This idea came to me after seeing a delicious sounding Ottolenghi recipe in this month’s Waitrose magazine for broad bean and mint cakes. I prefer peas to broad beans generally, and they work equally well with mint, so that’s what I’ve gone for here, and obviously made them without eggs – no surprise to regular readers of my blog! Though a bit of a faff to make (you have to freeze the patties before bread-crumbing to ensure they hold together) they are so worth making. Lightly spiced and minted peas in a crisp breadcrumb, served here with my marinated mushroom skewers, and a delicate herb salad with beautiful nasturtiums and a couple of wedges of lemon. A quite delicious summer supper.
Lightly spiced crispy pea and mint cakes (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)
makes 4-6 cakes
- 1 shallot, very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cup fresh or frozen peas, blanched and cooled
- 1/2-1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
- zest of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice combined with 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 7 mint leaves, shredded
- pinch of sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 slices of bread, whizzed up to make breadcrumbs
- oat milk to dip
- flour to coat
– Saute the shallot in the olive oil until softened, add the garlic and continue to cook until fragrant.
– In a food processor (or use a potato masher) pulse the peas until roughly chopped.
– Add the shallot mix, lemon zest, spices and lemon juice mixed with cornflour. Pulse until well combined.
– Form into even sized patties (the mixture is very wet) and freeze to firm up (about 1 hour)
– Dip the half-frozen patties in flour, oat milk and then the breadcrumbs.
– Keep in the fridge until ready to use, or freeze again and partially defrost before cooking.
– Fry in sunflower oil until golden on both sides. Finish cooking in a medium oven for 10-15 minutes.
– Serve with a wedge of lemon.