Saturday, November 12, 2011

Quinoa Burgers

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, because it is SO good. Maybe it is just something "different" and I'm in the mood for new foods right now. I found a photo of these burgers on Pinterest and clicked on the link which took me to Eating Well, Living Thin's blog. Not a real food blog, but most recipes can be turned back into real food. I ditched her suggestion for low-fat cottage cheese for whole milk cottage cheese and got rid of the sugar in the recipe completely. It was only 1/2 tsp and I don't use Splenda anymore. I can't believe how much of that stuff I used to consume. I read the other day that they were trying to invent a new type of rodent poison when they discovered Splenda. Yum. Blah! But I digress... these burgers were delicious, especially fried in lard rendered from a humanly raised pig.
-Amanda

Quinoa Burgers


2 heaping cups of cooked quinoa*
3/4 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 medium carrot, finely grated
1 clove garlic grated
3 eggs
4 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
pinch of salt
oil that is stable for frying, such as lard, peanut or coconut oil.

In a large bowl (I started out too small and had to go up a size which is always annoying!) combine the cooked quinoa, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, carrots, eggs, flour, cumin, salt & pepper and grated garlic.

Heat frying pan with about 1/4 cup of oil and dollup out the batter. It's pretty mushy. Let fry for about 5 minutes per side before flipping. Remove when golden brown. Homemade tzatziki sauce was a great topping!

*Basic Quinoa
1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

Melt butter in a pot. Add quinoa and stir toasting it a bit. Add water, bring to a boil, stir really well, cover, lower to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

**Not to self, something crunchy would be good in the batter. Perhaps finely diced cucumber or celery??

4 comments:

  1. How much Cottage cheese? In the list of ingredients, it's not listed but in the recipe it is.

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  2. Oops, thank you so much for catching that. I updated the post. It's 1/2 cup of cottage cheese! But I just eye-balled it.

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  3. Hey Amanda, I'm curious if you could sub whole milk ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese? I have some ricotta on hand, so just curious if that would work or not.

    This recipe sounds awesome! We love quinoa around here!

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  4. Julia- I don't why not. I sub ricotta for cottage cheese all the time and vise versa! Let me know how it turns out for you. I finished up my last patty today. I didn't put in the recipe, but it makes about 10 patties. I reheated some in my toaster oven which is "okay." And some others I reheated on the stove in my cast iron skillet with a smidgen of butter. That made them taste like "just made." Yum!

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