Fried Quinoa Cakes

Quinoa. I remember the first time I asked where it was in Whole Foods (in 2005) and I pronounced it the way that it looks. “You mean, ‘keen-wah’?” the store worker asked me. Oops. Yes, that.

We were not instant fans of quinoa. I think without LOTS of seasoning it doesn’t taste very good. But with say fresh mint leaves, lemon juice, olive oil, pineapple chunks, dried cranberries, salt, pepper, and roasted nuts, it can be some yummy stuff. However, we stopped eating it for many years, just in case it was bothering us like brown rice bothers us. My kids were never fans of quinoa anyway, so I forgot to test our tolerance until recently. We have been eating it this way for a few weeks now (see directions below), and we haven’t experienced any issues with it. I can safely say that we are all tolerating it very well.

I didn’t mean to create this recipe though. It was one of those happy accidents. I set out to make a kind of casserole (step one of the recipe). Did that. Then, I wanted to quickly heat the leftovers that were cold from the fridge, and that’s when the magic happened.

I need to back up for a second. My mom’s family grew up in Oklahoma. They moved to Maryland when she was older, which is where I was born and raised. Maryland is surprisingly southern in my humble opinion. I mean don’t go there expecting to find Alabama or anything, but when you live there for a long time like we did, you find things that you might not come across as often in the Northeast. Like grits, for instance. My mom made grits regularly, and we always got them when we went out for breakfast.

But the best part about my mom’s grits were the leftovers. She poured them into a bread loaf pan and refrigerated them overnight. In the morning she would slice it like banana bread, and fry them. The outside got all crispy while the inside stayed soft. She topped them with more butter and jam. SO good.

THAT’s what these Fried Quinoa Cakes remind me of. I wasn’t expecting the outside to get SO nice and crispy. Get this: even my KIDS love it. That’s right, passed the kid test. Not that I wouldn’t make it for myself if they didn’t like it! Because I love this recipe. 🙂

For those of you who may be wondering about the carbs in quinoa, here is what I found. One cup of cooked quinoa has less than 40 grams of carbs. Each serving of my Fried Quinoa Cake contains less than half a cup of cooked quinoa, or about 15 grams of carbs per serving. A medium-sized sweet potato contains 27 grams of carbs. Therefor, it takes just under 2 servings of Fried Quinoa Cake to equal the carbs of 1 medium-sized sweet potato.

Fried Quinoa Cakes

2 and 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (cooking method below)
1 and 1/2 cups heavy coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon liquid vanilla stevia
1 large egg

Step 1.

1. I soak my quinoa overnight in the fridge (1 cup quinoa to 2 cups purified water). Then before cooking I rinse and strain. I find that I only need 1 and 1/2 cups of water to cook 1 cup of quinoa that has been soaked overnight (or longer). You cook it the same way that you would rice.
2. To make the casserole, combine 2 and 1/2 cups cooked quinoa with the coconut milk, salt, stevia, and egg in a mixing bowl.
3. Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish, and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until set. Cool on the counter, then refrigerate overnight. (Optional: line the dish on the bottom only with unbleached parchment paper to make removing the slices easier.)

Step 2.

1. Cut the casserole into 6 equal pieces. Put a large skillet over almost medium heat.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to the hot skillet. Use a spatula to transfer the slices to the skillet.
3. Fry them in the oil until they’re nicely browned, then carefully flip them over and brown the second side. Add more coconut oil as needed. NOTE: sometimes when you flip them over a few quinoa seeds come loose and pop out of the pan, so use caution.
4. Serve the fried cakes with extra coconut oil or ghee and jam on top.

Makes 6 servings.

♥, Kelly