Low Fat Black Bean Brownies

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Ever since I first came across the idea of using cooked beans in brownies, I have been wanting to try it. At that time I was just casually browsing the net when this recipe of brownies made with cooked chickpeas caught my eye, and even though it has been a couple of years since then, this idea remained with me. I was a little skeptical about the taste of chickpeas in brownies and wasn't sure the rest of the ingredients would disguise the presence of beans in this recipe. That said it was such an interesting idea and so much more healthier than traditional brownies that I couldn't resist trying it.

A few weeks back I decided I wanted to try brownies with chickpeas in them. A quick search online did not seem to pull up any recipes with chickpeas, but this one on food network sounded interesting and doable. I tweaked the recipe a little, reduced the quantity of oil by half and used applesauce instead and used flax meal to substitute for eggs. The resulting brownies were "oh so delicious".  R couldn't believe it when I told him the star ingredient in the brownies were black beans, he kept marveling at how it seemed just it was made with just regular flour and the black beans was not discernible at all.  This recipe is definitely a keeper and I have already made these brownies a couple of times since the first time I made it:)

Here is another picture.......

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Ingredients and Method to make Black Bean Brownies
1/3 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips divided (use vegan chocolate chips for a vegan version)
3/4 cup black beans (cooked) (if using canned rinse thoroughly)
2/3 cup sugar + 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ ali virai) + 6 tbsp water
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup oil

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F
Grease a 9" X 9" pan and keep aside

In a small bowl, mix together all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder well and keep aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, add half the semi sweet chocolate chips, place in the microwave and heat on 50% power for a couple of minutes or until it melts. Keep this aside.

Mix flax seed meal with water and whisk together until it gets gelatinous and keep aside.
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In a food processor place the black beans and pulse until the beans are pureed. Add  flax seed meal+ water mixture, applesauce and pulse until it mixes well. Add sugar, coffee powder, oil, melted chocolate and pulse until it mixes well.

Then add the all purpose flour + cocoa powder mixture and pulse only until it mixes into the wet mixture. Do not over mix or over pulse at this point. Finally add the balance of the chocolate chips (the whole ones) and mix once or twice.

Pour this into prepared 9X9 pan and place in the oven to bake.


Bake approximately 20 to 22 minutes or until the edges of the brownie begin to get a slightly matte finish.
Cool thoroughly for at least 15 minutes, then cut into square pieces.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you like it that way or just enjoy this on its own :) 

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Quinoa Lentil Bites / Paniyaram and an update :)

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Before starting with this post, a quick update. Recently I made this saffron kulfi (Indian Ice cream) in the slow cooker. A few readers had been asking for slow cooker directions to the kulfi and I decided to update the post with the slow cooker directions. As with any other slow cooker dessert, this kulfi too turned out to be effortless and super simple. It hardly needed any attention at all, leaving me free to be able to do other stuff in that time:)  Also for those of you interested, I have added new pictures too, so if you would like to take a quick peek, here is the link:)

Moving on, remember this quinoa lentil dosai that I posted recently. When I made this dosai the first time, I had some leftover batter. Instead of making some more dosai with it, I thought of  making little bite sized snacks with it, something similar to paniyaram. To know more about paniyaram read this post. This one is not exactly like the traditional paniyaram in the sense I skipped adding any seasoning and also added more veggies than I've seen used in the traditional paniyaram. These bite sized snacks were really fun to make and even more fun to eat. It was even more satisfying because this snack combines quinoa, lentils, flax and veggies, lots of nutrition and very little guilt :)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Quinoa lentil bites
1 3/4 cup quinoa dosai batter from here
1 small red onion cut very fine
1 medium sized green bell pepper (capsicum/koda molagai) deseeded and cut fine
salt to taste
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)
1 stalk curry leaves broken into small pieces
2 heaped tbsp flax seed meal ( powdered flax seeds/ alsi / ali virai)
4 heaped tbsp rice flour or as needed to thicken batter (see notes)
2 to 3 tbsp fresh/ frozen grated coconut (optional) (if frozen thaw to room temperature)

a few drops of oil to shallow fry the bites

Add the quinoa dosai batter to a large bowl. Add onion, bell pepper, salt to taste ( the batter already contains some salt so not too much), red chili powder, curry leaves broken into small pieces and mix well.
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Add to this flax seed meal and mix well. Then if the batter is still a bit thin add rice flour 1 tbsp at a time and mix well, until the batter achieves dropping consistency. Add fresh/ frozen grated coconut to this batter and mix well.

Finally just before making add baking soda and mix well.

Heat aebleskivar pan (appa kaarai) on medium to medium low heat. Add a few drops of oil in each mold. Spoon a little batter into each mold, cover with a lid and cook until the lower side turns golden brown. Keep the heat on low to medium low the entire time, otherwise the outside of the paniyaram gets dark while the inside remains uncooked.

Flip over and cook the other side until it is cooked (turns a light creamy/ golden). Remove and serve hot with some ketchup or chutney of choice.

Leftover batter can be refrigerated for a day and used the next day.
 
Yielded approx 28 bites

Notes:
The rice flour is added to thicken the batter a little more. So how much rice flour is needed will depend on the consistency of the batter. Add just one tbsp of flour at a time and mix well. If the batter is dropping consistency, it is ready and does not need more flour. The first time I made this I needed 4 tbsp, subsequent times, I needed only about 2 tbsp. 

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Curried Mixed Bean and Vegetable Soup

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Here's what I like most about soups, if made right,  a bowl of soup can really pack a nutritional wallop. Soups are a great way to combine a variety of vegetables and some protein from lentils and such. Particularly mixed bean soups are easily one of my favorite kind of soups. I love the combination of different beans and vegetables in each spoonful of the soup :) The most common mixed bean soups I come across online are ones seasoned with any combination of parsley, oregano, basil.

My version of this soup is a little different in terms of flavor. Adding garam masala gives this soup a decidedly Indian flavor and the little bit of yogurt adds a hint of creaminess, nothing too rich or too overwhelming,  just a tad bit of creaminess. As I mentioned in the notes section, if you want to make a vegan version of this soup you can entirely skip the yogurt or substitute yogurt with a small quantity of  soy yogurt or coconut milk if you want a little creaminess. This soup can easily double up as a curry and be served over a bed of plain steamed rice or as something to go with phulkas/ rotis.



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Ingredients and Method to make Curried Mixed Bean Soup
1 1/4 cup of mixed beans ( I used a combination of northern beans, black eyed peas (chawli), adzuki beans(red chori) and pinto beans) (see notes)
1 large red onion (pyaaz/vengayam)cut fine
3 medium tomatoes (tamatar/thakkalli) cut fine
3 carrots (gajar) cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 zucchini peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (optional)
1 green bell pepper (capsicum/simla mirch/koda molagai) deseeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 Tbsp oil
salt to taste
1/2 tsp cumin powder (jeera pwd/ jeeragam podi)
3/4 tsp red chili powder (or to taste) (can be substituted with cayenne to taste)
3/4 tsp garam masala (or to taste) (can be substituted with any other curry powder) My recipe for homemade garam masala powder can be found here
1/2 cup whisked plain yogurt (optional see notes)

Soak mixed beans in sufficient water for 6 to 8 hours with a pinch of baking soda (the soda is optional) Drain, fill with fresh water and pressure cook or cook on the stove top until the beans are soft.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add onions and saute until the onions are transparent. Add tomatoes and stir until the tomatoes turn soft and mushy. Add carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, water as required and all the spices and allow to cook until the vegetables are done.

Add the cooked beans, adjust salt and water as required and simmer for a few minutes for the flavors to mingle.

Remove from heat, add whisked yogurt (if using) and mix well. Serve hot with bread of choice.
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This soup can easily double up as a curry if you want to make it to go with some plain steamed rice or some phulkas/ rotis

Notes:
This soup tasted good both with and without the yogurt added in the end. So if you would rather make this a vegan version, you can skip the yogurt entirely or add a touch of  soy yogurt or coconut milk for that creamy texture to the soup if you wish.  I added yogurt because we enjoy the touch of creaminess that it lends to the soup and I was out of coconut milk this time :) 

Any combination of beans can be used for this recipe. I have used any combination of  Black beans, red kidney beans (rajma), black eyed peas (chawli/lobia), adzuki beans (red chori) in addition to the ones mentioned above and that works well too :)

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