Recipe: https://www.thecuriouschickpea.com/vegan-white-bean-wild-rice-soup/
Except we used chicken broth and regular cream (instead of cashew cream).
Warm, hearty and delicious! Great if it's cold or raining. Could also be done with less cream, I think.
I improve this a lot, but we really like the last one I made so here's what I did. Cooked all the things separately:
Omlette - 2 eggs, small amount soy (1/2 tsp?) small amount sesame oil (1/4 tsp?). Cook thin omellete, cut into thin strips set aside.
Snow peas. Stir fried snow peas in a little oil until charred/blistered, set aside.
Oyster mushrooms. Stir fried these in oil until golden and some a little crispy.
Noodles. Cooked fresh chinese egg noodles. Noodle shape matters here. We like thick ones. We also cut the noodles with food scissors so they're not so long; this will make it easier to incorporate other things once cooked.
Combine. In pan, a goodly amount of oil, 1 tsp each garlic and ginger (used paste, but should use minced). Make sure pan is hot enough before oil and oil is hot enough before noodles. If everything is hot enough they shouldn't stick. (I didn't pat noodles dry).
Tossed in the rest of the stuff.
Sauce.
1/3 cup homemade chicken broth
2 tsp soy. 1 tsp dark soy.
1 Tbsp oyster sauce.
This was a good mix of sweet/salty/tangy. No need for additional sugar.
Tried this and really liked it! Quite easy to prep; just cooks a long time in the oven.
We used 1/3 C olive oil instead of 0.8 Cups. We also didn't use cumin+coriander seeds; instead 1 tsp each of cumin and coriander powder.
Original recipe: https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/confit-tandoori-chickpeas
Here: https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/easy-kid-friendly-tomato-soup/2737082
Is the one Maria cooked and it was a big hit!
UPDATE: Halloumi is like $12, but Panella is about $3 or $4 and pretty comparable. We use that now.
This was a keeper!
Maria made it with mint instead of dill, and sliced Brussel sprouts. Would have been good with toasted pepitas. Let's make it again!
David thought this was great; Maria thought it was ok to pretty-good.
We did modify the original recipe a bit.
Here's the original: (we halved what's below)
Ingredients:
3 tomatoes, halved and seeded
1/4 cup olive oil
3-5 smoke chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1/2 cup grated ginger
2.5 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp orange zest
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup orange juice
salt and pepper
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Preheat oven to 400F. Season tomatoes with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes.
Blend tomatoes, chipotles, and half the ginger. Season with salt and strain into a shallow bowl. Add shrimp and marinate, covered, a few hours to overnight.
Heat remaining oil and saute remaining ginger over low heat for 2-3 minutes until starting to brown. Add orange zest and garlic and saute another 2 min. Pour in orange juice and simmer for a few more minutes. dd shrimp and marinade and cook for 3-6 minutes until cooked.
Serve with spinach and mashed potatoes or white rice.
** David would serve it with rice and beans for a complete meal.
This was amazingly good. I tried to make mesir wat once before, but I didn't use the special spiced ghee and I think that made a big difference. We bought some at the Ethiopian market and you could smell it right away.
We used home made chicken broth for this; next time I'd be curious to try water or a veggie broth to see the difference. The taste was quite a bit brighter than the restaurant, but still VERY GOOD.
Recipe was: https://www.daringgourmet.com/misir-wat-ethiopian-spiced-red-lentils/
This was great! But definitely a winter dish, rather than a summer one.
We made our usual fresh pasta, and then used this recipe:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/mushroom-bourguignon/
But we omitted the pearl onions, since we don't really like them. The result was rich and flavorful, but definitely is heavily influenced by the wine and broth you use, so choose carefully! We used "better than bouillon" beef stock. It was pretty good, though a little salty, and you could definitely taste it in the final sauce. I'd like to figure out a totally vegetarian alternative that I like.
This was very delicious, though a challenge to keep everything inside the bread. I would serve it as a slightly warm side-salad.
Original recipe here: https://minimalistbaker.com/chickpea-sunflower-sandwich/#wprm-recipe-container-35719
We didn't make the garlic herb sauce just because we were in a rush. We also used normal mayo, I omitted the syrup, and almost doubled the amount of chopped red onion. Delicious! Toasting the pepitas and stirring them in right makes everything taste like delicious toasted pepitas.
This was very flavorful! I'd definitely eat it again.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil, more to grease pan
1/2 - 1lb soyrizo (or chorizo, or mix of those and another ground meat or meat substitute)
1 white onion, chopped
3 poblano chilies, roasted and peeled, seeded and chopped.
1.5 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 cups milk
8 eggs
salt
1/2 lb day old baguette bread, cut/torn into 3/4" cubes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
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In a large frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat. Add soyrizo and cook ~8 min (if using real meat it will brown; I don't think soyrizo does). Add onion and cook 3 min until soft. If using meat, drain off fat, otherwise just transfer to a mixing bowl and combine with chilies and corn.
*Note on the chilies: We brush with oil and put under the broiler, turning periodically until all sides are blackened. Then put them in a sealed freezer bag to steam. The skin should easily peel off once they've cooled. Seed and chop.
Lightly oil a 13x9 baking pan (3 qt baking dish). In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk and 3/4 tsp salt.
Arrange half the bread in a single layer in the baking dish. Top with half the soyrizo mixture and half the cheese. Repeat for a second layer. Slowly pour milk mixture over all the layers. Wrap securely in plastic wrap, and press lightly to submerge all layers in milk mixture. Refrigerate 2 hours to overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Uncover the dish and bake until the strata puffs and becomes golden brown, about 1 hour. Transfer to wire rack and let cool for 5 min
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Notes: We used frozen corn, and a delicious wheat country loaf. There was a run on poblano so we used anaheim chilies, but poblano probably would have been better. Soyrizo has A LOT of flavor, so next time we'd probably halve the amount, or cut 1/2 lb with another 1/b lb of something else with protein that's not so strongly flavored.
This was very delicious! An unusual one, but I think one of my favorite ones I've done so far.
Recipe:
Very delicious! I like this one better than the other farro salad we me two weeks ago.
We got the pre-cooked "quick cook" farro from trader joes that cooks in 10 min.
I toasted ~1/4 cup of pistachios, let them cool and chopped them.
Minced ~1/4 cup dill (maybe a little less) and 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley.
Put in a goodly amount of frozen green peas, thawed and drained.
Heated 2 Tbsp olive oil and pan fried a bunch of asparagus with salt and pepper and chopped them into 1" lengths after they cooled and added them.
Added a goodly amount of crumbled feta.
Delicious!
It doesn't need much else, but I'm thinking of having an optional vinaigrette consisting of:
This was delicious, BUT the original recipe is very lengthy and not very good for you. The original recipe is from the Mumbai Modern cookbook by Amisha Dodhia Gurbani.
I'll give the recipe we used, and then our ideas for what we'd like to try next time...
Boil corn: Cut corn on cob into 4-5 pieces per ear, (about 2" long each). Boil corn for 10 minutes. Remove, but reserve the corn boiling water.
Roast + Grind peanuts: Roast 1 cup (130 g) peanuts. Let cool. Grind to a powder in food processor. Set aside.
Prepare fresh coconut: Use wine corkscrew to puncture hole to coconut middle in the softest of the three germination holes (which should be evident). Drain the coconut water (Drink!). Holding coconut in one hand, use the back side of a heavy knife or cleaver to hit it firmly in the middle while rotating so you hit all around the circumference. Hit hard and repeatedly. You should see a crack start to form. Keep going for ~ 1 min until coconut breaks in half. Use a butter knife (be careful) to insert between flesh and outer shell, and jimmy around until fresh is freed. Use a peeler to peel away any thing undesired from the outside of the flesh. Rinse. Then you can grate with a cheese grater. This recipe uses 1/2 cup grated.
Prepare tomato mixture: In the food processor, blend 3 small to medium tomatoes, 1 green chili, 1 inch ginger (~ 3 tsp ginger paste). (I worry that fresh ginger won't blend well unless you pre-grate it).
Fry onion: Heat 4 Tbsp vegetable oil on medium. After 30 sec, add 1.5 tsp cumin seeds, and pinch asafoetida. After about 20 seconds more (when seeds start sputtering) add 1 diced red onion. Saute on low for about 10 minutes until onion is golden brown.
After onion is browned, add the tomato mixture and saute for 1 min. Add 1 tsp turmric, 1.5 tsp chili paste (not cayenne), 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp garam masala, and 1/2 - 2 tsp salt (we used 1 tsp). Add 3 Tbsp tomato paste. Saute for 2 minutes, stirring to incorporate and breaking up the tomato paste. If curry every becomes too dry, add 1/2 cup of the corn water.
Add the ground peanuts and 1.5 cups coconut milk (from a can). Cook another 2 minutes, stirring to combine.
Add boiled corn and cover with the curry. Cover and let cook 7-9 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and you're done!
* * *
For next time:
- Fresh coconut seems mostly for texture. I think you could omit it entirely or use frozen grated.
- It would be nice to add something else to round it out. We later added diced chicken, but I imagine tofu would work, or something else? Chickpea?
- Instead of roasting + grinding our own peanuts, I'm interested in whether peanut butter could be subbed.
This is Maria's new favorite for when the weather is too hot.
I followed this recipe exactly: https://www.cookwithmanali.com/curd-rice/#wprm-recipe-container-36011
Except I doubled the amount of urad dal, and omitted the green chilies. Instead of grated carrot/cucumber we diced several cucumbers in a very small dice.
This was interesting. A very different flavor profile from the dals I've done before. A nice warming heat and blend of flavors. After eating it for a week, though, I don't think it's my favorite way to prepare dal.
Recipe comes from book: "Mumbai Modern" by Amisha Dodhia Gurbani
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1. Saok toor dal in water for 30 min. Rinse several times and drain.
2. Cook 20 min at high pressure with a pressure cooker (5 whistles): dal, 3 cups water, 2 large diced tomatoes, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp turmeric. Let pressure cooker cool for 10-15 min, then add 1 cup water and blend with hand blender.
3. To the blended lentils, add: 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp chili powder (not cayenne), 1 tsp garam, 1 Tbsp brown sugar and combine with whisk.
4. Add 2 tsp grated ginger and 4 tsp lemon juice and whisk to combine again.
5. In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp cumin seed, 1.5 tsp mustard seed, 6 cloes, 1/2 cinnamon stick (2g) broken coarsely, 1/8 tsp asafoetida, 8-10 fresh curry leaves, 1 tsp fenugreek seeds. Heat 2 Tbsp ghee in small saucepan. Add spices 10 seconds after ghee has melted. When curry leaves start spattering cover with pot lid and turn off heat. After 30 more seconds add to blended dal mixture.
6. Simmer uncovered on low for another 10-15 min to let flavors combine. You can add more water here for a less viscous dal, or simmer it down for a more viscous one.
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The original recipe had me boil 25 raw peanuts in water for 5 minutes, drain, and add them at step 4. I can' figure out what that possible did for the flavor. I think it might be interested to add 1 Tbsp unsalted peanut butter at step 4, however.
This was solidly good, and seems pretty flexible. Originally I didn't have dill so made without, but have since added it and it's good both ways.
https://thelemonbowl.com/farro-greek-salad-feta-dill/
I followed this recipe for black beans. Came out great!
This recipe for Mexican rice. (Definitely include the cilantro while cooking)
For toppings I did my usual grilling of thinly sliced sweet potato slices and thickly sliced zucchini brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Portobello mushrooms brushed liberally with a mixture of equal parts olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce.
I like to serve that with toasted pepitas, fresh salsa and fresh avocado.
-----------------------
Separately, this time I made the following (which doesn't go with the above, but as a totally different option).
I boiled some large potato cubes and carrot hunks in lightly salted water and separately made a tangy tomato glaze:
Lightly fry about 1/4 Cup diced red onion or shallot in 2 Tbsp olive oil.
Add 8 oz tomato sauce (or equivalent tomato paste + water). + large pinch red pepper flake and 1/8 - 1/4 tsp smoked paprika. Add 1 Tbsp honey and let everything simmer for a bit until it's a little thicker than you'd want. Add 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar and cook 1 min longer.
Delicious!
VERY delicious! From "The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook" by America's Test Kitchen (pg. 210). Though it isn't as good the next day =(
1 head cauliflower, cored and cut into 1" florets
1/4 tsp saffron threads
3/4 C olive oil (we used 1/2 cup)
10 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 small sprig fresh rosemary
1/4 cup sherry vinegar (or unseasoned rice vinegar)
1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1 lemon, sliced thin (we only had 1/2 lemon)
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley (didn't have this)
1). Boil 8 Cups water with 1 Tbsp salt. Boil cauliflower for about 3 min, drain.
2. Combine 1/2 cup hot water with saffron and set aside.
3). Heat oil, garlic over medium low heat and sizzle (but don't brown) for 4-6 min. Stir in sugar, paprika, and rosemary and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Off the heat, stir in saffron mixture, vinegar, 2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
4). Combine everything, and refrigerate for 4-hours or 3 days, occasionally flipping your container.
These were very delicious! Likely to enter regular rotation.
I cooked it as written, but we also toasted some pepitas which we sprinkled in the tacos and which added a lot.
Next time I'll try and reduce the oil and salt a bit and see if it's still as good....
UPDATE: Did it with 2 Tbsp oil per mushroom batch. That seemed good. Used 1 scant tsp salt, and that was probably too much. Maybe try 1/2 tsp next time.
This turned out very well! Somewhat involved, but lots of chances for parallel work. Maybe 45-min total if you do some things in parallel.
I followed https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/sambar-rice-recipe-sambar-sadam/
I used ~2.5 cups veggies, and that could even have been more.
I omitted the dried chilies at the end, which was probably a good idea.
In the tadka I also added ~3-4 Tbsp shredded coconut and fried to golden before pouring over the rice mixture.
The final note was that I like my veggies a little crisper, so instead of 16-18 min, I did it for 10-12 min, then an additional 6-8 after the tamarind, and that was about right for the medium sized chunks I cut the veggies into.
Veggies were red and green bell pepper, carrot, and green bean.
Maria made this from https://www.teaforturmeric.com/authentic-chicken-korma/
It took 90 min, though 30 of them were just waiting for the onions to brown. Really wonderful result, though! We omitted all the chili-related things and the curry had a nice rich flavor with dominant spice flavors of cinnamon and clove. David thinks it would be truly excellent with more chili.
Maria used half as much garam, and didn't add some of the finishing things like kewra water. We used boneless thighs instead of bone-in. We didn't put in tomatoes and used 1 Cup yogurt instead of 3/4ths. (I think it probably would have been great with the tomatoes and all the other things as well).
We served it with naan.
This was .... ok, but promising enough to try again.
Saute in pan: 1 Tbsp oil, 1 diced onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2 diced yellow bell peppers + 2 Tbsp white vinegar and pinch of salt. With lid on for 10 min. Soften but do not brown.
Boil pasta per instructions reserving 1 cup pasta water.
Add 1 oz grated parmesan to onion mixture and blend, adding pasta water as needed until sauce is desired consistency. Adjust seasoning by adding salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle blitzed pistachio on top.
We also made some shrimp to serve on the side, and it would probably be great to have shrimp bits mixed in at the end. (Here we did the shrimp separately and plopped them on top so Nadia might eat them).
I would have liked more sauce; and it doesn't keep well as the sauce dries out/gets absorbed into the pasta in the refrigerator. So maybe sauce the pasta just before serving. The pistachio crumbles on top look nice but don't seem to add much flavor. I wonder if we added a tsp of pistachio paste mixed in the sauce itself?
We made a modified (Nadia friendlier) version of this. Our version tossed in some blanched asapargus and peas.
Original Recipe
===========
Boil water for 1 lb medium shells (or other shape). Reserve 1 cup of pasta water when done and drained.
Trim ~12 oz (3 bunches) scallions. Thinly slice 1 or 2 on the diagonal. Cut the others into 1/2" pieces.
Heat 2 Tbsp oil. Season scallion pieces with salt and pepper. Stir occasionally for 6-8 min until they start to caramelize (soften and brown in spots).
In a large bowl, add 1 Tbsp oil, 1 C parm, 3/4 C creme fraiche, and zest of 1 lemon (about 2 tsp). Add 1/2 cup of the resere hot pasta water and stir until sauce is smooth. Stir in charred scallions.
When pasta is done, add peas to the water, turn off the heat, drain pasta and peas together, and add them to the sauce in the large bowl. Toss to combine, adding more reserve pasta water as necessary for sauce texture.
Ingredients
3 bunches scallions, 1 lb shells, 1 cup parm, 3/4 cup creme fraiche, 1 lemon zested, 1 c frozen peas.
=======================
We did it without the scallions and with asparagus. Overall, smaller pasta shapes are better and I thought just blanching the asparagus was the wrong taste. I'd prefer just pan frying it on the side.
BUT the Creme Fraiche sauce was GREAT. It was rich with a velvety texture very different from our normal white sauce. The lemon was just the right amount.
Variation: Use bay shrimp and stir-fried dark greens with garlic tossed in instead of the green peas.
Recipe for stir-fried dark greens. Recipe is as written above, but add bay shrimp at the end (like the peas) and drain with the pasta. Stir in the dark greens to the pasta + sauce.Thawed 4 tilapia fillets.
Beat 2 egg whites and put in dredging container.
Mix 1/2 cup pistachio finely chopped, 3 Tbsp cornmeal, 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp salt.
Pre-heated toaster oven to 450 F on convection bake. Sprayed non-stick spray on tinfoil.
Patted fillets dry with paper towel, dredge in egg white and then pistachio mixture on both sides and placed on tray (we could cook 2 at a time in the toaster oven). I also drizzled about 1-1.5 Tbsp melted butter on top.
Baked ~8 min, rotating tray front-to-back (didn't flip the fish) halfway through.
Yogurt dip: Mix together:
1 C greek yogurt
3/4 C finely diced persian cucumber
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
1 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Served with lemon.
Very nice! Maybe fish could be salted a little more. maybe mix pistachio with almonds?
