Shrimp & Strings in Black Bean Sauce.

So you may remember I made a huge batch of black beans a few weeks back. I used most in a veggie chili and had a hankering to make an Asian black bean sauce with the rest. Funny enough, there aren't many recipes for it online. I whipped together a pretty good one on the fly. I warmed the black beans with fish sauce and roasted red chili paste. The sauce & paste are rather salty so be gentle with them. I let the ingredients simmer and mashed the beans up once they became softer. Add water the mix becomes more of a paste than a sauce. So once it was all good & wicked, I threw in the shrimp and string beans. Very delicious & not too backbreaking. 

Spicy Shrimp Tortillitas

So, in the spirit of food exploration, I bought some chickpea flour from Sahadi's the other day. {More on that wonderful place soon.} I couldn't remember the recipe that called for it and when I did a google search for chickpea flour, of course a Bittman recipe for tortillitas with shrimp was one of the first to pop up. This delicious Spanish treat is fairly painless to prepare. Ya'll know me, I had to make the recipe my own. I used cayenne pepper instead of black and half a cup of whole wheat flour instead of white. You will need to add more water since the flour is heavier. I used a generous amount of olive oil on the first pancake as Bittman instructed. As you can see below, it spilled over a bit, but it's actually a good thing. I used less oil on the second pancake and it wasn't quite the same consistency. They are brilliant. Explore & Enjoy!

Don't mind the oil on top, it helps cook the other side.

I almost never make pancakes, but I flipped this b like a pro!

Great color & texture. Try it with a small salad.