Monday 18 August 2014

Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes

Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes - vegan

Now I know I just said on my side bar there that I am on summer holidays until September and that is still technically true but I've been wanting to get this recipe up for a couple months now so thought I would squeeze it in amongst my crazy busy summer :-)

These are so good and easy to throw together. Chickpeas are processed with garlic, chilli, ginger, spring onions, lime, soy sauce and crunchy peanut butter. I've thrown in some breadcrumbs to help bind then they are coated in sesame seeds before frying, baking OR grilling - nice and versatile!
Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes - vegan
I was initially making these as a burger but they honestly just aren't as nice in a bun. I much prefer these on their own with a good drizzle of lemon-tahini sauce. I'm thinking they would also be nice with some sort of miso gravy but I haven't gotten around to trying that yet :-)
Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes - vegan
As mentioned above you can fry these in some peanut oil until nice and crispy (ideal) but they can also be baked with no oil at all - they don't get as golden and crispy that way but still taste great. Furthermore they can be grilled without oil.

Whichever way you make them they are perfect over a bed of brown basmati rice, some veg on the side - asparagus and green beans a good choice as I did here, and a drizzle of the lemon-tahini sauce for a great meal :-)
Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes - vegan

Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes:

(Makes 5-6 good size cakes)

1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed (240g drained weight)
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
grated zest 1 lime
75g fresh white breadcrumbs or panko (1 cup)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter 
3 Tbsp sesame seeds
peanut oil, for frying - optional

Tip the chickpeas into a food processor and processor until flaky looking. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it all just comes together, it should have the texture of thick peanut butter. To shape the patties I press the mixture into either a 1/4 or 1/3 cup measure then scoop it out and shape with lightly greased hands. Repeat until all the mixture is used up. You will get 5 larger patties with 1/3 cup measure and 6 smaller ones with 1/4 cup measure. 

Spread the sesame seeds onto a plate and place a patty on pressing the seeds in lightly, repeat on the other side.  

Heat a little peanut oil in a frying pan and cook the patties for 3-4 mins each side until golden and heated through. You will lose some sesame seeds but as you can see from the pictures enough stay on!

Note: can be baked for 10 minutes a side at 200C/400F or grilled until golden and crispy both sides - keep an eye on them if grilling, sesame seeds can burn fast! 

Lemon-Tahini Sauce:
• 2 Tbsp tahini
• 2 scant Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1-2 Tbsp hot water

Whisk everything together except the hot water until smooth. Add 1 Tbsp of the hot water and whisk again until smooth, add the other Tbsp if needed.

Source: Heidi Swanson's Lemon-Tahini Sauce
Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes - vegan




Nutritional Information: based on 1 cake out of 6 (prior to frying).
Calories: 115
Protein: 5.9g
Fat: 4.4g
Sat Fat: 0.7g
Fibre: 2.8g
Carbs: 13.4g
Sugar: 1.3g
Sodium: 351mg

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13 comments:

  1. Might try these out tonight!! Looks so nice

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  2. This looks fantastic! Can't wait to try it!

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  3. The saying "Holy Mackerels" has never been closer to my lips in recent times as it is right now. What a delicious way to use a can of chickpeas! It is 5.14 am here and I am salivating already. I might not have that ubiquitous can of chickpeas but I do have a big jar of the little sweethearts at the back of my pantry just begging to be soaked for something as unctuous and full of promise as these amazing looking tasty little cakes. Thank you for sharing and you can bet your bottom dollar these babies will be gracing a happy Tasmanian's plate in the next 24 hours :)

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  4. Thanks so much for the comments (so funny theroadtoserendipity, haha!)
    Hope you all like them!
    :-)

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  5. These look so delicious- crispy perfection!
    Hope you're enjoying your crazy busy summer!

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  6. Love the sound of these. I've been making a lot of these type of bean/pulse patties recently so I will definitely give these a go.

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  7. Thank you! I wast just looking for something that was veggie burger-like to share with non-vegan family members and I think this would be a hit with omnivores. I wouldn't have thought to add chickpeas and peanut butter together!

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  8. Can I sub almond butter or non nut butter?

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    1. Absolutely! I've added the peanut butter mostly to help with binding so any nut or seed butter will sub just fine :-)

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  9. Made these last night. They were so very yummy... but maybe I did something wrong as the texture seemed very mushy inside the patties. They crisped up nice on the outside with the frying, and held their shape just fine, but were just mushy on the inside. Not sure what I might have done wrong... However, as I stated, the flavour was incredible! Maybe I processed too long in the food processor.

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    1. Hi Shelagh! Hmmm, not sure, as beancakes they are supposed to be soft inside but I certainly wouldn't describe mine as 'mushy'. Mine are soft for sure but with a nice texture, you can cut them with the side of a fork but they are firm enough you can then pick a piece up with the fork, if you can't do that then maybe they were over processed. It could also be down to the brand of chickpeas used. I use Tesco's tinned chickpeas and they are REALLY firm and small, so firm in fact I don't use them to make houmous as it turns out gritty but they are perfect for beancakes as they don't get too puréed during processing. If the chickpeas you are using are the large really soft ones (where some are even split in half and the skins are coming off) then it might be worth adding a little more breadcrumbs and processing for less time - maybe even just pulse a few times. Hope that helps and glad you liked the taste of them anyway!

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    2. Thanks for the tips Debbie. I'll try again and NOT process as much. My chickpeas are definitely the larger kind you mention... but we don't have Tesco here... so can't try those. :-)

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