Falafels with Tahini sauce

Falafels must be my favorite vegan appetizer. This deep fried ball essentially made of ground chickpeas, is a traditional middle eastern food.

For this recipe I use the basic ingredients, no flour, no eggs, just chickpeas, herbs and spices.

I add a little bit of baking soda to avoid having tough falafels.

When I make the ball, I lightly flatten it. I like this shape better than the simple perfectly round one.

You can serve it as an appetizer with tahini sauce or hummus or as a main dish in pita bread with for example shredded cucumber and cabbage, fried eggplants and tahini sauce.

Ingredients

For the Falafels
10.6 oz. -- 300g Dried chickpeas (soak them overnight in water, at least 8 hours)
1 medium size onion roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 handful parsley
1 handful coriander leaves
1 tbsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. baking soda
Salt & Pepper to taste

Oil for deep frying (I use peanut or canola oil)

For the Tahini sauce
1 tbsp. Tahini (ground sesame seeds paste)
juice of half a lemon
Salt to taste
add water until desired consistency is reached