Red beans brownie with yoghurt cheesecake and strawberry compote

One of the things I like the most about cooking is trying out recipes with surprising ingredients. I’ve added couple of times something unusual to food I was preparing and so far the worst result ever occurred in case of beetroot red velvet muffins. Beets dominated taste even though I’ve added double portion of vanilla extract. In case of this cake I was positively surprised. There are two reasons. First one – I never used beans for baking before. Even for brownie. And it’s fantastic ingredient which gives moist and soft texture. Beans have a neutral taste so you don’t need to worry batter will end up with strange flavor. It’s also much healthier alternative for wheat flour.

Second one- I couldn’t help myself. I just had to put my two cents in. In case of this recipe it was adding cheesecake batter to red beans brownie and serving it with strawberry compote. Result turn out better than expected. Definitely I would recommend serving this cake next day. It’s old wisdom - cakes with chocolate taste better at least 12 hours after baking. 

I.   Red beans brownie layer 

1 can of red beans rinsed well strained

4 eggs

3 tbsp. of cooking oil

1 cup of almond flour or ground almonds (I used food processor which gave a little bit chunky texture)

1 cup of processed baking chocolate

3 tbsp. of cocoa powder

1 tbsp. of baking powder

1 cup of brown sugar

2 tsp. of vanilla extract

You will also need blender

Place beans, eggs, cooking oil, vanilla extract (wet ingredients) in blender and pulse it for 1 minute then add remaining ingredients and pulse it together for another minute.

II.                  Cheesecake layer

1 container of vanilla Greek yoghurt (500 g)

3 beaten eggs (first beat whites to stiff peaks then mix them with yolks)

1 tsp. of baking powder

3 spoons of tapioca or corn starch

Combine all ingredients to smooth consistence.

Preheat oven to 180C. Place alternately layers of brownie and cheesecake into 1 large tin (basic large size: 25x36 cm) or two smaller (I’ve used 2 round with diameter of 20cm) until both batters has been used. Bake for 1 hour on the middle rack.

 

Strawberry compote

2 cups of strawberries cut into small pieces

2 tbsp. of lemon juice

1 spoon of brown sugar

1 tbsp. of tapioca or corn starch

3 tbsp. of cold water

Place strawberries with sugar and lemon juice into saucepan and bring to boil on medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Add starch combined with water and stir well until gets thicker honey-like consistence. You can store it for few days in fridge and warm up before serving as a cake topping.

Zucchini linguine

 Ingredients

3 small zucchinis

1 tbsp of nutmeg

1/3 cup of grated cheese (Gouda, cheddar)

1 tbsp of cooking oil

Remove both zucchinis ends. You won’t need them anymore then cut zucchinis into linguine shape. Well, it took me some time to cut into desired shape. I used knife which wasn’t the best idea. Potato peeler works much better and then you can shape zucchini peels with a knife into desired thickness. You can also buy julienne peeler like this:

 

source: tips.simplygoodstuff.com

Preheat skillet with cooking oil. Saute zucchinis with nutmeg on medium heat until tender. Stir frequently to keep from turning brown. Add cheese and stir together until cheese melts. Ready to serve!

Husband Rate: 8/10

Pink rice

Ingredients

1 cup of parboiled rice

1/5 cup of raisins

1tbsp of Tandoori masala

2 cups of water

Combine water and rice in saucepan. Bring to boil stirring frequently (you can use boiling water to speed up the cooking process). Add raisins and Tandoori masala. Cover with lid and simmer on low heat until liquid is absorbed (approximately 20 minutes).

Husband Rate: 7/10

Curryless curry

I guess that happens once in a while to everyone who spends some time in the kitchen, of course except those people who appear there only to open take away boxes. Suddenly you feel like want to cook this particular dish and you realize that you have all ingredients, except this main one. You are too hungry/ lazy/desperate to go for shopping. Well there is a solution and it’s called improvisation. Of course cooking burgers without meet or pancakes without flour could be very challenging and not always attains with expected result. At least you can try. You can always order pizza if not succeed…

Ingredients

3 red peppers seedless and diced into large cubes

2 cups of peeled raw shrimps

1 medium leek diced into large cubes

1 tbsp spoon of minced garlic

1 tbsp spoon of ground cumin

1 tbsp spoon of ground coriander

1 tbsp of cooking oil

Salt and black pepper 

You will also need a food processor and large pan.

Place leek and peppers into a food processor. Process until you reach thick and chunky consistency. Preheat the pan with cooking oil. Add leek, pepper, garlic and spices. Simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Add shrimps and cook for another 10 minutes stirring occasionally until they change color. Add salt and black pepper. Season it with black pepper to achieve desired spiciness. Adding salt is optional. I’m trying to avoid using salt in my kitchen. It masks real flavors of food.

I served this ‘curry’ with pink rice and zucchini linguine. Recipes in next posts.

 

Husband Rate: 9/10