Quinoa Patties might remind you of potato pancakes — or tacos

“I give it an A+,” news editor and taste tester Liz Baumeister said after trying a Quinoa Patty from the Times Leader test kitchen on Wednesday. “But they should call them Quinoa Cakes, because they’re like potato pancakes.”

“I would give it my stamp of approval,” agreed page designer Lyndsay Bartos, who enjoyed her sample with the recommended condiments of salsa and sour cream on the side. “It reminds me of a taco,” she added.

“It has a good flavor,” reporter Jen Learn-Andes said, adding she appreciated hearing about the health benefits of the main ingredient (pronounced KEEN-wah), which is a high-protein grain said to have been revered by the Incas and Aztecs.

After sportswriter John Erzar said he “didn’t love it but didn’t hate” his sample, and wished it was crispier, he wanted to know what others in the newsroom thought.

“It seems like the women are all liking it and the men are not so enthusiastic,” I told him, remembering reporter Sam Zavada’s comment that the Quinoa Patty didn’t do much for him.

Then sportswriter Kevin Carroll came into the newsroom and bucked the trend, agreeing to try his first Quinoa Patty after I told him “they’re like potato pancakes, but there aren’t any potatoes in them.”

“I love potato pancakes,” he told me later, explaining that had been a major selling point.

“I’d heard about quinoa before, and I always thought it would be something I wouldn’t like,” he added, explaining that hearing something is good for you can be a turnoff.

But soon he was polishing off a second, and a third sample, with salsa.

I made the Quinoa Patties on Wednesday morning in the Times Leader test kitchen, which is also my home kitchen, and ended up quadrupling the batch — so I’d be sure to have enough for the newsroom taste testers.

That meant if I followed the recipe exactly I would need not one but four eggs. Because of the high price of eggs I decided to substitute “flaxseed eggs.” For each hen’s egg that should have gone into the recipe, I made a substitute with 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed and 2.5 tablespoons of water, which I stirred for 30 seconds and then refrigerated for 10 minutes.

It seemed to work out well. I also added about 3 ounces of grated Parmesan to the mix, for more flavor.

Back in my neighborhood, Mark called the final product “tasty” and my mom thought they were “really good.”

The Quinoa Patties are meatless, which is why I thought they’d be a good option for Ash Wednesday — although when I mentioned that at work one of my taste testers told me, “Oh, I already screwed that up.”

Now here is the recipe, from tasteofhome.com/.

Quinoa Patties

1 cup water

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 medium carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

3 green onions, chopped

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

Optional: Sour cream, salsa and minced fresh cilantro

Directions

Step 1: Cook the quinoa. In a saucepan, bring a cup of water to a boil. Add the quinoa, reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on until all the water is absorbed, for 12 to 15 minutes. Once cooked, remove it from the heat and fluff the quinoa with a fork.

Step 2: Prepare the vegetables and beans. Place the carrot in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the cannellini beans and pulse again until the mixture is well chopped but not completely smooth. Transfer this mixture to a large bowl. Add the cooked quinoa to the carrot and bean mixture.

Step 3: Form the patties. Stir in the panko bread crumbs, green onions, beaten egg, cumin, salt and pepper. Using your hands, shape the mixture into eight patties.

Step 4: Cook the patties. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the patties to the skillet, and cook them for three to four minutes on each side or until golden brown. The internal temperature should reach 160°F.

Step 5: If desired, serve the quinoa patties with sour cream, salsa and fresh cilantro.