Falafel - what went wrong?

[Nefarious]

I did a Lebanese/middle eastern feast over the weekend, and everything went swimmingly except for the Falafel.

1 tin broad beans
1 tin chick peas
4 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbs ground cumin
1 onion chopped
1/2 bunch fresh coriander chopped
1/2 bunch fresh parsley chopped
1/4 tsp mixed spices
Salt & pepper

Made up the mix in the blender and left in the fridge for a couple of hours. I formed it into balls, and the mixture seemed quite dough-like, but when I came to fry them they just disolved into the oil - what went wrong? Mixture too wet?

[Plotloss]

Oil not hot enough?

[Nefarious]

Nah, the oil was properly hot - I wondered if maybe it was too hot as it went absolutely bananas when I dropped the balls in.

I even tried ovenning the remaining mixture (tray of hot oil, 200C, spooned hot oil over the top of the balls), but again, they just collapsed into a sloppy mess.

[missdiane]

Did you drain the tins properly?
Do you think they would have fried in frying pan instead?

[Nefarious]

Yep all properly drained. The beans and chickpeas even had to sit in the collander for 5 mins while I faffed about with the attachments for the blender.

It's a mystery. I guess I'll try again but add a couple of Tbsps of flour, and then roll the finished balls in flour before frying.

[Nefarious]

Just one thought - can you get different types of tinned broad beans? Cooked vs raw perhaps?

[mechsympathy]

I had that. In a frying pan the falafels jsut sizzled away to nothing I think they need some sort of binding agent but haven't had another go.

[Plotloss]

A lot of the recipes on the web seem to suggest the inclusion of flour.

The gluten in which would act as a binding agent.

Perhaps try the same recipe with a tablespoon or two of flour next time?

[sleep envy]

I know where you went wrong, there's no meat

Edited by sleep envy on Tuesday 24th March 11:35