Vegetarian Chickpea and Vegetable Patties

There are days when you just don’t feel like eating meat, chicken or fish and that does not mean you have to give up on good food. These patties were born of such a day, when I wanted a hearty dinner but of the vegetarian kind.

These are filling and delicious and wind up giving you a wonderful soup on the side since you cook the vegetables and mash them and the water you cook them in turns into a lovely broth. So, it’s a two-fer, as they say. I wound up cooking the chickpeas from scratch but you can absolutely skip it if you wish and use canned chickpeas instead.

A shout out to my friend Tamar K again about cooking the chickpeas (or any beans for that matter) you must add baking soda to help break them down or you can cook them endlessly and they stay tough (at least mine do here in Israel). I let them soak overnight and add one teaspoon baking soda per cup of dried beans (in this case the chickpeas) in triple the amount of water to cups of beans. Cover the bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.

The next day you will see they’ve trebled in size, rinse the chickpeas and put in a pot with the same formula, a teaspoon of baking soda per cup of beans, triple the liquid and cook for approximately an hour, to an hour and a half or till the chickpeas are very very tender. You’re gonna mash them and you will be able to do it by hand since they are so soft.

Drain the chickpeas and put them in a bowl and mash with a potato masher then set aside.

While the chickpeas are cooking, you will preparing the veggies.

Scrub some potatoes, peel some carrots, scrub a head of garlic and peel an onion.

Cut the potatoes in half with the peel on (hence the scrubbing!) cut the garlic head in half, quarter the onion, put the carrots in and put in a pot to cook. Shake in the spices. Add 2-3 tablespoons oil.

Cover everything with water to three quarters of the pot and bring to the boil, lower to simmer. Cook till veggies are seriously soft, nearly falling apart about 45 minutes or so. Check with a knife or wooden toothpick for doneness. Now remove the potatoes and a carrot to cool. You can leave the rest of the veggies in the liquid since now it’s a nice broth and you can serve the vegetables in the broth.

Back to the patties. Peel the potatoes (not before cooking since you want the peel for the broth and now it’ll practically slip off the potatoes).

Mash the veggies. Take the bowl that your mashed chickpeas have patiently waited in (if using cans, just drain them and measure 2 cups of chickpeas and mash them) and add to the mashed cooked veggies. Put in the same bowl the egg, breadcrumbs and baking powder and combine all together till a thick smooth paste is formed. Form into patties and fry in hot oil in a frying pan on both sides till browned.

Serve hot or cold with salad, rice or couscous.

Vegetarian Chickpea and Vegetable Patties

2 cups well cooked chickpeas, mashed, either from scratch or canned and drained

Vegetable broth

5 medium potatoes, well scrubbed and cut in half
5 carrots, peeled
1 head of garlic, cut in half
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
1 teaspoon fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons oil
6-8 cups water

Adding to the mashed vegetables and chickpeas:
1 rounded teaspoon salt
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
Oil for frying

Directions:

If you are cooking the chickpeas from scratch, put in a bowl and for each cup of chickpeas, add 1 teaspoon baking soda. Cover with three times the amount of water, cover and leave in fridge overnight.

The next day, drain and rinse chickpeas and put in a pot, again with 1 teaspoon baking soda per cup beans and cover with plenty of water. Bring to boil, lower to simmer and cook about an hour to an hour and a half or till chickpeas are very soft. Drain and place in bowl. Or use canned chickpeas, drain. Mash with potato masher and set aside.

Take the potatoes, carrots, garlic, onion, thyme, paprika and turmeric and a pinch of salt and put in a pot with water to cover three quarters up the pot. Bring to a boil and cook till very soft. Remove 4 halves of potatoes and one carrot, half the onion and 4 cloves of garlic. (The rest of the veggies can remain in the broth, though I peel all the potatoes and return to broth and you have a lovely broth to serve with your meal). Slip the skins off the potatoes and squeeze the garlic out of the skin and put all the veggies in a bowl and mash. Add the chickpeas and mix and then add the salt, baking powder, egg and breadcrumbs and mix all together till stiff mixture forms. Form patties and fry in hot oil on both sides about 3 -4 minutes each side. Serve hot or room temperature.