Carrot Falafel from the Age newspaper a recipe from 'In The Mix' by Dani Valent

[achookwoman]

I thought that this was a good idea,  carrot as part of the Falafel mix.  However I would have to say that it doesn't work.  It may be that I used tinned chickpeas,  although the recipe says that you can do this.  I drained them very well,  and placed the formed patties on kitchen paper to dry out. But they disintegrated when I attempted to shallow fry them.  As i still had some mixture that I hadn't cooked,  I mixed some MT. Zero Falafel mix into the remaining mix.  They still fell apart but not quite so much.  The last lot I tried dry frying them.  This lot did not fall apart but did not have the crunchy coating that is so nice in a Falafel. 
Then I thought,  maybe it is me?? So I made up my recipe and they cooked perfectly.
I tasted the ones that I had dry fried and they were very bland. Needed double the spice. 
I will fiddle with the recipe when I have time as i think it is possible to add carrot,  but will not make this recipe again.

[Lellyj]

Oh wow, Chookie. How disappointing!     I appreciate your feedback, as I thought this sounded interesting, and I think I would have been disappointed.  As  I cook for vegos a lot, it is a pet peeve of mine when the various patty type recipes fall apart when cooking! Lets hope other recipes from this book are more successful.

[Vivaroo]

I made falafel's a few months ago and it required dried chickpeas soaked overnight, not cooked.  It's funny cause those falafels were was the death of my crappy blender and now I'm here 

[judydawn]

That wasn't a bad thing then Viv  

Chookie, let's hope this is not a sign of things to come with Dani's book.

[achookwoman]

I think that if this recipe was made with the dry beans , soaked over night it might be better.   But still needs more spice.

[Cuilidh]

Falafels done on the TV programme The Cook and The Chef used raw, soaked chick peas and they cooked up no problem so there may be something about pre-cooked or tinned chick peas that is causing this to happen.

[fundj&e]

i will give them ago on the weekend

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/thermobsessed-you-bet-20111001-1l24v.html

[cookie1]

How disappointing.

[trudy]

What a dissapointment Bess.  I do hope that isn't a sign that the recipes in her book haven't been tested as I was looking forward to the new book.

[cecilia]

Dani Valent has published some comments about this recipe on her Facebook page.

I've had some feedback about the Carrot Falafel (p148). Some people are saying their falafel are a little bit wet and that they fall apart. Oh no!

Why does this happen? Well, there is variation in the moisture content of this dish, mostly to do with the freshness of the chickpeas and the juiciness of the carrots.

Here's a solution. Use dry uncooked chickpeas not canned. Increase the quantity of... rice from 20 grams to 50 grams. Don't agitate the balls in the frypan until the submerged part is golden brown.

I've found that 50 grams of rice means the balls are good to go as soon as they're made but everyone's ingredients will have a little variation.

When forming the mixture into balls, lay them on kitchen paper. If they soak the paper within a few minutes, you need to decrease the moisture content.

How? Either allow balls to drain onto kitchen paper until they stop wetting it or - for those in a hurry ie me, always! - press the whole mixture between a couple of layers of kitchen paper and blot some of the moisture.

I hope this helps and encourages more people to give the falafel a go. They're great! I served them over the weekend with hummus, wraps, lettuce and sliced tomato for an easy picnic-style lunch. Leftover falafel make great lunchbox snacks. If you want extra kick, use a pinch of chilli powder in place of the smoked paprika.

Then someone commented:

In my experience cooking traditional falafel, they disintegrate in the oil if the oil is not hot enough too.

[faffa_70]

Thanks Cecilia I was just coming to do exactly the same 

[Katya]

And I've just done the same on another thread 

[achookwoman]

I have been making traditional Falafel for years. There was not a problem with the heat of the oil,  or with turning them over before they had formed a crust.  The mix was just too wet.  When I make a recipe for the first time ,I try to stick to the recipe and follow the instructions.  This I did.  I used tinned Chickpeas as suggested in the recipe,   this is the problem.  I have not made the recipe using the dried chickpeas.  Dani has avoided the issue as tinned Chickpeas are offered as an alternative in this recipe.  If there is a problem when the dried Chickpeas are used,  as suggested by her Facebook comments,  then it is more so with the tinned ones.  I love the idea of having carrot in the Falafel but it does not work with the tinned Chickpeas.   The solution would be to grind some dry unsoaked Chickpeas to powder in the TMX and add this to the mix to form a non leaking mix.

[faffa_70]

Just make sure you leave the room as soon as you turn the TMX on if you are going to grind the dried chick peas ... man is it noisy!!!!! 

[cookie1]

It sure is but I love the soup from Full Steam Ahead that is made with chick peas.