Chickpea Cutlets with Mustard Sauce

I'd heard about these chickpea cutlets for quite some time and I really wish I hadn't waited so long so make them! They're really tasty and chewy. I made mustard sauce to go with it (which had a very strong mustard flavour that I loved) and that was delicious but you could eat them on their own too, or in a sandwich. Mmm. I'll be making these again for sure, and maybe I'll try out different beans. And double the recipe, so I can freeze some.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Sunflower Rice Bowl
Middle Eastern Chickpea Soup
Artichoke Rotini Pasta
Hummus

Chickpea Cutlets
Adapted from Veganomicon

Makes 4 cutlets.

My modifications were to use 1 tbsp oil instead of 2, whole wheat bread crumbs, and 1/2 tsp sage instead of 1/4 tsp. And I also used regular paprika instead of Hungarian - not sure what the flavour difference is. You can either bake or panfry these - I chose the baked option, and she recommends you brush both sides of the patty with oil, which I didn't do.

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 cup vegetable broth (she says you can also use water)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated with a microplane grater
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried sage

Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, mash the chickpeas together with the oil until no whole chickpeas are left. (Ashley note: Really try to mash this well.) Add the remaining ingredients and knead for about 3 minutes, until strings of gluten have formed.

Divide the cutlet dough into four equal pieces. To form the cutlets, knead each piece in your hand for a few moments and then flatten and stretch each one into a roughly 6x4 inch rectangular cutlet shape. The easiest way to do this is to first form a rectangular shape in your hands and then place the cutlets on a clean surface to flatten and stretch them.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Flip patties and bake another 8-10 minutes until firm and golden-brown.

Mustard Sauce
Veganomicon

Makes about 1 1/2 cups sauce.

This is more than enough sauce for this amount of chickpea cutlets so you could easily halve the recipe for mustard sauce, unless you want to have extra.

2 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup vegetable broth
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup sherry cooking wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp capers (with brine)

Mix the cornstarch with the vegetable broth in a measuring cup and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, saute the garlic and thyme in the olive iol for about a minute.

Add the wine and soy sauce, and raise the heat to high. Once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to medium and simmer, to reduce for about 4 minutes. Add the vgetable broth mixture, mustard, lemon juice, and capers. Stir often, using a whisk. Once the sauce is bubbling, lower the heat to low and simmer for about 3 minutes. The sauce should be on the thick side.