I have a tendency to cook as though I am feeding the entire Duggar family instead of two normal-ish adults. As a result, we often have leftover grains and beans to get creative with.
This week, we had a ton of extra bulgar and a bag of dried garbanzo beans begging to be used, so I cooked up some tasty (and shockingly vegan, minus the tzatziki sauce, which I do think is a necessity) fritters.
The great thing about this kind of fritter is that you can adapt it to fit whatever you have on hand. We’ve been eating a lot of bulgar lately (quick cooking instructions: 2:1 ratio of broth or water to bulgar; boil liquid, add to bulgar, cover and let sit for 30 minutes), but you could easily substitute couscous or rice. We also happened to have chard and peppers, but you could use zucchini, carrots, spinach, whatever your little heart desires.
Of course I made twice the amount in the recipe below, so I did not actually cut down on the leftover count. You get a fritter! And you get a fritter! Fritters for everyone! I think tomorrow I’m going to add poached eggs to them and call that brunch…
Ingredients
- Fritters:
- 1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (about 1 can)
- 1 small bunch Swiss chard, tough parts discarded and roughly chopped
- 1/2 red pepper, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 cups cooked bulgar (or couscous, brown rice, etc.)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Flour
- Olive oil
- Spices and herbs to taste (salt, pepper, cumin, red pepper flakes, mint, cayenne, etc.)
- Mint Tzatziki Sauce:
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 T. vinegar
- Small handful of fresh mint, finely chopped (or a few T. of dried mint)
- Salt
Instructions
- Make the tzatziki by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate while you make the fritters.
- Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan. Sauté onion, pepper and Swiss chard until onions are soft and chard is wilted. Drain excess liquid using a strainer, and set aside.
- Add garbanzo beans, lemon juice and garlic to a food processor and combine until it forms a rough paste. Add chard mix and spices and blend until mostly smooth.
- Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl and add bulgar, adjusting spices if necessary.
- Heat a thin layer of olive oil to medium-high heat in a frying pan. Form small patties from the mixture, and coat in flour.
- Fry patties in oil until crispy and brown on each side, a few minutes per side. Serve with tzatziki sauce, salad and bread.
