Falafel Kebab with Garlic "Toum" Sauce

Ingredients:

For falafel:

• 500g of dry chickpeas (2 cups), soaked overnight.

• 1/2 cup of fresh parsley

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 1 red onion

• 2 cups of chickpea flour

• 2 tsp of cumin

• 2 tsp of cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp of ground coriander

• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

• 1 tsp of ground black pepper

• 1 1/2 tsp salt

• Oil for frying - i used sunflower, but any vegetable oil will work.

Kebab fillings:

• Tomato

• Red onion

• Lettuce (i used rocket, but any greens will taste nice)

• Pickles

For Garlic Toum:

• 1 cup of garlic (about 3 heads of garlic)

• 3 cups of canola oil

• 1 tsp of salt

• 1 lemon, juice

Directions:

1. Pre soak dry chickpeas over night (or for at least 8 hours before making falafel)

2. In a food processor, add in chickpeas, parsley, onion and flour. Pulse until mixture is roughly chopped. Make sure not to blend for too long as you don’t want the mixture to become too smooth.

3. Add in cumin, cayenne pepper, coriander, cinnamon, pepper and salt. Pulse again for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

4. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate for 45 minutes - 1 hour. Meanwhile, Wash your food processor, dry and plug it back in - preparing to make your garlic toum.

5. Add 1 cups worth of garlic to your food processor and salt. Pulse enough so that the garlic is shredded up finely. Keep the food processor on and add in 1/2 lemon juice and then slowly add in 1/2 cup of oil. You may need to scrape down the sides to ensure it is all getting mixed together thoroughly.

6. Add in 1 tbsp of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of oil, slowly pouring it in while the processor is on. Repeat again, alternating between the remaining lemon juice and oil. After about 10-15 minutes your mixture should be thick, fluffy and white (resembling a fluffy mayonnaise)

7. To a pan, add 1 1/2 inches of oil and allow it to heat up slowly. Remove falafel mixture from the fridge and using your hands make small ball shapes (or if you prefer, you can make large ones) - the mixture might be hard to form into balls at first, but stay persistent and be delicate. Add in extra flour if you are really struggling.

8. Once the oil is hot, add falafel balls to the pan. Fry on each side for 2-3 minutes - they should be golden brown on each side.

9. After each falafel is fried, place it on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil. Finally, its time to assemble your falafel kebab. Add garlic toum, falafel, tomato, red onion and pickles to your bread of choice. (Pita, lebanese bread or enjoy without bread if you prefer)