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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Chilli bean crepes


Some leftover chilli beans were found hiding in the fridge just before Father's Day which gave me an idea for Sunday brunch. I would reheat the chilli beans, make some guacamole, grate some cheezly and serve all of this in crepes!

We were smitten with savoury crepes a couple of years ago, first made for us by my sister in Cairns and then at a market stall she recommended when we headed over to Darwin. My sister's crepes were filled with goat's cheese and tomato which was a variation of her feta and tomato market stall favourite. Another type of crepe we sampled from the market contained chilli beans, cheese and sour cream which was another delicious combination. After we arrived home, both varieties were on our weekend brunch menu for a while before other things took over and they were forgotten.

I hadn't really thought about making crepes after going vegan, mainly because our beloved fillings had been so heavy in dairy products. The time had come for our weekend brunches to have a shake-up, tofu scrambles and baked beans had been standard fare for a while and were becoming a little mundane. After looking through several cookbooks, I decided to try the savoury crepe recipe from Veganomicon.  

The mixture is simple to prepare although like many other crepe recipes, the batter needs to sit for a least an hour before it's ready for making crepes. Our growling stomachs couldn't quite wait for an hour to pass (we made it to about 45 minutes) but this had no detrimental effect as the crepes still turned out perfectly. It was a different way to use up left over chilli beans and we also managed to consume one or two crepes topped with lemon juice and sugar as well!

Savoury Wheat Crepes (Adapted from Veganomicon)

3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup water

Place the flours and salt in a bowl and combine well. Pour in the soy milk and water and whisk until a smooth mixture results and no lumps remain. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Prior to making crepes, give the mixture a quick stir.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high and lightly brush with melted dairy-free margarine. Pour about 1/3 cup of the mixture into the frying pan, swirling the pan to ensure that the batter spreads out into a thin layer. When the mixture has set, flip the crepe over and cook for another minute. Remove the cooked crepe and repeat the process until the mixture has been used up.    

Chilli beans

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red capsicum, chopped
2 teaspoons chilli seasoning mix (based on this recipe which I'm constantly tweaking)
1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
1 x 400g tin kidney beans, rinsed and drained
salt, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and fry the onion until soft. Stir through the garlic, red capsicum and chilli seasoning mix and cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes and kidney beans and simmer for about 10 minutes until the capsicum is tender. Season with salt and serve.

Chilli bean crepes

For each crepe, add spoonfuls of the chilli beans onto one half of the crepe. Sprinkle with grated cheezly and add dollops of guacamole and/or vegan sour cream. Fold over and serve!

7 comments:

  1. I wonder why the mixture needs to sit! I love savoury crepes - have tried them with haggis and a cheesey sauce, and also with potato, tomato and lentils! Love this idea for chilli non carne

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  2. I'm so grateful for this :) I had chilli bean burritos on Sunday night but this would be a lovely way to mix it up.

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  3. Thanks Johanna, I'm not sure why it needs to sit but I have used a non-vegan recipe in the past that required some sitting time as well. I think I remember one of your savoury crepe posts where you baked the crepes after assembling them.

    Thanks Kari, that's quite funny as I almost turned them into breakfast burritos when I realised that the crepe mixture was going to take an hour. Everyone seemed content to wait for crepes which were worth it in the end!

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  4. I never make crepes but seeings yours makes me want to!

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  5. Thanks Ashley, I haven't made crepes in years so it was good for a change!

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  6. Wow, your crepes look absolutely incredible! I love crepes, but I've never tried making one on my own. I don't own any non-stick pans. How essential do you think they are to crepe-making?

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  7. Thanks Cadry, I'm not sure that a non-stick pan is absolutely essential, however it probably makes the job easier and also reduces the amount of margarine required. If you make crepes with a standard pan I would recommended coating the pan with a decent amount of dairy-free margarine prior to adding the crepe mixture. Hope that helps!

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