Curried Chickpea Cakes

“True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are united.” – Alexander von Humboldt

While I was visiting my family, workout DVDs were my friend — Jillian Michaels’ DVDs to be exact. One day I was able to be a guest at my mom’s gym and take a class with her, but besides that, I did a good amount of jumping around in my parents’ living room the past couple of weeks (and looked really cool doing it, might I add).

My gym hiatus made me excited to get back into it once I got back to San Diego. Yesterday I really wanted to get to the gym, but a hectic day got in the way. I wound up hiking with Harley right before the sun set instead, so today was my first day back at the gym. I did a circuit workout that had me dripping sweat for 90 glorious minutes. I <3 endorphins from a great workout!

Dinner

This evening I made a recipe from the Skinny Bitch cookbook that I’ve had a few times before, curried chickpea cakes. I adjusted a few ingredient proportions from the original recipe, and thoroughly enjoyed this dinner:

Curried Chickpea Cakes

Makes 10

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 green onion stalk, both white & green parts, sliced
1/3 c light coconut milk
2 TSP sugar
1/2 c breadcrumbs
1 TSP curry powder
1/2 TSP ground nutmeg
1/2 TSP ground cumin
2/3 c brown rice, cooked
1/2 TSP salt
2-4 TBSP of sesame oil *In order to keep the calorie count down, I used 2 TBSP of oil instead of the recommended 1/4 c. Nutrition content is based on my oil usage.

In a large food processor, combine the chickpeas and green onions and pulse until combined.

Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the coconut milk, sugar, breadcrumbs, curry powder, nutmeg and cumin. Stir together with a wooden spoon until well combined, then add in rice and salt. Mold into 10 patties.

Heat half the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add 5 of the patties, and saute until they’re golden brown on the bottom. Flip and repeat on the other side. Repeat this process with the remaining 5 patties.

Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain off any excess oil.

Nutrition stats per cake: 110 calories, 4 g fat, 3 g protein, 15 g carbs

Dress the chickpea cakes up however you like. I ate mine over a bed of raw spinach with sliced avocado and tomato, drizzled with a touch of blackberry balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with sesame seeds: