Delicious and Indulgent Red Bean Vegan Kebab!
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When I was a little boy, my Romanian grandfather used to take me to South Tel Aviv to eat kebabs at his friends' Romanian restaurants on Salame Street.
He would take me to Mishu and Iancu's restaurants to eat Mici (Romanian Kebab).
(If you're not Romanian, you should know that Romanian nicknames often end in "cu" – for example, to this day, my family calls me Haggaicu).
I remember feeling too bad to tell Grandpa that I hated Mici: I hated the heavy feeling afterward, and I hated the garlic burps that didn't stop even hours later.
I always preferred a pita with hummus and pickles from the Levinsky delis, which Grandma Sarah would sometimes pack for me for school breaks.
To this day, I don't know where she got those perfect pitas.
Grandpa would drink a lot of light beer, I would drink malt beer (Nesher), and he would tell tall tales about the women he loved before the war (and after).
There's a plot twist:
As time went by, Grandpa Mircea, the lover of kebabs and meat, became a complete vegetarian and started sprouting lentils in his small apartment.
Maybe that's why he lived past 90, sharp as a tack and folk dancing at Atarim Square twice a week.
As a result, he stopped taking me to Mishu for Mici.
(Also, Mishu suffered a stroke at a young age and closed the restaurant back in the late 80s).
After Grandpa Mircea passed away, I felt a longing for those small Romanian workers' restaurants that are no more, which served simple food that was fun to wash down with plenty of cheap beer.
(Or malt beer, depending on how close you were to 14 – the age Grandpa shoved a glass of Maccabi beer into my hand and commanded me to drink).
So, I tried to recreate that same flavor and atmosphere of the kebab, this time in a vegan version made from red beans (and without the garlic burps).
The reason I chose to use red beans is first and foremost for their nutritional value, and secondly for the appearance and texture.
A significant advantage of this vegan kebab is that, unlike the meat version, it doesn't cause heaviness or discomfort in the stomach.
I hope I've managed to recreate the taste of a real Romanian kebab.
To be honest, I know Grandpa would probably spit in disdain and click his tongue at this attempt.
A bit about Vegan Kebab:
I used canned red beans
- Before you jump to conclusions, you should know that there are no preservatives in cans. If the can does not contain BPA (today many manufacturers clearly state this) and the food does not contain high amounts of sodium, there is no health objection to using them.
- You can, of course, prepare red beans in a pressure cooker or buy frozen cooked red beans.
- To reduce the amount of flour in the recipe and to create juiciness and softness, I used roasted eggplant salad (Baba Ganoush style), which contains very few calories. You can replace it with the same amount of grated carrots, roasted zucchini, or any other vegetable you like.
- I used white rice flour to bind the mass; you can use white wheat flour, whole wheat, or any other flour you want. It doesn't really matter.
- The spices I used are: Ras el Hanout, cinnamon, cardamom, and hot paprika. You can swap for any other spice you love, but the dominant "kebab" flavor comes from the cinnamon. I recommend not skipping it.
- To get a slightly "meaty" flavor, I used Maitake mushrooms. You can skip them or replace them with Shiitake mushrooms.
Another recipe with red beans?
Nutritional values by clinical dietitian and fitness trainer Noam Bechar:
One kebab out of 10 weighing 40g contains:
- 104 calories
- 4g protein
- 13g carbohydrates
- 4g fat
Red Bean Vegan Kebab
Ingredients
- 1 can red beans, drained 200g
- 3 tbsp prepared eggplant salad (Baba Ganoush style) oil-free
- 3 tbsp crushed tomatoes finely grated
- 1 tbsp Maitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes and drained
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 cup white flour of choice rice/wheat/oat
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/2 tbsp Ras el Hanout
- 1 level tsp cinnamon
- 1 level tsp cardamom
- 1 heaping tsp hot paprika
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
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In a food processor, blend all the kebab ingredients, except for the onion and parsley, until you get a smooth paste.
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Place in the refrigerator for an hour to set.
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Preheat the oven to a very high heat, 250°C.
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Add the chopped onion and parsley and mix well.
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With wet or oiled hands, form kebab shapes and pass the patty quickly from hand to hand until the desired shape is achieved.
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If the mixture is very sticky or wet, add a tablespoon or two of flour.
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Place on the baking sheet and brush each vegan kebab with a little olive oil.
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Bake for about 10 minutes until browned.
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Eat each kebab inside a fresh pita with pickles, spicy sauce, and tahini.
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Send my regards to Grandpa
