Falafel w Hummus

Recipe by Simon Bryant

makes about 16

Ingredients - falafel

100g ((½ cup) essentials Kabuli Chickpeas

100g (½ cup) essentials Broad Beans

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 long green chillies, seeded and chopped

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons plain or cornflour, if needed

salt flakes and cracked black pepper

½ bunch parsley leaves picked, roughly chopped

½ bunch coriander leaves picked, roughly chopped

½ bunch mint leaves picked, roughly chopped

2 cups flavour neutral oil

Ingredients - hummus

100g ((½ cup) kabuli chickpeas *

1 clove Australian garlic

120 ml extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons salt flakes

30 ml lemon juice

50 ml unhulled tahini

zest of 1 lemon

small handful parsley leaves, roughly chopped

cracked black pepper

Method - falafel

Get started the night before by soaking your chickpeas and broad beans in plenty of cold water in the fridge overnight. (Don’t forget to soak an extra ½ cup of chickpeas to make the hommus – see below.)

Drain both, discarding the soak water. Place both the chickpeas and broad beans into a food processor along with onion, garlic, ground coriander, cumin, chilli, baking powder, salt and pepper. Pulse until the mixture starts to climb the sides of the bowl instead of just spinning around the bottom – this indicates that it’s starting to bind together. Add the parsley, coriander and mint, then pulse to mix through.

Grab a golf ball-sized amount of the mixture and see if you can form a ball. If the mixture is sticky, this is a good sign there is sufficient binding. If the mix is either too wet or too crumbly, add about 1½ tablespoons of the flour, then pulse and check again; you may need to add the full 2 tablespoons. If the mixture is still to crumbly, add a tablespoon or so of boiling water.

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan-forced). Heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan until just shimmering and trial a falafel to check that it doesn’t fall apart in the oil. This will happen if there are cracks in the mixture of the oil is not hot enough. Shape the remaining mixture into balls and place onto a tray.

Working in batches, fry the falafels for 3 - 4 mins until golden brown. Drain on paper towel then transfer to a baking tray and finish in the oven for 5 or so minutes.

Alternatively you can flatten the balls into thin discs and they will cook through sufficiently in the oil without the need to finish in the oven. If you can get your hands on a falafel press they make a nice tight disc that can be gently dropped straight into shimmering oil.

Both cooking methods work well, but the former ‘fry and finish in oven method’ will give you time to make the hummus.

Method - hummus

(You can make this ahead of time and pop in the fridge until ready to serve.)

Please keep in mind that your chickpeas will need soaking in plenty of cold water in the fridge the night before.

Drain and discard the soak water. Cook your chickpeas in 3 times their volume of cold water for about an hour. Drain and allow to cool a bit.

Toss the chickpeas and garlic in a food processor and blitz away! Add the olive oil (reserving a little to finish), salt, tahini and lemon juice, then have another little blitz.

Transfer the hummus into a serving bowl, sprinkle with parsley, lemon zest, a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of pepper just before serving.