I like to think I’m pretty active in the online vegan fitness community. I’m by no means a regular contributor to the vegan facebook groups nor will you ever find me posting “Flex Friday” selfies on the regular. But I do belong to most online vegan fitness groups and I definitely feel like I know (or at least inter-know) most of the vegan fitness buffs out there.

One such story is the time I inter-stumbled upon Ella Magers aka “Sexy Fit Vegan.” Here I was, holding down the vegan fitness babe fort in Canada, thinking I was an original OG vegan gangsta. When low and behold, this babely blonde, BAD ASS beeyotch from Miami steps onto the vegan scene and turns out, she’s been doing it wayyyy longer than ME!

Naturally, Ella fast became one of my fave “Jacked on the Beanstalk” pals and I’m honoured to say that we’ve even become good inter-pals. 🙂

Needless to say, when I was offered a copy of Ella’s brand new “Six Weeks to Sexy Abs Meal Plan” cookbook, I jumped at the opportunity to support my vegan homie and share one of her recipes on my blog.

The recipe I’m sharing is dedicated to all my savory-toothed, salt-lovin’ clients and any vegan meathead who’s looking for a new, high-protein, but low-carb, low-fat AND soy-free lunch/dinner idea.

These “Cajun Chickpea Fritters” are loaded with veggies making them a great source of protein AND fiber. And sidenote: being Canadian, I had no idea WTF “Cajun Seasoning” was. So I added maple syrup instead. Just kidding! (Bad Canadian joke, I know…)

See my notes in the recipe for deets on “Cajun spice” which I did not have or use and they still tasted awesome! 🙂

Ella Magers’ Cajun Chickpea Fritters

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. tahini
1 cup chopped onions
3 handfuls of spinach
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. Cajun spice blend
(Google has informed me that this is a combo of cumin, coriander & paprika. Well, I just moved into a new apartment and my new spice rack contains none of these. So I just used cayenne pepper & a sprinkle of red chili flakes. Cajun THAT!)
1.5 cups chickpeas, drained
1 zucchini, shredded
3 – 4 sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Sea salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
A few dashes on hot sauce and/or cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp. avocado oil (or sub coconut oil)
1 garlic clove, minced

Method:

Combine lemon juice, tahini, onions, one handful of spinach, nutritional yeast, garlic, olive oil and spice. Mix in a high-speed blender and process until smooth.

Add the chickpeas, zucchini & sun dried tomatoes to blender and slightly blend.

Add sea salt, hot sauce, cayenne pepper to taste and enough chickpea flour to create a thick batter consistency.

Heat a saute or non-stick fry pan with avocado oil to medium-high heat. Spoon enough of the batter into the pan to create about 2.5 inch patties. Brown for two minutes on one side then flip and brown the other side.

Once you’ve finished making the fritters, turn the heat down to medium; add a touch of olive oil and one clove of minced garlic and saute for one minute. Add remaining two handfuls of spinach and wilt. Serve alongside the fritters with salt and pepper to taste.

-Jacked on the Beanstalk