January 11, 2015 - Yam and chickpea patties - great for meatless monday

I have to admit I didn't get a single workout in this week and although I have been eating slightly better this week than the past month there is major room for improvement but let me tackle one thing at a time. My commitment for this month is to get one blog post out a week that means I need to make something at least once a week I am still as busy as before so al the recipes will be fast and things i want to eat. My hope is to start cooking more to save both on budget and calories. Today I went grocery shopping and found a lot of things that I wanted were not available I think this is what happens when you go shopping on a sunday evening but this is the only time I had. I didn't end up with the ingredients i wanted so this is a what I can get recipe. I saw some organic yams (or sweet potato) they are really the same thing aren't they? I think these are yams and some really fresh organic cilantro and cilantro and chickpeas go well together. I knew I wanted to make something that would motivate me to eat my lunch tomorrow instead of eating out. I couldn't find tortillas I usually make wraps for lunch however I got some really good sourdough bread. So I decided to make a yam and chickpea patty that could go in the sandwich. I peeled and boiled the yams first. Then I just wanted to throw everything together in the magic bullet but I figured it was too small so did the yams first. Then the chickpea, spice and cilantro. I forgot the onion and I was thinking about adding some chickpea flour but didn't I knew I would be putting it in a sandwich so I didn't need a binder but if I was more likely to eat it as a patty then I would have added a binder maybe some chickpea flour or an egg. Here's the result and recipe

This makes 4 patties
Peel and Boil 2 small yams let cool
cut into pieces

Mash my preferred method is the magic bullet
Empty magic bullet into container
Add half a can of chickpeas, a handful of fresh cilantro and spices (I used bollywood spice, salt, and pepper) and olive oil (this can be omitted) to magic bullet
Empty on top of yams

At this point I was thinking of just baking this off and calling it vegan shepards pie but maybe next time
Mix ingredients together
Wet hands and shape into patties with hands its easy just roll into a ball shape and flatten

I wasn't worried about the size but for those that do you can place the right amount into a mug then flatten with the bottom of the mug that's too much work for me.
These will be pan fried place some oil in the pan and when the oil is hot
put the patties on the pan I find the flat pans work the best with patties it gets the heat to them quicker

I love how the yams caramelize wish I didn't forget the onions they

caramelize too flip after a few minutes when the first side is browned
This recipe if using preboiled yams takes about 10 minutes to make
And for a bonus I really want to make homous but I don't like using non heated canned chickpeas
so I roasted the chickpeas they make a good snack too
dry washed chickpeas place on baking sheet add spices to taste and some olive oil
bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes until crisp. I didn't bake mine all the way as I will be making roasted chickpea humous tomorrow maybe only 20 minutes this is before they go in the oven.

Humous recipe will come.