Put your Mexican meal kits at the back of your cupboard and have a go at m aking Espresso Black Bean Tacos at home. Invite all your espresso crazy friends for a Taco Tuesday night and impress them with these vegetarian tacos, which are packed with smoky rich flavours, seasoned with a homemade taco seasoning and a hint of coffee. The coffee lends an earthy flavour to the taco sauce taking your feast to new flavourful heights.
Sometimes my family crave dishes other than traditional curries for dinner, so I am always on the lookout for nutritious recipes from different cuisines. Over the past few years, we have grown very fond of Mexican food and have tried many recipes at home. These tacos are packed with protein and you can make them even healthier by topping or eating aside with plenty of salad. I have not used wholemeal wraps here but that would be another way of adding extra fibre to the meal.
WHAT ARE TACOS?
Tacos are a traditional Mexican recipe whereby tortillas made from wheat or corn are either folded or wrapped around a filling. The filling is usually then topped with cheese, guacamole, coriander and salsa. The toppings can be made from various vegetables, pulses, seafood and meat.
HOW TO MAKE TACO SEASONING AT HOME?
Rather than buying a small sachet of taco seasoning at a high price, I just whip up fresh taco seasoning at home, which can be made in less than a couple of minutes. I believe that homemade spices, masalas and mix are far better than shop bought. For taco seasoning, you will need these ingredients.
Red Chilli powder Cumin powder Dried chilli flakes Cayenne powder Smoked paprika Black pepper powder Garlic powder Onion powder Dried oregano
Mix it and store in an airtight jar.
INGREDIENTS FOR ESPRESSO BLACK BEAN TACO
The secret ingredient in this recipe is coffee. Usually, we always use some cocoa powder in our sauces but saw a recipe that uses coffee and thought we would try this instead!
Roasted red peppers from a jar – to blend into the black bean and pepper sauce
Black beans – we soaked black beans overnight and then cooked in the pressure cooker. But you can also use tinned black beans
Homemade taco/Mexican seasoning – a blend of various Mexican spices and herbs.
TO TOP
Grated cheese – we used a medium cheddar but you can use other cheeses too
Pickled onions – we added some pomegranate and pinch of sugar to the pickling vinegar for better colour and to add flavour
Fresh Coriander leaves –
HOW TO MAKE ESPRESSO BLACK BEAN TACO
To get the right taco recipe, you need flavourful chilli. For this particular recipe the espresso black bean filling sauce is the highlight, so we are going to give all the attention to the sauce, which will take most of our time in making flavourful and tasty tacos.
In a blender make a fine puree of roasted red peppers, tomato puree, vinegar, half of the black beans and water. In a pan heat olive oil and add the chopped onion, cook for 5-7 minutes then add taco seasoning and cook further for a minute or so. . Stir the pepper sauce, sugar and coffee into the onion mixture, add the vegetable stock and simmer gently for 18-20 minutes.
Once the sauce starts getting thicker add remainder of the black beans and diced peppers. Cook further for 10 minutes and stir in some freshly ground black pepper.
Once ready to serve, warm up the tortilla wrap. Spoon the aromatic chilli into the warm tortilla, sprinkle coriander leaves, some cheese and pomegranate pickled onion slices.
Other Mexican Recipes
Low-fat Sweet Potato and Black bean Quesadilla
Fresas Con Crema
Espresso Black Bean Tacos
ingredients
1 TBSP coffee powder
600g boiled black beans
1 big red onion roughly chopped
2 TBSP olive oil
3 -4 TBSP taco seasoning
2 TBSP sugar
400g roasted red peppers
3 TBSP tomato puree
400 ml vegetable stock
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 packet tortilla wrap packet
Pickled onion with pomegranate
Coriander leaves
Grated cheese
instructions
Place half of the black beans, 2/3 of roasted red peppers, vinegar and tomato puree with 200ml water in a blender and blend until you have a fine puree.
Finely chop the leftover roasted red peppers and leave it aside.
In a saucepan heat olive oil, add chopped onion and saute for a few minutes, add taco seasoning and saute for a minute or so.
Add pureed black bean paste, sugar and coffee powder.
Then add vegetable stock and let it simmer for 20 minutes on a gentle heat.
Once the sauce starts to thicken add remaining black beans and chopped red pepper.
Cook further for 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and transfer it into the serving bowl.
Once ready to serve, warm up the tortilla wrap, spoon the chilli into the wrap and top it up with the pickled onion, cheese and coriander.
Buen Provecho!
NOTES:
I have used bottled roasted red peppers.
Don't have red wine vinegar? use normal vinegar.
You can use shop bought stock cube, just add one cube in 400 ml hot water and stir well and use it.
The bean chilli can be freeze for up to 3 months.
Sometimes you just crave sticky, fudgy brownies straight from the oven. These Eggless Coca-cola Brownies comes together in less than 30-40 minutes. The star ingredient in this recipe is regular coca cola and condensed milk. The cola creates the lightest crust with a melt-in-the-mouth moist centre. These Eggless cola/coke brownies can satisfy even those who aren’t big fans of cake.
Brownies were amongst the first things we learnt to make at school. I distinctly remember me and my food tech partner sharing our ingredients that we’d brought along from home. I was never a huge fan of brownies. If I fancied cake, I always played it safe and went with a basic sponge. These cola brownies, however, have been a complete game changer!! Even my Mum who doesn’t really like chocolate baked goods fell in love! Definitely worth the effort of homemade brownies!
Love chocolate and eggless recipes? We have some delicious recipes here, have a look at our chocolate orange cake
Chocolate Passion fruit semolina cake
or chocolate and caramel ombre cake
INGREDIENTS FOR EGGLESS COCA-COLA BROWNIES
Plain flour
Butter (unsalted) and dark chocolate are melted in a bain-marie until smooth
Regular coca cola
Condensed milk
Bicarbonate of soda
Baking powder
Walnuts
There is no need to add any extra sugar as the cola, chocolate and condensed milk provide enough sweetness.
COLA/COKE IN EGGLESS BROWNIES
The cola typically is a substitute for eggs and oil in the brownie. The result is the desirable fudgy centre with a thin crust. The result is gooey melt in the mouth brownies.
HOW TO MAKE EGGLESS COCA-COLA BROWNIES
Preheat the oven at gas mark 4 or 180C or 356F.
Weigh out the ingredients.
In a bain-marie, melt the butter and dark chocolate. This is easier if the butter is cut into cubes and the chocolate divided into squares.
In a mixing bowl, sift the plain flour, add the bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and condensed milk
Mix the butter/chocolate mixture with the flour until smooth.
Add the cola to get the batter to the desired consistency and add walnuts to the mixture
Spoon into a square 8×8 baking tray
Bake for 22-25 minutes.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS FOR BROWNIES
These brownies can be topped with vanilla ice cream for a decadent dessert.
Eggless Coca-Cola Brownies
ingredients
100g sifted plain flour
100g Dark chocolate
200g condensed milk
45g butter
1 TSP Baking soda ( Bicarbonate of soda)
1/2 TSP Baking powder
Few drops vanilla extract
40g chopped walnuts
80-100mls Coca-cola or coke
Oven
Baking tray
Parchment or greaseproof paper
Bowl
saucepan
spatula
Whisk
Measuring spoon
Electric scale
instructions
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180C or 356F.
- In a big bowl mix sifted plain flour, baking soda and baking powder.
- Melt chocolate and butter together using the bain- marie method.
- Add condensed milk, vanilla and melted chocolate mixture into the dry flour mix.
- Combine everything, then add coca-cola and walnuts.
- Pour the batter into a lined baking tray.
- Bake the brownies for 22-25 minutes.
NOTES:
Instead of walnuts use pecan, also this is optional too. If you are allergic to nuts, avoid totally.
You can throw some chocolate chips int to the batter before baking the brownies.
Cocoa powder, Blueberries and coconut just for the photgraphic purpose.
