Navy / White Bean Entree

Hi everyone! Today I want to share with you my favourite go to for vegetarian staple accompanionment, if ever there is such a word. Goes great with any staple or rice or pasta. Today I am making mince-meat and mince - balls from what else but white beans or navy beans. I actually made these from other beans, mainly lentils which is super great and for me the best variation but today navy beans it is so you see white beans / Navy beans are not only great for hummus and for soups but they also make a great entree. Let s get started.

You Will Need
4 cups of cooked white beans and separated equally into two large bowls

(1/2 for mince and 1/2 for meat-balls)

-----------------For The Seasoning Phase----------------

1/2 cup of quick oats (for meat-balls only)
11/2 cup of ground oats divided into 3 half cups

1 bell pepper finely chopped

1 medium white onion finely chopped

1 tbsp dark caramel / browning

------EACH of the following 12 ingredients needs to be divided into 4 parts------

(a part each for seasoning and for cooking the mince-meat likewise for the meat-balls)

1 tbsp ground cloves
2 tbsp dried basil
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp sage powder
2 tbsp coriander powder
4 tbsp beef seasoning ( I am using McCormick)
2 tbsp of a salt free "spicer" ( I'm using McCormick tasty zingy)
8 cloves of garlic finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh celery finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh ginger finely chopped
2 tablespoons thyme leaves

1 tbsp salt

---------------For The Cooking Phase-------------

1/4 cup of tarragon vinegar

!/2 cup tomato sauce

8 cloves of garlic finely chopped

5 Tbsp cooking oil plus oil for deep frying

1 medium white onion sliced into rings

1 small red bell pepper and 1 small green bell pepper cut in strips

reserve the seeds for garnish

1 cup cooking tomatoes diced

1/2 cup carrots diced

2 generous sprig of thyme

1 tbsp brown sugar (optional)

a large skillet or saucepan, 2 deep bowls, a dinner fork, kitchen knife, pot for deep frying

-Tip:- Other optional spices may include cumin, dill, anise

First you want to open your package of cooked beans and drain off package liquid very well. You may rinse your beans while in the colander. I like to rinse the beans I am using for the mince- meat but find it unnecessary to rinse for the meat-ball as the extra stickiness seems to be useful for the meat-balls.

You want to use fork to slightly mash your beans to achieve a "mincey" look and not look like beans.

-How To Mash:- for the mince- meat portion you will want to smash as many of the peas grains as possible you really want to get your beans to look like mince but do not over smash, you want it to look grainy and not like a paste.

-For the portion you are going to use to make mince- balls only smash about a third of the grains

You can add your spices for the seasoning phase half way into this step so the seasoning gets nicely combined. Add also the chopped bell pepper, the chopped onion and combine.

At this point add 1/2 ground oats to each of the mixture but also add the flake oats to the meat ball portion, combine using a wide teeth fork.

when nicely combine add 1 tbsp dark thick caramel to each of the mixture set aside the mince ball portion and lets concentrate on cooking the mince meat first.

Add 1/2 cup water gradually to carrots, tomatoes,onions, garlic, sprig thyme in a saucepan over medium heat and cover closely to steam. Check at 60 seconds intervals so it does not dry out and burn. Meanwhile go on to step four

To a hot saucepan or skillet add cooking oil 1 tablespoon at a time followed by 1/5th of seasoned beans saute immediately with a fork after each addition to brown and crisp. dust on more ground oats as needed to prevent stickiness.

Add the cooking phase spices at this stage while you saute
Remember bean is already cooked so be careful not to burn.

Finally add saute vegetables to beans along with tarragon and tomato sauce combine with a fork. scatter bell peppers atop along with the seeds.

Simmer for one minute and voila!

You are ready to enjoy!!!!!

first you must get your oil for deep frying to very hot but never smoking point. Next spread your last 1/2 cup of ground oats on a plate for dusting your meat balls. Now take a spoonful of the seasoned pulse in the palm of your hand squeeze with a little bit of pressure to firm up, then roll it in between your two palms to form into a small ball. Roll in ground oats and drop into hot oil and fry to crisp crust. You can also use two spoon to make your meat-ball by pressing the pulse between the two spoons the result will be disk shape and not round however. Continue doing same until all the balls are fried. Each should take about 3 minutes, remove from oil and drain on clean cotton towel or paper towel.

-Make the serving sauce following steps in Step 3. Add 3/4 cup water when that process is about through, at this point add also the tarragon, the tomato sauce, a sprinkle of 1 tbsp ground oats to thicken, the additional spices and herbs and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour sauce over meat balls and serve.