When my son returned home from the Middle East with this gadget on the left, I thought he had taken leave of his senses. “What’s that?” I asked incredulously.

“A falafel maker, of course,” came his nonchalant reply.

“How do you use it?”

“Oh, please, isn’t it obvious?” I will confess that it was not immediately apparent to me, but as I experimented with different recipes, I found this little tool to be invaluable. It turns out uniformly shaped patties quickly and effortlessly.

In our search for the perfect falafel, one that is easy enough for a home cook, that does not require a laundry list of ingredients, and which comes together quickly, we scoured all the cookbooks we could find–for recipes old and new.

In both of these recipes, we found that resting the mixture overnight in the fridge made for much better better and firmer results, especially considering that these recipes do not contain either eggs or wheat for binding.

Sesame-Crusted Parsley Falafel

¾ cup (7 oz / 200 g) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

½ t baking soda

3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup (3/4 oz / 20 g) chopped parsley

1 t ground cumin

½ t pepper

1 t salt

1 t dried mint

1 ½ t ground coriander

1/3 cup (2 ½ oz / 50 g) sesame seeds

sunflower oil, for frying

Fava Bean and Mint Falafel

½ cup (3 ½ oz / 100 g) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

2/3 cup (3 ½ oz / 100 g) peeled dried fava beans, soaked overnight

½ t baking soda

2 T chickpea (gram) flour

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

3 T chopped fresh mint

1 T ground cumin

1 t dried mint

½ t salt

½ t pepper

sunflower oil, for frying

Both recipes adapted from: Salma Hage, The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook, 2016.