Finding Broad Beans (for use in falafel)

daymobrew

I am looking for broad beans to use when making falafels. I am in Dublin 15.

Tesco online says that they have fresh and canned but neither my local branch or Clare Hall or Clearwater (massive stores) have them (when I rang them).

Does anyone know where I can find broad beans, preferably dried?

Millypenny

You'd probably have better luck finding dried broad beans in an ethnic-type shop - there's bound to be loads of them in Dublin. If you google ethnic food shops Dublin a few places show up - there might be 1 near you.

There's a Turkish shop in Ennis (where I live) who sell a variety of different type dried beans including fava beans, broad beans etc. I think for the real traditional falafels you're meant to use a mixture of chick-peas & fava beans. Using the dried chick-peas is meant to give a better result than using tinned chick-peas.
Havent tried making falafels from scratch yet myself, but did buy a big bag of dried chick-peas at the weekend which only cost €2.50.

daymobrew

We have tons of tinned and dried chick peas. I'll do a search for the ethnic shops, I know a few near me.

jam_mac_jam

You dont use broad beans in falafel, you use dried chickpeas.

milkycoffey

The main ingredients are chickpeas, cumin and tahini.

Make it easy on yourself by using a can of chickpeas (you'll find them in main supermarkets near the baked beans)
Whizz them up in a magimix or by hand. Make sure you don't make them too soft or they won't keep their shape. add in 2 teasoons of tahini, a teaspoon of cumin, a clove or so of garlic and mix well (some people put in coriander but it gives me the heebie jeebies)

Roll them into little balls and cover in flour.

I shallow fry mine but if you have a deep fat fryer that will work just as well.
Serve with yoghurt which has chopped peppermint mixed in. NOM!

daymobrew

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

You dont use broad beans in falafel, you use dried chickpeas.

Yes, dried chickpeas are the best known ingredient and what I have used previously.
Here is a recipe that uses broad/fava beans.

milkycoffey wrote: »

The main ingredients are chickpeas, cumin and tahini.

I would use tahini in hummus.

szak

I would find it in an east european store @145 Emmet Road Dublin 8

the beer revolu

As alluded to my daymobrew, fava beans are in fact broad beans so that's probably what you should be looking for.

daymobrew

I found frozen broad beans in Tesco (their own brand IIRC) though my local store has stopped stocking them. The manager said that he'd get them back in but we are waiting for this to happen.

the beer revolu

daymobrew wrote: »

I found frozen broad beans in Tesco (their own brand IIRC) though my local store has stopped stocking them. The manager said that he'd get them back in but we are waiting for this to happen.

Yeah, they seem to turn up seasonally. Polish shops sometimes have them frozen too.

zom

Sorry for diggin up old thread but I am looking for Broad Beans (Fava Beans) too. I need lot of them (few kg) so I am not interested in canned (but they can be frozen).

szak

you can get it in Polish shop.It's frozen.

fussyonion

If you're in Dublin, head to Tallaght, to the CostLess Hypermarket, opposite Tallaght Garda Station and you'll find all the beans you need.
I went in looking for white beans and I was amazed at the variety of beans they stocked. They have EVERYTHING; beans, pulses, spices, literally anything you need.