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.

3 minutes meal p.2 Fresh broccoli salad

Ingredients

1 fresh, small broccoli head

½ of up of dried blackcurrants or cranberries

1 cup of natural yoghurt

1 tbsp. of minced garlic

Salt, pepper

Shred  whole broccoli head in food processor and combine it with dried berries, yoghurt, salt and pepper. Serve it with meat or stuffed vegetables.

Husband Rate: 6/10

Chicken Curry Salad

That’s one of my favourite salads and perfect alternative for traditional curry. Easy to make and definitely lighter version that traditional carb salad. I used to add to this salad various types of pasta- farfalle, penne or parboiled rise but I found grated celery root as much healthier option. Sometimes I add half and half grated celery and rise.

Ingredients:
2 cups of grated raw celery root
2 cups of cubed chicken thighs without skin and bones (1,5 cm cubes)
1 can of sweet corn ( drained)
1 cup of canned cubed pineapple (1,5cm cubes)
3/4 cup of Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp of mayonnaise
5 tbsp of curry powder
1 tbsp of black pepper (or more if you like spicy version)
1 cup of parboiled rise (optional)

1. Roast chicken thighs on the non-stick pan with 1 tbsp of curry powder and put it cool place to cool down. It can be warm during combining with other ingredients.
2. Place chicken in large bowl and mix it well with other ingredients.


Important!
I would recommend to wait until last possible moment before preparation to grate celery because this vegetable gets brown. You don’t need to worry that celery will turn dark in the salad. Mayo and yoghurt contains acid preventing from oxidation reaction

Husband rate: version with celery 6/10 – (he just doesn’t like this ingredient) version with rise - 9/10