On Saturday I went on a cooking adventure and tried my hand at making a new recipe for Spicy Qunioa Patties. I had some eggplant, but wanted to do something different. Something less Italian in flavor, and less ‘grilled vegetable in nature’. So, I played around with some ingredients I had at home and made some Spicy Quinoa and Eggplant Patties. The recipe is less formulated than some, as I was playing around with it as I was cooking. You see, making patties requires the exact right consistency and cooking time or else the finished product doesn’t stay together. This has always been my down fall, so I was trying my best to get it right this time with the correct mixture of binders but I found the consistency of the mixture can vary.
Spicy Eggplant and Qunioa Patties
Left: Smaller Patty with bread crumbs, Right: Bigger patty with no bread crumbs
Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
2 medium eggplants, skinned and cubed (small)
1 habanero pepper, deseeded and minced
1 cup quinoa (toasted, cooked, and drained)
2 teaspoons fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil x2
2 eggs
4 tablespoons all purpose gluten free flour (I used rice flour)
Optional, and recommended:
1/4 cup bread crumbs **
(I added this for my second batch)
Directions:
1. In a medium frying pan heat up 2 tablespoons of Olive oil over medium high.
2. Add the prepared onion and garlic. Cook until pungent and onion becomes translucent, about 4 minutes.Add the habanero and cook an additional minute or two.
3. Add the prepared eggplant and remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Cook, covered, until the eggplant is soft, about 7 minutes. Mix occasionally.
4. In a medium bowl mix all ingredients together.
5. In the same pan as before heat another 3 tablespoons of oil. By the spoonful, scoop the mixture into the frying pan and flatten lightly.
6. Cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes, and flip to cook on the other side for the same time.
7. Eat and Enjoy!
Now, here are some pointers.
I recommend cooking the quinoa in only one cup water, not in the typical 2:1 water/quinoa ratio. This helps make it drier, which keeps the mixture together better.
If the mixture appears too moist, or the patties fall apart easily, add a bit more flour or eggplant as needed.
If the patties seems to fall apart when you are starting to flip let them cook a bit more on that side.
Alternatively, make smaller patties when all else fails.
Honestly, patties are still an adventure to me and I feel like they are for most people. Hence the playing around and the ‘pointers’. But, it makes cooking fun and even if they aren’t pretty they are still delicious!
