Quinoa Croquettes

These delicious croquettes are a spin-off  from my Ten Layer Salad. I used quinoa in that salad and had some leftover I wanted to eat because that stuff is expensive!

Up until now, I have avoided jumping on the band wagon of quinoa's current popularity. I had eaten it in the past and frankly, I just didn't find it to be, pardon the antiquated cliche, "all that".  But I recently decided to give it another chance to shine and splurged on some.

And I do mean splurge. I was buying some items from the bulk bins as follows: wheat berries at 89c per pound, brown rice at 1.29 and quinoa at 4.59!  And that was bulk prices.

Once again, I found the cooked quinoa to be rather ho-hum flavor-wise.  However, once I jazzed it up and made it into savory little cakes, we loved it.

Quinoa Croquettes
2 cups cooked quinoa, chilled
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or other hard cheese

Combine all ingredients and form into patties. If the mixture is too dry to hold together, add another egg. If it is too wet, add more bread crumbs.

Place formed patties onto a sheet pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with a light cooking oil and set over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, use a spatula to gently lower the croquettes, one at a time, into the pan. Let them brown, undisturbed, on the first side. Then gently turn them over and brown on the second side.

When golden brown on both sides, place onto paper towels or brown paper to drain.

Can be served piping hot but are equally delicious at room temperature.