Black Bean Pancakes

I’m very much into veggie burgers and love to make them, but it’s sometimes difficult to get the batter just right so that the burger will stay together and at the same time, not be too dry. After looking up a few black bean burger recipes online, I decided to combine the ingredients below. Rather than use store-bought breadcrumbs made from white bread, I decided to use a toasted sprouted whole grain bread as a thickener. Still, the taste was incredible, but the mixture was a bit soft and I didn't want to add more bread to the mix. So rather than add more thickeners or fight with the batter, I decided to make pancakes instead of burgers.

The first go around, this meant large pancakes which were delicious with a cucumber salad, and the second time, I decided to make them smaller, which makes them much easier to handle when cooking and which I believe would make them ideal for appetizers or finger foods. For lunch today, I spread mashed avocado on a kale leaf and topped it with two small pancakes and shaved carrots. The result was a very light and crunchy wrap. Red or green leaf or romaine lettuce leaves would make wonderful wraps too.

Black Bean Pancakes

1.5 c cooked black beans

1 c diced, sautéed onions

½ cup chopped roasted red peppers

2 slices Ezekiel sprouted grains bread, toasted and broken into small pieces

1 - 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 egg

1 clove garlic, diced

1 t dried or 1 T fresh basil

sea salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth but grainy. It can be refrigerated for several days at this point (and perhaps frozen, although I haven’t tried this yet).

Heat a skillet to medium and coat the bottom with a thin layer of grapeseed or coconut oil. Using an ice cream scoop, drop several servings of batter into the skillet, leaving enough room for them to spread. Using the back of a large spoon, flatten each scoop to ~1/4 - ½ inch thick pancakes.

When the bottom is lightly browned (~2-3 min), flip the pancakes and with the spatula, gently press them down. Continue to cook an additional 2 - 3 minutes, or until the bottom is brown and the inside is dry.

Serve the pancakes on a salad, in a whole grain wrap, or wrapped in a lettuce or kale leaf with mashed avocado and lemon juice and shaved carrots.