A fantastic falafel shop opened about 6 years ago in Saint Nicolas Market in Bristol. It is so good and different that there is always a big line waiting to be served. The salads are colourful and delicious, the tangy sauce is great, but it’s the crunchy yet moist falafels that are the centre of the show. It took about 3 years to work out the secret to the texture, and its as simple as not cooking the chick peas; soak overnight, rinse carefully and add lots of aromatic seasoning, then cook from raw to order….
Ingredients to make 15 to 20 falafels;
- 400g raw chick peas, soaked overnight in2 litres cold water, then carefully rinsed and shaken dry
- 30g coriander leaves, fine chopped
- 1 medium preserved lemon, fine chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and fine chopped
- 1 level tablespoon, Ras el hanout spice mix
- Half tablespoon fine sea salt flakes
Method
Place all the ingredients into a food processor, blend until a grainy paste. The consistency is correct when the falafels can be shaped by hand into “small golf ball” size rounds and hold together.
Deep fry in small batches (6 at a time ), for one and a half minutes at 170 degrees C, so crisp on the outside, moist but hot in the centre.
