Cooking notes

• This is a nutritious and filling snack that you can enjoy with salad, pack up for lunch, or glam it up by putting in in a burger.

• It’s a really simple recipe and comes together quite quickly once you have all the ingredients ready – and the best part is that you can freeze the leftovers.

• I’ve adapted this recipe from ifoodreal, who always puts out healthy and yummy family-friendly recipes.

• Makes 16-18 pieces.

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked (use any type you have, I used red quinoa)

• 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) – drained and rinsed (standard can size = 439gm or 15.5oz)

• 2 medium potatoes – boiled, peeled and mashed

• 1 medium onion – chopped roughly

• 5 cloves of garlic

• 3-4 stems of coriander leaves – keep the leaves and stalks, just cut off the roots

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp cumin powder

• 1 tsp coriander powder

• 2 tbsp plain flour

• ¼ cup water

• Cooking oil, to pan-fry

Method

1. Rinse and cook the quinoa according to the package instructions. Usually, for 1 cup of quinoa, you’d need 1.5-1.75 cups of water (you can refer to this). Keep aside.

2. Except for quinoa and potato, add all the other ingredients to a blender – chickpeas, onion, garlic, coriander leaves, salt, paprika, cumin powder, coriander powder, plain flour, and water. Blend until the mixture is roughly smooth.

3. Pour out the mix into a large bowl, and add the quinoa as well as mashed potatoes. Mix with a spatula until it all comes together.

4. It’s time to start making some cutlets! I find it helps to prep the whole batch before getting it on the pan. For this, you’ll need a greased tray or a sheet of baking paper, so the mix doesn’t stick. Using a scoop or a spoon, pull out small balls of the mix (just bigger than a ping pong ball). Place these on your tray and flatten them slightly with your fingers.

5. Once all the cutlets are prepped, heat up a teaspoon of oil on a non-stick pan. Once it gets hot, place 4-5 cutlets, depending on your pan size, and let them cook. After a minute or two, flip them over. If you feel like they’re sticking to the pan, it could be because the oil wasn’t hot enough, or you might need a little more oil for older pans.

6. Transfer the cooked cutlets to a tray lined with paper towels, and prepare the entire batch in this way.

7. To serve, I went the healthier route first – a garden salad, topped with 3-4 cutlets, and some red pepper hummus on the side. On the second day, for the leftovers, I got out buns, and made mini burgers, using the same leftover salad leaves, hummus, and of course, the cutlets (with the addition of slices of cheese, tomato, and onion). Enjoy!