Black Bean Cakes with Sweet Corn Vinaigrette over greens

Black Bean Cakes:

1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
1 eggs, beaten lightly
3-4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 small jalepeno, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Put black beans into a large bowl.

In a medium frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Cook scallions for 2 minutes, add garlic, jalepeno, and cumin; cook for 30 seconds until fragrent; remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.

Pour the hot mixture over the black beans. Mash the beans with a potato masher. The beans should be a mixture of completely mashed beans with a couple whole and some half whole beans. Stir in the egg.

Slowly add bread crumbs until the gooeyness of the beans and eggs mixture dries up. Don't add too much. Leave the mix somewhat sticky.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the mixture and place it into the skillet. You can fry 2-3 of these at a time without much of a problem. Let cook on the one side until the bottom is showing some signs of browning and the patty holds together. Flip carefully and cook the other side until it is similarly done.

Set aside in a warm oven while you finish the rest of the cakes and prepare the sauce.


Sweet Corn Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup sweet corn
2 T white wine vinegar
1/4 (approx) olive oil
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, blend the corn until smoothish. Add vinegar, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Blend a few seconds more, scraping the sides down. While the food processor is blending, slowly add olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified and a nice texture.

Serve black bean cakes over fresh salad greens and top with vinaigrette.

Serves 2-3.

The sweet corn vinaigrette is perfect with black bean cakes. This is a nice, light supper that is satisfying but not to filling.