Falafel Tuesday

I ran across a falafel recipe in an old Cooking Light magazine that I brought with. The recipe called for canned pinto beans, cheese, an egg, and seasonings. Well, I changed a few things around for what I had on hand to the ingredients below. While cooking the patty, I thought that my first try was a good try, but not quite what I was going for (not falafel as you normally think of it). But, after eating the yummy little thing, I’d say if you think of it as a refried pinto burger, its DAMN GOOD!

First the Beans
Again, I only had dried. My Deborah Madson book says that the smell of beans baking in the oven is as good as the smell of baking bread. Ok, I’ll try that. I soaked them, boiled them for 10+ minutes, and then put them in the oven with onion, garlic, olive oil, and thyme. After over 1 ½ hours cooking, they still were not mushy liked the canned, but soft enough for me. Add some salt, then into the fridge for the night.

Now the Patties
I tried using my blender to mash the beans, but what was on the bottom just turned to paste (I miss my food processor Busta). So, I smashed them with a fork instead (but your cheap Ikea fork can only hold up to so much, I need to find a new way next time). Anyway, I added shredded mozzarella cheese, chopped red onion and cilantro, ground coriander, and my “other” secret seasoning – Salsa (Border Bandito's Salsa spice blend - that’s the whole name) from Old Westport Spices (put that in anything and it tastes GGGGREAT!). I fried it up (it was still a bit mushy on the inside, I think I’ll change the shape and size next time to get more crunchy surface area), and ate it with some pico de gallo (red onion, tomato, avocado, cilantro, and lime), and tortilla chips.

MMMMMMMmmmmmmm. I think it was the beans that made the meal so good. I'll be cooking those beans in the oven next time too.