Now, I know adzuki beans are not the most common bean. If you aren't cooking them from dry form, you may not find them canned. So, feel free to sub in another small bean. I did! For this batch, I used canned black beans, and they worked beautifully. Just darker than the reddish adzuki beans, but that darkness just provided a lovely contrast to the vibrant Roasted Yellow Pepper Sauce. I also used quick oats in place of the breadcrumbs - about 3/4 cup instead of 1 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs. But, I like the patties nice and tender, so if you want them firmer, go ahead and use more quick oats, anywhere from 1 - 1 1/2 cups.
Here are some photos of the process making the sauce. It's quite easy, actually. You simply place some cut yellow peppers in the oven and broil for about 12-15 mins. Then, place in a bowl (as pictured) and cover with plastic wrap to steam. After about 15 mins, remove the plastic wrap and use your fingers to slip off the skins on the peppers. You can see a couple of peppers here where I've already removed the coarse blistered skins.
Once all done, pop the peppers into a deep cup and blend with the remaining ingredients using your handy dandy immersion blender. (all good vegans MUST have a hand blender and food processor! Dreena cooking rule #1) !Now, in my recipe I list 3 med/large yellow peppers for this recipe. This should yield 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups of those slices of roasted peppers. Be sure to measure your yield of peppers before blending the other ingredients! I had about 5 small yellow peppers, and my yield was closer to 1 cup. I needed to adjust the vinegar and dijon mustard measurement, reducing slightly, to compensate for a smaller measure of peppers. The roasted peppers give natural sweetness to the sauce, but if there aren't enough then the vinegar and dijon can be a touch strong, so measure your yield, then adjust to taste!
Btw, you can also serve these bean and rice cakes in a pita with ketchup, vegan mayonnaise, lettuce leaves, etc, and pair with some home fries...and that yellow pepper sauce... holy deliciousness! I've used it to toss in pasta, or kept it thicker (using less water) for a dip. Make a double batch, why don't you? Yellow peppers are usually very reasonably priced this time of year, so now's the time!
One more thing. You'll notice three Flickr badges on the right, scrolling down. I have been uploading more of my photos into sets for each cookbook. So, if you are ever curious about a photo for one of my recipes, you can either search my blog, or click through to Flickr and check the set for that cookbook. Hopefully the recipe you're looking for will be there, and if not, it might be soon!
