How can you resist an easy and unique side dish? You can't, that's the point. These black bean cakes are the perfect compliment to yesterday's stuffed cubanelles. Or any stuffed pepper. Hell, they could be your main item with a nice big summer salad. Crispy exterior and creamy, hearty interior. They feel like an absolute indulgence but aren't too bad for you. Sure, they are technically fried but it is a shallow fry and as long as your oil is hot enough and you drain them well, you aren't ingesting a lot of fat. Even if you don't make the cubanelles, I strongly suggest making the spicy beer tomato sauce to go with the black bean cakes.
Black Bean Cakes
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can black beans, drained
black pepper
salt
1 egg
flour
seasoned bread crumbs
extra virgin olive oil and light oil (canola, peanut, veg...)
Saute onions in a little bit of oil until tender. Add garlic and beans. Cook 1-2 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash black beans. You want it to be a half mashed, half whole bean mixture. Allow to cool. Salt and pepper to taste Form into 6 discs.
Set up 3 plates or bowls for flour, egg, and bread crumbs. Salt and pepper the flour. Lightly coat the cakes in flour, egg, then bread crumbs.
In a deep sided skillet add a mixture of evoo and light oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat over med/med-high heat until bubbles rise rapidly from a toothpick dipped into the oil. Place cakes in oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes a side until crispy and golden brown. Drain well on paper towels.
Serves 2-3. 2 main dish portions, 3 side dish.
Additional Note in Response to Comment (9/2/11): For deep frying I would make balls instead of patties, golfball sized or a little larger. I have issues with deep frying, but a sphereical shape always seems to hold together best for me. And they would make a great little party bite... hmmm, doing that in the future! (I tried to leave this as a comment, but Blogger temporarily hates me and won't let me comment on my own blog.)
This looks so easy and delicious, I'm def going to try making this. One roommate has a deep frier The Boyfriend loves using, do you think these would work in it, or would they just fall apart?
ReplyDelete-RB