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whip it up vegetarian week: spicy black bean cakes

July 28th, 2008 @ 9:54 pm | food | Post a Comment

As I was making this meal tonight, I was composing this blog post in my head, illustrated, Pioneer Woman style. God, I love that woman’s blog. The post in my head was so brilliant, so witty, so charming, just like hers always are. But of course now I’ve eaten dinner and downloaded my crappy photos, and have totally lost all brilliance, wit, and charm. Ha, as if I ever really had it!

I went through several phases while cooking these black bean cakes. 1. Excited! I’ve wanted to make these for a long time. 2. Fatigue. Seriously, all this work for a little turdball bean patty? 3. Satisfaction. They were really yummy, so maybe it was all worth it. And? This is a big AND. My husband, lover of meat and sauce, skeptic of vegetables that are not named onion, liked them so much he even got himself seconds. (!)

The hardest part about making these is all the chopping/prep, and staying one step ahead. By the time you get to the pan-frying at the end, that’s the super easy part.

It starts with chopping and sautéeing ingrediets for the patties. Onions, jalepeño, bell pepper, garlic, grated zucchini, cumin, cayenne, a wee bit of chipotle in adobo sauce.

Throw all of that in a bowl and add in 3/4 of a can of black beans. Bust out your awesome hand mixer (I know you have one because they are the Best. Things. Ever!) and give them a little whir. You know, until it looks like barf. Sorry.

At this point, I started adding all kinds of things that weren’t on the original recipe, and some that were. Panko bread crumbs, the rest of the black beans (so there are a variety of textures), taco seasoning (my little secret), green onions, and honestly I can’t remember what else. Oh! Parmesan cheese. Because, why not?

Here is where things got a wee bit out of control. You have to take this bowl of bean goo, form it into patties, dip it in flour, dip it in egg, dip it in bread crumbs, and lay it in a hot pan with a little oil in it to pan fry. It’s MESSY. I wasn’t going to risk the life and liberty of my iPhone to get a photo of the process, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one. It kind of looks like this in the end.

Now you can finally breathe because you’re almost done. Oh, and you can start to wash the 14 dishes you just dirtied.

The toppings are the key to making this a complete meal. I served the cakes/patties/turdballs with diced tomatoes, avocado chunks, fresh lime wedges, baby spinach, shredded cheese, and chipotle sour cream. I made the chipotle sour cream by combining a few tablespoons of light sour cream with the juice of half a lime and about 1/4 of a chipotle in adobo sauce. It was hot and cool all at once.

Wanna see it all together again?

I ended up flying by the seat of my pants and not really measuring anything, as well as adding in ingredients on a whim, but I used these two online recipes as my starting point: Crispy Black Bean Cakes from more bread and cheese please! and Crispy Black Bean Cake Salad at The Kitchen Sink.

Both recipes were easy to follow, and easy to modify. The dish tasted really good, better than I was expecting even. I probably will make the dish again, but only if I can employ my sous chef to help with all the chopping and clearing out dishes once they get dirty.

This is one meal you can feel good about eating. Lots of vitamins and fiber, and no animals harmed or husbands starved in the process.

comments

  1. Mmm, they really do look yummy. You’re such a Suzy Homemaker!

    written by ambitiousmrs

    July 28th, 2008 @ 10:17 pm

  2. I am going to have to make that!

    written by What Liz Said

    July 28th, 2008 @ 10:26 pm

  3. I like you more than Pioneer Woman - how’s that for a compliment? I’m serious.

    written by Jennie

    July 28th, 2008 @ 10:35 pm

  4. Oh my God, that looks SUPREMELY tasty!! Feel free to come over and cook for me anytime!

    written by Wickedly Scarlett

    July 29th, 2008 @ 1:25 am

  5. Those look SO good! I don’t have a hand mixer (or a KitchenAid, to my undying disappointment)–might have to look into that. It does look awfully handy…

    written by Jen

    July 29th, 2008 @ 4:45 am

  6. I bet you could use a food processor and that would cut down on time and dirty dishes. Mine even has a shred attachment for the zuchinni.

    written by K

    July 29th, 2008 @ 7:21 am

  7. Ooh, very nice for vegetarian week! I am impressed that the hubs was won over!

    K, the food processor is a fabulous idea.

    written by RA

    July 29th, 2008 @ 9:50 am

  8. I DO have a handy hand mixer, and I love vegetarian week! Will try this recipe asap.

    written by elise

    July 29th, 2008 @ 10:46 am

  9. Those look yummy.

    written by Julie

    July 29th, 2008 @ 11:16 am

  10. These look SO delicious! Definitely will have to try.

    written by Lea

    July 29th, 2008 @ 1:12 pm

  11. Yum, I love black beans! I’m sure I’d like these.

    Also, gosh I wish I was an improvisational cook. I have none of that in my genes.

    written by Laurel

    July 29th, 2008 @ 1:40 pm

  12. ohmygosh those look so tasty. please come cook for me at my house? okay? thanks. :)

    written by katelin

    July 29th, 2008 @ 2:28 pm

  13. Those look good!

    And that’s called a hand mixer? And you can use it for things other than whipping up your mom’s best frozen alcoholic drink recipe? Because I have one of those, but I only know it as a Slush mixer (slush is the name of the drink).

    written by Audrey

    July 29th, 2008 @ 5:09 pm

  14. Yum-yum! Good for you for making such an effort! :)

    written by Zandria

    July 29th, 2008 @ 6:40 pm

  15. If I thought I could get my husband to eat them I’d give these a whirl. Because they look really, really yummy! Hmm…. when’s lunch?

    written by Kris

    July 30th, 2008 @ 12:48 pm

  16. You are right, this is definitely one of those takes a while to prep while feeling like you haven’t actually done anything yet meals. But so worth it - glad you liked them!

    This makes me want to make them again - my tummy is rumbling right now!

    written by Charise

    July 30th, 2008 @ 2:19 pm

  17. i arrived here via the blogher ad links… i love black beans and the title sounded yum-o, so here i am.

    i don’t mind chopping things - i have a handy little food chopper that does the hard work for me.

    these look great.

    and the real reason i’m commenting - from this post, we cook the same way. you add what you have and what you like, and the recipe can get over it. ;)

    written by jess

    July 31st, 2008 @ 1:44 pm