Quinoa Battered Veggies

One of the ways I can almost ALWAYS get Mr. Charm to eat veggies is to fry them.  Yes, I know the arguments against frying.  To which I say: Get over it!  If my son is eating a vegetable, I don’t care how it’s prepared!

This became a problem when his egg and dairy problems were discovered; the only way I knew to fry chicken or veggies was to coat them in egg, then a flour/bread crumb mixture and then fry them.

Compounding the issue is this FPIES-friendly diet we are on, and now the fructose-free diet (which means gluten-free for now, as the two are closely intertwined).

How do you fry things with No Eggs, No Milk, No Flour?

Turns out, pretty easily!

Here’s what I did:

First I chopped up the veggies in question.  Squash is a major no-no for FPIES, but it is allowed for Mr. Charm’s FructMal diet, so I sliced up a yellow squash.

Then I took a half cup of quinoa flour and put it in a pie plate, to which I added some sea salt and pepper.

It’s not bugs – it’s pepper!

I added a half cup of water to the flour and whisked it together.  It was still a little thick, so I added about 2-3 tsp. more water until the batter was the right consistency.  (Somewhere between a cake mix batter and pancake batter was what I looked for.)

Whisked and ready for dredging!

I put about 1/4 inch of oil in a pan and started heating it.  When it was hot, I dredged the squash in the batter and placed them in the pan.  One thing I learned was that when you first put the battered veggie in the pan, you better like the position you put it in!  They won’t be movable until they’re mostly cooked on that side.  (I lost some batter off the veggies this way.  Oops!)

Squash coated in batter. Yum!

I basically just waited until the edges were looking a little ‘done’ and they were easy to nudge out of position, then I flipped them over to let them cook on the other side.

I should have used a bigger pan. I didn’t think Mr. Charm would eat so much!

Again, I just waited until they were easy to move, and then I took them out of the pan and sat them on some paper towels I’d laid out to let them drain.

Three little squash laying out to drain. Out of camera range is Mr. Charm, just waiting to grab them and shove them in his mouth!

I really should have only put down one paper towel…Mr. Charm pulled an ice chest off the porch, drug it next to the counter to stand on, and ate them as fast as they would cool!  The Geek had to actually distract Mr. Charm to grab the 7 pieces of squash he was able to get – beyond that, Mr. Charm ate all of it!

I think that’s a definite WIN for Mama!

Unfortunately, I can’t eat many of the new recipes I’ll be posting, so my decision on whether to post them or not is entirely dependent on the opinion and eagerness of The Geek and Mr. Charm.  This recipe passed muster – the Geek said it tasted great and Mr. Charm couldn’t get enough!  So if you’d like to find another way to fry your veggies while living on a restricted diet, I can’t recommend this enough.

If quinoa isn’t your ‘thing’, I imagine you could try some other alternative flour, though I don’t know how that would turn out.  If spices are allowed in your diet, feel free to add anything you like to the dry ingredients.  I always used to like a little paprika in mine.

So, enjoy watching your kids wolf down vegetables like they’re candy!  I sure did!

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QUINOA BATTERED VEGETABLES

– vegetable/meat of your choice, chopped or sliced into small pieces
– 1/2 cup quinoa flour
– 1/2 cup + 2-3 tsp. water
– salt
– pepper
– safe oil (we’re still using olive oil)

1. Chop or slice your vegetables/meat into small pieces.
2. Pour 1/4 inch of oil into a frying pan and start it heating.
3. Put the quinoa flour, salt and pepper in a shallow pie plate.
4. Add the water, starting with 1/2 cup and adding tsp. as needed to achieve the right consistency, whisking the ingredients together.
5. Dredge the veggies/meat in the batter and place carefully in the frying pan.
6. Wait until the edges look ‘done’, then flip to cook the other side.
7. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, then remove and lay on paper towels to drain.
8. Enjoy!

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Do any of you have a great batter recipe you use that is allergy/FPIES/FructMal friendly? 

This post has been shared with Allergy Free Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesdays, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Real Food Wednesdays, and Gluten Free Fridays.