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| Outside the Middle East, ] bread is often used as a pocket and stuffed with the different ingredients; in Arab countries a round ], 'eish' in Egypt, is halved, and the two resulting round pieces are used to create a cigar-shaped wrap. In Arab countries, ] (chickpeas pureed with ]) is rarely used as a condiment, the usual sauce being tahini (sesame seed paste) thinned with water and lemon. The most common salad ingredients are tomato and parsley. In ], parsley is mixed with chopped mint leaves. It is also common in Syria and Lebanon to add pickles; the two canonical ones are pickled turnip, colored pink with beetroot, and pickled cucumber. Recently, there has been a new "filled" falafel, its center usually consisting of ground meat or minced onions or a boiled egg. These fillings are wrapped by the uncooked falafel mixture, and then deep fried. | Outside the Middle East, ] bread is often used as a pocket and stuffed with the different ingredients; in Arab countries a round ], 'eish' in Egypt, is halved, and the two resulting round pieces are used to create a cigar-shaped wrap. In Arab countries, ] (chickpeas pureed with ]) is rarely used as a condiment, the usual sauce being tahini (sesame seed paste) thinned with water and lemon. The most common salad ingredients are tomato and parsley. In ], parsley is mixed with chopped mint leaves. It is also common in Syria and Lebanon to add pickles; the two canonical ones are pickled turnip, colored pink with beetroot, and pickled cucumber. Recently, there has been a new "filled" falafel, its center usually consisting of ground meat or minced onions or a boiled egg. These fillings are wrapped by the uncooked falafel mixture, and then deep fried. | ||
Revision as of 06:50, 27 September 2009
This article is about the Middle Eastern food. For the film, see Falafel (film).
Falafel (Template:Pron-en; Template:Lang-ar falāfil Egyptian and Sudanese Arabic, طعمية Ta'miyya) is a fried ball or patty made from spiced chickpeas and/or fava beans. Originally from Egypt, falafel is a popular form of fast food in the Middle East, where it is also served as a mezze.
The Arabic word "falafel" (falāfil) may be the plural of فلفل ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) 'pepper', but more relevantly, it is an adjective for fluffy/crunchy things, as in رز مفلفل ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), a kind of cooked rice, and شعر مفلفل ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), curly hair. Variant spellings in English include felafel and filafil.
Falafel is usually served in a pita-like bread called lafa, either inside the bread, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flat bread. In many countries falafel is a popular street food or fast food. The falafel balls, whole or crushed, may be topped with salads, pickled vegetables and hot sauce, and drizzled with tahini-based sauces. Falafel balls may also be eaten alone as a snack or served as part of a mezze. During Ramadan, they are sometimes eaten as part of an iftar, the meal which breaks the daily fast after sunset.
History
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Originally made with fava beans in Egypt, the dish later migrated northwards, where chickpeas replaced the fava. It may originally have been invented by the Egyptian Copts as a fasting dish.
Along with other Arab dishes, falafel was adopted by early Jewish immigrants to Palestine as a "deliberate attempt to relinquish Diaspora habits in favor of a new existence in Palestine" and to "adopt certain Arab models that they perceived as related to Jewish existence in the mythical, Biblical past" to the point that falafel has now become a "signifier of Israeli pride".
Ingredients
Falafel is made from fava beans or chickpeas or a combination of the two. The Egyptian variation uses fava beans exclusively, while other variations may use only chickpeas. Palestinians and Yemenite Jews in Jerusalem historically made their falafel from chickpeas and parsley only, as in Syria and Lebanon, and this continues to be how falafel in known throughout the Levant today. Unlike many other bean patties, in falafel the beans are not cooked prior to use. Instead they are soaked with bicarbonate of soda, then ground with the addition of a small quantity of onion, parsley, spices (including cumin) and coriander. The falafel balls are formed, then deep fried at a high temperature. Sesame seeds may be added to the balls before they are fried; this is particularly common when falafel is served as a dish on its own rather than as a sandwich filling.
Recent culinary trends have seen the chickpea falafel have more success than fava bean falafel. Chickpea falafels are served across the Middle East, and have been popularized by expatriates of those countries living abroad. However, fava-bean falafel continue to predominate in Egypt and Sudan and their respective expatriate communities, and Egyptians are fond of deriding chickpea falafel as inferior.
In Israel small 2 1/2 cm spherical balls are made, while in Egypt and among Palestinians larger patties are shaped with a tablespoon or a special scoop with a lever to release them into the hot oil.
Variations
Outside the Middle East, pita bread is often used as a pocket and stuffed with the different ingredients; in Arab countries a round khubz bread, 'eish' in Egypt, is halved, and the two resulting round pieces are used to create a cigar-shaped wrap. In Arab countries, hummus (chickpeas pureed with tahini) is rarely used as a condiment, the usual sauce being tahini (sesame seed paste) thinned with water and lemon. The most common salad ingredients are tomato and parsley. In Lebanon, parsley is mixed with chopped mint leaves. It is also common in Syria and Lebanon to add pickles; the two canonical ones are pickled turnip, colored pink with beetroot, and pickled cucumber. Recently, there has been a new "filled" falafel, its center usually consisting of ground meat or minced onions or a boiled egg. These fillings are wrapped by the uncooked falafel mixture, and then deep fried.
The salads or the pita itself may be seasoned with salt or sumac, which is very commonly used in Syria; alternatively, these may be sprinkled on top.
Similar dishes
- In the cuisine of Karnataka, ambode is a fried ball of soaked chickpeas. It is usually flattened and pan-fried, and served with chutney. Alternatively, in South Indian cuisine, paruppu vadai (Tamil) / pappu vadaa/masala vadaa (Telugu) is used to refer to flattened, fried balls (or fritters) of a mix of lentils and chickpeas. Different kinds of lentil mixtures are used, including mung beans.
- Dahi vada is a spiced fritter of fried, soaked lentils served in chilled yoghurt (dahi). The recipe can be the same as felafel (chickpeas, onion, cumin).
- In Italian cuisine, there is a chickpea fritter called frittata di ceci; other similar Italian dishes include panelle and farinata.
- Acarajé, an Afro-Brazilian street food from the northeastern state of Bahia, are pureed black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in palm oil.
- Shimbra Asa, is a specialty in Ethiopian Cuisine. The chickpea dough is formed into various shapes (some use cookie cutting shapes) and then cooked in a hot, spicy wot or stew until it soaks up the spiciness, yet remains crunchy and chewy on the inside.
See also
References
- ^ Jodi Kantor (July 10, 2002). "A History of the Mideast in the Humble Chickpea". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - “Falafel.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Accessed on April 6, 2006.
- ^ Yael Raviv, "Falafel: A National Icon" Gastronomica Summer 2003 doi:10.1525/gfc.2003.3.3.20
- About Israel's signature food--plus, a recipe.
- Ayto, John (1990). The glutton's glossary: a dictionary of food and drink terms. Routledge. ISBN 0415026474, 9780415026475.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - Falafel recipes.