The Fresh Loaf

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Healthy Bean Chips--Over 30% Fiber!

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

Healthy Bean Chips--Over 30% Fiber!

I don't know if it is appropriate to making a posting about bean chips here or not but I figure it's worth a shot and definitely worth sharing.

I am diabetic and when I eat grain snacks I like them to be as healthy as possible.  You can't get more fiber than you can with beans.

I was at Whole Foods Market today and about to buy another package of "Beanitos" brand chips at $3.49 for 6 ounces. (I always liked Beanitos because they were over 30% fiber--compared to around 5% fiber of a typical chip.)  I thought it was ridiculous how much they were charging--over 50 cents an ounce--for chips made with bean flour, since one can buy beans so cheaply. Looking on the back at the ingredients it seemed pretty simple:  beans, rice flour, salt, water, flavoring, guar bean gum & oil.  I figured I could make that!

So instead of buying that small bag of chips for $3.49 I decided to make my own today when I got home.  And that is exactly what I did.  I had never done this before, and never seen a recipe for it, but I figured I'd give it a shot.  I'm glad I did because they turned out as good or better than the storebought bean chips.

Here is what I did.  I took 100 grams of miscellaneous dried beans and threw them in my spice/coffee grinder.  I ground them up until they were the consistency of masa flour.  I put the bean flour in a bowl with 12 grams of rice flour.  I threw in some salt & for personal flavoring: chipotle powder & cayenne--you could use any spices you like.  Then I worked in about a teaspoon or so of olive oil.  After that I added just a little water to bring the stuff together into a very firm paste (that I could easily roll out)--50% hydration. (I left out the guar bean gum, since I didn't have any on hand and ultimately it proved uneccessary.) I rolled it out thin, dusting it with 100% freshly ground organic whole wheat flour (that I keep on hand).

I cut these up into chip size pieces and threw them in a pot of 375F degree oil.  They cooked up in like 30 seconds.  Took them out and put them on a cooling rack.  Sprinkled a little salt on them.

They're yummy and I'll never buy storebought bean chips again:

cranbo's picture
cranbo

They sound delicious! I wonder how they might be oven-baked (instead of fried). 

I'll have to give this a shot. 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Those sound great.  Glad you left out that gar gum crapola.  I think these would taste great baked as well. Thanks for sharing.

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Sounds, and looks interesting! bean flour.. humm

Thanks for sharing!

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

I'll have to try oven baked -- would be a lot healthier.  And the only oil you'd be getting is the fat in the bean and the monounsaturated fat of the olive oil that you add. :)  I might add a little more olive oil if needed, if I bake them.

MangoChutney's picture
MangoChutney

I wonder if you could make them with cooked beans, mashed to paste. Maybe the water content would be just about right to just mix with the grain-based flour and no additional water?

I will be interested to hear anyone's results with baking these. We are trying to avoid making deep-fried foods in the house. If we want to eat those, we make ourselves go out to eat. That isn't trivial for us, so it's much reduced the amount of fat we've been eating.

Grenage's picture
Grenage

Healthy -right up to the point they were fried, indeed. :)

I've never tried bean crisps, but as I do have a lot of dried beans in the house, I will have to give them a try (baked). Your'e probably right that cooked mashed beans would likely work just as well.

I'mTheMami's picture
I'mTheMami

Looove this¡! 

 

By 50% hydration, you mean you had twice as much flour (bean and rice total) as you did liquid (water and oil if you were to add it to the mix? ) 

I am so making these ASAP, and will use a mix of different dried beans. Imagine howyum that could be?!

 

thanksfor the recipe and sorry for the question but Im new to the bakers percentages/lingo ;) 

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

Yes 50% of the total dry weight in liquid (I use only water).  They are yummy with multiple beans and actually don't absorb that much oil if you deep fry them correctly--the storebought ones are definitely deep fried and not baked.

I'm glad you liked the recipe, thanks.  I just made some the other day for my boyfriend to dip in some hummus--they were quite tasty.

I'mTheMami's picture
I'mTheMami

Thanks for the help! I see now in the OP you did use a mix of beans LOL. And yum, dipped in hummus! My fav!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

they would turn out baked instead of fried?  Being diabetic, loving beans and hardly ever eating anything fried ...I'm thinking that this has possibilities to bake them but we might have to mist them in canola oil before hitting the stone.  I like the baked stuff better taste wise anyway.

What a great ting to figure out!  No one likes it when they think they are being ripped off.

Happy baking