Quinoa is one of my favorite goods and I especially love it for its versatility. You can cook it as a salad, replace it with rice, add it to burrito bowls or chilli and even make quinoa porridge or quinoa upma for breakfast. Most importantly, it is a nutrition powerhouse. Quinoa, which is technically a seed but is classified as a whole grain, is not only packed with myriad of vitamins and minerals but is also a great source of protein. In fact, quinoa is one of the few foods that is a complete protein, which essentially means it has all the 9 amino acids essential for our body. Now, while we only know this superfood from its fame in last few years it has been cultivated for about 5000 years and is indigenous to South America (source).

This quinoa cutlet is really easy to put together. You don't need any flour or binder to make the quinoa cutlets or cakes (whatever you like to call them). It's vegan, gluten-free, and you can make it oil-free by eliminating oil while cooking quinoa cutlet and skipping oil in your hummus, like I did.

I have paired it with Lemon & Coriander flavoured hummus to get a protein-packed lunch. Chickpeas and sesame seeds are a great source of plant-based protein - the two key ingredients of hummus. Besides, making hummus is really easy and it tastes great. Like seriously, who doesn't like hummus?

However, you can play around with any other dip that you fancy. In fact, you can totally skip the dip. To make a light dinner or snack on its own, you can add veggies like corn, peppers, celery and beans to make the quinoa cutlet and skip the hummus. Trust me it will taste great and will still have all the nutrition.

While you can customise this recipe as per your liking, I have put together a step-by-step guide to making this high protein quinoa cutlet.

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Step-1:
Add quinoa and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Lower the flame to medium heat and let it cook. Keep stirring it, in intervals, in circular motion with a fork - this helps getting the right texture of quinoa for binding. Stirring with fork is important, else you may face problem in binding it into cutlets.
Step-3:
Once the quinoa cools, take handful of cooked quinoa in your palms and make a cutlet (or patty like like) from it. The cooked quinoa easily binds together without any flour.

Step-4:
Take a skillet, heat it. Once its hot, turn it into medium flame, add quinoa cutlets and let them cook on both the sides. You can also make it in the air-fryer, if you have one. My sister always cooks in air-fryer and it turns nice and crispy in it and requires no oil. Since I don't have it, I make it on a skillet.

Your quinoa cutlets are ready when they turn golden brown on both the sides and are crispy (as shown below).

Step-5:
Get your hummus ready. you can either make fresh hummus at home or get store-bought hummus. A flavored hummus will add a nice flavor and combine well with quinoa cutlet. I made the lemon and coriander hummus at home.

If you are making hummus at home, all you need is to get cooked chickpeas, tahini, salt, 1 lemon's juice, chopped coriander (for coriander hummus) and organic cold-pressed olive oil (optional). Save the water of cooked chickpeas. Blend all the ingredients and voila, your hummus is ready.

Step-6:
Serve the quinoa cutlet (or quinoa cake) on a plate with salad. Add hummus and your optional garnish.


INGREDIENTS

• 300 gm for approx 6-8 cutlets
• Water (3 times the quinoa to cook it)
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Finely chopped coriander
• Hummus (for hummus you need tahini, cooked chickpeas, water from cooked chickpeas {also known as aquafaba}, salt, lemon juice, coriander. Blend them together)

METHOD

• Add quinoa and water to a saucepan and bring to boil
• Reduce heat and let it simmer to allow the quinoa to cook (takes about 10-15 minutes)
• Keep stirring it, in intervals, in circular motion with a fork - this helps getting the right texture of quinoa for binding. This is very important
• You will know the quinoa is cooked when it leaves a white ring 
• Add salt (as per taste), black pepper and coriander to quinoa and mix well
• Let the quinoa cool
• Put on a skillet on the burner and let it heat
• Make quinoa cutlet using your palms
• Lower the flame, put the patties on the skillet and cook them on both the sides till they become slightly brown
• Garnish it and serve it with hummus and salad