Felafel and Hummus

Having grown up in Abu Dhabi, I love eating hummus and felafel, along with tahini sauce and pickled cucumber and beetroots. Ah, it brings back memories of going to the souq and making a beeline to the felafel shop. I'd ask the man there to make mine without tomatoes and put extra tahini sauce; and then load up on the pickles :-D It used to cost around 2Dhs back then (1995 types) - not sure how much it might cost now.

Recently given the lockdown due to Covid, I decided to try my hand at making felafel and hummus. After doing some research, I realised that it is extremely easy. Woohoo ! So, I decided to follow the recipes from Inspired Taste.

I made a few modifications and voila ! the felafel and hummus I made, made me reminisce of my childhood - tahini dripping onto my hands and ... the happiness :-)


Okay, first Hummus.

You will need
1. White sesame - it doesn't matter how much you take. Take at least 1 cup - you will get loads of tahini sauce with this and you can easily store the extra
2. Chickpeas soaked over might - the more the merrier. After soaking over night, pressure the cook out of the babies - more whistles, softer it is - easier to grind.
3. 1 Lemon
4. garlic - more the merrier ;)
5. Olive oil
6. A blender

Process :

1. Roast the sesame seeds until u hear them pop and see smoke coming. Roast on medium flame. You do not want the sesame seeds to become brown. Once the smoke starts, switch off the flame and let them roast in the residual heat. Keep tossing the pan to avoid charring.

Put these cooled seeds in the blender and blend with olive oil. Keep blending as much as possible (scraping the sides and pushing the content back near the blades). This is Tahini Sauce. This sauce is your starting material for hummus. If you make a lot, keep aside some and use it as a topping later on. Retain the balance Tahini sauce in the blender.
2. Add a lemon and blend again. Each blend session should be for at least 30 seconds
3. Add the garlic cloves and blend again with some olive oil
4. Now add the pressure cooked chickpeas and blend. You can add a bit of the cooker water (jus) and blend. The first time I made this I added olive oil instead of water. Both work fine
5. Add salt to taste and blend some more.
6. Keep blending until it is super duper smooth.

Your hummus is ready ! Season with some olive oil and paprika powder while serving.

IMPORTANT : the order of adding the ingredients for hummus is important - make sure you follow this order. You will get light and airy hummus :)







Now Felafel.

You will need

1. 1 onion
2. Parsley - one bunch at least
3. Coriander - one bunch at least
4. Garlic - the more the better
5. Corriander powder 1 tbsp
6. Cumin powder 1 tbsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Chickpeas soaked over night (NOT pressure cooked)
9. paprika powder


Process :

1. In your blender mix all the ingredients and blend. Do not over blend like hummus; blend until it is coarse. You will need to keep pushing down the stuff in the blender else the blades will be rotating air. taste and see if you need to add more of anything. Always start with slightly lesser than what you would normally use and add more if needed. IMPORTANT : As you re going to fry the mixture, make sure the salt is slightly lesser than what you would normally use. If the raw mix tastes great, then you have excess salt and it will be salty after frying. The taste should be slightly lacking in salt.
2. Rest the mixture in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
3. it is okay if the mixture bleeds water when you take it out - that only means you have extra salt or you have rested it longer than necessary. This is ok - do not worry. Just squeeze out some water while making the balls to fry
4. Make sure you have heated oil on the gas ready. medium-high flame
5. Make balls and put in the oil. It should sizzle immediately. If not, oil isn't hot enough.
6. Turn the balls over once or twice to ensure both sides become golden brown (slightly dark)

Voila ! Felafel is ready.

Now I have not made the pickles to be eaten with this - I bought them from the store. You can make them if you want, there's loads of places with recipes on how to do it.

Enjoy !