Tía Rosa’s Tortias De Avena, Oat Veggie Patties

My Tía Rosa is my hero when it comes to cooking. Everything she makes is both healthy and yummy, not even to mention that it’s quick and easy to make. She’s mostly vegetarian, so sometimes she makes meat substitutes to go with her meals. Her tortitas de avena, or oatmeal patties, are among my favorites. I’m going to give the basic recipe below, and then tell you more about what you can do with the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups avena
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup diced nuts
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp sage
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Olive oil

Directions:

• Put eggs in blender, add oatmeal.
• Add everything else.
• Fry in oil.

Keep in mind that when I made these, I never used sage or evaporated milk. You can add chopped veggies — zucchini, carrot, celery, spinach, etc. — or more nuts or raw oats to give the patties texture. The important thing to remember is that the batter just needs to be something that you will actually want to eat and the batter needs to be not too runny to where you cannot form patties, and not too thick to where you cannot cook the things the whole way through.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD