Black Bean Fritters

Julesong's Note:

We made these at our "Fish ID" class at Culinary Communion, served alongside the Chiptole Chile Glazed Salmon, and clams, mussels, and other wonderful foods. The fritters were my favorite recipe of the evening! :) Posted with permission.

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 red bell pepper , in small dice
• 1 yellow bell pepper , in small dice
• 1 small zucchini , in small dice
• 2 cups cooked black beans (freshly prepared are best, but canned are fine)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs , beaten
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt , to taste
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper , to taste
• vegetable oil or peanut oil , for frying

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the bell peppers, zucchini, and black beans.
2. In another bowl, combine the flour, corn meal, baking powder, and brown sugar, and mix well.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the vegetables in the large bowl, and fold until well coated (careful not to crush the black beans).
4. Add the buttermilk, eggs, salt, and pepper, and stir together until the batter forms - it should resemble very thick pancake batter; if the batter is too thick, you can add buttermilk then an egg until the correct consistency is achieved.
5. In a large deep pan or deep fryer, heat the oil to 350 degrees F and drop a spoonful of batter into the hot oil; fry until golden brown then remove, drain, let cool a bit and then taste it to see if the seasonings are to your liking - adjust seasoning if necessary.
6. Drop completed batter by large spoonfuls into the hot oil and fry fritters until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side, and they're slightly puffed and cooked through.
7. Drain well, serve, and enjoy!
8. These go well with a nice green chile sauce and/or sour cream.
9. I've also eaten these quite happily for breakfast!
10. Note: black soybeans can be used in place of the regular black beans, too. Also, please be advised that these are a *fried* food, and therefore need to be drained well! As with all fried foods, the different oils used for frying can change the outcome. I personally use peanut oil because it has a higher temperature point. Draindraindrain (and perhaps dab with paper towels) if you don't want your fritters to get greasy - if drained properly, they'll be perfect. :).
11. These fritters come highly recommended by family, friends, and the professional chef who created them. :).

Reviews

[Steingrim]

These are great fritters, and we make them fairly often because they're good year round. Sometimes we use a different kind of squash instead of zucchini, depending on what's in season. They're delicious!

[Codychop]

Well, the flavors were really great. But mine came out very, very, very greasy. The oil was definitely hot enough and I didn't crowd the pan. I think maybe it was just the type of batter? I cut the recipe in half. Will try again with a different batter recipe.