Crabby Cakes with Tartar Sauce (vegan, gluten-free, low fat)

Crabby Cakes with Tartar Sauce

Before going vegan, I was a "seafood" lover. Since regaining my compassion, I can't fathom the thought of seeing these beautiful sea creatures as food, so I've been super curious about recreating the flavors and textures of seafood dishes, vegan style of course!

My first attempt to veganize crab cakes turned out really great. I call them "Crabby Cakes," because I like I said, I can't fathom eating a beautiful crab now, so even the name "Vegan Crab Cakes" makes me feel crabby! So Crabby Cakes they are.

The texture and taste is truly seafood-like...so much so that if I hadn't made these myself, I'd have been a bit worried about what was really in them!

These little cakes come together pretty simply, it took me just a few minutes to assemble them, and baking them brought the flavor together perfectly. You could also fry these in coconut oil first and then bake them, if you prefer.

I think you'll love these as much as I did. Enjoy!

I love to serve these with baked oven fries and slaw.

CRABBY CAKES

Yield: 6 small crabby cakes (serves 2)
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Bake Time: 30 minutes

You'll need parchment paper for this recipe. The Tarter Sauce recipe is here.

Ingredients

1 (14 oz) can heart of palm, diced small
1 Tbsp grated carrot
1/4 cup frozen, canned or fresh corn kernels (I used roasted frozen kernels)
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley or 1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1 flax egg (see note below)
2 Tbsp (approximately, see instructions) garbanzo bean flour

1/2 cup plain gluten free bread crumbs (store bought or make your own, recipe here)

Ready to pop in the oven!

Method

Preheat oven to 400˚ F.

In a small mixing bowl, combine heart of palm, carrot, corn, green onion, parsley, dill, lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in flax egg. Add garbanzo flour a little at a time, stirring between additions, watching for the mixture to started coming together into a texture that will allow you to form the cakes easily. The cakes should bind nicely but still be fairly moist, so if they aren't binding, add a little more flour while being mindful not to over add and make them dry.

Form 6 small cakes with the heart of palm mixture. Coat each cake with breadcrumbs, and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. The cakes will bind together even more upon baking, and will hold together easily when moved from the baking sheet to your plate.

Bake cakes in a 400˚ F oven for 25 minutes, or until cakes are light golden brown.

Serve with chilled tartar sauce (recipe here).

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NOTE: If you're new to flax eggs, place 1 Tbsp ground flax meal + 3 Tbsp water FOR EACH EGG NEEDED in a food processor (I use a the Magic Bullet for this job...works like a charm) and process for at least 1 minute. This creates a wonderful "gummy" texture that mimics an egg and works perfect for subbing eggs in most baking recipes. Bonus, no cholesterol!

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*gluten free