Zucchini Cakes

My college roommate La and I used to make these great hashed brown zucchini cakes. We especially loved eating them at passover (subbing matzah flour for the bread crumbs). La even adapted the recipe into a sort of pizza crust. Unfortunately, that recipe used 6 T Parmesan cheese to bind the cakes together and to provide a bit more flavor.

So when I saw this recipe for zucchini cakes adapted by one of my favorite bloggers, I knew I needed to veganize it. The eggs in Kim's recipe are mainly for binding, so I knew pureed silken tofu would do a great job.

Zucchini Cakes

2 cups grated zucchini
salt for draining the zucchini
1 cup bread crumbs (I like panko)
1/4 cup pureed or mashed silken tofu
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon vegenaise (optional)
flour (optional)
oil for frying

Salt the zucchini heavily and let rest in a colander for half an hour to drain. Rinse the salt off the zucchini and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

Meanwhile, combine bread crumbs and Old Bay seasoning in a medium bowl. In another bowl, mash the silken tofu with a fork (or puree) and add vegenaise and mustard. The vegenaise adds a nice amount of flavor to the recipe, but you can leave it out to cut down on the fat.

Combine the bread crumb mixture and the zucchini and mix thoroughly. Add tofu mixture and combine well. You should be able to form the zucchini mixture into cakes with your hands. If the mixture is too wet and won't clump together, add flour by the tablespoonful until it reaches the desired texture. Form zucchini cakes about the size of your palm.

Fry the patties in oil over medium heat until browned on both sides (about 4 minutes a side). Serve with tartar sauce.

(For vegan tartar sauce, just mix vegenaise with a bit of dill relish.)




In gardening news, I have volunteer corn. My father tried to plant corn in Texas for years and couldn't get it to grow. And here two weeds I let get out of hand turn out to be corn. Go figure!