Little morsels of chickpea goodness.

500g dry chickpeas, soaked in plenty of water for at least 8 hours.
300g finely chopped onion.
10 cloves garlic (or less, if you must).
10g bicarbonate of soda.
10g cumin seeds.
5g coriander seeds (bashed down a bit in a mortar).
salt and pepper.
Oil for frying.
50g Green herbs (chopped parsley, coriander, spring onions) optional.

Pulverise your soaked but uncooked well drained chickpeas in a processor until they are as finely minced as you can make them. You need very fine particles to allow you to form patties that will hold together well in the oil. Mix in the onion. You can chop it with the chickpeas if you like but it's probably nicer if you chop it small by hand and mix it in afterwards. If you want to add the optional green herbs replace 50g of the onion, otherwise the mix might be a little wet.

Add the mashed garlic (use a little salt), bicarbonate of soda, cumin, coriander and pepper. Mix everything together well and cover. Leave to rest for 1-2 hours.

Form your felafel. I tend to make small flattened cakes as it's easier than making balls with this mix. You should get between 50 and 60 small cakes; enough for 10 servings. Form all the felafel first, setting them out on trays or boards so that you can have clean hands for then next stage.

Heat some oil in a pan suitable for deep frying. I used a wok with about 2cm of oil in it. The temperature should be between 135C and 140C. I'd never used the cooking thermometer to measure this before but for you, nothing is too good! The temperature shouldn't be too hot or the outsides will burn before the middles are cooked.

Add 9 or 10 felafel to the pan and allow to fry gently for not more than five minutes, turning them half way through if needed. Lift from the oil in a net scoop and drain on kitchen towels. Repeat until everything is cooked.

Serve in a pitta or flat bread with a tahini sauce like this one (scroll down a bit) and some salad, pickled chillies or whatever.

Apologies for the lack of a serving suggestion photo, I was making this batch for the freezer. Packed up in people sized portions they are a great standby for emergency snacking and meals after a late night at work.