History

Berlin's Levantine community grew sharply after 2015 with the arrival of Syrian refugees, building on a Lebanese and Palestinian base that has been in the city since the 1980s. Dada Falafel opened on Linienstrasse in Mitte in the late 1990s and remains a city reference; Maroush in Kreuzberg, Hummus and Friends, and the wider Sonnenallee and Oranienstrasse counters carry the broader Levantine canon. The Berlin street pita is heavier on the tahini and lighter on the chilli than its Tel Aviv ancestor.

Common allergens: Sesame, Gluten

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 35 minTotal 24 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 300g dried chickpeas (never tinned)
  • 1 small onion, roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 large bunch cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1.5 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • Half teaspoon Aleppo pepper
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 1 litre neutral oil, for deep-frying
  • For the tahini sauce: 100g raw tahini, juice of 1 lemon, 1 clove garlic grated, 80ml ice water, salt
  • 4 pita breads
  • Pickled pink turnip (lifet), sumac-tossed sliced red onion, chopped tomato and cucumber salad, shredded red cabbage, chilli sauce, to serve

Method

  1. Soak the dried chickpeas in cold water 24 hours; they will more than double in volume. Drain.
  2. Pulse the soaked chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley and cilantro in a food processor in batches to a coarse green-flecked mince. Do not over-process; the texture should still show distinct chickpea fragments.
  3. Stir through cumin, coriander, baking soda, salt and Aleppo pepper. Rest in the fridge 30 minutes.
  4. Roll into 24 balls of about 25g each. Press a few sesame seeds into the surface of each.
  5. Heat the oil to 175C. Whisk the tahini sauce, slackening with the ice water until it loosens to a pourable cream; chill.
  6. Fry the falafel in batches of 6, 3 to 4 minutes, until the outside is deep mahogany and the inside steams green. Drain on a rack.
  7. Warm the pita briefly. Split open each pocket.
  8. Crush 3 falafel into the base of each pita. Add chopped salad, red cabbage, pickled turnip, sumac onion. Drizzle generously with tahini and a thread of chilli sauce.
  9. Close, wrap in paper, and eat from one end.

Tip from the editors. Soaked dried chickpeas only; tinned chickpeas have absorbed cooking water and turn to mush in the fryer. The defining cue is the green hue from raw fresh herbs.

Where to eat berliner falafel

Berliner falafel in Berlin

Dada Falafel ★ 4.3

German€mitte

Dada Falafel on Linienstrasse in Mitte has served the city's reference falafel pita since 2002. The balls are pressed fresh, the pita stuffed to overflowing.

Try: Falafel pita sandwich

Linienstrasse 132, 10115 Berlin

Maroush ★ 4.2

Levantine€kreuzbergDaily 11:00-02:00

Maroush on Adalbertstrasse in Kreuzberg has wrapped Berlin's benchmark chicken shawarma in flatbread since the 1990s. At Adalbertstr. 93. Booking recommended.

Try: Chicken shawarma sandwich

Adalbertstr. 93, 10999 Berlin

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