These may look like their meaty cousin, the scotch egg but no, this is a vegetarian scotch egg recipe! They're made from a lightly spiced blend of beans and chickpeas.
400gcanned chickpeas (garbanzo beans)rinsed and drained
400gcanned red kidney beansrinsed and drained
400gcanned white cannellini beansrinsed and drained
10gfresh corianderroughly chopped
2tspfresh gingerpeeled and finely chopped
1fresh chillideseeded and finely chopped
Pinchsalt and black pepper
125gplain white flour (all purpose flour)all purpose flour
2medium free range eggsbeaten
1tbspwhole milk
200gdried white breadcrumbs
vegetable oilcanola oil, for deep frying
Instructions
Place the eggs, still in their shells, in a pan of boiling water, simmer for 6 minutes. Drain and cool the eggs under cold running water, then peel.
For the filling, drain the canned beans and chickpeas, and rinse thoroughly in cold water. Pop into a bowl.
Mash them together, creating a coarse mix.
Add the coriander, ginger, chilli and a pinch of salt and pepper and mix. Take a small spoonful of the mixture and taste it. Make sure you’re happy with the seasoning and adjust as necessary.
Divide the bean mix into four equal portions.
Put a square of clingfilm on a flat surface and flatten out a portion of bean mix into an oval about 12.5cm (5 inches) long and 7.5cm (3 inches) at its widest point.
Place an egg onto the bean mix oval, then pick the cling film square up by its corners, and use it to wrap the mix around each egg. Make sure the coating is smooth and completely covers the egg - any gaps or thin spots may cause cracks during frying.
Repeat until all four eggs are wrapped in bean mixture. You can reuse the same square of cling film for each egg.
Now prepare a crumbing station. Beat the eggs and milk together in a small bowl. Put the flour on a plate, seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper, and put the breadcrumbs on a second plate.
Take a bean-wrapped egg and roll first in the beaten egg, then in flour, then in the egg again and finally in the breadcrumbs. Make sure the bean wrapped egg is completely coated at every stage. Set the egg aside and repeat with the remaining eggs.
Fill a large pan one third full with oil and heat to 180C (355C). Fry one or two at a time to avoid overcrowding the pan. Lower them carefully into the oil with a spider or slotted spoon.
Deep-fry the eggs for 7-8 minutes, carefully turning as necessary until golden and crisp.
Carefully remove from the cooked eggs oil with a slotted spoon or spider and drain on kitchen paper. A sprinkle of salt as soon as they come out of the oil will help them crisp up.