One of my favourite snacks is sliced avocado with a squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. Its such a simple, flavourful snack. And healthy too! The list of health benefits of avocados seems to grow daily. Avocados are high fibre, high in protein, can lower cholesterol, and improve the condition of your skin + hair. And they are delicious and creamy! My friend Kristen calls avocados “nature’s mayonnaise”. *hah* Love that.
Avocado + lime can make for a great garnish as well. This past weekend, it rained + rained + rained. Saturday afternoon, I found myself without plans – as so many of the plans I had made were for gardening and spending time at the park. I suddenly had time to play around in the kitchen. So, on Saturday, I whipped up these Mexican White Bean Cakes for lunch and topped them with some of my favourite ingredients – avocados, lime, cilantro and a touch of sour cream. They were delicious! You could easily make these for a healthy, flavourful lunch as I did. Or you could serve a smaller version of them as an appetizer at a party. I think these cakes could even be used as veggie burger patties topped with some slices of avocado + tomato.
Now, I know cilantro is something you either love….or truly despise. So, I’ve written up the recipe with the cilantro as an optional ingredient. I personally love cilantro, but Jesse HATES it. I’ve never met more passionate people as those who hate cilantro! *hah* If you choose not to use cilantro for these white bean cakes, please feel free to add some flat-leaf parsley or some mexican oregano.
Hope you all had a great weekend. :)
Ingredients
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 1 jalapeño pepper; seeded and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup of fresh roughly chopped cilantro (optional)
- 2 greens onions, washed + roughly chopped
- 1- 19 ounce (540ml) can of white kidney beans; drained + rinsed
- 3/4 cup of fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
- 1 egg (or 1 flax egg)
- 1/4 cup of cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon of canola or extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup of low-fat sour cream (or dairy free sour cream)
- 1 avocado, peeled and diced
- juice of 1 small lime (about 1 teaspoon)
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro (optional)
- roasted pepitas or chile spiced pumpkin seeds for garnish
Method
1. In a food processor, pulse together the garlic, chopped green onion, jalapeño and cilantro. Pulse until all is finely chopped.
2. In a small bowl, add the salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin to the fresh whole wheat bread crumbs.
3. Add beans, seasoned breadcrumbs and egg (or flax egg) to the food processor. Pulse until combined.
4. Form into eight 2-inch round patties and gently dredge in cornmeal. Place patties on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
5. In a large nonstick skillet, heat tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Cook patties for about 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown + heated through.
6. For the Avocado Cream Topping: combine the diced avocado and sour cream in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and top with a generous squeeze of lime juice. Mix to combine. Place a dollop of the avocado cream on top of each bean cake. Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds.
Source: loosely adapted from Canadian living Magazine – July 2012
these look PERFECT! i am one of those cilantro LOVERS and i cannot wait to make these ;)
ps- i didn’t know avocado was a good source of protein!
Me too! I love, love, love cilantro! :) I can understand people hating a certain herb though, as I despise sage. *hah*
Yep! I believe there is 7 to 9 grams of protein per avocado :)
YUM! these sound delicious, i cannot wait to try! i just love that avocado cream!
I am a cilantro-lover as well! This recipe looks delish- and I love that your spiced pumpkin seeds are sprinkled on top!
These almost look like a dessert at first! Avocado cream–sounds perfect for summer. :)
wow…amazing photo, it really looks delicious!…your friend is right ..avocado is nature’s mayo hihi !!
how creative!! i love this! the flavors sound so delicious! thanks for sharing!
Sounds like a delicious summer vegetarian meal! Sometimes when I have leftover avocado I like to mash it up with plain yogurt for a creamy dip, and I think I’ve used that as a topping for veggie burgers too (similar to yours) – its such a tasty and healthy burger topping! I love how you added the pumpkin seeds to add that bit of crunch too!
I am loving every component of these! Justin *hates* cilantro with a passion :)
Avocado has been my new obession, I put on and in just about everything!
I love avocados on almost anything too. These look amazingly delicious!
Mm, these sound tasty! I love avocado, and that’s so funny to call it nature’s mayo – I use it just like mayonnaise all the time! :)
And you’re so right – people either love or hate cilantro. Oddly, I used to be a hater and I switched as I grew up and my taste buds matured. Crazy!
These look so delicious! I put avocado on almost everything (and anything). It totally is nature’s mayonnaise :-)
I’m just getting to your post now – it’s funny that we both posted about our love for avocado on the same day :) These look absolutely amazing!!
This recipe looks so light and inviting! Hardly a day goes by when I don’t enjoy some avocado. They make almost anything better. You’re so right about the divide that exists between cilantro lovers and haters. I’m definitely in the love column. I’m not as keen on its Italian brother, parsley, but I don’t mind it in small amounts.
This is so beautiful and fresh looking. I adore avacado. It has that perfect, creamy consistency that really hits the spot. Can NOT wait to try this recipe.
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