Vegetable Quinoa Cakes

This recipe came about when I was doing a dinner party and needed to come up with a vegetarian alternative for one of the guests. My missus, also being of said persuasion, means that we eat a lot of veggie dishes often experimenting with new recipes. Having worked in the catering game for a while I’ve seen guests being served the famous vegetarian option of sauteed vegetables with rice or a veg risotto or whatever. Point being it’s not that exciting or interesting is it? I like to try and do something a little different and substantial to keep the veggies happy, especially my one! We even tested this recipe with our carnivore neighbors who said it was the best thing we had ever made and demanded the recipe (ahem here you go). I made smaller hors d’oeuvre bite sized ones this past weekend with a slice of avo and a dollop of roasted red pepper aioli. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

RECIPE:

Serves 4ish (if your 4 Irish guys) Maybe 6 is better

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 large carrot – grated

1 zucchini – grated

1 medium sweet potato – grated

1 cup fava beans – blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain

1/2 cup red onion

1 garlic clove – minced

1/2 cup red bell pepper – small dice

2 corn on the cob – kernels removed

2 tbsp basil – chopped

2 tbsp oregano – chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

2 organic egg whites

S&P to taste

The hardest part is all the grating but once that’s accomplished making the pancakes is a cinch.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Preheat skillet on medium heat for 30 seconds. Add olive oil and saute onions for 30 seconds. Add garlic, red pepper and corn and saute for 5 minutes until softened. Cook the quinoa as per the instructions on the box. Meanwhile add everything else into a large mixing bowl including the quinoa and onion mixture along with 2 egg whites.

Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Taste and season with S&P.

To make: Preheat large non-stick skillet and drizzle olive oil in pan. Add golf ball size amount of mixture in pan and gently push down to make patty size. Sear for 1 minute until browned and gently flip over for another minute or so. Place on foiled oven tray.

TIP: This can be done up to 24 hours ahead of time.

Once all cakes are seared place in oven for 10 minutes to cook through. The egg will firm up the cake when baked in the oven.

(Being used in place of the fish)

I bet kids would even like these because all kids like pancakes don’t they? Could be as a good way for them to eat their veggies so if you try them with your family let me know!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers? market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.