Honestly, I don’t know what to call this dish. I think Kibbeh is the most appropriate name for it other then experimenting with black beans – I was trying to make veggie burger but I over-processed the beans and added a large egg, which made the mixture too mushy to form patties.
So I asked myself: What would you do with it if it was ground beef? Since I already spiced the mixture with Middle Eastern spices and made tahini, the first thing that popped into my head was Sinyah or Kibbeh, a popular Arab dish made with ground beef baked with tahini.
Black bean kibbeh
Excellent vegetarian main dish. Easy to make, filling and delicious.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 2 cups cooked black beans or jarred
- Handful parsley or cilantro or both
- 10 fresh mint leaves (optional)
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 pasture egg
- Handful microgreen - optional
For the tahini
- ¼ cup tahini butter
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 380ºF.
- In a food processor, chop the onion finely. Add 1 cup black beans, cilantro, parsley, mint and cumin, and pulse to combine.
- Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Add the remaining black beans and egg, season with salt and pepper, then mix with a spoon until well combined. Refrigerate.
- Prepare the tahini. (Do not use store-bought, ready-to-eat tahini. It will separate in cooking.) Put the tahini ingredients in a small bowl and gently whisk them. The mixture might be lumpy at first, but don't worry; keep stirring until it becomes smooth and velvety. If it is too thick, add a little more cold water; if it's too runny, add a little bit tahini butter.
- Grease a pie dish with oil. Put the black bean mixture in the pie dish and flatten it with oily fingers or with a spatula. Put it in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Pour the tahini over and put it back in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Let it cool for 10 minutes then sprinkle the microgreens over. Serve with a crunchy romaine salad on the side.
I’m craving Kibbeh, but don’t want to add the meat. (I live in Chile and while the beef is tasty, there isn’t a lot of information about the industry. Additionally, lamb is not so easy to find in the central region.) I said to myself, “I’m sure you can do this with black beans.” I searched and found you. I love that! I’m trying this today.