CHICKPEA CUTLETS with MUSHROOM GRAVY

There are some meals that you cook again and again because you love them. I was thinking the other day that I have so many cookbooks that I wouldn't need to repeat a meal for a really long time. When I said this to Mike he said “yeah, except for chickpea cutlets right, we would have them sometimes.” This is a really a very simple dish but it is so good and probably our favourite meal. Mike and I celebrated a Wedding Anniversary not long ago and this is what I made for dinner. I call this our German meal because it’s a schnitzel (kind of) and I pair it with heated red cabbage (Apfelrotkohl from a jar) and mashed potatoes with a little horseradish. All the parts go really well together!
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My tips:

• So, to make my cutlets, I like to really flatten my cutlets out so they are quite thin (you may not be able to see it that well in the photos due to the generous amounts of gravy on the plate). My cutlets are more like a thin schnitzel than a patty/cutlet. I don’t like them when they aren’t really flattened out and found once they were a bit soggy in the middle. 
• I always bake the cutlets, brushed with some oil (not too much as I find this can make them soggy too). I much prefer baking stuff to frying so if there is a chance I might be able to bake it – I always will. This gives them a lovely crispy texture and a well cooked inside. You definitely need a knife to cut them!

What tops these little babies off is the mushroom gravy. I wouldn’t have any other gravy/sauce with them ever. The Mushroom Gravy just goes so well. It also goes well with the mashed potatoes and red cabbage. It’s a delicious gravy and again really easy to make. I would use it for other dishes but prefer to keep it specially for these guys.

Both these recipes come from:

• Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
• You can find both the recipes on the PPK . In the recipe for Chickpea Cutlets Isa says to leave out the lemon rind, which I think is a real shame. I love a teaspoon of lemon rind chucked in and always have some frozen in the freezer for cutlets. 
• Mushroom Gravy can also be found on the PPK.