Well I’ve just invented my new favourite lunch. This recipe is a belter, everything I love on a plate. I’ve been trying to find new ‘ways with beans’ recently and this was my favourite take on black beans which I don’t eat nearly often enough. Black beans are excellent because a lot of the phytonutrients in foods are found in the pigments (hence the advice to eat lots of colourful fruit and veg) so by the same token black beans are right up there. By the way, the only thing making this recipe not vegan or dairy-free is the yogurt so you can just leave that out and just mash up the avocado with the other ingredients.
SERVES: 2
KITCHEN TIME: 15 mins prep, 10 mins cooking
INGREDIENTS:
Fritters:
1 tsp oil
1 small red onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely grated
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tin black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 heaped tbsp ground almonds plus extra to coat (can also use fresh breadcrumbs if you don’t require it to be GF)
Sea Salt
Black pepper
Dip:
½ an avocado, diced
1 clove garlic, finely grated
1 small tomato, diced
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
PREP TIP: Make these in advance and keep in the fridge until needed. They also freeze really well.
METHOD:
For the fritters, heat a small frying pan and sauté the onions and garlic in the oil until softened, add the spices and continue to fry for another minute or so. Place the fried mixture in a food processor with all the other ingredients except the ground almonds and retaining half the black beans to mix back in. Pulse the mixture to a coarse paste. Remove to a bowl and add in the ground almonds and the rest of the black beans and combine well. Form into 6 equally sized patties and coat lightly with more ground almonds [at this point you can store in the fridge or the freezer if you aren’t eating them straight away]. Heat a large frying pan and put a little oil in the pan just to coat the base. Add the fritters and let cook gently (5 mins on each side or until golden) while you get on with the dip. For the dip, combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Serve.
SERVING TIP: These fritters are really good served with a simple salad of grated carrot and raisins dressed with a little apple cider or red wine vinegar.
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