Someone's In The Kitchen With Inky!

Picture of the Channa Masala I made last night:

2007-06-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

It's a bit more saucy than it looks, and a bit more red.

Super Easy Channa Masala!

2007-05-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hey all, sorry I haven't updated in a bit, I've been out of town, but I come bearing a gift: an amazing, yet easy, channa masala recipe.

I have to give props to Arup Banerji's recipe. Even though I modified it a bit, the base of this recipe and the explanations are awesome. I would not have been able to achieve channa perfection if not for the base, and the substitution of ketchup for tomato paste. Yes, this recipe uses ketchup, a condiment much maligned and associated with burger and hot dog fixin bars. But really, it's just a thicker tomato paste. If the idea of using ketchup in masala squicks you out, though, feel free to use tomato paste. Conversely, I have used ketchup in other recipes that called for tomato paste and everything worked out scrumptious. Since I don't eat hot dogs or burgers anymore, and my mom had a gastric bypass, I have a whole huge full bottle of ketchup that no one is eating, so it has to go SOMEWHERE.

1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1 stick cinnamon
6 cloves, crushed
4 cardamom pods, crushed (put the whole pods in a mortar and pestle, pound out the seeds, discard the husks. If you have no mortar and pestle, just bruise the pods
A pinch of mustard seeds
2 teaspoons curry powder
(if you are using regular old American curry powder, you are going to want to add 1 tsp of ground cumin and 1/2 a teaspoon of paprika)
Juice of 1 lemon
4 or 5 tablespoon tomato ketchup
2 14-16 oz. cans chick peas (garbanzos) (DO NOT DRAIN! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!)
Bag of baby carrots (optional)
1 1/2 tsps maple syrup or honey
1/2 tsp chili paste (optional)
1/2 a chili or 1 chili--yeah, any chili, dried, wet, green, red, whatever (optional; I used half of a dried chile de arbol left in water for 20 minutes and then chopped and dropped, seeds and all, into the channa.

1 bunch coriander leaves

Directions:

Fry the onions in oil at medium-high heat until golden and translucent, 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, fry for a minute. Add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, fry for a minute (until the kitchen begins to smell really good!). Now add the curry powder, cumin and paprika (if needed), and mustard seeds to the onions, fry for a minute or two. Sprinkle some salt over the mixture if desired. As the mixture begins to stick, add the ketchup and lemon juice to make it more pliable. Keep on frying for about 5 minutes, stirring fairly constantly. Once this base masala is ready (one hint is if the oil starts separating from the mixture), just add the chickpeas, including the water they are in, and the optional carrots. Stir to mix, heat until it boils, then cover and lower the heat to medium-low. Add remaining ingredients (maple syrup, chili paste, chili) and cook for 15 minutes, tasting frequently and adjusting seasonings. Take off heat and stir in coriander leaves. Serve hot, with heated pita, tortillas, Indian vegan bread (roti, naan or puri) or rice.

Imam Badilyi (The Imam Fainted)

2007-05-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

I was very intrigued by the name of this Turkish dish, and intrigued by the presentation (sauteed tomato and pepper mixture spooned onto half of an eggplant), not to mention the boy loves eggplant, so I decided to make this dish. The name can be a bit intimidating, but the actual preparation is a real snap. This vegan meal is extremely filling--you can feed two people very well with this recipe!

The original recipe is here.

1 large eggplant
1 T sea salt
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red pepper diced
3 roma tomatoes diced
about 2 cups diced diced onion
1/2 tsp white sugar and 1/2 tsp maple syrup or 1tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp each curry powder, oregano and crushed red pepper (you can substitute red pepper with paprika is need be)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds (optional)

First, cut off the stem, and slice the eggplant in half lengthwise. Make several deep slashes in the cut surfaces of both halves, but be careful not to cut through the skin on the other side. Sprinkle sea salt on both cut halves and place the eggplant pieces face down in a colander in the sink for one hour; this will drain out the bitter juices soften the eggplant (seriously, don't skip this step, it is the difference between a nice mushy imam badilyi and a tougher imam badilyi). Rinse in water throughly to remove excess salt, and pat dry with a paper towel.

Fry the eggplant halves face-down in a heavy pan for about five minutes in the olive oil, until the surfaces turn slightly brown. Remove the eggplant, and place face-up in an ovenproof shallow baking dish, cookie sheet, or pizza tray.

Next, saute the onions, mustard seeds, red pepper, tomatoes and garlic in the same pan in the remaining olive oil (you may need to add more oil) for 5-10 minutes until softened. Add the remaining spices and sugar, cook for 5 minutes longer. Adjust salt and seasonings to taste.

Place one half of this mixture on each eggplant half, and bake for 30 minutes at 400°F. Remove from oven, and allow to cool to room temperature. Scoop the imam bayildi directly out of the eggplant shells at the table, and serve with pita wedges or French baguettes.

Sri Lankan Style Curry!

2007-05-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

I ended up making the Chickpea and Spinach curry from Vegan with a Vengeance on Saturday night, and as a result I now have two of the delightful makings for authentic curry (the chickpeas were delicious, by the way, but definitely needed more spinach and tomato). My mother balked when I told her I spent 15 dollars on cardamom pods and mustard seeds, but really, I see it as an investment in delicious food. Maybe I have different priorities. Anyway, I feel weird posting a recipe from a book that you should buy (it's growing on me, I hated it when I first started cooking from it, as my Mango Ginger Tofu came out really shitty, and there are a few very esoteric ingredients that I'd have to go into the city for if I wanted to make some of the recipes), but I will post my recipe for Sri Lankan style curry. Despite what, to me, looked like very small amounts of spices, this curry packs quite a punch, to the point where if I had added any more spices, it would have been too much. This is in my bf's top ten dishes, I made it with chicken, but a pound of tofu can be very, very easily substituted, just be sure to wrap your block of tofu up in a paper towel and place a heavy book on top for 20 mins-1 hr to press out all the water from the tofu. This little trick has completely changed the quality of my tofu meals. If you add tofu, this is a completely vegan meal (no honey!)
The original recipe called for curry leaves, which I have no idea how to find. Someday I will find curry leaves, but not today. I made quite a few adjustments, here is the original: Original recipe

1 lb chicken breast, cubed
1/2 large chopped white onion
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3 tsp tomato sauce (shhh I used ketchup, perfectly reasonable substitute!)
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp of crushed ginger
1 tsp paprika
3 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cloves
2 cardamon pods (bruise the pod with the side of a knife for more flavor)
1 stick of cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1 cups of coconut milk

Heat oil in a pan.
Add garlic and ginger and fry them for a couple of minutes, then add the chopped onion and saute until golden brown.
Combine all the powdered spices together (I don't know, I feel that combining the spices first makes for a more uniform flavor)
Add chicken or tofu and saute for a minute.
Add spices, tomato sauce and water, stir.
Cook for 20 minutes. At the 17 minute mark, add the coconut milk and then adjust spices if needed. The consistency should be stewlike.

Gazpacho!

2007-05-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

At least here in Jersey, it's been a hot ass couple of days, to the point where I don't even want to turn on the stove to boil an egg (which I did anyway, but I have wonder if it was worth it). Thus the dilemma of dinner has had the added detriment of me (a la fat Cuban man) lying back in a hammock, fanning off my girth, and sighing, "Oh, it's too HOT today."

I was watching clips from the Office (yeah, I have pretty much nothing to do until my new job starts.) and Ed Helms (fellow Obie) mentions gazpacho in his quest to win Dwight's approval. Gazpacho, eh? And I remembered all the produce in my veggie fridge drawer that is on the verge of going bad. I looked up some recipes on the net, and then found one that I greatly, greatly moderated but which made a great sort of base to work off of, mostly because it didn't have a (ooh-pun alert) soup base sort of ingredient. I don't have tomato soup and I don't have veggie juice soup, mostly because I just don't cook with them. I prefer to use my brand new food processor and/or my blender to make my own soup type bases (more like Stoup bases, since I am not a huge fan of thin soup). Speaking of which, my life has never been the same since I got my food processor--no wonder my Sims are always asking me to buy one for them.

Anyway, here is the recipe (based vaguely off of this recipe ). I replaced cukes with celery because I had no cukes, and because celery is just as refreshing as cukes (it's good blended into a juice):

 6-8 stalks of celery
5 ripe tomatoes (I used tomatoes on the vine)
1/4 yellow onion, cut into chunks
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 T apple cider vingar (I used Bragg's organic)
2 T oregano
Handful of cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
hot sauce (optional) to taste (I used Day of the Dead Hot Sauce, as that
is my "table"hot sauce of choice.


Put everything in the blender and puree. However, if, like me, your blender can't handle that
much produce all at once,
food process the big vegetables (celery, onion, tomatoes) and
then add to the blender with the rest of the ingredients.
You can chop everything up first too, if you don't have a food processor.

Here was my result:


And taste-wise, it was absolutely delicious, with a great "fresh"
 taste, and
just the thing for a hot ass day.

Not Quite Vegan Eggplant Pizza

2007-05-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

It's not vegan, but can be easily made so if one omits the cheese entirely or substitutes soy cheese. Also, I am not sure if the Boboli crust I used was vegan (some say that Boboli puts cheese in their crust) but there are other vegan crusts available. Also, you can make your own, I just needed to get rid of the fucking Boboli crust because it was in my freezer forever:
From culinarycafe.com

* 1 medium eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut crosswise into 2 pieces
* 3/4 pound plum tomatoes, halved
* 2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
* 1/4 teaspoon sugar
* 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped coarse
* 1/4 pound smoked mozzarella or cheese substitute of choice, grated coarse (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 450 deg. F. and very lightly grease a large baking sheet.

Cut smaller eggplant piece into 1/3-inch-thick slices (but not too thin--the eggplant will get brown and become bitter!). Spread eggplant slices in one layer on half of baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Put remaining eggplant piece and all but 2 tomato halves on second half of baking sheet. Roast vegetables in middle of oven 15 minutes, or until eggplant slices are tender, and transfer eggplant slices to a plate. Roast remaining vegetables 15 minutes more, or until eggplant piece is very tender. Remove baking sheet from oven and cool vegetables slightly.

Scoop out flesh from eggplant piece into a food processor and puree with roasted tomatoes, unroasted tomato, vinegar, sugar, and salt to taste. Sauce and sliced eggplant may be made 1 day ahead and kept separately, covered and chilled.

Increase temperature to 500 deg. F.

Spread sauce on dough ovals, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge of each pizza. Arrange eggplant slices on sauce and sprinkle pizzas with basil and mozzarella.

Bake pizzas in lower and middle thirds of oven 15 minutes, or until crusts are crisp and pale golden.

Two yummy vegan tofu recipes!

2007-05-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

These are two of what I call my "Guess what? This is vegan" recipes, since Sean and I are trying to eat less dairy and meat, so whenever I cook dinner for Sean I try to make something that is vegan and yet delicious.:

THAI PEANUT TOFU
I made this last night, and it is awesome. It is also vegan,but if you are a non-honey-eating vegan than you'll probably want to replace the honey with agave nectar or the like. This shit is the absolute bomb diggity diggity diggity. The sauce is so good we ate it with the cabbage garnish! (original recipe here)
I modified by adding cilantro and I feel it is an awesome addition.
1 block firm tofu
soy sauce
1 can coconut milk
½ C. peanut butter
¼ C. honey
1 ½ Tbsp. mild curry paste (I used Jaipur brand, the recipe maker recommends Patak's).
Shredded green cabbage
1/4 cup of finely-chopped cilantro or to taste

1. Drain tofu, wrap in a paper towel, and place a plate on top for 20 minutes to squeeze out the excess water. Cut into cubes. Sprinkle with soy sauce and let marinate for 10-20 minutes and bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together peanut butter and coconut milk. Heat on medium heat until peanut butter dissolves into the coconut milk.

3. Add curry paste and honey and combine thoroughly, bring ingredients to a boil, then let simmer. Stir frequently and let the sauce simmer for about 10-15 minutes; the sauce should start thickening rather nicely. Then turn off the heat and let the sauce thicken further.

4. On a platter, layer the shredded cabbage on the bottom, put the baked tofu on top, and pour the peanut sauce over it. Sprinkle with cilantro (seriously, the cilantro makes this dish).

RED CURRY TOFU
(I don't know where I got this recipe--if someone does, please let me know and I will give proper credit. IIRC I really modified this one too.)
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
2 1/2 cups vertically sliced red onion
1 cup red bell pepper strips
2 teaspoons curry powder (seriously, if you want something that tastes more like curry, i would add more than this, or use an equal amount of paste instead)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon chile paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, mostly drained (add very very little liquid)
1 (12.3-ounce) package reduced-fat firm tofu, drained (and having used the water-squeezing method I mentioned above) and cut into 1-inch cubes, lightly pan-fried
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add onion and bell pepper; sauté 4 minutes or until tender.
Stir in curry, coriander, and salt; cook 2 minutes.
Add soy sauce and the next 4 ingredients (soy sauce through tofu). Bring to a boil; add half of the cilantro, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve sprinkled with the remaining cilantro.

Traditional-style Shrimp Tacos

2007-05-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is from a WW participant, so she calculated the pointage to be about 6 points per taco, for those playing the home game ;-) I also modified it a bit, using guacamole instead of just avocados. These would probably also be tasty without the avocado, if you want to shave off a point or two.
This recipe is for 2 tacos, just multiply times how many you want to make.

4 oz shrimp, about 10 small ones, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons water

1 tsp chili paste or 1 tbsp hot sauce

1 small tomato, chopped

1 small onion chopped

handful of cilantro, chopped fine

heaping tablespoon of guacamole, homemade or store-bought (homemade will have less salt and less crap, by the way)

2 small 6" corn tortillas

Lemon or Lime juice to taste

In skillet over medium heat, add shrimp. Remove tails and discard. Add 2 tablespoons water, and tablespoon hot sauce (I used Peruvian chili paste). Cook for a few minutes until water evaporates, stirring. You may have to drain the water if it does not evaporate (my water didn't for some reason). You will want to get rid of all but a bit of water and then add the remaining ingredients. Add chopped tomato and onion, and squeeze the juice of half a lemon/lime in. Once the onions and tomato soften and the shrimp are firm and pink, about 2 minutes or so, turn heat off.

Place tortillas in another skillet over medium heat and cook for 20 seconds or so on each side, until softened. Place tortillas on a plate, top with guacamole, add shrimp mixture, and sprinkle with cilantro.

Vegan Pupusas and Vegan Flautas.

2007-05-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

So, I got my Salvadoran cred the other day, because I learned how to make pupusas from scratch, and they were vegan, no less! Here is the recipe, which I found here . I modified some of the instructions, also, clearly I am not making mine with just cheese, so I changed that part too. Jennifer from Vegan Lunch Box made hers with cilantro, and I found it a great addition. The instructions (other than my amendments about how the dough should feel) were so clear, the clearest I have seen, and they were so successful in demystifying the process of pupusa making (My mom has been trying to make them for years and she's never gotten it right; I got it right in the course of about half an hour!)

Pupusas:
2 c Masa harina
1 1/2 c Warm water
1 T Ground cumin, made from
-lightly toasted cumin seed
Salt and pepper to taste
6 oz mozarella cheese
1 can refried pinto or refried black beans (for vegan pupusas)--I prefer the black beans, but refried pinto will do in a pinch too
1/2 c Chopped cilantro
Papusas Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, mix together the masa harina, water, cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir into a manageable dough.
The dough should be soft but not sticky; add more flour if needed, make sure the dough is not too soft, it should be a little firm!!
If dough is dry and hard to form, add more water.
To make 3-inch round papusas, put about 1/2 cup of the dough in your hand for each papusa.
Roll into a ball and flatten in your hand.
Put 1/3 cup cheese or a heaping tablespoonful of black beans, 1 teaspoon cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste in the center.
Work the edges up over the filling and again form a ball, completely enclosing the filling. This takes only a few seconds.
Flatten each ball to about 1/4 inch or less and cook the papusas on a hot, lightly oiled griddle for about 3 minutes per side, or until both sides are lightly browned. Don't freak out if there are black round marks on the tortillas, that's how they look normally!
Serve warm.

Spicy remoulade sauce:
When I went to el salvador, they used to serve the pupusas with either a coleslaw with mayonaise or a coleslaw with vinegar, and some hot sauce. I took the idea to make a spicy remoulade from the mayonaise and the hot sauce and putting them together. This is totally not necessary because they were really yumm anyway, but it's a good sauce nevertheless
2 tbsps mayo or vegan ketchup
2 pinches curry powder
1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
1/2 tsp chili paste (any kind will do, I used a Peruvian brand)
a squirt of honey or 1/4 tsp brown sugar

Mix together.

A flauta is a small tortilla that is filled with a filling (beans, chicken, cheese) and rolled up into something that looks a bit like a flute (hence the name). I thought they'd be harder to make, but the recipe was again, very clear.

From Vegan Lunchbox:
Small corn or flour tortillas
Refried pinto or black beans.
cover the bottom of a 10" cast iron pan with a layer of canola oil. When hot, put in a small corn tortilla for one or two seconds, just long enough to soften a bit. Pat dry on towels, then spread a line of refried beans slightly off center. Roll the flauta up as tightly as you can, then lay it in the hot oil seam side down (so the seam will seal shut). Fry until golden, turn and fry on the other side, about 30 seconds each side. Drain and blot.

A note about bakeware

2007-05-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

I just recently bought a silicone muffin pan and I LOVE it! My fiance has been trying to turn me onto the silicone revolution (he's a manager at his family's hardware store), and I had to try it to believe it. No more trying in vain to produce a wholly intact muffin, no more adding grease to pans--the muffins just "pop" out of this pan, no grease necessary!

The brand doesn't really matter for silicone (that I know of), but I got this pan on sale, 25% off. Also, after, um, using my muffin pan to open a difficult jar (you heard that right), I invested in a couple of heat-resistant silicone potholders (also on sale, 2 for 5 bucks) which also double as jar openers. A very wise investment, and you never have to wait for someone to open your damn jar if you have delicate hands (which I apparently have).

Speaking of hot deals, I love Kohl's. I know I shouldn't, but damn. I got this hot sexy piece of pyrex for 50 % off:

It's a four-cup wet measuring cup with a rubber cap that sifts, pours, sprinkles, and strains! I have gotten so much use out of it already, that I would have gladly paid full price for it. But it's nice to get things on sale :-)

I can't wait to get my wedding registry started so I can ask for more pretty cookware things (My boy and I are eyeing several Le Creuset pieces ;-)

Shrimp in Cilantro-Lime Sauce and Unbelievably Good Vegan Banana Nut Muffins

2007-05-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

These recipes were featured in my lj, figured this is the right place to put them now! :-)

Ridonkulously easy shrimp in cilantro-lime sauce

If you have the ingredients or can get them easily, this recipe is SUPER easy. It has, like, three steps. I got this one from a container of Maggi seasoning(it's not just the soup of Asia anymore, folks!), the only modification I made is using only 1/2 a chipotle, otherwise the hotness is most unbearable, and really, all you want the chipotle for is to add a smoky complexity to the cilantro sauce!

1 1/2 cups cilantro, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup apricot jam
2 garlic cloves, chopped in half
2 tbsp Maggi liquid seasoning (which is basically soy sauce, so you can just use that!)
1/2 chipotle pepper in adobo
1/2 tsp Tomato and Chicken bouillon (Goya, Knorr and Maggi all make this, but if you can't find it, use your favorite kind/brand of bouillon, crumbling up the cube and taking 1/2 tsp from that)
1 tbsp of vegetable oil (I omitted this and it came out fine!)
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (if you use cooked shrimp, I made a little note for you!)
Chopped cilantro (optional)

1.)If your shrimp are raw, now is the time to cook them in just a teensy bit of oil (or water) in a pan until they are pink.
2.) Put all the ingredients except the shrimp and the optional cilantro (sounds like a Tori Amos song) in the blender. Blend. (seriously. that's it! Now you have your sauce!)
3.)Add the sauce to the shrimp in the pan and toss--if you are using cooked shrimp, just put the two together over the stove at the same time. Bring just to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Seriously. It's THAT easy, and yet, the dish is flavorful, beautiful presentation, and it makes your house smell like my grandma's kitchen.

These Muffins Are So Good, They Can't Possibly Be Vegan and Oil-free!
A lot of vegans worry a lot about baking products, and their inability to consume them. How do I know this? Because the two vegan cookbooks I bought have huuuuge sections on Vegan baking. My only complaint about them? They use WAY too much oil as a substitute (Vegan with a Vengeance is a huge example of this, and while Moskowitz does recommend oil substitutes, the methods she recommends are time consuming and needlessly complicated.) and I feel like that is an easy answer to the question of egg replacement. I am trying to go dairy and mostly animal free (slowly, as you can see by my consumption of shrimp) for a variety of social reasons, but one of my big reasons is health, I am not going to lie, so it is disheartening to find a good vegan baking recipe that uses like 2 cups of oil.
But never fear! I have modified this muffin recipes by substituting applesauce for oil, and--guess what? They're DELISH! Sean can't get enough of the banana nut ones (and neither can I), and they are ridiculously moist.

I got the original recipe for these muffins here :

Banana Nut Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
Preheat over to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees C). Line 10 muffin cups with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, applesauce and oil.

Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. The result should be soft, not stiff, but slightly sticky. If the batter is not soft enough, add more applesauce.

Stir in walnuts, if desired.

Spoon batter into a muffin pan or your preferred muffin vessel.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.