Sunday, September 15, 2013

Tofu Quinoa Patties

I've been on a quest to make new kinds of patties, so I'm not resorting to buying pre-made ones as much.  Pre-made ones are fine for a quick dinner when there's not a lot of time for preparation, but when I do have time, I've been trying my hand at methods that take just few ingredients.  I don't know about you, but when I play with bean burgers, they seem to fall apart.  I'll let you know if I come up with a truly hardy bean patty recipe.  And, I've been wanting to try grains other than rice on a more common basis.  So, one day I thought of using quinoa, which we all know is healthy, and binding it with tofu.  After a couple of tries, they came out really good!  And, what's even better, and this happens less often than you may think, everyone in my family loved them.  Not a single patty was left over, and that's saying something.  Let me know what you think, if you give these a try.


Tofu Quinoa Patties

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa (uncooked)
2 cups water
2 - 14oz. pkgs. water-packed tofu, drained
1 Tbs. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Canola oil for frying

Directions:

Put quinoa and water in a medium pot.  Bring to a boil.  Turn down heat to medium and cook until quinoa swells and becomes translucent.  This will take ten to fifteen minutes.  Turn heat down to medium low if water is evaporating too quickly.  (I know these are different directions than most packages say, but I find this works for me better.)  You should end up with about 1 and 3/4 cups of quinoa.  In a large bowl, mash the tofu.  Add the quinoa and the seasonings and mix well; you can use your hands if necessary.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil on medium high heat in a large pan.  Make palm-sized patties and carefully add them to the pan.  Do not move patties while cooking.  Turn over after ten minutes, and cook undisturbed on other side for another ten minutes.  If you find your patties are cooking too quickly, turn the heat down to medium.  These will not be cooked solidly all the way through.  They have a crisp exterior and a cooked, warmed through interior. They hold up really well, and the texture is very pleasant.  Can garnish with hot sauce, mustard, ketchup or soy sauce.  Makes ten patties.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

12 comments:

  1. This definitely sounds like something I would enjoy! When I make them, I'll let you know!

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  2. Clever and high protein too - looks like a winner to me!

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  3. Ingrid, good, I hope you like them!

    Joey, hey, thanks! That's what I was going for. :-)

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  4. Patties are such a great dish - you can throw almost anything in them and they're either tasty or tweakable. These look easy too.

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  5. I find that when I make my patties with quinoa as the binder, it works much better than other stuff. I switched to quinoa because it's gluten-free. It works great in bean burgers, too. Sometimes I also add some almond meal. Your tofu patties look great — I love the crispy outside!

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  6. FF, these are very easy to make. I agree with you - I like the versatility of patties!

    Andrea, I hadn't thought of adding quinoa to bean patties. I'm going to give that a try!

    SV, bring a spatula and a mixing bowl and you're set for anything!

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  7. My black bean burgers fall apart too. :( These patties look delish!

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  8. Sage, I always see wonderful recipes for bean burgers that just don't seem to stay together. I'll only post mine when I can get it work flawlessly. :-)

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    1. Not sure if you'll see this since its an older post, but i found that with bean based patties if i take a portion and mash the beans to make a "glue", mix with the other ingredients and then chill in the fridge for a few hours before making patties. The chilling lets the ingredients stick together better somehow.
      Ttrockwood

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  9. Yes will definitely give these ones a try! I can get all these ingredients!
    So simple & yet I bet so tasty :-) Thanks for your wonderful recipes :-)

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