Recipe Thursday: Bean Cakes

I'm sitting here patting myself on the back as I type up this post and digest tonight's recipe. I'm proud to say that I actually made it up all on my own and even more importantly, it turned out to be delightful. I've had a hankering for black bean burgers for a while, until this week's ABC pick (gluten, for anyone who missed Monday's post) made me have to kiss that craving goodbye. I know there's got to be gluten free hamburger buns somewhere out there, but I haven't had a chance to make it to Whole Foods or Earth Fare to investigate. I was pondering all this the other day when I came up with maybe my only brilliant idea of the week: bean cakes. "What in the world is a bean cake?" you're probably wondering. Is it a crab cake made of beans? Is it a snack cake made of beans? No and no. It's actually just a mini black bean burger, more or less. But since I invented them I get to call them whatever I want, so bean cakes it is! Here's what you need to make them:


2 cans of black beans, drained, rinsed, and mashed
1/2 carrot, chopped into little bits
1/2 cup cooked rice (we had rice and beans last night and I just set aside a little to use today)
1 clove of garlic, minced
a small portion of onion, grated... maybe 1/8 of an onion?
1 tbsp ground flax (you could probably substitute flour here- just something to help bind the cakes)
1 tsp each of ketchup, mustard, and olive oil
1/2 tsp each of onion powder, garlic powder, sesame seeds and cumin


There's a lot of room for creativity and substitutions with this recipe. If you really like mushrooms, add mushrooms. If you prefer more onion, go for it. Add more seasonings if you're feeling crazy. I probably would have put in some oregano but we are still out- somebody really needs to start making grocery lists in this house. The important thing is having enough dry ingredients to hold the cakes together. You could even use cracker crumbs or something along those lines.


Here's the photo recap:

Thinly sliced and chopped carrots- we have a nifty little peeler/slicer thing that peels the carrots into thin strips.

All the other ingredients except the black beans.

Bean balls ready to go- I pan cooked them in olive oil on medium heat for about 3 minutes per side. Once they were in the pan I flattened them into little cakes. I also learned that my spatula skills could use some serious improvement. Flipping the cakes is tricky business! 

Forming the bean mixture into cakes got a little messy. You could really get the wrong idea looking at this picture out of context...

 Instead of eating our bean cakes on buns, we incorporated them into the same type of Southwestern salad that I blogged about a few Thursdays ago. We also added some sprouts and jalapenos into the mix.  putting everything in buffet form makes it much more appetizing and exciting, plus it gives me an excuse to use my chef's prep bowls!

My salad before I dove in. I put 5 bean cakes on it, avocado, sprouts, red bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, corn, jalapenos, and Spicy Southwestern Dressing, made extra spicy for tonight's salad.

The bean cakes turned out to be just as good, if not better than regular black bean burgers. An added bonus: they tend to be pretty crumbly and messy to eat, so it's much easier eating out of a bowl in salad form than burger-and-bun style. I've even got leftovers to take for my lunch tomorrow. Jackpot!