Vegan Bean and Quinoa Patties

For my vegan friends.

 

Since I have developed food sensitivities and have had to give up mainly gluten, and I don’t do well with lactose either, I have been challenged, like a lot of other people I know, to come up with food alternatives that don’t leave me feeling deprived.  It is so disappointing to arrive at a party and find out that the whole menu is based on wheat.  I would hope that I could at least find something to eat besides a tomato as I pretend to enjoy myself watching everyone else chow down on the pasta, pizza, bread, crackers, cake and whatnot, saying “no thank you” and needing to find a bunless burger on the way home.

So I have taken this challenge to accommodate everyone that I am cooking for, so no one feels slighted, but included.  It makes for a much more fun party when diet-restricted friends and family can eat almost all of the food on the menu.

So today we had family over, and Stephanie is vegan, and I am as stated above.  Steve cooked fish, but made sure the sides were vegan and gluten-free, but I was concerned that our vegan guest would be deprived of a good protein source, and was imagining that some bean cakes would go well with Steve’s mango chutney (I will see if he will share his recipe – mango, ginger and garlic, simmered and cooled).  After briefly searching the web, I adapted a few recipes and put a couple of twists on them, and my cooking experiment was successful.  I was a tad doubtful… It is such a risk to do a cooking experiment without trial first!  But these turned out very tasty.  And good protein.  I would make them again for a meatless night.  As you can see from the photo, 1 patty is missing…it got sampled, and another quickly disappeared after photo was taken!

My major twist is to dredge them like you would chicken or fish or other cutlets to pan fry.  You can just as well pan fry these, but the oven method is so easy.  The other tweak is to make them very mild to go with sauces – you could make a quick quinoa flour gravy – uh oh, another recipe to share!

Vegan Bean and Quinoa Patties

Makes 6 patties

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds or meal
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 can (15 oz) beans, cannelloni or other beans
• 1 garlic clove, minced or finely chopped
• ½ cup onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp flour, such as quinoa, oat, wheat or gluten-free blend
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Soak flax meal in 3 tablespoons water for 10-15 minutes.

Mash all ingredients together until beans are creamy and blended.  Mixture will probably be moist and sticky.

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Form into six patties. Carefully dredge them in about ½ cup of flour, wheat or gluten-free, lightly dusting them.  It will get a little messy, but do the best you can.  They don’t have to be perfect. This will give them a crispier crust.  You can also skip this step if you lack patience.

In a pan that will hold the six patties, pour in 4 tablespoons vegetable oil and place into oven until the oil is very hot. Remove the pan and carefully place the patties in the hot oil; it should sizzle a bit.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, turning once halfway through.

These would be good with chutney, or in a pita sandwich, or with gravy….