Ok all my stories should not begin morbidly with – ‘Corona Era’ 😀 so I will instead talk about what happened in the past and how it led to the addition of a strange ingredient in my bakes.

A couple of years ago when my son’s chronic throat problem led us to an ayurvedic doctor, the ensuing medication necessitated cutting out all dairy from his diet for a temporary period. And necessity being the mother of invention, his mother (me of course) had to come up with something suitable. Brownies being his favorite, a new version was born.

Also I was creating recipes for Kitchen Aid India as mentioned on this Whole Grain Cracker Recipe post. So the Kitchen Aid Bowl Lift Stand Mixer was put into action and the brownie batter was created with some unusual ingredients. Of course this is a fairly simple process and one can easily make it without a machine too.

This is an original idea, made up on the spur of the moment and it turned our quite well.

Since the brownies were dairy free, I also decided to go egg free and hence these vegan (if using vegan chocolate) brownies were rather crumbly, so I had to freeze them for a bit before cutting. Also I stored them in the fridge in an airtight box to prevent them from turning soft.

Adding egg and butter will probably result in a firmer texture. Please experiment and let me know.

Anyway, cut to the present and now being stuck at home during lockdown, I thought of recreating the bake once again. I also tweaked it a bit to make it more stable and this time I got brownies that were sturdier than before.

Tamarind Brownies –

As is obvious from the title, my brownies were enhanced with the tang of tamarind, for nor reason other than that I had a bowl of tamarind pulp lurking in the recesses of my fridge. Tamarind is a flavor I quite like and so I was pretty pleased with the sweet and sour outcome. And of course, being brownies, one does not have to stress over the texture, since anything naturally gooey and fudgy will be quite acceptable.

I usually have a bowl of thick tamarind pulp ready, since I use it for sambhar, rasam and many other dishes. Having the pulp handy is quite convenient since I can use it instantly instead of going through the entire soaking and squishing process every time, plus it stays well for several days in the fridge without spoiling. I have given the process below, in the notes.

Recipe for Tamarind Brownies –

Equipment used –

Kitchen Aid Bowl Lift Stand Mixer

Kitchen Aid Splash Guard

You can also do this manually without a machine.

Ingredients –

For the brownie

1 –  Whole Wheat flour (any brand atta) – 1 cup

2  – Baking soda –  1/2 teaspoon (omit if you like very dense brownies)

3 – Salt – 1/2 teaspoon

4 –  Walnut/Mixed dry fruits  – ½ cup (optional)

5 -Dark chocolate – I used dark compound (get a vegan variant if you are vegan) – 200 gm

6 –  Virgin coconut oil – 50 gm

7 – Cocoa powder – 3 tablespoon

8 –  Raw sugar – 1/2 cup (modify as per taste)

9 –  Tamarind, thick pulp – ½ cup (modify as per taste)

For coating the pan –

Oil – 1 teaspoon

For topping – 

Topping is optional. You can use walnuts, dry fruits or choco chips. Quantity as per choice.

Method –

-Prepare a 7 inch square Aluminum pan by coating the sides with 1 tsp oil. Line the base of the pan with parchment paper (It is safer to line the sides too because the brownie can be rather sticky).

-Preheat the oven to 180 deg c.

-Sift the dry ingredients 1-3 thrice and set aside. Toss the walnuts/dry fruit in, so that they are coated with flour. Reserve a few for topping. Set the flour mix aside

– Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Run it 2-3 times for 30 seconds each or till melted. Add the coconut oil and cocoa powder and microwave for 30 seconds. Blend well with a spatula.

– Put this in the bowl of the Kitchen Aid Bowl Lift Stand Mixer and add the sugar and tamarind pulp and vanilla. Using the flat beater (paddle), mix together the ingredients at speed 1 for 20 seconds and then speed 2 for around 2 minutes.

– Add the dry flour mix in a total of 2 batches, feeding it through the KitchenAid splash guard to prevent the flour from flying all over.

– Run the mixer for around 2 more minutes starting from speed 1 for a minute and ending with speed 2 till the wet and dry ingredients come together, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides intermittently whenever required.

– If you are doing this process without a mixer, then just follow the same sequence and mix all ingredients well with a spatula.

–  Pour the batter into the prepared pan. If it is too thick, spread it evenly with a Silicon spatula.

– Top it with toppings of choice, if using.

– Place the pan in the pre heated oven.

– Bake at 180 degrees C for 40 – 50 minutes. Check for doneness after 40 minutes by inserting a clean knife into the brownie. If it does not come out clean, continue baking for another 10 minutes or so or till done.

– Remove and let it rest for till it cools to room temperature. Do not invert. Place it in the freezer till it firms up. Then gently invert.

– Slice only if it is well frozen. You can then store the slices in the fridge in an airtight box.

I hope you will successfully try this recipe and I would really appreciate if you leave your feedback in the Blog comments.

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May 5th, 2020