1 food 5 ways, Bananas, Way #5: Curried Chickpea Patties with Banana-Pineapple Chutney

My original plan for way #5 for bananas was to make banana-coconut short stacks as a sweet breakfast. But - I can't believe I'm saying this - I was getting a little tired of all the sweet! So I decided to go the savory route for yesterday's brunch.

The perfect savory/sweet combo? Fruit chutney and just about anything curried. I'm pretty new to the curry powder world, but it was love at first bite. My main use of it so far has been the curried frittata from Vegan Brunch. Unfortunately, it calls for tofu. While it works with the chickpea based Burmese tofu, that takes a lot of pre-planning and sometimes I don't want to wait that long.

What's a girl to do? I used the flavors from that frittata and came up with these little curried chickpea patties to go with the sweet, but not-too-sweet banana-pineapple chutney. Served with some roasted cauliflower that was lightly seasoned with nutmeg and salt, this was a great little brunch that saved my taste buds from sweet overload.

Bananas-Pineapple Chutney

Makes about 2 cups

Make this ahead so it has plenty of time to cool and let the flavors marry

Ingredients:
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp dry mustard powder

3/4 cup pineapple tidbits

1 cup water

3 Tbsp lemon juice

3 Tbsp Agave Nectar

3 medium bananas, cut in 1/2" cubes

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, saute the onion in the olive oil until onions are translucent and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger and dry mustard powder until the onions are well coated. Stir in the pineapple and cook another 2 minutes. Add the water, lemon juice, agave and bananas. Stir until all well combined. Turn up the heat to bring it to a boil. After it boils, reduce heat to low. Let it simmer, uncovered, until the bananas have broken down to the consistency of mashed bananas and most of the liquid has cooked out. Stir occasionally (This will probably take about 40 minutes, but I wasn't thinking about the fact that I was trying to evaporate the liquid and left the lid on for a while first, so it took me an hour). Chill until ready to serve.

Curried Chickpea Patties

Ingredients:

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for cooking patties

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1 tsp crushed garlic

1-1/2 cups cooked brown rice

1-1/2 cups cooked chickpeas

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp curry powder (you may need to adjust this depending on the heat of your curry powder and your tolerance for the heat)

1 medium carrot, grated

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Directions:

In a skillet over medium heat, saute the onion in the olive oil until onions are translucent and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute.

Add the onion mixture and all the other ingredients into the food processor. Process until the mixture is smooth. There will still be some texture from the rice, but no recognizable chickpeas. Taste for salt and curry powder and add if necessary.

Form 12 small patties from the mixture. (This mixture was perfect for me for forming, but if it's a little too moist to stay together, add a little chickpea flour. If it's too dry, add a little water.) Using the same skillet you cooked the onions in, over medium heat, add a little more oil (2-3 tsp) and cook the patties until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. I do this in two batches so there's plenty of room to turn the patties. If using a smaller skillet, you might have to do it in 3 batches.

Tomorrow: Moving on to food #5 - Navy Beans!