Chickpea Sausage Patties(vegan)

This recipe is another one from http://eatair.blogspot.com and is one that I think is really good, and has the potential to be very versatile, as well. In fact, my supper tonight will be the leftover patties fried with leftover, cooked potatoes, sort of a hash. I think the side vegetable will just be canned(with no sodium added)French style green beans, one of my favorites. I didn't really time myself last evening, but seems like it took me about 45 minutes to get this ready to cook, but that included soaking time for the tvp granules, getting everything out, and the fact that I'm just naturally slow in the kitchen...any time I'm not at work, in fact!!! So you'll probably be able to get it ready in about 30 minutes,maybe less, ok?

Chickpea Sausage Patties

1/2 C TVP granules soaked 5-10 minutes in 1/3C boiling water
1 1/2 C cooked chickpeas(I used drained and rinsed canned ones)
2T Bragg's Amino Acid or soy sauce
1Tbs. vegan Worcestershire sauce
2Tbs. canola oil plus more for frying
1tsp. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp EACH dried marjoram, sage, and onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 C EACH dried bread crumbs, and vital wheat gluten

In a large bowl, mash chickpeas with potato masher or a fork until no whole chickpeas are left. Stir in everything except the wheat gluten. Now add the wheat gluten and stir vigorously for a minute or so. Form into 10-12 patties and fry in a little canola oil over medium heat until nice and brown on both sides.

Ok, possibly I did something wrong, altho I followed the recipe to the letter, but my patties fell apart. Badly. That didn't affect the flavour at all, but it didn't look as pretty as patties would have. I also felt like another 1/2 to 1 tsp more of liquid smoke would have been good, and I didn't have any marjoram, so I used tarragon instead. Over all, tho, I was delighted with the results, and can see me doing this again, quite often. I'm thinking that with a fairly thick gravy of some sort it would be a good base for another Shepherd's Pie, and I also think it would make a lovely meatless loaf. And, it's good cold the next day, so it would probably make good sammiches...maybe grilled with some kind of vegetarian cheese, or even real dairy cheese if you prefer. As I said earlier, I'm going to make hash with the leftovers tonight, and am really looking forward to it.

Until next time, Happy Eating!!!