falafel recipe

[Catherine]

Hi DeDe!

I came upon your youtube video that lead me to your website!  I'm trying your falafel recipe but wanted to know if I wanted to freeze and store the balls of falafel (raw), do I add the baking soda to the mixture first?  I know it probably makes sense to do so but your directions say, "1 tsp baking soda added before frying."  What's the benefit of using baking soda versus flour as other recipes seem to call for flour?

Please let me know! Happy Holidays!

Thanks :)
Catherine

[Dedemed]

HI Catherine,
THanks for the comments. The baking soda becomes active when you add
it to the dough mixture but it you freeze it after adding it, and then
try to defrost it, the baking soda looses it's active nature and the
falafel will remain raw in the middle when you fry them. Same thing
with the flour, the flour will make the falafel balls raw in the
middle when you fry them, the flour is only used to bind the mixture
and instead of flour I use the bread crumbs, they work much better.
So if you want to freeze the falafel mixture, I would suggest to
combine everything except the baking soda, freeze the mixture in a
plastic container. When you want to make them, let the mixture thaw
out, add the baking soda, let stand for 10 minutes then fry, they will
taste as fresh as can be.
Let me know if you have any other questions :)
HAPPY COOKING!