black bean croquettes

black bean croquettes

• 12.18.2016

I'm not sure what drew me to making this recipe. I rarely make vegetarian meals in part because unless there is pasta, I'm convinced that I'm going to be hungry again in a hot second. I found this recipe when I was on the hunt for low sodium ideas. 

There isn't really a lot to say about this dish - but there is also very little that is challenging. The recipe got even easier when I opted to use a jar of salsa over making my own. If it was summertime, I would happily skip over to the garden, pluck a few tomatoes, grab some cilantro, a hot pepper, and make some salsa.... but it's December.

So a couple things:

• FROZEN CORN // The recipe originally called for letting the corn defrost - but that felt like a waste of time. If you agree, just prepare yourself for how cold the black bean mixture will get. 
• FOOD PROCESSOR // The recipe also originally called for mashing the beans with a fork. I did this for about 10 seconds before determining that would be exhausting. Save yourself the effort and use you food processor to roughly chop them.

I'm not sure when this will end up in my cooking rotation again - but they are a win. I feel like they'll also be great in the summer time as an addition to a caprese salad or just a salad in general. Here's hoping that they work well as leftovers because I only ate 3 for dinner... and now I have 9 for leftovers.

Here's how it goes.

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Roughly chop the black beans and cumin in a food processor. The goal is just to break up the beans and get as few whole beans remaining. Stir in corn and 1/4 cup breadcrumbs.
3. Add a cup of salsa to the mixture and stir to combine.
4. Mix the remaining 1/3 cup breadcrumbs and chili powder in a small bowl. Then roll the bean mixture into about 1/3 - 1/2 cup balls. Lightly press each bean ball into the breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake the croquettes for about 20-30 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
6. Serve with additional salsa, chopped avocado... and maybe a warm tortilla. 

Shopping List

30 oz beans, black rinsed
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 cup corn, whole kernel frozen thawed
1/4 cup bread crumbs, fine, dry
1/3 cup bread crumbs, fine, dry
1 cup of salsa, plus more for plating
1 avocado diced