Savory Bites from Book Group
1 1/2 cups cooked or 1
14 oz can) chick peas/garbanzo beans –I used canned chickpeas/garbanzos this
time. If you want to cook them
from scratch, you will need ½ cup
beans which you soak in water overnight
1/2 cup quinoa (1 1/2
cups cooked)—can use millet
Sun-dried tomatoes—I
used about 2 Tablespoons of julienned sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil that were
in the bottom of the jar. I filled
the jar with hot water and let them sit for half an hour
1/2 cup red lentils—I
used green ones which take longer to cook
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 4.5-ounce can of chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
1-2 teaspoons onion
powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili
powder
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon spicy brown
mustard
1/4 cup chickpea (besan)
flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon sea salt, or
to taste
½ teaspoon freshly
ground black pepper
Rinse quinoa in a FINE mesh strainer. Add to a small saucepan with 1cup
water. Bring to a boil, stir, then
reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 15 minutes, or until all the water
is absorbed by the quinoa.
Pick over the lentils and discard any foreign
matter. Rinse in a strainer then place in small pan with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, stir, then reduce heat
to low and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are
soft. Some types of lentils soften
sooner than others.
Drain the can of chickpeas in a strainer then
rinse well. Place in a large bowl.
If you did not get chopped or julienned sundried
tomatoes, place 4-6 of the tomatoes in a bowl and cover with boiling
water. Let sit about 30
minutes. Drain, but save the water
for another purpose. Chop the
tomatoes finely. (I did not chop the ones I used since they were already smallish. I DID use the water in which I softened
them.)
While all the cooking is going on, place all the
seasonings in a small bowl and stir to mix them well. This is especially important for the onion powder which will
keep it from clumping when you add it to the bowl later.
Heat the olive oil in a small skillet then add
the finely chopped onion. Cook
until the onion is softened. Stir
in the chilies, sundried tomatoes along with the soaking water, and stir
well. Add the seasonings and stir
over medium heat until the soaking liquid has evaporated and the spices have
developed more flavor.
Drain the lentils and put into the bowl with the
chickpeas. Drain the quinoa (just
in case all the water was NOT absorbed) and add to the bowl with the lentils
and chickpeas. With a wooden spoon
combine these ingredients well.
Add the onion, tomato, chilies, spice mixture to the bowl and stir until
beautifully combined. Using a
potato masher or fork, mash the chickpeas. (After the fact I realized I could have mashed them while
the quinoa and lentils were cooking.
The original recipe did not call for this but I prefer my chick peas
mashed. You may be different. I do
think there is potential for the bites to fall apart when cooked if the
chickpeas are not mashed.)
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for about an
hour. In my case, it was near zero
degrees Fahrenheit outside so I just set them on a table on the porch, but kept
an eye out for marauding squirrels and hungry chickadees and woodpeckers.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and
preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Remove bowl from refrigerator and add the besan/chickpea flour and the
egg and mix in thoroughly. Using a
1 ½ Tablespoon portion scoop, scoop out mixture onto the baking sheet in neat
rows. With a fork, flatten the
bites to about ½ inch in thickness.
Bake for 10-12 minutes then remove from oven and
carefully turn over the bites and return to the oven to cook for another 10-12
minutes or until the bites are golden brown on top.
 |
| Plain Savory Bites ready to travel |
These can be eaten plain, hot or room
temperature, can be eaten with a nice dipping sauce if you want more calories/flavors
in your diet, or can be the “burger” in a tiny slider with lettuce, tomato
slice, thinly sliced onion, and mayonnaise or other topping. Or maybe change the seasonings
altogether to breakfast sausage seasoning and make breakfast sandwiches with
sliced cheese, baby English muffins, and a round of omelet?
You can also shape them with a much larger
portion scoop to make more “burger-like” sized bites, but then they will be
burgers and not bites. They will
also be more difficult to turn over without smashing them into pieces.
If you REALLY want to add some fat to your diet,
you can cook them in a cast iron skillet in which you have heated your favorite
oil or grease (I think they would be great cooked in bacon grease, BUT no bacon
here so no bacon grease…alas.)
This recipe made about 30-35 bites. The original
recipe purports to make 9-10 patties, which seems optimistic to me.
The original recipe is found here:
PS Like the other "savory bites" I served a while ago, these did not sell well. I think they needed the dipping sauce or breakfast sandwich ingredients. Plain, I liked them fine. I guess I am a minority, except for our book group who did like them plain, too.
