I was asked to come up with a recipe for a vegetarian version of Persian Kotlet a while back. For me it was a welcome challenge as having been a pesco-vegetarian in the past one of the dishes that I missed was Kotlet. I actually once made it with fake ground beef, the results were not bad at all. However, what always concerned me about using fake meat purchased from the store was the list of ingredients that I had no idea what they were. Creating a recipe that substituted ground beef with veggies was a welcome challenge. I have worked on this recipe for quite some time in order to not only make sure that it tastes good, but that the consistency is just right.

It took a few tries and playing around with the right amount of ingredients, but in the end I am pretty happy with the end results!

Ingredients

1 lb potatoes
8 oz mushrooms
1 onion
4-5 garlic cloves
1/2 cup white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp advieh
1 egg
bread crumbs
vegetable oil
salt & pepper

Thin slice onion and garlic and saute in some oil until golden.

Slice mushrooms and saute until all the juices are absorbed.

Cook potatoes and run through a food mill.

In a food processor add onion, mushroom, and beans. Make sure that all ingredients are nice and dry.

Pulse a few times until it all comes together.

In a bowl mix potatoes and the mixture of onion, mushroom, and beans. Add turmeric and advieh. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Add egg and mix well.

Take small amounts of the mixture and make a patty out of it, the same way you would for Kotlet. Then coat the patties with bread crumbs.  Fry in oil on both sides. These patties will cook much faster than the regular Kotlet. A few minutes on each side is just about enough.

I will be honest with you. These patties don’t have the same consistency as the regular ones. They don’t hold together as effortlessly. Therefore they should be handled with caution as they come apart very easily, especially when flipping them.  I found that it was best to not add too much oil to the pan and also take a paper towel and wipe the pan after each round of Kotlet was cooked. It takes a bit of work, but I promise you the end results are pretty good!