Use your food processor to blend the soaked chickpeas until a rough, coarse meal forms.
Add the onions and blend for another few minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients and blend well. You want to make sure the mixture holds together, but be careful not to blend for too long and turn it into hummus!
Pour the mixture out into a large bowl and fluff it up with a fork and take out any chunks of chickpeas that the processor missed. Cover the bowl with a beeswax wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
In a pot or deep skillet, heat about 4–5 centimetres deep of vegetable oil. Heat the oil slowly over a medium heat. The ideal temperature for falafel is 170 degrees C. The best way to monitor this is to use a deep fry or candy thermometer.
If you have a falafel spoon, form mixture into balls and test one by dropping it gently into the middle of the pot. It should take 2–3 minutes per side to brown (5–6 minutes in total). If it browns too fast your oil is too hot and your felafels will be raw in the centre.
Shaping the remaining mixture: if you don’t have a falafel spoon, use wet hands to form small round balls. Use about 2 teaspoons of mixture per ball and gently press together with your palms to form a pattie. If the balls don’t hold together, you may need to put the mixture back into the food processor and blend it some more. If they still don’t stay together, you can add a few tablespoons of chickpea flour to the mixture to help it bind.
Once your oil is at the right temperature, fry the falafels in batches of 5–6 at a time until golden brown on both sides.
Remove with a slotted spoon and let them drain on paper towel. Repeat for remaining batch. Serve the falafel fresh and hot with schug, tahini dressing, hummus, and salads in pita or as a plate.
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