Thursday, April 22, 2010

Bean and rice cakes (p. 106)

I haven't had a major TJOC disaster for a while, so I suppose I was due. Believe it or not, Bean and rice cakes (p. 106) had been on my to-make list for a while. I like vegetarian food but I tend not to like non-meat burgers, so I was optimistic about the recipe.

I cooked onion and celery in butter until softened.



I then added a can of chickpeas that I smashed, a cup of cooked rice, two eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper. I think it's possible that one of these choices was a mistake--maybe I shouldn't have used leftover rice? Maybe only one egg? Maybe I didn't smash the beans enough?



My mixture did not form into patties well at all. They were soft and totally not cohesive.



I thought that maybe the crusting step would help--I dredged (or attempted to dredge) the cakes in flour, an egg, and then sesame seeds.



It did not work. They totally fell apart.



Even so, I tried to fry them up.



Lets just say this was not a success. The cakes barely held together and the two or three that I managed to make were bland and way too heavy on the sesame seeds.

Honestly, I think this was the worst TJOC recipe I've ever made. Honestly, something that had some flavor really needed to be added to this recipe--between the chickpeas, celery, onion, rice, and eggs, everything was bland and rather beige (the celery wasn't extensive enough to matter). The recipe was totally unsuccessful. It didn't even taste good! I have no idea why the patties wouldn't hold together. Plus it made a ton of dishes! A total fail.

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3 comments:

  1. Aww that sucks when all that work goes into nothing. Too bad too as a chickpea/rice combo pattie sounds like a good idea. Maybe would need to run it through a food processor and add more seasonings?

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  2. It definitely sounds like it needed more flavour. I make a pretty good black bean burger that stays together without eggs! Try using oatmeal to bind (about 1/4 cup should do), add half a cube/teaspoon of veggie bouillon or some soy sauce and grind it all in a food processor. (mine has veggies and cashews in the there too, another flavour boost!)

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  3. I'd recommend mashing the beans more. Like Zoey, if they aren't staying together well, they might did something to bind them, like oatmeal of cornmeal. Not that you'll make them again, but most patties are similar, even meat ones. I made an awesome black bean burger out of my Eating Well....it had a lot of flavorful stuff, though- yours sounded okay tasting, but kind of bland.

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