Ben’s Falafel Recipe

• Fill one tomato sauce jar (about a quart) with dried chick peas. Put these in a big container to soak, ideally at least 24 hours.

• In a food processor, chop 3 small onions and 5 or 6 cloves of garlic. Rough chop, then process them until they’re finely chopped, but don’t overdo it— they can oxidize of you go too far. You really just want to rough them up (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the onion on a box grater).

• Add some of the chick peas and blend until grainy, scraping down the sides. Continue processing in batches until all the peas and onions are chopped.

• Use a spice grinder to mix your spices: Cumin, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, and the most important key, 1-2 teaspoons of fenugreek seed, fresh ground.

• Add spices and salt to taste to chick pea mixture. Rough chop about a packed cup of parsley and add — it’s hard to have too much parsley.

• Taste and adjust - if mixture is not moist enough, add more onion. Let the mixture rest in the fridge for an hour or two.

• Fry balls of mixture in oil, at least 350 degrees but can be higher if you’re brave. Keep the falafel moving so all sides get cooked. Drain on paper towels.

Tahini sauce

• Start with tahini and water. This is really the whole secret - mix them up and they become so silky and delicious. Add lemon juice, salt to taste, garlic, and whatever else you please.