Chickpea & Black Bean Cakes with Quinoa Salad
Garbanzo & Black Bean Cakes with a light and flavorful Lemon Quinoa Salad and Yogurt Sauce is a delicious vegetarian meal! I love the contrast of warm food with a cool sauce and these bean cakes with cucumber yogurt sauce are just up my alley! The cakes are loaded with Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas) and Black Beans so you get this crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside texture. They are salty and hearty. Combined with the tangy and cool yogurt sauce that gives you a touch of crunch from the cucumbers, each bite is heaven! These cakes are baked rather than fried because I think you get just as much flavor without all the fat. But of course, you can fry them if you prefer. Finally the Quinoa Salad is light and fresh with a simple lemon dressing, fresh red pepper, and scallions for a peppery bite. Amazing and good for you!
Servings 2 people
Ingredients
Chickpea and Black Bean Cakes
- ½ can Chickpeas 15oz can
- ½ can Black Beans 15oz can
- ¼ cup Parsley, flat leaf
- 1 clove Garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin, ground
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground Pepper
- 1 Egg, whites only
- 2 Tbls All-purpose White Flour
- 2 Tbls Parmesan, grated
- 2 Scallion, white only thinly sliced
Quinoa Lemon Salad
- 1 cup Quinoa
- ¼ Red Pepper, diced
- ½ Zest from 1 Lemon
- ½ Lemon, juice from half lemon
- 2 Scallion, greens only finely sliced
- Salt and Ground Pepper to taste
Lemon Cucumber Yogurt
- ½ cup Plain Greek Yogurt
- 2 Tbls Cucumber, finely diced
- ½ Zest from 1 Lemon
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- Dash Ground Pepper
Instructions
Cook and Cool Quinoa
- This can be made 1-3 days in advance. Rinse 1 cup quinoa under warm water in a strainer. Add to 2 cups water and a pinch of salt in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil, stir, then reduce heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off heat, move to a cool location or fridge and let sit covered while cooling.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Chickpea and Black Bean Cakes
- Drain the chickpeas and the black beans and rinse. Rough chop the parsley. Rough chop the garlic clove. Thinly slice the scallions and keep the greens separated for the Quinoa Salad. The whites to be used for the cakes.
- Add the beans, parsley, and garlic to a food processor and pulse to grind together.
- Scoop the bean mixture into a bowl and mix with the cumin, egg white, 2 Tbls flour, scallion, and 2 Tbls parmesan cheese, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper. Form into 4 balls.
- Place the balls on baking sheet rubbed with Olive Oil. Press each down into a round cake. Bake in oven for 10 minutes then flip and bake another 10 minutes.
- Bean cakes should be lightly browned on both sides when done.
Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
- Finely dice the cucumber and add it to the yogurt in a small bowl. Zest the lemon and split the zest with half for the yogurt and half for the quinoa salad. Mix the lemon zest, add salt and pepper.
Make Quinoa Salad
- Dice the red pepper. Then in a bowl, combine the cooled Quinoa, red pepper, sliced scallion greens, remaining lemon zest, juice of half the lemon, salt and pepper to taste.
Plate
- Place the Quinoa salad on plate, then top with bean cakes. Spoon the cucumber yogurt sauce over the top. Enjoy!
