SC - Re: Falafel like recipe from Apicius

[ChannonM at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/29/00 12:05:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
owner-sca-cooks at ansteorra.org writes:

> If you look at the Counterfeit in the Miscellany, from (I believe) one of
>  the Andalusion cookery books, you'll see that the spices used and the
>  resulting product are almost exactly what is used in modern falafel
>  recipes (Though I'll tell you that while we no longer use lavendar, we
>  REALLY should as it adds a lot to the falafel).  
>  
>  Cu drag,
>  Bogdan 

Here I have  prepared my own redacted recipes based on the extant recipes of 
Apicius for  puls. I have chosen to use ground chick peas as the base, and 
the result is very much like the middle eastern falafel. 
Book V, Section I contains five recipes using spelt, and wheat for a mush  
These recipes are then duplicated in Section V, using barley   Chick peas  
are used in several Apician recipes and were served in “simple taverns 
(popinae or thermoploia), which offered hot or cold wine according to the 
season, cakes made with chick  peas, focaccias, and other ready to eat 
items... amoung the most popular items wee cakes of chickpeas; their vendors 
were assured a lucrative business” 
There are varied ingredients that accompany the spelt pulses, including;
pepper , lovage, fennel-seed,  liquamen and  wine.    Dried peas are boiled 
and then cooked with   coriander, cumin, pepper, lovage, caraway, dill, fresh 
basil, liquamen and wine.  Lentils are cooked with the additional spices of 
soriander, mint, rue, and pennyroyal.  
In perusing my middle eastern cookbook  by Tess Mallos, I reviewed the 
falafel recipe and found that not only are chick peas used but fava beans as 
well. 
The ingredients were so close to those mentioned in the Apicius recipes that 
I decided to reproduce it in it’s entirety for use as a viable “Fried Puls” 
dish.
Falafel or dried bean croquettes 
makes about 35
Cooking time 5-6 minutes each lot

1 cup fava beans
1 cup chick peas
water
1 medium sized onion
2 cloves garlic
½ cup finely chopped parsley
pinch hot chili pepper*
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda**
salt
freshly ground black pepper
oil for deep frying 

1.  Put fava beans in a bowl and cover with 3 cups cold water. Leave to soak 
for 48 hours, changing water once each day, twice in hot weather. 
2.  Put chick peas in 3 cups cold water and soak for 12-15 hours.
3.  Drain beans and peas and remove skins as directed in section on Skinning 
Pulses. ***
4.  Combine uncooked beans and peas with roughly chopped onion and garlic and 
grind twice in food grinder using fine screen or process in food processor in 
2 lots.
5.  Combine with parsley, chili pepper, coriander, cumin and soda and add 
salt and pepper to tast. Knead well and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
6.  Shape a tablespoon mixture ata time into balls, then flatten into thick 
patties 4 cm (1 ½ inches) in diameter. Place on a tray and leave for 30 
minutes at room tremperature. 
7 Deep fry in hot oil, 6-8 at a time, and cook for 5-6 minutes, turning to 
brown evenly. When well browned, remove and drain on paper towels. 
8 Serve hot as an appetizer with Taratour bi Tahini**** or in split khoubiz 
with the same sauce and salad vegetables . 
*the chili pepper is a New World pepper and was not available to until post 
16C. 
** I believe the soda is used as a binder
*** The author explains that chick peas, green or brown lentils can be 
skinned by rubbing handfuls of soaking beans together and letting them drop 
back into the bowl, skimming the skins off the top. Fava beans must be 
skinned after soaking for 48 hours  by being squeezed firmly.  However she 
also states that these beans can be purchased with out the skin “ful nabed” 
in Arabic.  My personal choice is to go with the final comment. 
****  Taratour bi Tahini 
2 cloves garlic
salt
½ cup tahini paste (pureed sesame seed)
¼-1/2 cup cold water
½ cup lemon juice
Combine in a food processor; tahini and garlic, Add lemon juice and water 
alternately, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Blend 
in salt to taste. 
Adapted Recipe 
The recipe that I reproduced here rely’s on three things. Firstly, the 
ingredients of the Apician recipes as mentioned earlier. Secondly, the 
reports of  “Chickpea cakes” sold in  taverns per  the previous  reference to 
Ilaria Giacosa’s book. And finally, it rely’s upon the Apician recipe for the 
method of cooking as follows; 
Book VII Section XIII, 6
Another Sweet. Take best wheat flour and cook it in the hot water so that it 
forms a very hard paste, then spread it on a plate. When cold cut it up for 
sweets, and fry in best oil. Lift out, pour honey over, sprinkle with pepper, 
and serve. 
. By inference, and observation (there are no extant recipes that I can point 
to and say ,  “see, there it is, in black and white”), I have concluded that 
a “Fried Puls” in the manner I have reproduced  would have been a very 
feasible and realistic dish to  serve in Imperial Rome
Fried Puls or  Chick pea Croquettes
1 cup fava beans
1 cup chick peas
water
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup finely chopped lovage
¼ cup finely chopped parsley     or cilantro(a member of the coriander family 
)
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp anchovy paste
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for deep frying 

1.  Put fava beans in a bowl and cover with 3 cups cold water. Leave to soak 
for 48 hours, changing water once each day, twice in hot weather. 
2.  Put chick peas in 3 cups cold water and soak for 12-15 hours.
3.  Drain beans and peas and remove skins as directed in section on Skinning 
Pulses. ***
4.  Combine uncooked beans and peas with roughly chopped onion and garlic and 
grind twice in food grinder using fine screen or process in food processor in 
2 lots.
5.  Combine with parsley, chili pepper, coriander, cumin and soda and add 
salt and pepper to tast. Knead well and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
6.  Shape a tablespoon mixture ata time into balls, then flatten into thick 
patties 4 cm (1 ½ inches) in diameter. Place on a tray and leave for 30 
minutes at room tremperature. 
7 Deep fry in hot oil, 6-8 at a time, and cook for 5-6 minutes, turning to 
brown evenly. When well browned, remove and drain on paper towels.

Serve alone for a more authentic dish, or if desired with the previously 
mentioned recipe for Tahini sauce. Although upon reflection, the ingredients 
are not far off  from the “gazpacho” ingredients based on the Roman Army 
rations. In this case I’ll let you decide. 

Hauviette