Chickpea and Quinoa Cakes with Balsamic Glaze

I’m finally here! College…so far it has been nothing like I had expected it to be and you wanna know what, I LOVE IT!!! Meeting all these people, doing random awesome things and staying up to the wee hours of the morning with my awesome floor that have become more like family in less than a week than I ever thought would be possible over the entire year.  I really lucked out.

My classes begin tomorrow! I know right, I’ve already been here for a week and I haven’t had a single class.  Love NYU. But I’m really excited for my classes actually.  I’m taking this one class called Food Studies where I basically learn to cook! My final for that class is basically like being on Food Network’s Chopped (aka prepare a dinner from given ingredients) and I need to have a chef’s knife and a chef’s jacket for the class! I have ever only seen big italian men those chef’s jacket! I’m pretty sure all the people at the store are gonna laugh at me when I ask for a small.

I could talk about college for the whole day but I won’t do that to you guys, I’m gonna skip to the real stuff, the cakes, quinoa chickpea cakes that is.

Who doesn’t love a good veggie burger.  And this is better than a burger its a cake!! Like a crab cake or a lobster cake but better because it has quinoa and chickpeas, both which are super foods, full of protein and low in fat and free of cholesterol. Quinoa is very similar to rice, its cooked the same way, however it is actually a seed rather than a grain. It has 5 grams of fiber and full of magnesium. Oh and it’s gluten free (shout out to my RA!).

I baked it instead of frying it to make it extra healthy and I think it was good, but I’m not gonna lie a little dry.  So I’ll switch up the recipe here so that it should have all the right amounts of crispiness and chewiness to make a perfectly delicious chickpea and quinoa cake.

Chickpea Quinoa Cake

Ingredients

For Cakes

• 1 bag of dried chickpeas
• 2 cups of quinoa (I used red, but any kind will do)
• 6 eggs
• 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbs salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• Spices of your liking (cumin, oregano, cilantro, etc.)

For the Balsamic Glaze

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbs dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Directions

For the Cakes

1. Rinse the chickpeas in a colander and discard any bad ones
2. Place beans in a slow cooker on low for 6 hours or soak overnight in a bowl
3. Cook the quinoa according to the directions
4. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
5. Once beans have cooked and become mushy place them in a food processor with the olive oil, salt, pepper and spices of you liking, process until smooth
6. Mix the bean mixture with the quinoa and taste, add extra salt or other spices to taste
7. Add the eggs and mix
8. Form into palm sized disks (about 3-4inches in diameter) and pinch the center so it is thinner than the edges
9. Oil a baking sheet and place the cakes on with minimal space between each
10. Sprinkle olive oil on top of the cakes and sprinkle with salt
11. Bake for 15-20 minutes

For the Glaze

1. Wisk the balsamic vinegar and mustard together until smooth
2. Slowly add the extra virgin olive oil to the balsamic mixture while stirring, disk until well combined
3. Season with salt and pepper and serve on top the cakes

Notes

• This recipe is for a party, it makes a lot of cakes so if your making it just for yourself you may want to cut it in half or even in fourths
• I would serve this on top a bed of lettuce with a sliced baguette 
• My whole floor said they enjoyed it so I think you will too!

Here’s to a great year with great people! Enjoy!