Black bean balls with sour cherries

Drain the black beans and spread them on a baking tray. Bake them for about 15 minutes at 180°C (350°F) to partially dry them out. This prevents the balls from becoming mushy and gives them more bite. Stir halfway through. The beans may crack open at this point, which is normal: the moisture inside expands into steam and cracks the beans open. After baking, you will have about 215 grams left of the initial 260 grams due to evaporation.

Put the beans in a large bowl along with the minced shallot or onion, mustard, miso, the pressed garlic cloves, the finely chopped parsley, pepper and salt. Crush with a fork or potato masher to get a coarse mixture. You can leave in some larger pieces or even whole beans for more bite.

Add breadcrumbs until the mixture is no longer sticky. Now is the time to taste and season to your preference. It may still be fairly crumbly at this point, but once you shape the balls by hand, the beans will stick together nicely. Put the mixture aside in the fridge to make it easier to roll the balls later on.

Drain the cherries and collect the juice. Put a few tablespoons of juice into a separate cup and add the starch. Stir until well-combined.

Bring the cherry beer to the boil along with the thyme and let it reduce for 15-20 minutes or until at least half of the volume has evaporated.

In the meantime, shape the black bean balls and bake them on all sides in a pan with vegetable oil over medium heat, about 8 to 10 minutes in total. Then put them in the oven at 170°C (325°F) for another 10 minutes, so that they become even more firm and crispy.

Remove the sprigs of thyme from the sour cherry sauce and add the cup of juice with the starch. Let it cook until it thickens while you keep stirring.

Add the cherries to the sauce and let it simmer on low heat while you season the sauce with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Serve with baked potatoes or a good brown bread and a delicious glass of kriek lambic.