..hmr.: Chickpea & Coriander Cakes

We tried something new tonight and it turned out!

We tried something new last night & we all suffered through dinner (except Molly who didn't seem to notice how terribly bad her asparagus rigatoni really was). So tonight I was nervous after such an epic fail (it had been a while since I have had one) & decided to made side dishes that were tired, tested & true, you know, just in case.

Tonight Brian took the kids out to play hockey while I made dinner so I got to partake in a little food pornography, if you will. I love cooking with my camera. It's like, 2 awesome things. If I could cook with my camera while scrapbooking, I would OD on happiness and drop dead.

But it all went well & I am happy to post a recipe for Chickpea & Coriander Cakes (as adapted from 'Vegetarian' cookbook - I had to adapt, I was missing ingredients & wanted to use some stuff up)

Combine in a large bowl:

1 can of chickpeas (I recipe calls for 7oz, I used 19!)

5oz freshly-cooked brown rice (I used a wild rice blend)

2 oz of oatmeal

Toast in a pan over medium heat:

1 t. coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Toast until fragrant, put into mortar & pestle (best investment ever!) and have at 'er. My kitchen smelled so good I almost died. Almost.

In a frying pan cook:

1 small onion - chopped (mine may or may not have been a medium-large onion. What a rebel!)

1 stick celery - chopped (I used 2)

2 cloves or garlic - peels & minced (I used one, I have a hate-on for garlicky foods).

1 small red chilli - deseeded & chopped

Cook until soft Then stir in the ground coriander mixture. Take a big breath, your whole house now smells so fantastic you could die... but don't.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl with the chickpeas, rice & oatmeal.

Take that big sexy bowl & also stir in:

1 T. Sea Salt (Flaky if you have it. I did.)

Zest & Juice of one lemon. (This I did not have. And let me tell you how rare it is that I don't have fresh lemons in my house. Because A. They are super cute to have on my counter and B. I use them like mad. Lucky for me I did have lemon juice & lemon peel (above). I'm telling you, this granulated lemon peel from Silk Road Spice Merchant has saved my behind a couple times. I was grateful for it today when I went to get a lemon and.....nothing!)

Also stir in:

1 t. Tumeric (mine got away on me, there's at least 2 t. here)

3T. Greek yogurt or sour cream

I also added a handful of chopped arugula because A. It was going to go bad & that would have broken my heart, B. I love arugula and C. I consider myself a bit of a badass when following (or not) a recipe. Hahaha!

Run it all through the food processor until (almost) smooth. I like an uneven texture so I left mine a little less 'whizzed'. Here it is (below). At this point I ate 3 spoonfuls. I was hungry. And it smelled so dang good!

Form into patties (I froze half of mine) & fry in a very very hot frying pan until brown.