Dinner tonight again hits a round food, in this case Amaranth Potatoes Patties. For those of you not familiar with it, amaranth is an ancient grain; as is quinoa. However, amaranth is from central Mexico and associated mostly with the Aztecs. It was part of the yearly tribute that would have to be paid to the king and priests, along with corn. The Conquistadors banned it after the Spanish conquest, due to its association with Aztec festivals. It has recently made a comeback due to its high protein value, especially lysine. And some people see it as a crop of the future for developing countries, since it will grow under a multitude of conditions. Personally I prefer amaranth to quinoa, since I can’t get past the sprouted look of quinoa.
Unfortunately, the Amaranth Potatoes Patties were somewhat disappointing. They stick to the pan (and a nonstick pan at that) like you would not believe. On the second one I followed the advice from the recipe and coated it in chickpea flour (but any flour would work also) and it went slightly better. At least it would come out of the pan and had a nice crust on it. They taste rather bland even with all the nutritional yeast and the ½ tsp of onion powder and garlic powder I used in place of the other seasonings. Of course a bland side dish is not a bad thing when you have something that is high in flavor. Before these are made again, I think some flour needs to be added to the potato mixture to make it less sticky and more dough like.
The Sweet Potatoes Hash with Five Spice and Watercress (Vw/aV ) was much better. However, if you don’t like Asian flavors, this is not the dish for you. Five Spice powder is a mixture of different spices that when put together are the basic Asian flavors in a nutshell. The basic flavors are sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory. It goes great with the sweet potatoes and also the spinach (since I couldn’t find any watercress). The chick-fu was a nice addition, since it toned down the spice just a bit so that I didn’t find it overwhelming. The leftovers are going to make for some great breakfasts.
That is all for today. Tomorrow is a big experiment, so if dinner tomorrow doesn’t have something round in it, you will know it crashed and burned.
i've yet to try cooked aramanth, but i've had it puffed as cereal it kinda tastes like a cold porridge, i like it. Sorry the aramanth potato patties were such a disappointment, they look good if that helps. Sweet Potatoes Hash with 5 Spice sounds absolutley marvelous, I love Asian flavors so this is definitely a me meal!
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