I believe that you can never have enough finger food recipes in your back pocket. Especially those ones that conveniently use up leftovers.

This recipe uses leftover pressure cooked rice and beans, so the texture is soft and the beans and rice are already cohesive. A shortcut to making a patty that holds together without egg. Yay!

If you are starting with separately cooked grain and beans, you might need to do a little more mashing. Sometimes, I will take a portion of the patty mix and process it in my food processor to help with the binding process. If you end up with a patty that seems too wet, add a few tablespoons of cornmeal.

Brown Rice and Pinto Beans Patties

2 tsp olive or sesame oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 large carrot, diced
sea salt
2 1/2 cups pressure cooked brown rice and pinto beans
1 1/2 to 2 tsp unpasteurized shoyu or gluten-free tamari
2 tsp natural stoneground mustard (I like Eden‘s)
organic or non-GMO cornmeal if needed

1.  In a small saucepan, heat the oil and then sauté the onion and carrot until onions are translucent.

2.  In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together including sautéed onions and carrots. Mix with your hands or a fork, mashing everything together until it starts to hold together and you can form semi-flat 3″ patties. Form into patties.

3a.  To fry the patties, heat a medium size skillet and add a good amount of olive or sesame oil. You want the skillet to be hot enough that the patties sizzle moderately when added to the pan. Too hot and the oil will smoke and you will need to start over with new oil. Not hot enough and the patties will just soak up all the oil. Place several patties in the skillet. They can be close together, but not touching. Fry each side until golden brown and remove to a plate lined with paper towels or a paper bag to soak up excess oil. Add more oil to the skillet as needed.

3b.  To bake the patties, heat oven to 350°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Place the patties on cookie sheet. They can be close, but not touching. Brush tops with olive oil. Bake for about 20 minutes or until set. After removing from the oven, I use a spatula to turn them over to keep the bottoms from getting soggy.

4.  Enjoy.

Notes

If you have a hard time getting the ingredients to bind together try processing one-third of the mixture in a food processor. You can also try adding small amounts of cornmeal, oats or flour and more moisture and let sit for 5 minutes to incorporate the flour before checking the texture again. You want the mixture to form firm patties that hold together well without crumbling.

This recipe can incorporate any leftover beans you have. Some cooked grains will also work, but the drier grains like quinoa and millet will need a little more moisture and probably the food processor to get the right texture to form a patty. These patties are a great use for leftover Millet with Sweet Vegetable.

Experiment. Use this recipe as a template, but try different vegetables, grains and beans. Over time you will be able to take bits of leftovers and throw them together to make a whole variety of different patties. Plus, most children love them.