There was a time when I ate hummus twice a day, every single day for 6 months straight! I would always have it with something, and if I was treating my self it would be falafel.
Hummus is one of those recipes that has just a few ingredients, and is very simple to make, and yet so many people get it So wrong! With my total passion for cooking and hummus, you can be sure to end up with the most silky smooth, buttery and joyful hummus you've ever made if you follow this recipe!
I'm also adding my falafel recipe to this post. It is something i had posted before, but i never took good pictures of the mix and i heard from a few fellow Steemers that they didn't know exactly what the mix should look like.
For all you Paleo fans out there, this is great way to enjoy Hummus! Instead of using Pita bread or vegetables you can dip a freshly fried falafel ball into the hummus and truly enjoy! Who needs Carbs!!?
Ok without any delay let me get this most precious recipe to you!
How To Make Hummus Like A Pro!
- Get your canned chick peas and dispose of them, or use as a door stop.
- Get a 250g bag of dried organic chickpeas and wash them under the tap.
- Soak the chick peas in a covered pot for 6 - 8 hours or overnight.
- Discard the water and rinse.
- For best results use a pressure cooker and cook with double the volume of water for 20 minutes. If using a normal pot then cook until they are very soft.
- Leave to cool down.
If you are want the silkiest, smoothest hummus ever then do this step. Once cooled remove the skin from each and every chick pea! Just pop it off and discard it. You might find tricks to speed this up, but either way it does take time. This is a labour of love
- Get your high speed blender ready and separate the water from the chickpeas. KEEP BOTH!
- Chop some garlic roughly to taste. Normally I use about 6 cloves for 250g of chick peas. If it looks too much then use less! Some people really love garlicky hummus so im leaving this to your taste!
- Add 3 heaped tablespoons of freshly ground, or store bought, cumin powder. Freshly ground cumin has an amazing array of aromatics going on compared to store bought.
- Add 3/4 tablespoon salt. You can salt it to taste after this.
- Time to blend this up! The main trick to successful blending is to start as dry as you can and add water bit by bit. It will start to loosen up and finally the whole mix will start spinning. You want to blend it for a good 1-3 minutes depending on your machine.
- Repeat with the rest of the batches if needed and transfer all the mixture to a bowl or the original cleaned cooking pot.
- Get some top quality tahini paste and add about 25% by volume. If you want a heavier dense hummus you can add a little bit more. Mix well!
- Taste it and add salt as needed or desired.
- Add fresh lime or lemon to taste. Around 3-4 table spoons should give it a good kick. Some people LOVE very lemony hummus so you can choose if you want to put more.
- Cover well and put in the fridge to set
- Just before serving remove from the fridge and stir. Transfer to a plate using a spoon and spread the mixture out.
- Add some garnish such as parsley, coriander, olives and drizzle over with some good virgin olive oil.
- Get those falafel plated!
How to make rather crispy and parsley green falafel
Falafel is the perfect balance of flavours, textures, temperatures and colours.. I could (and have) eat it EVERY day!.
Anyone who knows me knows that there is nothing I like to make more than Falafel, and following on from that, there is nothing I like to eat more than falafel (ok maybe sushi but its a close call). There are many ways to make it, and I've seen some people do it so wrong that I want to share with you, hands down, the best recipe I've ever used. This recipe is my own based on Yemenite flavours and spices. These takes the humble falafel to new heights!
OK so if you want to make your very own proper crispy falafel then please try this out!
What You Will Need
- DRY chickpeas (100% not from a can) 500 grams
- Fresh Coriander x 1 Bunch.
- Fresh Parsley x 1 Bunch
- Cumin Powder (freshly ground) 5 Heaped Table Spoons
- Coriander Powder 1.5 Table Spoons
- Cardamom Powder 1 Heaped Tea Spoon
- Chili Powder 0.5 Tea Spoon
- Onion 1/2
- Garlic cloves x 4
- Salt (2 heaped tablespoons)
- Pepper (1 Tea Spoon)
- Baking Powder (2 Tea Spoons)
What to do
The most important thing for a good crispy falafel is to minimise the amount of water in the mix. Therefore all herbs and items that are washed should be thoroughly dried before use. There's nothing more depressing then falafel balls that fall apart in the frier ;-(
Soak your chick peas for 6-8 hours in water (never cook them!)
Drain chick peas thoroughly.
Add all the ingredients to the bowl and mix by hand.
Blend it all up for just a short amount of time. You are looking for a course grind, not too fine. This gives a lovely rustic feel to the falafel.
Put in a bowl and leave in the fridge for 1.5 hours .
Give it a mix by hand (getting your hands dirty is very important to the taste folks)
Heat some sunflower or vegetable oil in a pan to medium / high heat.
Deep frying is best but you can also do this with shallow frying. Just make the balls flatter to make it work best.
Slightly moisten your hands and take a small amount of mix and make a ball in your hands. Slightly squish it to make it a bit flat. This helps also with the eating experience so they don't roll out of your pitta bread so easily. Oh these fine details matter!
Fry until golden brown, around 4-6 minutes. Turn the heat up to high at the last minute.
Remove and blot the oil with kitchen paper. eat IMMEDIATELY (see notes below)
So that is how you make the absolute best falafel. The best way to enjoy falafel is to have it with Pita Bread wrapped around Salad, Coleslaw, Lots of Tahini or Hummus and some green or red chilli sauce. I always pre-make all of this before hand so that once the falafel are cooked you can eat them whilst they are piping hot inside the pita bread. If you have done it right, the inside of the falafel balls should be a vivid green!
To see more amazing posts from the ecoTrain click below:
https://steemit.com/nature/@eco-alex/the-best-of-the-ecotrain-highlights-of-the-week-19th-24th-august-more-amazing-posts-brought-together-for-you
https://steemit.com/nature/@eco-alex/the-best-of-the-ecotrain-highlights-of-the-week-19th-24th-august-more-amazing-posts-brought-together-for-you