Black Bean Cakes (Antigua and Barbuda)

This recipe is from week eleven of my food blog, Travel by Stove. I am attempting to cook one meal from every nation on Earth, and Antigua and Barbuda is my eleventh stop. I found this recipe to be a little tricky to pull off because of the way the cakes are fried, but alternatively you can just cook them like refried beans and top them with the salsa and yogurt, which is what really makes the dish.

• Ready In: 21 mins
• Yields: 6-8 cakes

Ingredients

• For the cakes

• 2  cups canned black beans
• 1⁄2 cup  finely chopped onion
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped  jalapeno
• 2  tablespoons olive oil

• For the salsa

• 1  small  serrano pepper
• 5  roma tomatoes
• 1⁄2  a  white onion
•  salt

• For the cilantro yogurt

• 1⁄2 cup plain yogurt
• 2  tablespoons  chopped cilantro
• 1⁄2  a  lemon, juice of

Directions

1. Prepare the salsa:
2. Halve the tomatoes and the chile pepper, and roughly chop the onions. Place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.
3. Place in a hot oven (mine was set to 500 degrees).
4. Roast until the vegetables are a nice brown color. Don't overcook (keep checking until they are done).
5. Now put the vegetables in a pot with just enough water to cover. Boil for 5 minutes.
6. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth, then return to the pot and cook over medium high heat until salsa has reduced to a thick sauce-like consistency.
7. Prepare the cilantro yogurt:
8. Mix the yogurt with the cilantro and lemon juice and set aside.
9. Prepare the bean cakes:
10. Rinse the beans and then put them in a food processor with the onion, cumin, jalapeno and about a tablespoon of water. Process until you have a nice paste.
11. Make small cakes using 2 tbsp of bean mixture each. Fry each cake in olive oil for about three minutes on each side, or until crispy brown.
12. Remove from heat and keep warm.
13. To serve, top with salsa and cilantro yogurt.