Black Eyed Pea and Cilantro Croquettes

Sometimes when I'm really hungry and scrambling around the kitchen for I don't know what, I have my most creative moments.  Not that I think these are extremely innovative but cooking with beans is a new thing for me.  Tonight I decided to grab a can of black-eyed peas from the cupboard and see what I could do with them.  Patties or croquettes are always popular at our house so I dumped them into the food processor, added a big bunch of cilantro, half an orange pepper going soft in the fridge along with a few other ingredients.  They turned out pretty well.  I would have liked a bit more crispness, they were a bit soft but the flavours were nice, fairly mild with a bit of sweetness from the carrot and pepper.  I'm pleased that I was able to include more veggies on the off chance that my daughter would eat these. 

I made the most delicious cilantro-wasabi flavoured vegannaise sauce to go with them and I was so enamoured of the sauce I practically used the bean cakes to sop it up like they were bread.  Here is my cobbled together recipe for the croquettes:

2 cups cooked black-eyed peas (19 ounce can)
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 sweet bell pepper
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 medium carrot grated
1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup gluten flour (or any flour you like)
oil for frying. 

Yield: 10 small patties

In a food processor, pulse together the beans, onion, bell pepper and cilantro until well mixed, not completely pureed.  In a medium sized mixing bowl add the bean mixture to the grated carrot, ginger, soy sauce and mix well.  Add in the bread crumbs and flour using your hands to incorporate well.  Shape into small patties approximately 3 inches wide.  Fry on medium heat until browned on both sides. 

Black Eyed Pea and Cilantro Croquettes

Better Bean Burgers

This is a quick post because we are in the middle of a busy holiday weekend.   Our Christmas tree went up tonight and I whipped up a batch of these tasty Better Bean Burgers from Robin Robertson's book Vegan on the Cheap.  They were surprisingly flavourful with so few ingredients - black beans, parsley, red onion, bread crumbs, gluten flour and some salt and pepper.  I was worried they would be boring but I was wrong, I really enjoyed them.  I love trying new veggie burgers so leave me a comment and tell me about your favourites!  

Better Bean Burgers

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And it sounds like my good friend Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen baked up a delicious pumpkin pie for American Thanksgiving.  Keep on cooking Kathryn, you are inspiring me! 

Chickpea Cutlets - Oh so ugly tasty....

There's a reason the Chickpea Cutlets recipe from Veganomicon is famous.   They are satisfyingly tasty in a down home kind of way.  I resisted making these for quite a while because the picture in the book was so unappealing.  I just couldn't believe that something so ugly could taste so yummy and the name wasn't exactly calling out to me either.  I had to take it on blind trust from various sources and I'm so glad I did.  This recipe is now on weekly rotation at our house.  It's not super quick to prepare because the chickpeas are mashed by hand but once that bit is accomplished the rest comes together fairly quickly.  I've been wondering what would happen if I whipped them into the food processor instead and gave a few quick pulses.  Would something crazy happen?   Is the hand mashing with a fork necessary to get the right texture?   I'll have to give a try one day.

So if you're craving something to bite into with a chewy, toothy texture I recommend these.  I love it when I get a hint of lemon zest and garlic in one bite.   This is ugly comfort food at it's best.   I usually make a double batch, throw half in the fridge and mysteriously the leftovers are gone by the end of the following day.    

Warning: the following photos are not pretty, I was too hungry to try and pretty up the final product. 

This is the mixture after kneading all the ingredients together for a few minutes.  It comes together very quickly and the gluten becomes stringy.  I find that you definitely need to add more oil to the pan when you flip them because they seem to soak up oil very quickly.  

My dinner tonight featuring the undeniably ugly Chickpea Cutlet. 

My first home-made veggie burgers!

Yesterday I was craving a veggie burger but couldn't find a recipe among my small collection of cookbooks that spoke to me.  The garbanzo and wheat gluten combo is inspired by the awesome Chickpea Cutlets recipe in Veganomicon.  My very picky four year old daughter actually liked them so I will be making these again with various additions and tweaking of seasonings but for the first attempt they were pretty tasty.  This recipe makes six medium sized patties or four large patties.

Lee’s Veggie Garbanzo Burgers

½ large onion chopped (about 1 cup)
½ red bell pepper chopped
8 white or cremini mushrooms chopped
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tahini
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp cumin
1 tbsp ketchup
¼ cup vegetable stock or water
¾ bread crumbs
¾ cup vital wheat gluten

Sauté onions, bell peppers and mushrooms in one tablespoon of olive oil until onions are translucent (about 3 or 4 minutes).

In food processor pulse together sauteed vegetable mixture, garbanzo beans, 2 tablespoons olive oil, soy sauce, tahini, coriander, cumin, and ketchup.
Empty mixture from food processor into a medium sized mixing bowl and add bread crumbs, vital wheat gluten and stock or water. Mix together and then knead with your hands for a few minutes until the gluten begins to form strings.

Divide into six equal parts and form patties. Fry on medium heat in a thin layer of olive oil until brown and then flip and cook another 4 or 5 minutes until done.