Fast things with tofu

I've gone through a cooking slump the last few weeks: It's been disgustingly hot, and I'm very busy getting ready for the new school year to start and for exams.  I have finally started cooking again, but first, here are a few really fast things I've thrown together in lieu of trying new legitimate recipes.

From the game of "which leftovers go together?"  Fried tofu with Panang Curry Paste, cilantro, and avocado, with brown rice.

*

Superfast, kindofpadthai: sauteed tofu; then added garlic, ginger, and carrots; then added cabbage and tamari; then added cooked rice noodles and a mixture of peanut butter, garlic-chili paste, and water.  Topped with cilantro.

*

In other news, my mom has mailed me all the books I had left at her house and never took with me to LA.  It's quite the selection of reading material!

Buckaroo Beans and Homemade Polenta

The word "buckaroo," according to wikipedia, most likely derives from the Spanish word "vaquero" and essentially means "cowboy."  Would a cowboy eat these beans?  I'm not sure.  On the one hand, there's a nice element of tex-mex-ish fusion, what with the chipotles and cocoa.  On the other hand, this is a lil too complicated to make, like out of a can out on the range or whatever.

This recipe employs dry mustard, chipotles, coffee, and chocolate!! which results in an awesome tangy, smoky, velvety, and earthy dish.

I had this recipe two ways, both of which I'd recommend: first, with fried collards and brown rice (typical macro-southern fusion); and secondly, with homemade polenta: although trader joe's polenta is cheap, easy, and tasty, I thought I'd try my hand at doing it from scratch, since I didn't have any other polenta options.  I simmered 1/2 c cornmeal in several c of water until all the water was absorbed (which happened really fast), then I put it into little cups (see photo at right) and refrigerated them a few hours.  Then, slice and fry!

So about this recipe.  I used 1 c dry black beans; I couldn't decide how much this was (the original recipe called for one pound), so I started off making a "half" but then lapsed into whole.  This meant that the dish ended up really saucy rather than beany, but still good.  Indeed, according to some random site I google, 1 lb dry beans is actually 2.2 c.  Maybe I should get a kitchen scale.

I also omitted the bell pepper, bacon bits (ew), and extra liquid.  I mistakenly used whole chipotles en adobo instead of cutting them up (whoops).  And finally, I used cocoa powder rather than chocolate--this, I think, was just fine and also healthier.

Buckaroo Beans

(adapted from frontier coop, via Janet's suggestions on my post about chili powder)

Ingredients

1-2 c dry beans, soaked (I used 1 c dry black beans)

2 bay leaves

*

1/2-1 large onion, chopped

1  large green pepper, seeds and membrane removed, chopped (I skipped this)

2-3 canned chipotle peppers en adobo, diced, with their sauce

2-4 TB cocoa powder

1/2-1 c canned crushed tomatoes (I used 1/4 c tomato paste w/some water)

1 c very strong coffee

3 TB brown sugar

1 TB chili powder

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dry mustard

oil

Directions

1. Drain the beans well, rinse, and place in a large pot with fresh water to cover. Add the bay leaves and place over high heat. Bring to boil; lower heat and simmer until tender, about 40 minutes for anasazi, 1 1/2 hours for pintos. Remove from heat. Drain and reserve the cooking liquid.
2. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
3. Spray a bean pot or other deep, nonreactive casserole with cooking spray. Scatter the onion and green pepper over the bottom, then add the drained beans.
4. Whisk the chipotles and adobe sauce, unsweetened chocolate, crushed tomatoes, coffee, brown sugar, chili powder, oregano (crush the leaves between your fingers as you add it, to release the essential oils), salt, ground cumin, and dry mustard into the reserved bean cooking liquid. When well combined, pour over the beans. The liquid should just cover the beans; if it doesn't, add just enough boiling water, coffee, or vegetable stock to achieve this. Cover and bake for 6 hours, checking every once in a while to make sure the liquid level is maintained.
5. After the beans have baked for 6 hours, uncover. Stir to distribute the onion and green pepper throughout the beans. Return to oven and bake for 50 minutes more. If using, stir in bacon bits and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Serve hot, with cornbread or tortillas, and pass any desired accompaniments at the table.  Serves 4-6.

Last night in LA

Well, this pretty much brings me up to when I left LA.  I flew United, and got some really bizarre but totally passable special vegan meals: dinner was a mild and tasty curry with chickpeas and sweet potatoes... topped by a slice of peach (!?) and served with Israeli couscous (?!).  It was accompanied by several slices of German rye bread (!?), Earth Balance, and a green salad with fat-free balsamic vinaigrette.  Huh?  Oh, and to top it off, some sugar-free pecan "shortbread" cookies (more like Nilla Wafers, really), that had xylitol in them.  I am a little creeped out by the xylitol, which I had to look up upon arrival.

Breakfast on board was a (quite tasty, albeit weird considering it felt like the middle of the night) pita pocket with hummus, tabouleh, and lettuce in it.  Accompanied by... more of the sugar-free cookies?!  Everyone else was served yogurt, bananas, and a pastry.  So random, but it's really nice that airlines are so willing to accommodate.

*

My last dinner in LA was of the clean-out-the-fridge sort.  Sarah had brought me over a bunch of squashes from someone's garden (at Wattles, actually!), and I had some other veggies lying around as well.  Most excitingly, I finally fried up that tube of polenta that had been sitting on my counter for weeks.

*

We made the squash along the same lines that my family often made it when I was growing up (minus the parmesan).  I parboiled the carrots ahead of time so that they'd cook evenly with the softer squash, and I used the old Western-style herbs, plus whatever was on hand.  Some sesame seeds added crunch and nuttiness.

Summer Squash and Carrots with Herbs

Ingredients

carrots, sliced

olive oil

garlic, minced

scallions, chopped

salt

summer squash/zucchini/etc, sliced or quartered

thyme

oregano

fresh parsley, minced

red pepper flakes

sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Parboil the carrots so that they're about the same softness as the squashes.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet.  Add garlic, scallions, and salt, and cook until fragrant.  Then add squash and carrots and cook a few minutes.  Add herbs and red pepper flakes, and cook until veggies are tender and slightly browned, adding water as necessary.
3. Adjust salt to taste and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving hot.  A sprinkle of nutritional yeast would also be nice.

*

Polenta was the real exciting discovery.  A random buy from Trader Joe's one day, this inexpensive, shelf-stable golden tube had been sitting around for weeks.  I sliced it, browned it in olive oil, and then served the crispy and succulent slices with some of the leftover enchilada sauce I'd found in my freezer.  I'd forgotten how amazing this sauce was--cumin, marjoram, and, most of all, smoky chipotles en adobo give this sauce incredible depth of flavor.  Here, that flavor was really well complemented by the textures and the mild sweetness of the polenta.  We ate it all.

 
Pan-Fried Polenta with Spicy Chipotle Enchilada Sauce

*

In other news, Devon has been practicing her wave.

Kushari / Colin / Khalid

I recently saw Janet's yummy-looking post on taste space about a kitchari that riffs off the original ayurvedic dish, but adds both an eastern European spin (with dill, cabbage, and carrots) and a neo-western-foodie/macro element (ginger, soy sauce, miso, quinoa--and yes, I know quinoa is actually really ancient, South American, etc...). 

It got me thinking again (as I posted about once before), about how kitchari/khichri became kedgeree (Anglo-Indian) and kushari/koshary (Egyptian)... did the British bring the dish (and its name) to Egypt, or does the cross-pollination here precede the British completely, as Clifford Wright suggests?

And then I wondered some more... where does it end?  Maybe a dish that combines a legume and a grain is one of the most basic dishes ever, anywhere.  Even wikipedia is like, "...consider also Mujaddara, Hoppin' John, and Gallo Pinto... and... and..."  I'm both cautious of and excited by the politics of a universal food culture.  In any case, it often seems that by swapping out one component for an equivalent (vinegar for citrus, pomegranate molasses for tamarind paste, mung beans or lentils for pinto beans, bulgur or quinoa for rice), you might be able to play a kind of culinary word golf across the entire world.  Which in turn means, you can have congruent dishes all over the place that actually share no ingredients! a la Theseus's ship.

In other news, my brother Colin is back in Cairo and loving it.  And eating a lot of kushari.  Interestingly, "Colin" appears to mean "young creature" in Gaelic while the Arabic name he goes by in Egypt--"Khalid"--means "immortal."

Red Lentil Sesame Fritters

Joumana of Taste of Beirut does it again.  It's interesting how, with the exception of the occasional lamb- or cheese-based recipe, this blog comes closer to my tastes than many vegan blogs.  I love how her blog creatively mixes traditional Lebanese foods with other global influences.

I veganized this recipe for flavorful, falafel-like fritters by using flaxseed instead of egg; I also made it gluten-free with chickpea flour instead of wheat flour (rather like in the case of the tempeh meatballs).  (edit, 7/8/11: d'oh...except for the bulgur!  I made this again and used more rice in place of the bulgur)  I'd recommend pre-cooking the lentils and grains in advance, because you won't want to handle them while they're still hot; moreover, the batter won't be as (problematically) wet if the grains sit and absorb some liquid while cooling off.  I skipped the step of pre-cooking the garlic and herbs; I don't think it was necessary: there wasn't so much garlic as to be a problem raw.

When I finally got around to shaping the fritters, it was eerily like making these cookies: rolling the dough in a ball, then coating it in sesame seeds!  The final texture is pretty amazing: although the rice and bulgur make the insides a bit more varied (sort of like in oats and rice sausage), overall it's fluffier and lighter than a falafel, and the seame seeds on the outside give it an additional crispiness.

The flavors are equally exciting.  Besides the usual cumin-coriander-garlic, the chipotle and caraway in the harissa add complexity, as does the pretty generous amount of dried mint.  These guys are all balanced out by more sour flavors of lime zest (!), extra lemon juice, and, yes, sumac.  I was sort of put off of sumac when I bought it ages ago and used way too much of it, but here I halved it and proceeded with caution, and it was great!  Just a little extra funky-sour flavor.

Joumana suggests pairing these fritters with a cold salad of tomatoes and feta.  I agree that they'd go well with something fresh and slightly sour.  Perhaps a cold chutney or salsa of sorts?  The first time I had these they were paired (happily) with the Moroccan Carrot Salad and the Green Pea Soup; the second time it was just with salad (as pictured below).

Red Lentil Fritters

(adapted from taste of beirut)

Ingredients

1 c red lentils, cooked in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes till soft.

1/2 c bulgur (#1), soaked in hot water 10 minutes, then drained and squeezed of the extra water.

3/4 c (short grain brown) rice, cooked

1 large (flax) egg (1 TB ground flax + 3 TB water; combine and let sit for 10 minutes before using)

1/2 c (chickpea) flour

2 scallions, minced (can substitute shallot) (optional)

2 TB of harissa (can substitute red pepper paste of your choice or chili paste)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp sumac (optional)

2 TB powdered dried mint

Rind of zest of an orange or a lemon or a lime, chopped

lemon juice to taste

salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add any, but it depends on how much salt you cooked the lentils and grains with and how spicy your harissa is)  

*

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 c minced cilantro

1/2-1 c minced Italian parsley (1 c was a little too much; interfered with cohesiveness of batter)

*

1 c of sesame seeds (can substitute pistachios, pecans or walnuts, chopped fine)

oil for frying, as needed

1 or 2 lemons, quartered

Instructions

1. Place the cooked (and drained) lentils in a large bowl. Add the drained bulgur, rice, egg, flour, minced scallions, harissa and other spices, rind of a citrus and toss well to combine. Heat a little olive oil in a small skillet, throw the mashed garlic and minced herbs and stir to combine the mixture for no more than 10 seconds. Remove and add to the lentil mixture and toss.  (I took a short cut by simply adding in the garlic and herbs without pre-frying them).

2. Shape the fritters with an ice-cream scoop (or your hands) and dip in the sesame seeds or other nuts.
3. Heat some oil in a pan (about one inch) and when hot (at 350F to 375F), drop the fritters and cook about 3 minutes on one side and one minute on the other. Place on a plate lined with paper towels.   Serve hot with lemon wedges.  Serves about 6.

Wheat Berry Pilaf with Roasted Eggplant and Cashews

Ever since I started making the ol' Mediterranean wheat berry salad, I have really loved wheat berries.  They're perhaps the only whole grain I find as texturally satisfying (whoa, say that carefully) as pasta.  High in protein and fiber, too, they make me very sad for gluten-intolerant people. 

I've had this unusual pilaf from holy cow in my "to try" file for ages, and the other day, when I made the lemony legume soup, it was finally time.  Like the soup, this dish was built on certain Indian flavors (mustard seeds, cashews, raisins) but with quite the unorthodox twist.  I try to keep my consumption of inflammatory nightshade veggies (like eggplant and tomato) to a minimum, but sometimes I cannot resist their deliciousness.  The roasted eggplant was delicious, and between that and the chewy wheat berries, crunchy cashews, and refreshing tomatoes, it was quite a texture fiesta. I omitted the rosemary and raisins that Vaishali's recipe originally called for, but it was still a very unusual dish.  I found myself hankering for a little more acidity in it, though, to balance out the savory, toasty flavors of the wheat berries, eggplant, toasted cashews, and mustard.  The tomatoes weren't quite enough--I'd like to try adding some lemon or lime juice as well.  An avocado would also be a great addition.

Wheat Berry Pilaf with Roasted Eggplant and Cashews

(from holy cow)

Ingredients

1 c wheat berries

1 medium eggplant, 3/4-in dice

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp garlic powder (next time, I'd try real minced garlic)

salt to taste

2 tsp vegetable oil, like canola

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 TB cashew nuts, chopped

1 tsp garam masala powder or curry powder

4 small tomatoes or two medium ones, cut into pieces

lemon or lime juice to taste

salt to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the wheatberries until soft but not broken open.  Drain and set aside.
2. In a baking dish, toss together the eggplant, 1 tsp oil, cayenne, turmeric and garlic powder.  Place in a 400-degree oven and bake, stirring occasionally or until the eggplant is really creamy and tender (this took me 25-30 min). 
3. Heat the remaining oil in a skillet.  Add the mustard seeds and, when they crackle, add the cashew nuts.  Toast until they begin to just color. Add garam masala and toss to heat through.
4. Now add the cooked wheat berries and eggplant and stir well to mix. Add salt to taste. Turn off heat.
5. Stir in the tomatoes, and sprinkle with lemon or lime juice.  Serves about 4.

Wheatberry "Paella" with Chickpeas

Umm this has a very tenuous relationship to 'real' paella, but I'm going to go with it anyway.  Peppers, capers, and lemon juice give this stew a more tangy flavor than your average tomato-oregano thing.  I added some more veggies to Isa's recipe for a complete meal.

Let's see... I had no leeks, so I just used an onion... and I threw in some zucchini and carrot as well.  Otherwise, I mostly followed the recipe.  I'm not sure I liked how sour it was, but it was super saffrony! which was aromatic, not to mention indulgent.

Wheatberry "Paella" with Chickpeas

(from the post punk kitchen)

Ingredients

1/2 tsp saffron threads
1/2 c boiling water
*
1 c wheatberries

1 bay leaf
*
olive oil
1/2 onion
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 c dry white wine (Chardonnay is great)
1/2 tsp salt
1 c vegetable broth
1 TB tomato paste
1 carrot, diced

2 small zucchinis, diced

2 roasted red peppers, jarred or homemade, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

1-2 c drained, cooked chickpeas (one 15 oz can should work)

4 tsp capers (too much?)

2 TB fresh lemon juice

lots of fresh black pepper

Instructions

1. Pour boiling water over saffron and let sit. 
2. In a small saucepan, bring to boil wheatberries and water.  Boil 2 minutes, then turn off heat, cover, and let sit.
3. In a larger saucepan, heat oil and saute onion, then add garlic and cook some more.  Add spices, wine, and salt, and cook some more.  Add broth, tomato paste, veggies, and bay leaves, and reduce heat and simmer for 30+ minutes.  Add wheatberries (drained) and saffron water.  Late in the game, add chickpeas.  Just before serving, add capers, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.   Serves about 4-5.

Berbere musings

Remember when I made berbere and it was awesome?  Yeah, me neither, or just barely.  But the stuff I made nearly ten months ago is still really fragrant and potent, sitting in my spice annex, waiting for me to return, like some Mariana lady in a moated grange (whatever that is).  Anyway, you may remember the berbere from an Ethiopian lentil stew, or even the less traditional berbere-encrusted tempeh.

And now...this special, spicy curry powder, with strong notes of fenugreek and cinnamon, tastes amazing on popcorn (with a little salt).  It goes on the popcorn topping list, along with dukkah and all the earlier toppings.

Berbere also rocked in this tempeh scramble, which I made by frying onions, garlic, and berbere, then adding tempeh and salt.  Done.  Pictured with whole wheat lavash and avocado.

But I have to be honest, folks.  This blog has been suffering.  Now, I've been cooking, sure.  I've made a lot of simple dishes like this one, or like fried greens with Indian spices, or rice pilafs.  And I've done some repeat recipes like dal with ginger and lime.  I tried out these Spaghetti-nos with mini lentil meatballs (and forgot to take any photos!).  But after two and a half years of a passionate relationship, this blog and I have been going through our first rough patch.  Inspiration and recommendations are always welcome, but more now than ever.

Stuffed Collard Leaves

Recently I made this recipe for collard green wraps from epicurean vegan.  Well, more or less.  The recipe is so flexible that I had a ship of Theseus kind of situation.  I changed tofu for tempeh, scallions for onion, great northern beans for chickpeas and cannellinis, presumably white rice for brown rice, and salt for tamari.  In spirit, though, it was still the dish.

As usual (I didn't even bother to POST my grape leaves escapades) I had issues rolling the leaves.  Somehow I managed to be off by 90*, which I'm sure didn't help, because I was fighting against the big spine down the middle the whole way.  Still, this is how I did it:






Leaf with thick part of stem cut out, filling placed just so:

Bottom flaps folded up:

Sides folded in, then rolled up from the bottom:

Some of them stayed together just great, but others didn't.  As with my grape leaf adventures, I'm not sure it was worth the work.

I also used good ol' miso-tahini sauce instead of tahini-umeboshi.  I tried so hard to get into umeboshi back when I was trying to kick my zantac habit back in '08, but it never really stuck with me.  (by the by, reducing coffee intake and stress did the job just fine).  Miso-tahini is the most perfect condiment in the world, I think.  Its umamitasticness complements the bitterness of the collards, as does its wetness for the relative dryness of the filling.

One last thing: before you make the filling, ask yourself: do you really want 12 stuffed collards?  Do you have 12 collards?  After realizing that a few of the leaves in my bundle were ripped or too small, I only had 6.  The copious amount of leftover filling served several other functions, about which I'll post laster...

Stuffed Collard Leaves (shown with Miso-Tahini Sauce)

(from epicurean vegan)

Ingredients
12 collard green leaves, washed and patted dry
1-2 tsp olive oil 

8-oz firm tempeh, sliced into thin strips

1 onion, diced
2 tsp garlic, minced
3/4 lb (?) mushrooms, sliced

15oz canned beans, drained

1 c short grain brown rice, cooked

tamari and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat a little oil in a skillet.  Fry tempeh until medium browned.  Remove and set aside.  Heat some more oil.  Fry up onion, then add garlic and mushrooms.  Then add beans, rice, and tempeh.  Season with tamari and pepper, and set aside.

2. Roll up collards with filling as shown above.  Fasten with toothpicks, and steam for a few minutes until collards change color.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Serve with miso-tahini sauce.  Makes about 12 wraps (duh).

Winter Tabouleh

I was so excited to make this recipe and finally buy some sumac, a spice I know only from its inclusion in za'atar.  But I didn't really like this recipe.  To be fair, I made it when I didn't have too much of an appetite to begin with, but even so... for one, I felt like there was far too much cabbage in relation to the chickpeas and the bulgur, and for two, the sumac was really overpowering.  I'd start with only a little bit and then add more if you want.  Sumac has a pungent, sour taste that's very unique.  I've posted an adapted recipe with these reactions in mind.

Winter Tabouleh

(adapted from taste of beirut)

Ingredients

1-2 c finely shredded cabbage

1/2 c bulgur

1-2 c chick peas

1/4 c green onions, chopped

*

1-3 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 tsp salt

juice of 1 lemon

1/3 c olive oil

1-3 tsp sumac

2 TB ground dried mint

*

1 avocado

Instructions

1. Cook the bulgur, then drain and mix in a large bowl with chickpeas and cabbage.
2. Mix together garlic, salt, lemon, oil, sumac, and mint.  Then mix this into the large bowl.  Serve with avocado slices.  Serves 3-4.

Shorbat Rumman

I've had shorbat rumman, or Iraqi "pomegranate soup," in my recipe queue for quite a while now, and I finally got around to making it.  It interests me for several reasons: I don't think I'd ever had Iraqi food.  I'd never put pomegranate molasses in a savory soup before (though it did go in these Syrian chickpeas with chard).  The recipe seemed to rely equally on herbs and on spices.  It's practically a complete meal in one dish: protein, starch, greens, beets.  And, googling this dish, I was surprised to see how incredibly consistent the recipe is (at least on the internet).  Almost every recipe was the same, plus or minus some lamb.

This is a really unique dish that combines textures (the diced beets are great!) and tastes (pomegranate molasses, cinnamon, and mint!).  (oh hey, beets and pomegranates are also happy together in this salad I made last month). However, if I make it again, I might change a few things.  First, since it looks like the recipe often has lamb in it, too, I found myself wanting more split peas both to bulk up the soup and cut the intensity of the beets, sugar, and pomegranate molasses.  You might think that two tablespoons of pomegranate molasses for six servings isn't very much, but it's a very strong, concentrated flavor.  Next time I'd skip the sugar altogether and just use the pomegranate molasses.

I think you can choose where on the stew-to-soup spectrum you want this dish.  For stew, see top photo.

Shorbat Rumman

(from vegetarian recipes and cooking via vegan treats and eats)

Ingredients

olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1/4 c split peas (or more)

4 c vegetable stock

*

1-2 red beets, peeled and diced, tops reserved and chopped

1/4 cup rice (or more)

*

1/2 c scallions, sliced

1 TB sugar (omit this?)

1 1/2 TB lime juice

1 TB pomegranate molasses

1/4 c parsley, chopped

*

1 c spinach, chopped

*

2 TB cilantro, chopped

salt, to taste

1/2 TB dried mint, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp black pepper mixed for garnish

Instructions

1. Saute onions in a large sauce pan.  Add split peas, stir, then add stock and simmer one hour.
2. Add beets and rice, cook 30 minutes more.
3. Add scallions, sugar, lime juice, pomolasses, a pinch of salt, and parsley.  Simmer 15 more minutes.
4. Bring to a boil and add spinach and beet greens.  Reduce heat, simmer a few more minutes.  Stir in cilantro, adjust seasonings to taste, then serve, garnishing with the dried mint mixture.  Serves 3-4.

Apple, Lentil and Wild Rice Salad

My stepsister and her husband gave me Minnesota wild rice for Xmas, which was a really great gift.  This was the first thing I did with it.  I used 4 scallions instead of 2 shallots, and the onion flavor was a bit too much.  Otherwise, this is a simple, pretty salad that would be great to take to work for lunch because it's balanced, it tastes good cold, and it will probably get better after sitting in the fridge for a day or two.

Apple, Lentil, and Wild Rice Salad

(from taste space)

Ingredients

3/4 c wild rice

1 c green lentils, picked over and rinsed

2-4 scallions, chopped

1 apple, large dice

1 carrot, large dice

* 

dressing:

2 tsp ground cumin

1 garlic clove, minced

2 TB extra-virgin olive oil

2 TB balsamic vinegar

salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, to taste

Instructions

1. Cook wild rice and lentils separately according to instructions.  Drain if necessary and let cool.
2. Combine dressing ingredients.
3. Combine rice, lentils, remaining vegetables, and dressing, and allow to sit before serving.  Serves about 5.

Turkish Bulgur Pomegranate Salad

It's tabouleh gone wild!!!

Only very tangentially related: If this fusion restaurant's website could talk...

What a perfect recipe: balanced, high in fiber, higher still in deliciousness, inventive while still staying within the culinary realm of one part of the world.  This recipe from taste space was really lovely.  I omitted tomatoes because I didn't have any, and it was a little unclear to me whether the recipe called for 1 c cooked or uncooked bulgur--I went for uncooked, which meant that a greater proportion of the recipe was bulgur (especially in relation to the chickpeas), but when I added everything it seemed about right, and that's not even counting the tomatoes, if you use them.  The dressing was pretty strong, especially the sweet-tartness of the pomegranate molasses, so if you want a less intensely sweet flavor, you might want to cut back there, but I will definitely be making this again!  It's also perfect for taking to work as it's (again) delicious and complete unto itself.

Turkish Bulgur Pomegranate Salad

(from Taste Space)

Ingredients

1 c (that is, 1 c before cooking?) coarse bulgur, prepared according to package directions

1 c cooked chickpeas (i.e., about 1/4-1/3 c dry?)

2 c cherry tomatoes, about 1 pint, halved

1/2 c almonds, slivered and toasted

1/2 c pomegranate seeds (about 1/2 of a large pomegranate)

1/3 c chopped mint

zest from 1 lemon

1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste

*

2 TB (or less) pomegranate molasses

2 TB fresh lemon juice

2 TB olive oil

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions

Combine everything through salt, toss well.  Combine remaining ingredients and add only just before serving.  Serves 4-5.

When dill is ok: Chickpea Rice Soup

"...Southern California was pounded by a sixth straight day of heavy rains -- with another storm on the way."
       -LA Times

I've been making lots of soup and cookies, drinking lots of tea, burning lots of incense, trying to maximize the novelty of coziness... but enough is enough.  It has not stopped raining for almost a week, and I'm ready for sun again.  Even in the bitter cold winters of Minnesota and Wisconsin there is a lot of deathly brilliant sun, because it's too cold to be cloudy.

On a brighter note, though (ha), I had forgotten how some music sounds so much better when it's dark and rainy outside.  Historical performances of Celtic music (not the cheesy kind) -- anything by Ralph Vaughan Williams -- CocoRosie -- Portishead -- Kate Bush -- Tori Amos's Boys for Pele.

Anyway, the other day I came across this recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen blog, and it seemed like serendipity: it called for all the things that were lurking in my fridge as rain and the fact of leaving town in a few days kept me from grocery shopping.  Even things I never buy: baby carrots, bequeathed to me by a friend who has gone home for the holidays, and fresh dill, which I had bought for borscht before I went all fusion on my beet soup.  Oh, and this recipe is stupidly easy: you only have to chop an onion and some dill!  Open a bag of carrots and a can of beans... yes!

I don't usually like dill, but it really went perfectly in this soup, humorously described by recipe author Isa: "There’s something seductively subtle about Eastern European flavors. No one is going to knock you over your head with cumin or turn the garlic up to 11."

This soup reminds me of soups we used to eat when I was growing up (they probably had chicken in them, though).  I think it's the inclusion of rice, and maybe actually of dill, that makes it seem familiar.  It's very comforting and balanced, perfect for yet. another. dark. rainy. day... 

I sortof halved the recipe, omitted the cabbage, and used already-cooked brown rice (I had that on hand, too--weird).  I didn't really measure the seasonings, but it turned out great, except that it was too salty.  Next time if I'm going to use all broth again (and not a mixture of broth and water), I will not add any salt during the sauteeing at the beginning.

Chickpea Rice Soup

(adapted from the PPK blog)

Ingredients

1-2 TB olive oil

1/2 medium yellow onion,chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dry thyme

ground black pepper

a few cups of baby carrots

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (about 1 1/2 c?)

3 c veg broth

1/2 cup brown rice, cooked

3 tablespoons fresh chopped dill, plus extra for garnish

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a largeish stock pot over medium heat.  Cook onions 5 minutes, then add garlic, thyme, and pepper, and cook another minute or two.
2. Add carrots, chickpeas, and broth; bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to very low, and simmer 30 minutes, or however long you feel like it.
3. Before serving, stir in rice and dill; maybe cook a few minutes more.  Adjust salt and pepper as necessary.  Serve garnished with a little more dill.  Serves about 3.

Roasted Squash Salad with Cilantro-Sunflower Seed Dressing

I am really loving the green sauces as of late.  This simple 'salad' consists only of grains, roasted onions and squash, and a really neat dressing made out of sunflower seeds and cilantro.

Because I had no wild rice, I used wheat berries instead.  I think the important thing there is to use a grain that has tons of texture to contrast with the soft squash.  I also topped the salad with the squash seeds I'd reserved and toasted.  Ok, I forgot this at dinner, but at least I remembered for the photo shoot the next morning...

The only other thing I'd note about this recipe is that it makes a TON of dressing.  I'm going to have to keep finding things to put it on... which reminds me: that Georgian Cilantro Sauce from last week was amazing on pasta, too.

Roasted Squash Salad with Cilantro-Sunflower Seed Dressing

(from 101cookbooks)

Ingredients

3 cups of pumpkin (or other winter squash), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes, seeds reserved

3 medium red onions peeled and quartered

extra-virgin olive oil

sea salt

 2 c cooked wheat berries

1/3 c sunflower seeds

1/3 c olive oil (I skimped on this a bit)

2 TB lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 TB honey

2 TB warm water

1/2 c cilantro, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.  Toss the pumpkin in a generous splash of olive oil along with a couple pinches of salt, and turn out onto a baking sheet. At the same time, toss the onions with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and turn out onto a separate baking sheet. Roast both for about 45 minutes, or until squash is brown and caramelized. The same goes for the onions, they should be deeply colored, caramelized, and soft throughout by the time they are done roasting. Flip about every 15 minutes.
2. In the meantime, make the dressing. With a hand blender or food processor puree the sunflower seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and honey until creamy. You may need to add a few tablespoons of warm water to thin the dressing a bit. Stir in the cilantro, saving just a bit to garnish the final plate later. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste.
3. Clean the squash seeds and pat dry.  Roast in the oven, on the stovetop, or in toaster oven until slightly brown and crispy.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, toss the wheat berries with a large dollop of the dressing. Add the onions; gently toss once or twice. Turn the rice and onions out onto a platter and top with the roasted squash. Finish with another drizzle of dressing, the toasted squash seeds, and any remaining chopped cilantro.  Serves 4.

Mexican ("Spanish"?!) Rice

As I made my brunch/lunch yesterday, I had a sneaking feeling that I was being watched.

Sure enough...

There's a whole family of feral cats who live on our property; my neighbors have valiantly caught each of them, one at a time, taken them to be fixed, and brought them back.  They are, therefore, both a feral and a sterile family.

I rather love how from a distance it looks like he's hovering in the air at window height.

Anyway, yesterday I made a Tofu Scramble and decided to make some rice to go along with it.  Since the scramble had some Mexican-ish flavors (cumin, cilantro), I thought of that slightly tomatoey rice that appears so often in Mexican cuisine.  Oh yeah--it's often called "Spanish" rice.  Really?  Giving the English-speaking, Spanish-rice-eating people of the world the benefit of the doubt, I thought "maybe it originally comes from Spain."  But after googling it... yeah... that doesn't seem to be the case.

I used brown basmati rice, which maybe sounds inappropriate unless you the cooking method: sauteeing the rice, onions, and spices first and then adding liquid.  It's actually sort of like the way you might prepare basmati rice or a pilaf.  This cooking method, by the way, resulted in a really great texture: some parts of the rice got a bit browned and chewy.  Supposedly it also brings out more flavor.

Mexican Rice

Ingredients

about 1 TB olive oil

1/2 c brown basmati rice, rinsed

1/2 large yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1-2 chilies, seeded and chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp oregano

pinch salt

about 3 c vegetable stock (add more as needed)

1 TB tomato paste

diced carrots (I used about half of a large carrot)

1/4 c frozen peas, thawed
1/4 c frozen corn, thawed

juice of 1/2 to 1 lime

cilantro (optional)

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add rice and saute a minute or so, then add onion, garlic, chilies, spices, and salt.  Cook for 5 more minutes or so, until it's very fragrant.  Try not to burn it.

2. Add the stock and tomato paste, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until rice is cooked.  For brown basmati, this will be about 40+ minutes; it's shorter with some other types of rice. 

3. Near the end, stir in the carrots, peas, corn, and lime juice, and remove from heat.  Top with cilantro if desired.  Serves about 4.

Indian Feast Pt. 1: Sweet Pepper Fennel Biryani

Once again, these blog posts seem to come in a sort of drought-flood pattern.  I think it's because the very same multitasking that made me so anxious when I was working in cafes (as a server, not a cook) is actually really fun when I am just cooking for myself.  Why make one recipe when you can make four?

Sweet Pepper Fennel Biryani (below) ~ Baingan Bharta ~ Hyderabad Cauliflower ~ Pear Chutney

Most of the spices I used last night!

There's also a pleasure and a functionality to making things that "go together," at least to my untrained palate.  I'm guessing that the combo of three dishes I made (besides the chutney) is a bit more geographically incoherent than might be ... oh, don't use the a-word ... typical?

That said, this was easily

some of the best food I've ever made.

The flavors were so complex, interesting, refreshing, comforting... it was so good, I wanted to cry.

The biryani the least so; in comparison, it seemed a little bland, but it was still interesting and satisfying.  I don't usually go out of my way to make rice dishes, but I was once again seduced by the opportunity to use fennel in a new and interesting way.  The earthiness of the tempeh and the spices, and the sweetness of the long-cooked peppers and onion (especially combined with the fennel), make for a very pleasant savory flavor.  Given the different colors of peppers, it's also very pretty (despite what the last photo, with its wilted cilantro, might suggest).

For this casserole-type dish, I began with Suvir Saran's recipe in Indian Home Cooking, but I made a half-recipe.  I halved the mustard seeds, doubled the garlic, and used brown basmati rice (and changed some water amounts and cooking times accordingly).  I didn't have the tomato chutney the recipe called for, so I added some sugar and some curry powder; on reflection, the slightly-less-spectacular nature of this dish might have been my fault.  Finally, I added a bunch of tempeh along with the bell peppers towards the end.

The assembly is simple: you parboil some rice while in a skillet you make the everything-else mixture.  Then you layer rice and vegetables and bake it.  As with other oven dishes, it's great for entertaining because you can prepare everything ahead of time and bake it just before serving.

*

Sweet Pepper Fennel Biryani

(from Indian Home Cooking)

Ingredients

spice powder:

1/2 TB coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 of a whole dried chile, broken into pieces

*

5 c of water

1 c brown basmati rice

2 TB canola oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1-2 whole dried chilies, broken into pieces

1/2 large onion, diced

1/2 tsp salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bell peppers (any colors)

2/3 a block of tempeh, steamed (optional) and chopped into 1/2-in cubes

1 small tomato, chopped

1 tsp curry powder

1 TB sugar

3/8 c (6 TB) chopped fresh cilantro, divided

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients of the spice powder, grind, and set aside.

2. In a saucepan, combine water and rice, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes.  Drain rice and set aside.

3. In a large skillet, combine the oil, cumin, and chilies over medium high heat; cook 1-2 minutes.  Add onion and salt; cook about 5 minutes, until onion is softened.  Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, then add spice powder and cook 30 more seconds.  Add the peppers and the tempeh and cook several minutes, until tempeh begins to brown.  Add a few tablespoons of water and continue cooking about 6 more minutes.  Add the tomato, curry powder, and sugar, and cook 5 minutes more.  Add salt to taste.

4. Preheat oven to 350*.  In an 8-x-8 baking dish, spread about 1 c of cooked rice.  Then spread half of the pepper mixture over that.  Then sprinkle about 2 TB of cilantro.  Then 3/4 rice.  Then remaning vegetable mixture.  Then 2 TB cilantro.  Then rice.

4B. Or, if you're more of a visual person like me:

5. Cover dish with foil.  Bake for 35 minutes, and let stand 10 minutes more.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 TB cilantro, and serve.  Serves about 4.

Oats and Rice Sausage -- No, really.

I can't believe this worked.

I mean, the taste of sausage is pretty easy to imitate because it's about the spices, not the meat itself.  But when I finally got around to this recipe from myvegancookbook.com, which had been sitting on my desktop for months, I started having doubts.  A "fake" protein made out of grains?  Can you do that?  And the cold goopy batter did not taste or smell like sausage at all.  Oh well, I thought, if it's an epic failure I'll just have wasted a little bit of rice and oatmeal--probably like $0.20 worth of ingredients in all.

But this morning I took the patties out of the fridge and fried up a few of them in the old cast-iron skillet... and there was sausage!  Between the flax, the flour, the oats, and the rice, there's plenty holding the patties together, and the outside gets lovely crispy when fried.  The bits of rice recall the, er, irregularities in meat-based sausages (but not so gross).  I thought the flavor was really fantastic.  I'm glad I added fennel to the original recipe, as this seems like a must-have to me.  I also tweaked the amounts of other flavors and spices, omitting the rosemary, adding way more red pepper, and simplifying with the assumption that (low sodium soy sauce) + (salt) = (normal tamari).  As for method, I did not use biscuit cutters as the original recipe called for: the batter was too sticky, and it seemed easier to just make patties with my (well-floured) hands.  I also don't have a full-size food processor, but mixing by hand worked just fine.

And, I've totally come to terms with the issue of using grains to make sausage: it's mostly rice and oatmeal, totally respectable complex-carb breakfast foods that also contain quite a lot of fiber and protein.  And it's way better than oatmeal.

 

Oats and Rice Sausage

(adapted from myvegancookbook.com)

Ingredients

1 c cooked brown rice
3/4 c oats
2 TB whole wheat flour
1 TB ground flax seed + 3 TB warm water
1 TB molasses
2 TB canola oil, plus more for frying
1 TB nutritional yeast
1 1/2 TB tamari
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8-1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp fennel seeds

Instructions

1. In a blender or food processor, grind the dry oats to a coarse powder.  Remove oats and grind cooked rice similarly.  In a mixing bowl, combine rice and oats with all the other ingredients.  Mix well--you may wish to use a fork or pastry cutter.
2. With floured hands, form the mixture into small, thin, round patties.
3. Heat oil over medium heat in a cast-iron skillet.  Fry patties for about 3 minutes on each side, covering the pan if splatters occur.  Makes about 6 patties.

Kushari

Another tale of traveling food...

I've been reading tons of Indian cookbooks, several of which have recipes for khichdi (or kitcheree or kitchree), a simple one-pot meal of lentils (or mung beans) and rice with the cultural role in parts of India and Pakistan of chicken noodle soup in many American households (rainy day comfort food).

One of these cookbooks also mentioned that there's an Anglo-Indian dish called kedgeree that, while quite different (according to wikipedia, it contains "cooked, flaked fish . . . boiled rice, parsley, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder, butter or cream and occasionally sultanas"!), is clearly a descendant of khichdi.

So it wasn't only because my brother Colin is moving to Egypt next week (!) that a short article in The Atlantic about an Egyptian street food called kushari (or koshari, koshary, kushary, etc.) caught my eye.  The article suggests that the British brought the dish from India in the early twentieth century.  While this makes sense given Egypt's central location and role in trade with the British Empire, this Egyptian dish is itself quite different both from khichdi and from kedgeree: it's rice, lentils, pasta, and chickpeas, topped with tomato sauce and crispy fried onions.

Since Colin was here visiting before leaving the country, he and I decided to make our own.  Oddly, the fact that it's so basic makes it feel somehow more inauthentic (no complicated spice blends? no hard-to-find ingredients?), but it seems that we definitely approximated the dish at the very least.

This dish is naturally vegan (places with Orthodox Christians who fast are good for this!), nutritionally balanced, cheap, stick-to-your-ribs filling, and tasty.  No wonder it's popular, if not the most exciting dish ever.

To save stove space and energy, we cooked the rice and lentils in one pot, and the pasta and (dried soaked) chickpeas in another, adding the rice and pasta at a later stage due to their shorter cooking times.  For the pasta, we used a little bit of whole wheat rotelle, some whole wheat fettucini, some trofie, and some spaghetti--a fun mixture of shapes and textures.

The biggest revelation in cooking this dish was that we used both fresh and canned tomatoes--THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!  Using only fresh tomatoes is more expensive and requires a lot more cooking time to get rid of enough water, but when you use canned tomatoes you lose out on taste and texture.  This tomato sauce, which used about half of each, was one of the best tomato sauces I've made.  Why haven't I heard about this technique before?

Kushari

 

Ingredients

1/2-1 c lentils

1/2-1 c chickpeas, canned and drained, or soaked

1/2-1 c rice (we used short grain white)

2 servings pasta (assorted)

(for the tomato sauce)

olive oil

1/2 onion

1-2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1-2 tsp cayenne

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 can high-quality diced tomatoes

2 handfuls fresh grape/cherry tomatoes, sliced

1 c vegetable stock

salt (if needed)

1 TB sugar, to taste

*

(for the onions)

canola oil

1/2 onion, thinly sliced (not minced)

*

parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. Cook lentils, pasta, and rice according to instructions.
2. In a medium saucepan or saucier, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Saute onion, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne for several minutes, then add garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes.  Add canned and fresh tomatoes, reduce heat, continue cooking.  Add stock and sugar and simmer 20+ minutes.  Adjust seasonings to taste.
3. For onions, heat oil (not olive oil) over high heat, then add onions and fry until they are very very crispy (about 10 minutes).
4. Combine!  Garnish with parsley.  Serves at least 4.