Pour dried chickpeas into a large bowl, pour in with plenty of cold water to cover. Add a small pinch of baking soda and stir to dissolve. The baking soda makes the chickpeas more tender and digestible. Let chickpeas soak until tripled in size — about 8 hours, or overnight.

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Blot dry. Pour into a food processor, and pulse until chickpeas are coarsely chopped and pebbly.

Add the parsley, cilantro, and garlic, and pulse again.

Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, the cumin, coriander and flour or chickpea flour. Pulse one or two more times, until mixture looks like damp sand. Resist the urge to whiz into a smooth paste.

To finish, stir in thinly sliced scallion (the food processor will just shred it) and sea salt. Mixture should come together when pressed in your hand, but be on the dry side. Damp falafel mixture makes for heavy falafel.

Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate to chill for an hour or two, or even overnight. This makes rolling the falafel into balls easier.

Scoop falafel mixture, a heaping tablespoon at a time, and roll falafel into balls roughly the size of walnuts.

Preheat cast iron skillet in a 425 degree oven. Take it out — use potholders — place on burner, and set on high.

Add olive oil or grapeseed oil. Watch for the oil to get hot enough to shimmer. Drop a fleck of falafel mixture into the pan. When it sizzles, your pan is hot and ready.

Add falafel balls, cooking in batches, if necessary, to avoid crowding the pan. Falafel doesn’t like crowds.

Pan-fry for about 3 minutes, or until the bottom browns and gets a nice crust. Turn gently and let the other side sear for another few minutes. Falafel should be golden brown all over.

Remove from pan, place onto paper towels to blot up any excess oil, then serve at once. Falafel waits for no one.

Pita, tahini sauce, shredded cabbage, sliced pickled onion, olives, and chopped tomato and cucumber all are nice falafel additions.