little ‘fish’ from the garden

Here’s a little fact you probably didn’t know: it was the Portuguese in the 16th century that taught the Japanese how to make tempura. There, said it! In Portugal we have this traditional snack called ‘peixinhos da horta’- little fish from the garden, and is basically green beans involved in some kind of tempura batter and fried. They have a lot of potential to be vegan, even the name would be a great vegan pun! But the majority of recipes I see have eggs. Well, not mine, super easy and works perfectly well!

Time: 20 minutes

Type: snack

Difficulty: 1 pan

Serves: 2 to 3 servings

What you need:

200g green beans

1/4 cup chickpea flour

1/4 all purpose flour

1 tbsp ground flaxseeds

a pinch of black salt (or table salt)

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

black pepper to taste

150ml beer or sparkling water

oil to fry

Utensils:

small pot

bowl

knife

spatula

mixing spoon

frying pan

kitchen paper towels to soak excess oil

Directions:

Wash the green beans and trim the little stem ends; boil for about 5 minutes over medium heat;

Put all dry ingredients for the batter in a bowl and add beer/sparking water, mixing well; Heat a little oil in a large frying pan;

Drain green beans and dip them in the batter (one or just a few at a time) and once the oil is hot, place greens beans in the frying pan (make sure there’s some space between them otherwise the batter will merge);

Fry each side for 1 or 2 minutes and once golden remove from the frying pan and place in a kitchen towel (you can fry a good bunch of them each time if your frying pan is large enough);

They’re great hot or cold!