I grew up in Maryland, and in Maryland, we went crabbing and we ate crabcakes. Real crabcakes—not the sad, mostly-breaded attempts I see at even the finest restaurants out here in the Midwest. Where I’m from, crabcakes are meaty, creamy, flavorful and have a delicate balance of spice and crunch that only come with key ingredients like Old Bay seasoning and a restrained hint of breadcrumbs. Oh, how I miss the taste of them.
I established a challenging mission for myself last week. Create a delicious, texturally-accurate, crab-free, dairy-free, gluten- and wheat-free Chesapeake Bay-style un-crab cake that would make a true Marylander lift an eyebrow in disbelief. Wow, that’s a mouthful. Well, mission accomplished.
Makes: 3-4 cakes | Preparation Time: 45 mins
Tools:
Large skillet
Ingredients:
3 cups organic zucchini, grated
2 cup organic yellow squash, grated
1/2 cup organic sweet potato, grated
1 green onion, chopped
2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
3 tsp finely chopped organic red pepper
1 Tbsp fresh organic lemon juice
1/2 cup soaked cashews
1/2 cup pure water
3 Tbsp of Garbanzo flour (can substitute garbanzo fava flour)
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Celtic or pink Himalayan sea salt
1/2 tsp Nama Shoyu (optional, DO NOT add if you have wheat or gluten sensitivity, for wheat-free, try Tamari
Cold-pressed extra virgin coconut oil (buttery taste, not coconutty) for skillet
Let’s Get Started:
Wash and grate your zucchini, yellow squash and sweet potato.
Chop your red pepper and green onion.
In a blender, toss in your cashews, water, garbanzo flour, apple cider vinegar and salt. Blend until super creamy. In a large bowl place your squash, zucchini, sweet potato, pepper and onion. Add the remaining ingredients and your cashew mixture. Carefully fold together until well mixed.
Heat a skillet over low-medium heat, add coconut oil and evenly coat bottom of pan. Sprinkle a pinch of Garbanzo flour into the pan where you will be spooning on a veggie cake. This creates that delicate crunch that is oh-so tasty. Using 3-4 spoonfuls of your veggie cake mix, create a cake on top of your sprinkle. Repeat until you have 3-4 cakes in your pan. Sprinkle garbanzo flour on top of all cakes.
Now, since we aren’t using eggs to bind the cakes, we have to be patient. Let each cake slowly brown in your pan for about 15-20 minutes on each side. Flip carefully by sneaking the spatula entirely under each cake before flipping. Once cakes are browned on both sides, you can turn up the heat a bit to brown further if you like. The slow browning on both sides binds the cakes very well.
Make a nice salad or grill some asparagus to pair with your cakes. Serve with a wedge of lemon, or change it up with a wedge of lime and enjoy the taste of the Chesapeake Bay!
NOTE: Look for unique ingredients in your local health food store and try the bulk section for the cost savings. Ask your grocer to stock the ingredients that you need.
Where to purchase unique ingredients online:
Nama Shoyu and coconut oil at Sunfood Nutrition.
Amazon carries:
Old Bay Seasoning
Gluten-Free Garbanzo Fava Flour (Pack of 4)
Garbanzo Bean Flour (Pack of 4)
Nama Shoyu
Organic, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
RawGuru carries:
Nama Shoyu
Raw, Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil
Recommended appliances:
Vita-Mix 1700 Turbo Blend 4500 Countertop Blender
Cuisinart Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor
We know that these appliances are expensive—we bought them both for our own kitchen after all. But please know that they are an incredible investment and reliable appliances that you will have for a very long time. We use our blender every day for smoothies, milks, sauces, dressings, desserts and more. We use our food processor almost every day for nutrition bars, pates, pudding, dinners and more. The pain of the pricetags are a distant memory at this point, with only hundreds of tasty meals as replacement.
Comment Rules: We´re pretty confident that everyone who visits YumUniverse is cool. So let´s be just that — cool. Critical is fine, but let´s make it constructive, friends. If you're rude, we'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your personal name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. You have to option to link your name to your site, so, have fun and thanks for adding to the YumUniverse!
2 Comments to “Chesapeake Veggie Cakes”
I have to try this one! Looks delicious.
Hmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm.
Just made these and they are verrrry tasty! Takes a while to cook but worth it. And I whipped up some vegan tartar sauce, just for fun! (pickles, veganaise, lemon juice, tiny bit of mustard)
Subscribe to followup comments via RSS | Trackback URL