Here's my recipe:

1 cup dried fava beans (~2-1/3 cups soaked)
1 yellow or white onion
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup garbanzo flour
1/4 cup kasha or bread crumbs, as needed
Oil for deep frying (I use grapeseed)

(I guess this is the one you are referring to - but I wrote this about 15 years ago!)

To prepare the fava beans, first wash them thoroughly, cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for about two minutes, and then rinse them and wash them again. At this point, you may be able to remove more of the shells. They will have to be thoroughly rinsed at this point, and you may have to do this several times to remove all the bubbles.
Then return them to the pan, cover with water and bring to a boil again. After the second boil, allow them to sit for at least an hour off the heat to soak. Then drain all the water and rinse them again.
After they are drained, remove the remaining shells.

Put the drained beans in a large food processor, and purée. Add the onion, garlic, and fresh parsley in a food processor and process until the onion is minced (or you could mince these by hand). Remove to a large bowl and add the salt, cumin, coriander, baking powder, and pepper and mix thoroughly. Add the garbanzo flour and combine.
Add the kasha or bread crumbs last, just enough to soak up excess moisture, as needed. Allow this mixture to stand for 1 hour. If the dough is too dry, you can add a few drops of water; if it is too wet, you can add more garbanzo flour.

Form into little patties 1/3 inch thick and 1-1/2 inches round. Or, you can form them into balls the size of walnuts. Deep-fry in a wok at 350-375° until toasty brown and crunchy on the outside, about 4 minutes.

NOTE:
While the falafel batter is resting, prepare tahini-lemon sauce and chop a couple of cucumbers and tomatoes.

Tahini-Lemon Sauce

2/3 cup tahini
2/3 cup yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/3 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
3 green onions, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup parsley, stems removed
dash of salt
1/8 tsp cayenne (or less, to taste)
1/8 tsp paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Put all ingredients in a small food processor and combine until onions and parsley are finely minced. Store in the refrigerator.

I sometimes add Romaine lettuce to the pita bread and a bit of mayonnaise or Greek salad dressing.

*Note:
Garbanzo beans can be substituted for fava beans, or you can used canned fava beans, which will require more kasha or garbanzo flour to offset the extra moisture, since they have already been cooked, which is not ideal.

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My recipe makes 20-24 falafel balls or patties; I use a rounded 2 Tbsp of mixture per ball or patty. I tend to make balls and flatten them, as they cook faster and more thoroughly when flattened a bit - plus they are easier to fit into the pita bread.

They are easier to make with dried garbanzos, as these do not have to be peeled - they only have to be soaked. I normally boil the dried garbanzos for a minute or two and then allow them to soak for one hour, rinse, and then boil again for 1-2 minutes and allow to soak for another hour. Or you could just soak them overnight. You do not want to use cooked garbanzo beans, however, as they would be way too watery.

Yes, this looks like the same thing you posted way back in 2012.

I did use dry beans, soaked overnight. It seems a bit damp, so I think I'll add some breadcrumbs and more spices!!! I didn't cook all of it, since I didn't know how they would turn out.

Next time, I'll start with your recipe. 😁

Just a suggestion for the texture but if you puree part of any type of beans that you are using but only chop or coarse mash the rest the patties or balls will hold together better if you do not want a smooth texture. I prefer patties depending on how I am to use them.

Since I have never eaten falafel before yesterday, I don't know if I prefer a coarse or smooth texture. I didn't puree any, and I was fine with it, other than the lack of flavor.

In Israel, falafel is usually made with chickpeas. Here's a Joan Nathan recipe, along with some background: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/my-favorite-falafel-231755. (And eat your falafel with tahini - that provides a lot of flavor.)
...at the time of the establishment of the state [of Israel], falafel — the name of which probably comes from the word pilpel (pepper) — was made in two ways: either as it is in Egypt today, from crushed, soaked fava beans or fava beans combined with chickpeas, spices, and bulgur; or, as Yemenite Jews and the Arabs of Jerusalem did, from chickpeas alone. But favism, an inherited enzymatic deficiency occurring among some Jews — mainly those of Kurdish and Iraqi ancestry, many of whom came to Israel during the mid 1900s — proved potentially lethal, so all falafel makers in Israel ultimately stopped using fava beans, and chickpea falafel became an Israeli dish.

Thank you're, that was interesting. I'm gleaning more info about the process.

I have negative memories of tahini from childhood. I don't know what my mother got, but I didn't like it. I really should revisit it. I ate my falafel with sriracha sauce.

aok, that's some cross-cultural cuisine!

😅

In my recipe, I used kasha instead of bulgur because that's what I had on hand, but you can use either. I have made it with both and have not noticed a difference. You do need some sort of binder, however, but breadcrumbs can be substituted, if necessary. I like the texture better with kasha or bulgur.

When I puréed my bean mixture, I did not make it smooth - I left it somewhat coarse. I would not recommend using a Vitamix blender for this - you will get a better texture in a food processor using a pulse function so that it gets chopped (and not really puréed) to your preferred texture.

I'm not exactly sure how many my recipe makes, but you don't have to cook them all the same day - you can cook half of them on the next day. I've not kept the dough longer than two days, however. If it gets soggy by the second day, you will have to add a bit of garbanzo flour.

One good use of the Vitamix blender, if you have the grain container, is that you can grind dried garbanzos to make garbanzo flour. I've not tried that with fava beans, however. The dried fava beans that I've bought at a Syrian/Lebanese market had to be peeled after they were soaked, but I'm not sure that that is always the case.

You can add 1/4 tsp of baking soda to the soaking water, if you want a softer texture to the beans, but they are better without this. I generally do add 1/4 tsp of baking soda to garbanzos when I cook them, however, as they otherwise take a very long time to get tender.

BTW, I use whole coriander seeds that I grind in a coffee mill. The ground coriander that you buy has very little flavor, and the flavor from the coriander seeds is very important in this recipe. I do generally use ground cumin that I buy, but I also have cumin seeds that I can also grind in a coffee mill. I have a coffee grinder that I use only for spices - especially since I do not drink coffee!

I don't have a vitamix. I just pulsed them in my food processor, to the consistency of couscous, as the recipe said. I think I should have actually dried the soaked beans on a paper towel, rather than just draining. Maybe that's where the extra moisture came from.

I have added a bunch more seasonings to what is left, and we'll try them tonight. It seems a bit drier, I made one ball and it held together pretty well. I was so annoyed last night that I just stuck the whole food processor bowl in the refrigerator. The lid doesn't seal, so some drying apparently took place.

Oh, and I did grind coriander seeds today to add to what's left. I used bottled coriander last night, which probably started out mild and is pretty old. The fresh ground sure did smell good!

I grow cilantro and let some of it go to seed, which I harvest as coriander, and so mine is particularly fresh - and cheap!

I agree that it is a good idea to dry the beans after soaking them - I usually do this with a kitchen towel, but I did not put that in my recipe.

The last time I made falafel, I used fresh fava beans, but they were no better than the dried ones that I soaked and they are a lot more expensive.

We often go to Middle Eastern restaurants and get falafel, but since we cannot do that now, I should probably make some. I have parsley in my yard right now, but it is more difficult to grow in the summer here, unless I keep it in partial shade. I get tons of it in the winter, and it will even grow in crack in the patio at that time.

There is an Egyptian restaurant very close to our house in Cathedral City that has excellent falafel (made with fava beans), and it appears that it is open for take-out, plus it is next door to the pool supply shop that we go to. In general, Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley are not great for restaurants, but we have found a few that we like - but it is nothing compared to Los Angeles, of course. I can get good food in the markets, however, such as sushi at Gelson's and tamales at Cárdenas, the closest market to my house.