Recipe: Spicy Mexican Muffins {Vegan & High Protein}

Summary: These muffins are my new happy food! Sometimes I just really want a big bowl of veggies or a big salad for dinner but meals like that can lack the carbs and protein to be properly satiating. Bean or lentil patties make a great side dish but I was jonesing for something a bit spicy, a bit bready and really filling. Or something savoury to have as snack that would fill me up in a way veggie sticks do not. And that’s the story of these muffins! Each muffin packs a decent 10.9g of plant protein! That comes from chickpea flour and lentils which are both huge sources of protein and fibre. Hemp seeds are amazing, high protein, good unsaturated fats, magnesium, potassium and B vitamins. Nutritional yeast is also high protein and adds a subtle cheesiness, plus the all-important B vitamins (including B12). Salsa, cumin and jalapeños give this a serious shot of flavour. These taste amazing and they are really lovely and filling to eat. Moist and with a soft crumb. And I love that they are dead easy to make! Honestly, they are so easy, even if the ingredient list seems long I promise this recipe is no effort at all.

As soon as I made these my family were obsessed with the taste! No one could believe that they were high protein, healthy (well healthy for a muffin) and vegan. All exclaimed they were the best savoury muffin the have ever had and we all know it’s hard to beat out those cheese laden ones. My Sister rarely cooks but asked for the recipe before it was published and asked where to buy all the unfamiliar ingredients, so she could make these on the regular! So here in Australia, you should find chickpea flour (or besan flour, as it is known) in most supermarkets but often in another isle than the regular flour. If not, an Indian grocery will definitely have it. Some more fancy supermarkets (like Brighton Foodland here in SA) will have nutritional yeast and hemp seeds, otherwise a health food store will have them. My local health food store is unreasonably pricey and I find online places much better value. I use a commercial egg replacer but I’m sure a flax egg would be fine. I actually used a jar of hot taco sauce as my salsa in this batch and omitted the jalapeño, if you use something mild, you can adjust the jalapeño level to suit your tastes. I kind want to go spicier next time…

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup chickpea (besan) flour
• 1 cup plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2 tblsp hemp seeds
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tblsp nutritional yeast

Wet Ingredients

• 1 cup salsa or taco sauce
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg replacement, made up as directed
• 8-10 slices pickled jalapeños, chopped plus extra for topping
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1/2 red capsicum, diced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 (400g) can brown lentils, drained and rinsed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C degrees and grease a 12-cup muffin tin. If you line with paper liners, just before filling them grease them with some cooking spray too!
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, hemp seeds, cumin, salt and nutritional yeast.
3. In a separate, smaller bowl, combine the salsa, oil, water and egg replacer – whisk to combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, along with the  jalapeños, corn, capsicum, spring onions and lentils. Fold gently until just combined, don’t be tempted to over mix! It will be lumpy and thick, like the pic above.
5. Scoop the batter into the greased twelve muffin cups, garnishing with a jalapeño slice if you fancy it and bake for 20-23 minutes or until golden brown on top and a skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow muffins cool in the tin for 10 mins, then move them to a wire rack (to avoid them becoming soggy) to cool completely.
7. Store in an airtight container at room temp for 2-3 days (they will stale if refrigerated).
8. To freeze – individually wrap the muffins in clingfilm or foil and then transfer to ziplock bags or freezer containers. They will keep for 2-3 months frozen, after that texture may be affected.
9. To reheat – place the frozen muffin/s back in the muffin tin. Reheat in the oven at 170C until heated through. Alternatively, allow them to thaw and then reheat in the microwave.