Diet Solution Program Review

Since I recommend eating the Mediterranean Diet, I am going to be showing some recipes in this regard. This one is a video, a Falafel recipe (takes less than 10 minutes to make), making Falafel from scratch:

This Mediterranean recipe is for making falafel (”fal AW ful”) from scratch. Falafel is made from Chick Peas (garbanzo beans) and Fava beans, and are fried patties. They make a great vegetarian sandwich.

The ingredients for Falafel include dried chick peas and dried fava beans. Soak the chick peas and the fava beans overnight, and then pour off the water the next morning.

The ingredient list is:
4 cups (10 handfuls) dried chick peas (soaked and drained overnight)
2 cups (4 handfuls) of the fava beans
1 – 1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1 large onion (yellow or white)
8 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
2-3 tbsp of flour
2-3 tsp of salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

First, grind the chick peas in a good food processor. Don’t use canned chick peas or canned fava beans because they have too much moisture and too many preservatives.

Blend the chick peas until they are a fine crumbly mixture, then empty them into a bowl. Do the same with the fava beans. Empty the fava beans into the same bowl as the chick peas.

Next add the cilantro, parsley, and the onion to the blender and process them together.

Blend (in the food processor) the 3 items together until they form a nice pasty mixture.

Next add the garlic to the cilantro/parsley/onion mixture, and continue the blending process.

After the blending is done, add this mixture to the chick peas and fava bean mixture. Mix by hand until well combined.

Falafel was actually traditionally made with just fava beans. As the recipe moved north, along the Mediterranean, people started to incorporate chick peas into it. There are some variations to the dish, but the main ingredients are the chick peas and the fava beans.

Falafel is a very healthy dish, if you don’t fry it. You can also bake it. Many folks choose to fry it up however. Falafel has a lot of protein and a lot of fiber.

After the ingredients are combined, we are going to add the seasonings.

Start with the coriander, then the cumin, the cayenne pepper (if you don’t like to spice it up, leave this out), add the bread crumbs, and salt

Mix them all together, again, they are all in the same bowl.

If the mixture’s consistency is too crumbly (this is a lot like a dough), you can add some flour, around 2-3 tbsps, not too much. If you add too much flour, the mixture is going to be too doughy and stay raw in the middle when you fry it.

After you add the flour, you mix it up again.

Falafel can be frozen. The falafel mixture can be frozen for up to a month.

IMPORTANT: If you want to freeze the mixture, do it before adding the baking soda or baking powder.

If you decide not to freeze the mixture. Add the baking soda and powder.

Then let the mixture sit for around 10 – 15 minutes, so the ingredients have time to interact with each other, and so you can get a nice fluffy falafel.

While the falafel is sitting, activating, and you are waiting for it, you can preheat (on medium heat) a 2-3 inch deep frying pan with around an inch and a half of vegetable oil. The video recipe calls for vegetable oil but I would suggest substituting this with coconut oil (since coconut oil is a solid format, try 1 1/2 tbspns of coconut oil for the 1 1/2 inches of vegatable oil).

Now, you can fry them up.

Use a falafel molder, or 2 spoons.

Using the 2 spoon method. Mold the falafel mixture into a little ball on the spoon and put the little ball in the oil. To be quicker, just grab some of the mixture with your fingers (wash your hands first), and place it in the pan, (like making cookies).

Let the falafel’s cook until they are a medium-brown in color. You want them to cook on medium low heat, submerged in the oil. You don’t want them to over-cook, otherwise they will be nice and dark on the outside, and raw on the inside.

The color of a perfect falafel will be a nice brown color. When they are done, you should remove them from the oil and lay them on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

The ideal situation is to fry the falafel right before you serve them. Frying them too far in advance, will cause them to become too doughy. Falafel is meant to be fluffy, that is what the word falafel means. The idea is that the falafel is crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

(After seeing the technique behind the falafel mold, I believe it to be more trouble than helpful.)

Now you are done frying up your falafel. Enjoy eating them, or read on for the sandwich.

Now, for the falafel sandwich with tahini sauce.

You can make tahini sauce by mixing olive oil, water and garlic. Or mix your falafel with garlic sauce.

With a nice loaf of pita, add some tahini sauce, some tomato slices and kabish (pickled turnips), some lettuce, and a little of the garlic sauce.

Add the falafel patty to the sandwich. Traditionally, the falafel patty gets smooshed in the sandwich.

Roll up the sandwich nice and tight and eat it.

For some more great Mediterranean recipes and lifestyle to follow, I suggest you get this book, The MediterrAsian Way: A Cookbook and Guide to Health, Weight Loss, and Longevity

I hope you enjoyed this making falafel from scratch recipe.

Feel free to offer comments or questions on the below in the comments section.

Erik Loebl

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