once cooked, lay them on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Enjoy with tahini sauce, hummus, salad, in a sandwich… They are best eaten fresh.

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