Chickpea Cutlets with Green Pipian (Pumpkin Seed Sauce)

New and old traditions come together with this one. I'm still in Rick Bayless mode, and the green pipian sauce is inspired by Mexico - One Plate at a Time. I love how Bayless incorporates Mexican history in his writing, making it more than just another cookbook - why do they call this sauce "pipian," for example? For any food/Spanish language/history geek, this is ideal reading. Traditionally this sauce features tomatillos, but I used some of the green tomato salsa/general Mexican cooking sauce I canned last month. Toasted pumpkin seeds, ground in a blender with the salsa, make for a thick, creamy sauce.

I think most vegans on the planet will recognize the chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon. I baked them, and the only change was using cumin and chili powder to give the cutlets a Mexican twist. The green sauce under the cutlets is my green tomato/chile salsa.
I'm not done talking about Barack Obama yet, and this recipe is a good excuse. Weekend Edition (on NPR) did a story about Bayless a few weeks ago, since his restaurant in Chicago is a favorite of the Obamas. It's worth looking for online - I'll recommend the NPR Food podcast too, if you're into that sort of thing.