“10:30am and not a minute later. Do not take ‘no’ for an answer.”  Those would be my wake-me-up instructions to my poor Husband, uttered on an otherwise made-for-sleeping Sunday. 

Thanks to BarBri and the NY bar exam for that sleepless morning, and so many others.

Sigh. I’m not feeling my usual perky self, but the snow today is helping. The first of the season, finally.  Between that and my orange ear plugs, I’m totally in cocoon mode. Or, “how many pots of decaf coffee can one woman drink in one day” mode. Either way. 

Any other year, where I wasn’t going to Albany for a two day exam in 27 days (who’s counting, what?) and then packing up all of my worldly possessions within 9 days of that, JanuFeb would find me making lovely stews, homey pasta dishes, and other comforting, cosy dishes.  OK. I know. I will stop the pity party.  But it does feel like a loss somehow, this alienation from the kitchen and sharing meals with people, especially my poor Husband, God love him.  

I did make this simple, healthy dinner a few nights ago, and I recommend it for when you feel like you need a bit of babying. It just tastes like you are taking care of yourself, the way all food should be.  I served the patties with sliced cucumbers (dreadfully out of season, I know) and plain yogurt, but they would be nice in pita as well. 

Curried Chickpea and Spinach Patties 

Ingredients:

1 TB olive oil 
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp curry
1/4 tsp yellow mustard seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 c frozen chopped spinach
2 TB tomato paste
2 14 oz cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c panko 
Cooking spray 

Preparation: 

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, curry, mustard seed and turmeric. Saute for about 5 minutes, or until onion is soft.  Add spinach, and cook until spinach has released all of its water.  Add tomato paste and chickpeas and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove mixture from stove and allow to cool off, about 20 minutes. 

Put mixture in food processor and process until some whole chickpeas still remain, but mixture is mainly smooth. Put mixture in a separate bowl, and add egg. Mix to combine.  Add panko, and mix until incorporated. Do not over-mix.  Using hands, form mixture into 6 patties.  Allow patties to set in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to cooking. 

Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray, and heat over medium-high heat.  When skillet is hot, add patties, 3-4 at a time.  Cook for about 10 minutes a side, or until patties are easy to move with a spatula.  Serves 6.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, beans, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.