Little Fish of the Garden (Peixinhos Da Horta) - Portuguese

Submitted by KateL

"Entered for safe-keeping, couldn't resist the name of these fried battered flat beans by Ana Patuleia Ortins in "Portuguese Homestyle Cooking." Serve hot or at room temperature as an appetizer or side dish. Is it just me, or does this sound like a good time to use the deep fryer?"

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 lb Italian flat beans
• water, as needed
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt (to taste)
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon coarse salt (to taste)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon white pepper (to taste)
• 1 cup olive oil (or as needed for frying)

directions

1. Rinse the beans and trim the tips. Place the beans in a medium saucepan with 1 teaspoon of the salt and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until almost tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well and blot to remove excess water.
2. Make a batter of the eggs, flour, remaining salt, and pepper.
3. Heat about 1 cup of oil in a small skillet until hot, but not smoking. Working with 3 beans at a time, dip the beans in the batter forming a group of 3.
4. Immediately place the grouped beans in the skillet and pan-fry. The beans should stik together as they fry, although sometimes you may get one or two that separate. When the beans are a light golden color on both sides, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
5. Serve hot or at room temperature as an appetizer or a side dish.

Reviews

[ForeverMama]

I made 2 batches of these; 1st as written and the 2nd batch I added onion and garlic powder to the batter. Though both were good, we found that the one with the extra seasonings brought it up to another level of goodness. We had wished that the outer coating was crispy but the end product resulted in more of a pancakey consistency, I believe this is due to the amount of eggs mixed into the batter. Thank you KateL for sharing.