Redemption Beans

I have been on a cookbook-buying binge lately. After reading a blog post about a cookbook called The Taco Cleanse full of vegan taco recipes, I immediately ordered it. I made this Jamaica-inspired recipe today and not only was it fast and delicious -- baby loved it! So I must blog it so I don't forget about it. This recipe makes  a LOT of sauce, so if you don't want so much sauce you may want to reduce the coconut milk a bit, or add in another can of beans.

REDEMPTION BEANS

Ingredients:

-- 1 T. oil
-- 3 garlic cloves, smashed (I used a mortar and pestle)
-- 3 scallions, smashed (I used a mortar and pestle)-- 2 bay leaves
-- 1 t. thyme
-- 1/2 t. ground allspice
-- 1 t. salt
-- 1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, whole (I omitted this)
-- 1 13-oz can coconut milk
-- 2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Instructions:

-- Heat oil in pan. Add smashed garlic and scallions and let cook a little. Then, add in the rest of the spices and fry in oil until fragrant.

-- Add in the coconut milk, salt, and pepper if using, and boil 10 minutes or until reduced a bit.

-- Add the kidney beans and boil 5-10 more minutes or until it's thick to your liking.

Serve on with corn tortillas with roasted cauliflower, and guacamole, and hot sauce on the side.

Amma's chana (or channa)

This is my (South Indian) mother-in-law's version of the famous North Indian garbanzo bean dish Chana Masala or Chole you see in Indian restaurants everywhere. In my opinion, it is the best. Can eat with rice but typically eaten with flat bread like chapatis or naan, can substitute whole wheat tortillas.

CHANA MASALA

INGREDIENTS:

-- 2 cups dried garbanzo beans, soaked overnight (or 7 hours) 
-- 2 small potatoes or one big one, peeled (we used red potatoes)

-- 4 tablespoons oil
-- 2 medium-sized yellow onions, peeled and chopped
-- chili powder 1/2 tsp, or to taste

-- 2 big tomatoes, chopped

-- 4-5 cashew nuts (optional - makes the sauce creamier and richer)
-- 2 tsp. salt, or to taste
-- 1 tsp. tamarind paste, or 1 lemon (Amma prefers tamarind paste, unless you will eat all the channa immediately, because if you store something cooked with lemon it becomes bitter)
-- 2 tsp. chana masala (spice mix available in Indian stores - MTR brand is Amma's favorite)
-- 1 tsp. garam masala (spice mix available in Indian stores - MTR brand is Amma's favorite)

-- 1/2 bunch cilantro, removed from stems and minced (1 big handful)

NOTE: it probably goes without saying for Indian food, but just about everything here is adjustable according to the strength of your ingredients and personal taste.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Rinse and drain garbanzo beans. Put in pressure cooker with potatoes and cover with water plus an inch, cook for four whistles (you may need to cook longer if your beans are old). When cooked, mash the potato roughly up into bits. NOTE: The potato is there for a thicker consistency to the sauce -- if time is short can use canned cooked garbanzo beans and either cook the potato separately or leave out entirely.

2. Add oil to a big pan, heat up, add the onion and chili powder and saute until starting to get transluscent. NOTE: The tomato and onion mixture is what makes up the bulk of the sauce, if you want more sauce, you can scale up the tomatoes, onions, and oil. 

3.  Add tomato and cook over medium heat until the tomato and onion are cooked through, for about 10-15 minutes, or until "oil comes out on the sides."

4. Add cashews into blender and pulverise into a powder (if using), then add in the cooked onion and tomato mixture and grind to a paste/sauce.

5. Add cooked garbanzo beans and potato into the pan, along with the salt. mix the tomato/onion mixture into the chana, add garam masala, chana masala, tamarind paste or lemon, and mix. It should be a soupy consistency -- you may need to add some water to get this.

6. Boil for 10-15 minutes until flavors have melded and the consistency is a bit thicker -- you see slow, bloopy bubbles coming up in the pot.

7. Turn off the heat and add minced cilantro. The channa masala will darken a bit as it sits.

Enjoy! This is traditionally eaten with pilav, chapati, toast and butter, or heated tortillas. 

Thai red curry with butternut squash

We all just had the best lunch ever. Made with Sai's vegetarian red curry paste.

From epicurious

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds) -- I used acorn
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 Tablespoons thai red curry paste
• One 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• Kosher salt
• One 13-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish

Preparation

1. Peel the squash, cut it lengthwise in half, and scoop out the seeds. Cut off the top where it meets the bulbous bottom. Cut the bulb end into 3/4- inch-wide wedges. Cut the neck end into 1/2- inch-thick half-moons. (This seems to indicate that you are supposed to keep the peel on? I did not do that, and instead peeled the squash and cut into 3/4 inch chunks)

2. Heat a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the canola oil, then add the curry paste and stir for about 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the squash and stir to coat with the curry paste. Stir in the chickpeas and season with salt. Add the coconut milk and 3/4 cup water and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, or until the squash just begins to soften.

3. Stir in the cilantro and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until the squash is tender but not falling apart and the sauce has reduced slightly. Season to taste with salt.

4. Divide the curry among four soup bowls, top with cilantro, and serve.

Roasted Za'atar Eggplant Bowl from goop

So since becoming a goop convert, I have been trying all her vegetarian recipes. For the back-to-school issue, the puy lentils with wilted spinach were only OK (and the dressing too tart!) but this eggplant recipe is something we will definitely make again. Anything with roasted eggplant tends to be a hit-and-miss (mostly miss) item in our household but this recipe, for the most part, works. Next time I will make sure to use a generous amount of oil on the eggplant before roasting, try to cut it a bit smaller (maybe 3/4 inch chunks) and try to use japanese eggplant which is usually better in these types of recipes.

Roasted Za'atar Eggplant Bowl from goop

ingredients
makes 2

• 3 medium-large japanese eggplant (or one big regular eggplant) peeled and chopped into 3/4 -inch cubes
• 1 large sweet onion, peeled and thinly sliced (can use yellow if it's all you have)
• 2 tablespoons za’atar (Middle Eastern spice - can be found in most spice aisles)
• 1 bay leaf
• cooked rice or quinoa
• olive oil
• sea salt + black pepper

for yogurt + lemon dressing

• 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt (I used our regular homemade yogurt for this and it was fine)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon tahini
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt + pepper

preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread the eggplant on a baking sheet and sprinkle with za’atar until coated. Drizzle with olive oil (about two tablespoons). Cook for about 10 minutes, remove from oven and shake the baking sheet to move the eggplant around (for even cooking). Place back in oven for another 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, caramelize the onions: Coat a large pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. Sauté onions with bay leaf until soft and deeply caramelized, about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. To make the dressing, finely grate the garlic into a mixing bowl. Add the yogurt, lemon juice and tahini. Mix. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while whisking to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Place quinoa or rice into two serving bowls or sealable food containers. Top with the eggplant and onion mixture. Drizzle the dressing over the bowls to your liking.

Ethiopian red lentils, or misir wot

We love Ethiopian food, yesterday I tried to make misir wot, since I had some red lentils and homemade berbere spice mix to use up. My homemade Berbere was really bad, way too cinammon-y and it just about ruined my dish. I don't want to name names, because I like most of her other recipes I have tried, but don't trust white midwestern vegan bloggers if you want an authentic spice mix from Africa. Next time I will buy some berbere!

But this method for making the dish (from a different blog) was great, I think once I get my hands on some good berbere this will make some excellent ethiopian red lentils. I went looking for the recipe to blog it and I almost couldn't find it again! I am making a mental note to blog recipes I want to keep right away next time!!

Misir Wot
from this link

Ingredients:

-- 2 onions, finely minced (food processor is easiest)
-- 3-5 cloves minced garlic (or 2 Tbsps)
-- 1 T. minced ginger
-- 3 T. berbere (Ethiopian spice mix, you can try making it yourself from recipes online or buy in specialty stores/online)
-- 1/2 c. - 2/3 c. crushed tomato (from a can, or peel and puree one yourself)
-- 1 cup dried red lentils
-- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
-- 4 cups water
-- 1/2 t. salt (if your berbere doesn't already have salt in it!)
-- 1/2 t. cardamom (I didn't include this because my spice mix was already wacked)

Directions:

1. Get all those ingredients pre-minced and measured before you start. (esp the water, as you will add it in bits and it’s hard to keep track of how much you’ve put in. measure it out in a bowl and take some as needed.)  
2. Heat stew pot over medium heat. Add minced onions dry, no oil in pan. Stir and cook for 5-6 minutes, 
3. add in garlic and ginger. Saute sans oil another few minutes. 
4. Add oil; after 1 min. stir in berbere.
5. Simmer, stirring often for 15-20 minutes, should resemble a paste. If starting to get too thick/stick, add a little water form the bowl you premeasured, no more than 1/4 cup. 
6. Add in tomato. 
7. Rinse lentils in fine mesh colander under hot water.
8. Add lentils to onion and cook while stirring for ten minutes. 
9. Add water 1/2 cup at a time over the next 15 minutes. Once water is all added, lower heat and let simmer with lid on, stirring occasionally another 10 minutes. Test the lentils, you want it to be just a bit softer than chewy, not too mushy. 
10. Towards the end of the cooking add in salt and cardamom. 
11. While cooking the oil will rise ot the top. Stir it all in. 
12. Let cool for a few minutes and serve with the traditional sourish Ethiopian bread, injera, if you are lucky enough to have some. Or pita if that's what you have. Rice would work too. I ate some with potato chips last night. It's a free world.

this table is here because I can't figure out how to remove it

Sai's Thai Green Curry

This is how my sister-in-law Sai made a quick green curry with the green curry paste we had made earlier. She said the vegetables used were not authentic, she just used what we have on hand here, authentically this curry would contain eggplant and a small round vegetable we don't have here.

INGREDIENTS

-- vegetable oil
-- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Green curry paste
-- 1 cup unsweetened plain soymilk (can use coconut milk, or cream, or a combo of any of these)
-- 1/2 cup carrot, diced small
-- 1 cup frozen peas
-- 1/2 package firm tofu, diced
-- 1 tsp. sugar
-- 1 square frozen basil -- OR 1 handful fresh thail basil leaves would have been better

METHOD

1. Heat up oil in pan
2. Add in green curry paste, fry up until fragrant
3. Add in soymilk, mix around.
4. Add in carrot, boil a bit.
5. Add in peas and tofu, boil a little more until the vegetables are done.
6. Add in sugar and basil.
7. Taste to make sure seasonings are well balanced, may need to add in more sugar or salt or even some lemon. Add more water or soymilk if you want a saucier dish.
8. Serve over rice.

Parsnip, carrot, and sweet potato curry

I didn't grow up eating parsnips, and the few times I have tried to cook them over my adult years they have pretty much always tasted sort of like a bland carrot that has a bitter, sour undertaste that, in my opinion ruins anything you put it in.

Enter the 2011 CSA box, which has been providing us with a surplus of parsnip lately. The first shipment I added into one of our favorite soups, the carrot-rutabaga soup, and sadly, it ruined it. I wasn't too excited about cooking up the second shipment, so I decided to ask the internets for some suggestions on how to make parsnip taste good. "Parsnip curry" and "roasted parsnip" were what came back. So I googled this recipe, and cooked it up today with some modifications. I had decided that if this recipe came out bad I would give up on parsnips forever.

Happily, it came out very good! None of the "yuck" factor I associate with parsnip at all. Also, I think it can be made with many different combos of root vegetables, squash would be good in here, or potato, whatever you have on hand (maybe not beets though).

Sweet potato, carrot, and parsnip curry

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 4 medium carrots
• 2 large parsnips
• 1 large onion, sliced (or 2 medium onions, sliced)
• 280ml/10floz coconut milk (about 1/2 a can)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric 
• 1 teaspoon trinidadian curry powder (can substitute with more tumeric)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• Half a teaspoon fenugreek (also called Methi) (can leave out if you don't have this)
• 2 teaspoons red hot sauce (optional)
• Vegetable oil
• Salt

1. Peel the sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips and cut into thick chunks.
2. Fry the onion in oil until soft, then add the spices and cook gently for a few more minutes.
3. Add the sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips and stir well.
4. Add the coconut milk, heat to simmering point and then cook gently for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. You may need to add water to prevent it from burning. Also feel free to add water if you want the curry more saucy. And don't we all love saucy curries.
5. Add salt to taste, and red hot sauce at the end for a bit more zing.
6. Enjoy!

Veggie Trini Curry

Okay, so I finally tried my hand at making a vegetarian Trinidad curry, I think it is OK but could use a few tweaks, here is the tweaked version I will try next time:

INGREDIENTS

-- 2.5 Tablespoons Trinidadian curry powder
-- cooking oil
-- 1/4 tsp. methi seeds (optional)
-- 1 pinch cumin?
-- 1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite size florets
-- 1 large or 2 small potatoes, cubed into 3/4-inch cubes
-- 1 can garbanzo beans (2 cups cooked from dried would be better but who has the time)
-- 1 onion, minced (or thinly sliced)
-- 3 cloves garlic, minced
-- 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
-- cilantro (optional)

METHOD

Heat cooking oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Sprinkle the methi seeds in and let them fry a little. Mix the curry powder with some water to make a "curry slurry" and add the curry slurry to the oil. Fry until it changes color, adding more water if necessary.

Add in the minced onion, garlic, and jalapeno, fry until soft, adding in some salt and pepper and spicy sauce if you want to add more.

Add in 1 cup or more of water and the potato chunks, mix around and cover, steaming, for 7 minutes or so. Add in cumin.

Add in the cauliflower florets and garbanzo beans and mix everything up, steaming until potatoes and cauliflower are tender, adding enough water so there is a good amount of sauce. Taste and add salt or spice if necessary.

Serve with rice or, if you are lucky, roti