Soak chick peas, rinse well, cover with fresh water, bring to a boil & simmer until very tender. Depending on how fresh the chick peas are will determine how long this will take. Give them about 1 1/2 hours. Drain well & set aside to cool.

When cool, place chick peas in food processor bowl & blend until very smooth. If you have a large enough bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, except the stock, & mix in the blender. If the bowl is not large enough, you will have to do this in batches. Then add the ingredients in order, mixing well after each addition. Add a little stock if the mixture appears too dry or looks as if it is not going to hold together very well. Cover & set aside for 30 minutes.

Shape into patties. If the patties do not hold together very well, you may want to add a little more flour, but be careful, you do not want to make them too floury. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet & gently flatten. This amount should make 15 to 18 patties, so make them a reasonable size. Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the falafel patties for 5 minutes, remove trays, flip the patties & return to the oven for another 5 minutes. Remove from trays & cool on wire racks.

To serve: Heat some olive oil in a good heavy skillet, you can choose: I use 2 tb of olive oil, or you could deep fry them in a wok. If using the wok method, crumble one dried red chile into the oil as it is heating. When the oil is hot, fry the falafel patties until golden. Flip & fry the other side. Remove from the oil, drain & serve.

Either serve the falafel as part of a Middle Eastern platter including some baba ganouj, hummus, tabouleh, lettuce, tomatoes, green onions & pita. Or, make up a sauce using tahini & hot sauce, warm a pita bread, slice the top off, spread the tahini paste in the pita, drop in two patties, cover with lettuce, tomatoes & green onions. Either a great snack or a main meal.