Meatless Monday: Meaty Meatless Meat Patties

I had 5 “M”s in today’s title. MWahahhaaa… If you know me, you’ll know how much I love alliterations and puns. But really, these meatless patties taste really meaty! I think the secret is the water chestnuts and mushrooms. I believe the crunchiness of the finely chopped water chestnuts is reminiscent of crunchy cartilage (my sister used to call them “soft soft bone”) and the mushrooms gives these patties a chewy meaty texture.

These are super fast and easy to make. Over dinner, T said he really liked them and suggested that I make them a little bigger and put them in burgers or in wraps. Then again in the middle of the night (maybe 3 or 4am) T turned to me and said “those meatballs were really good”. Of course, they weren’t meat balls in the traditional sense (and they aren’t even round) but that made me very happy! I will experiment some more and find a way to make ROUND Veggie Meatballs – easy and cheap! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these! (Do note that I have included 2 ways of cooking them – baked and fried.)

Meaty Meatless Meat Patties

Serves 4 (makes about 20 cookie-sized patties). Prep time: 10 minutes. Cooking time: 15 – 20 minutes depending on baked or fried.

1 cup breadcrumbs (I crushed about 6 large saltines for this)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 large egg

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 1/2 cup chopped water chestnuts (I bought a small tin of these)

1 cup chopped mushroom

1 cup low fat shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

5 tablespoons cooking oil (if you’re planning to fry instead of bake)

Method:

1. Season the all purpose flour by adding salt, pepper, basil and rosemary and mix it all up.

2. Add breadcrumbs and mix.

3. Chop up onions, water chestnuts and mushroom to as small as you can but still allowing it to remain chunky enough for some bite.

4. Throw onions, water chestnuts, mushrooms, egg and mozzarella into the bowl and mix thoroughly with your hand.

These are the prettier but less healthy version:

5. Heat up 5 tablespoons on oil in your pan.

6. Scoop up a little dollop with a spoon then drop them in hot oil.

7. Pat with a kitchen towel to soak up excess oil. Serve hot and crispy!

To bake them (healthy version):

5. Heat up oven to 350degF.

6. Make patties and plonk them onto a pan. Remember to space them apart.

7. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and let cool.

These baked ones are great for freezing then reheating as and when needed!