Black Bean Tomato Sauce

I often crave Mexican-type foods, especially black beans and salsa. I had some kasha buckwheat in the cupboard which I was wanting to try. I bought this toasted seed a while ago because I read that it is high in complete protein and is gluten free since it is not a cereal grain. I figured I would try it out by making a sauce, that way if I didn't like the kasha I could cover it up with tomatoey goodness.

On Monday I decided to test out the kasha with some mexican inspired tomato sauce. I started out with some canned tomatoes, black beans, half an onion, one carrot and a big clove of garlic. I had planned on adding tomato paste but the crushed tomatoes had a thick enough consistency for the sauce. This sauce is actually quite thick. Next time I would probably used diced tomatoes and then also add the tomato paste.



I chopped up the onion and garlic, and shredded the carrot.


I heated about a tablespoon of olive oil and then added the onion, garlic and carrots. Here I then added about 1/2 tsp oregano and sprinkled some cayenne pepper and chili powder. This was sauteed for about 3 to 5 minutes and then added the can of tomato and black beans (rinsed very well). After simmering for about 5 minutes I tasted the sauce and decided it needed some salt, pepper, and more cayenne and chili powder.


While the sauce was simmering on low I cooked the kasha. Pretty easy thing to make. Just boil 2 parts water, add 1 part kasha, cover, and simmer on low for 15ish minutes.

So turns out I don't like kasha very much. I still have about a cup of it in my pantry so I better think of something to make with it. The sauce was delicious though, and a dollop of cottage cheese on top completed it perfectly. I appologize for how nasty this photo looks, but I swear it tasted good.


This sauce would be good with rice, pasta, on a piece of toast or on anything really. It is also very good on breaded eggplant, the star of my next post.