These are dinner cakes, meant to be eaten as “bread” along with main dishes such as chicken, chicken salad, hummus, or wild salmon salad. Treat one of these similar to a Middle Eastern pocket bread (without the pocket) that is held in one hand, alternately taking bites of it and the other foods on one’s plate. Or one can approach these dinner cakes like mini wraps or use two of them to create a sandwich for a packed lunch (see a Sandwich Idea). The great texture comes from the addition of organic quinoa flakes.
Quinoa Dinner Cakes with Sweet Potato
gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free
Makes about 20 cakes
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 cup quinoa flakes
- 1/4 cup flax seed meal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
- 1/2 cup sweet potato puree*
- 3-1/2 cups filtered water**
- grapeseed oil for the pan
Combine all dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Whisk water, oil and sweet potato puree together in a separate bowl. Add wet to dry ingredients and mix well. Let stand for about 15 minutes to thicken. Batter should be thick.
Meanwhile, preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat.
Add a smidge of oil to the pan and spread it out. Pour batter into prepared pan using a 1/4-cup scoop. Let cook on that side until bubbles appear in the center and bottom is golden brown, then turn over with spatula. This may take several minutes; be patient, so as to prevent an undercooked middle. Allow to cook on second side for a few more minutes, or until browned. Repeat for all the remaining dinner cakes, adding more oil to the pan as needed.
Transfer each cooked cake to a cooling rack. If put in a covered container, the breads will get mushy from condensation.
Serve soon after cooking, while they are still warm.
Refrigerate completely cooled leftovers in an airtight container. Toast leftover cakes or use cold for sandwiches.
*Substitute any pureed vegetable for the sweet potato — try pumpkin, squash, or zucchini. Substituting pureed or mashed fruits (banana, apple, applesauce, pear, pear sauce, etc.) would make these into awesome breakfast cakes.
**May also substitute all or part of water with preferred nut or grain milk.
© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon
Can you tell me more about the quinoa flakes, Wardeh? What is it about them that changes and texture of the baked goods and why does it change the texture? Do you think kamut would substitute for quinoa in this recipe?
I should have clarified that. The quinoa flakes don’t change the texture, but they add texture. The little quinoa flakes are delicate but they still add a fullness to the batter. In the batter, they look like little bumps and in the cooked cakes they are less bumpy but give structure to the breads, more than a normal pancake.
When I didn’t have the quinoa flakes, I tried rolled oats, but it just wasn’t the same. They’re too big and they got gummier so that the cakes didn’t cook all the way through. I toyed with the idea of processing the oats somewhat in a blender, so they’d be more like instant, but I didn’t because I was afraid then I’d just have something kind of like coarse flour. And I still thought the cakes would be gummy.
Those quinoa flakes are just the perfect tiny size for thorough cooking and fuller texture.
I think you could sub kamut flakes, but I’d process them first a bit (like I thought about doing with oats). I think the cakes would still be very, very good. I wanted to use the quinoa flakes because I saw what my friend had achieved with them and I had that in mind. We really like these.
You’re such a good cook; I’m sure whatever you try will be well worth it.
Love, Wardeh
Wardeh they look delicious, Did Jeff like these? You are amazing friend, I am proud of you! warm and loving hugs from Vermont
We all love them! They are so good! I’m about to make some more for our dinner tonight. Love to you! ~Wardeh
I made these tonight, Wardeh, and was delighted to be able to actually cut them in half and make a little pocket in each half, which we stuffed with chicken salad for our dinner! So great! Tomorrow we’ll try them at lunch with homemade almond butter and honey or turkey and avocado. Your site has been such a blessing to our family, as we’ve been able to expand our repertoire of allergy free foods!
Sonya
Hi Wardeh! I only briefly checked out your site last year after your wonderful mom’s breakfast feast. But here I am again looking for some new recipe ideas. WOW, everything looks terrific! I have been trying to add more quinoa and sweet potatos to our diet so this recipe looks great. I have a couple of questions for you though:
1. How do you make your sweet potato puree? I am imagining grinding them in my ktec (similar to your vita-mix) and thinking ‘hmm… oh, maybe I need to COOK them first?!’
2. Where do you get your quinoa flakes? I am hoping we have a local source so I don’t have to wait for the next azure order!
3. Do you make your own brown rice and buckwheat flours? If not, can I find them locally as well?
Thanks so much for all the time, effort, and love you put into the things you do- especially this website which is a wonderful, helpful, and encouraging resource!
Gabrielle Randall
Hello! How fun to see you here! Thanks for your kind comments.
Or you can boil them, drain the water, and then mash them. Homemade sweet potatoes tend to be more watery, so it helps to drain it through cheesecloth before using. Since they’re in season, now is a good time to do all that and freeze.
1. You’re right about the sweet potatoes! Peel & then bake the sweet potatoes, then puree the cooked potato. I’ve never done it raw.
2. The quinoa flakes do come from Azure.
Perhaps the health food store will have them? I have some in the freezer I could share; I’d be happy to do that.
3. I grind the buckwheat and brown rice flours. Those grains come from that wholesaler we know nearby. I use the hulled buckwheat which makes a milder flour.
I hope to get to see you soon! Love, Wardeh
Thanks for the quick response. I planned to try grinding the rice but then I thought I’d check first in case it didn’t make nice flour easily the way wheat, rye, and spelt do.
As for the quinoa flakes, I will look around town and try to be patient if I can’t find them. Thanks for offering to share, though!
I feel silly asking about the sweet potatos but do you know I’ve always had an aversion to them (I think I was traumatized by a sickly sweet marshmallowy Thanksgiving casserole as a child…) so I am fairly new at dealing with them, other than making sweet potato fries.
Thanks again!
gab
Gabrielle, please share how you do the sweet potato fries! Love, Wardeh
Well, the tastiest way is not the most healthful or economical! I have fried them in red palm oil. I like to add a few russet potatos in as well, because the sweet potatos are so strong tasting. For seasoning, I use sea salt, fresh pepper, and paprika. I usually add onion powder, garlic powder, or chili powder as well. This is also how we like our red oil popped popcorn seasoned.
Roasting them works nicely too, though they aren’t as crispy. Peel the sweet potatos and cut them into thin wedges, or flat fry shapes. Toss about 4 lbs of wedged sweet potato with 2-3 TB oil (red palm or olive tastes best) and seasonings to taste (see above).
Preheat your oven AND the baking pan with another TB oil in it to 425.
Add the seasoned and oiled wedges to the hot pan and cook 15 minutes. Turn the potatos over as best you can (they may stick a little, so a metal spatula works best) and cook another 10 minutes. Crisp them up by turning to broil for another five minutes (but watch carefully because they can burn quickly).
My recipes are always a little vague on times, measurements, and seasonings, so play around to find your own best method.
Thanks, Gabrielle! I can’t wait to try these! Love, Wardeh
I just made these last night and they are fabulous! I must say this is a very forgiving recipe. I had enough quinoa flakes for 1 and 1/2 times the recipe, so I proceeded to measure the rest of the ingredients. However, I mixed up a few of the measurements and doubled them…and it still turned out fine!!
So yummy. I really must say how appreciative I am of your site. Just finding out that we need to be gluten/casein free, it’s really nice to find someone who knows what they’re talking about and has simple and wholesome recipes!
Staci, I so enjoy hearing your good report! It is an encouragement to me to find that others enjoy our food. Otherwise, I might think we are crazy in our tastes.
Yes, the recipe is forgiving! Love, Wardeh
Wow, I am making these for the second time, as breakfast cakes today, and decided to share my variation. My mom is deathly allergic to buckwheat so I substituted almond flour which is delicious. I also used whole wheat flour instead of brown rice, since that is what I had on hand. For the filling, I use figs from our fig tree out back, which has tons of fruit at this time of year, put them in the cuisinart whole to puree them. I also put about 2 1/2 cups of fig puree and 1 1/2 of water. My 2 year old son and “meat and potatos” husband love these!