Chocolate Brownies

I'm going over to my best friend's place tonight for dinner, so I thought I'd take over something sweet. I decided on chocolate ginger brownies, but wanted one as moistly densely cakey as I like my brownies, so thought I'd modify a recipe. This wasn't remotely as gingery as I'd like (next time I might try increasing the ginger, and possibly throwing in some chopped crystallised ginger), but it's definitely dense, moist and cakey. And very, very chocolately.

The recipe is slightly modified from the "Stan's Famous Brownies" recipe that appeared in The Age's Epicure section. I've increased the ginger from what I used (2 tsp). Try 1 tB if you're not feeling adventurous.

Chocolate Ginger Brownies
1 cup tahini
1 cup cocoa
3 tB or so rice milk (or other non-dairy milk) as needed
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple juice
4 tB flaxseed meal
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tB powdered ginger

Set the oven to 180°C. Combine the tahini and cocoa to a paste. Add in some rice milk if mixture's too thick and lumpy. Stir in the sugar, and add the apple juice.
Whisk the flaxseed meal in a small bowl with 12 tB of water. Add to mixture.
Stir in flour, then add the vanilla, nutmeg and ginger. Stir to combine.
Pour (or scrape) into a greased and floured cake pan (I used a square tin about 20 cm square). Bake for about 25–30 minutes, or until it's crispy on top and stands up to the old skewer cake test.

Voila. Cut into squares, or fingers, as you please. Serve with vegan custard if you're feeling particularly flash.

Warning: this is very, very rich.

Eggplant Dip

I have a friend who quietly 'sploded the number of people who read this blog, then I promptly got a job over the other side of the city and everything is getting lost in the commute. Apologies all round.

Here's a quick recipe. It's based on a recipe sticker I found on the side of an eggplant, but it's improved because the original was frankly crap. I made this for a friend's party and it got the thumbs up, even from non-eggplant lovers.

Eggplant Dip

1 large eggplant
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
sprinkle paprika
1/2 tsp balsamic
1/2 tsp mushroom ketchup/vegan worchestershire sauce (opt.)
1 tsp olive oil (opt.)

Set oven to 220°C.
Cut eggplant in half. Place cut side down in a baking tray with 1cm of water in the bottom. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the skin of the eggplant chars. Scoop out the flesh and mash (or puree). Let it cool, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir thoroughly.