Vegetarian Chicken Parmesan-I Kid you Not

I'm a sucker for chicken parmesan. Most of you know that I was a vegetarian for 12 years. I’m surprised I made it 12 years being deprived of this delicious dish! If only I had this recipe back then! We all know that eggplant parm. is not the same. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of eggplant parmesan during that 12-year period and still make it during the summer months when eggplant is in season. This dish is different and best of all, it doesn’t use any soy or wheat-gluten fake meat. It uses chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans). I didn’t even make the connection to chicken parmesan until my husband said “Wow, this is like chicken parmesan!”

This recipe came to me as I scanned my pantry, desiring to concoct a recipe with what we had on hand. I was going to call them chickpea burgers, but I like vegetarian chicken parmesan better. So, here’s the deal!

Ingredients:

2 cans organic chickpeas

1 Tablespoon organic Italian seasoning

Up to 1/3 cup warm water

¼ cup raw walnuts

½ cup nitrate-free sundried tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic minced

1.5 Tablespoons olive oil

4 slices organic mozzarella cheese (soy or rice cheese for vegans)

Directions:

Blend the chickpeas in a food processor so it turns into “mashed chickpeas.” Pour into bowl and mix in Italian seasoning, sundried tomatoes, and garlic.

Slowly mix water in and use your hands to mix all ingredients until the consistency feels like dough.

Preheat oven at 350.

Pulse the walnuts in the food processor for 10-15 seconds until they turn into small pieces/crumbs (not flour).

Dry roast the walnuts for 3 minutes on a pan over a medium flame.

Pour olive oil in a large pan (I like cast iron) over a medium flame. Make four patties out of the chickpea mixture and press into the pan with a spatula.

Turn the patties every few minutes and sprinkle walnuts on the outside each time to get a crunchy outer texture.

Place cheese slices over the patties and place in oven for 10 minutes or until patties are thoroughly heated. Delicious!

I like using Eden canned beans because these cans are BPA-free unlike most canned foods. BPA is a toxic xenoestrogen, which just means it's like the female hormone estrogen, except for two things: 1) it's foreign to the body, which is what "xeno" means, and 2) it is way more harmful than our natural estrogen for everyone, male and female. It can lead to fertility problems and even certain types of cancer, like breast cancer.