Crispy Oven-Baked Tofu

I have never been one who enjoys tofu. It's squishy and flavorless, but this recipe has totally changed my mind about it! It does take a little advanced preparation, but it's worth it. I have adapted the recipe from Cookie and Kate's blog and just used the flavors I like. If the tofu in the shop looks dubious, just remember that you're going to squeeze out a lot of the water and cook it at really high heat. I personally prefer the packets of tofu labeled "soya paneer."

 

Crispy Oven-Baked Tofu

1 block tofu
1 tsp ginger paste
1 Tbs soy sauce*
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp olive oil
1 Tbs corn starch

Begin by slicing the block through the middle parallel to your cutting board. Then slice lengthwise and width-wise (like a grid) to create small blocks of tofu. On a plate lined with folded paper towels or a tea towel, spread out the small cubes in a single layer. Add more paper towels or the other end of the tea towel to the top. Place another plate on top and weigh it down. I like to put a cast iron skillet on top. Let sit for 30 minutes to squeeze out moisture. 

Mix the other liquid ingredients in a bowl. After draining add the tofu to the bowl. The longer this marinates the better the flavor. I usually leave it 10 minutes to a few hours in the fridge. Just before baking, toss in the corn starch until all the powder is absorbed. 

Preheat oven to 200 C. On a foil lined baking sheet spread a little oil to prevent the tofu sticking. Spread the tofu out on the pan and put in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Toss the baked tofu half way through cooking to promote even browning. Enjoy hot and crispy! 

*Use gluten-free tamari to make this gluten free. 

If you want to use this tofu in another dish, then you may just want to stick to the oil, soy sauce, and cornstarch. The original poster suggests it can soak up whatever sauce is in the main dish better that way.

One Pot Goulash

I love dishes that can be prepared in one pot. This one comes together really easily and tastes great!

Easy One Pot Goulash

One Pot Goulash

500 g ground beef, pork, or chicken

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups water

1 can tomato puree (standard can--not the big one)

1 can tomatoes*

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

250g uncooked pasta (macaroni or spirals)

1 cup cheese, shredded

In a large pot, brown meat over medium heat, breaking it into small pieces. Stir in onions and garlic and cook until translucent. Add water, tomato puree, tomatoes, soy sauce, oregano, basil, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Stir together just to mix. Bring up to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover with lid, and cook 20 minutes**, stirring occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom. Add in pasta, cover, and cook on low until pasta is soft. Remove from heat, throw away the bay leaf, sprinkle with cheese, and stir everything together.

Notes:

* With canned tomatoes, I just stick scissors into the can to quickly chop them a bit smaller, nothing fancy. Cans with large tomatoes are the easiest to find and cheapest so this is an easy workaround. 

** If you are in a hurry, you can just dump your pasta in here and cook for 25 minutes. The only difference in the final dish is the richness of the sauce. If you have really hungry people, just fast track it!

Chicken Burrito Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

We've been eating tons of salads at our house lately, and this was a super easy variation. I would suggest cooking up a large batch of beans and freezing them in smaller containers or just draining and rinsing canned beans. We have one cheese hater in the family so we keep that on the side.

Chicken Burrito Salad

500g chicken breast

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 cups cooked rajma beans

1 can corn, drained (or ~2 cups from frozen)

lettuce, roughly chopped

3-4 medium tomatoes, chopped

Grated cheese, optional

Cut chicken breasts in half (parallel to cutting board) to create thin cutlets. These will cook faster. Generously season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you like. Grill or saute chicken and set aside.

Layer salad bowl with lettuce, tomatoes, corn, and beans. Add cheese if desired. Cut cooked chicken into smaller pieces and lay over the top of the salad.

Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing from Fifteen Spatulas

1 large bunch fresh cilantro/coriander, cleaned

1/2 cup plain yogurt, thick (like ND's brand)

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 Tablespoons lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 chili, seeds removed, optional (I did not use this)

Put all the ingredients except the olive oil into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Drizzle in olive oil and blend until smooth. Adjust the tastes with a little more salt or honey as desired to balance the tanginess.

Ham and Cheese Sliders

The slider craze is everywhere in the US now. They are mini-burgers and sandwiches with various fillings and toppings. When I was last in the US, I had these delicious Ham and Cheese Sliders and recreated them here very easily. This recipe is based on this one from Dinner at the Zoo.

Ham and Cheese Sliders
1-2 long baguettes, cut into small sandwich sizes of your choice*
300 grams ham or enough to stuff each small sandwich
Thin cheese slices**, enough to stuff each small sandwich
2 teaspoons mustard (Dijon, Honey, or Spicy Brown)
2 teaspoons poppy seeds (optional)
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
6 Tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 170C. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients from mustard through melted butter and stir until well blended. Lay the bottoms of each sandwich across the bottom of a greased baking dish. Add ham and cheese to each sandwich, and then top with the remaining bread tops. Using a brush or spoon, apply the glaze over the top of each sandwich. It will also drip down the sides. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil from the top and put the pan back into the oven for 3-5 more minutes until the tops of the sandwiches are brown and toasty.

Enjoy your delicious sliders warm!

* You could also cut the bread in a few long lengths that go all the way across your baking pan and slice them into smaller sandwiches after baking.

** I think any cheese that pairs well with mustard would work here. I used sliced processed cheese, but I think the local cheese or something like brie would also work beautifully.

Also, I'm not sure what the point of poppy seeds is other than looks, and don't think the recipe would be missing anything if you didn't have them.

Quick and Easy Mac and Cheese - Like Velveeta Shells and Cheese

Full disclosure...this one is not a health food by any stretch. It's pure comfort food that I discovered by accident. Really, it's not much of a recipe, but a quick how to if you're single parenting and have hungry children. I think it might also appeal to singles who don't have the energy to prepare dinner and have some cooked pasta around. I don't have bigger scaled quantities worked out, but this will make a single serving bowlful.

Tastes very similar to Velveeta Shells and Cheese...the totally fake mac and cheese

Quick and Easy Mac and Cheese
1-1.5 cups cooked macaroni noodles or small pasta shells
2 slices Amul processed cheese, torn into smaller pieces (the kind in the plastic sheets)
1-2 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a microwave-safe bowl, add all the ingredients except the salt and pepper. Microwave in 1 minute bursts, stirring between each minute until the cheese is melted and you have a relatively creamy white base. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

You can tweak the amounts a bit, but the key thing is to have enough milk to work as the sauce base without having so much milk you thin the cheese too much. You could probably also do this on the stove top if you work over low heat and keep a close eye on the milk.

This was a HUGE hit with my 10-year-old mac and cheese lover!

Like Campbell's But Better

If you grew up in America, you probably had Campbell's Tomato Soup with your grilled cheese sandwiches. As an adult, I look at the can of goo that comes out and wonder, "What is in that stuff?" but part of me says, "Who cares? It tastes like my childhood." I generally go the route of the more adult-like chunky tomato basil soup varieties, but every once in a while, I really get a hankering for classic Campbell's Tomato Soup, which is not available where we are. In comes this easy copycat version that I've adapted for our tastes. As always, I hope you can look past my poor photography skills...ain't nobody got time for that! (Well...I know some people actually do.)

Copycat Tomato Soup
1 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon oil
1 cup water
1/2 piece vegetable broth cube
1 450g can tomato puree
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Grind of fresh black pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon onion powder (comes in a clear plastic packet)
3/4 cup milk (optional)

Heat oil over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes until the raw smell of the flour dissipates. Whisk in water, broth cube, and tomato puree until smooth. Add all other ingredients except milk. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 5-10 minutes. Stir in milk and cook for several minutes until soup is heated through.*

*I prefer my tomato soup with no milk, but if you choose to add milk, taste your soup before you add the milk. If it tastes very acidic, you'll need to add a pinch of baking soda to keep your milk from curdling. Others suggest keeping the milk aside in a bowl and tempering it by adding some hot soup to heat the milk before you pour that back into the pot. I think either solution will help to reduce those edible, but weird little curdled milk speckles.

I'm Back with Boiled Eggs!

Well....it's been a while (insert sheepish grin here). Life happens, doesn't it? Like a whole year of life! It's time for me to get back on the horse and begin sharing recipes that work well or adapt well for the kitchen here. I'll set the bar low with a couple recipes a month, and if I do more, then bravo!

Let's start with something so simple that I have found to be a game changer--boiled eggs! I like boiled eggs. I find them to be an easy breakfast if I've precooked some and stashed them in the fridge. One of my children also likes them, but those darn yolks can be so dry that you feel like you're choking them down. We've discovered that boiling them just under hard boiled (no jiggly stuff for me!) is the perfect happy medium. Now, I'm going to throw you a curve ball. Enter the pressure cooker. Perfectly boiled eggs that are easy to peel no matter how fresh the egg. What more could you want? Did I mention that perfectly cooked boiled eggs don't have that sulfury smell either? Yeah...that's a bonus.

Pressure Cooker Boiled Eggs

You'll need:
Eggs
1 cup water
Pressure Cooker
Steamer basket, rack, or folded tea towel
Timer

First, you'll need to put your steamer basket, rack, or folded tea towel into the bottom of your pressure cooker. This is to keep the eggs off the direct heat. I'm not sure what would happen if you didn't, but I saw this somewhere so I use one of those collapsible steamer baskets. Place your eggs on top of the rack. Avoid any eggs with fine cracks as pressure cooking tends to break those open. Pour 1 cup water into the bottom of the cooker. If you're using a tea towel, add enough so that you've got at least 1-2 inches of water standing once the towel absorbs some. Lock down the cooker lid.

Turn on the heat to high. Once you reach full pressure (indicated by the big whistle here), switch the heat to low and set your timer as follows:

3 minutes - soft boiled
5 minutes - medium boiled (ideal, in my opinion)
6 minutes - hard boiled

When the timer rings, for soft or medium boiled you want to do the quick release method by running the pressure cooker under cold water and getting the eggs out immediately. For hard boiled, remove the cooker from the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally over 5 minutes then open. Rinse eggs under cold water or place in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

Enjoy your perfectly cooked eggs! I like to mark mine with an X when I put them in the fridge so there's no mixing them up with raw eggs.

Lunchbox Love: Pancakes or Waffles

This one is not so much a recipe as an idea. My kids love pancakes. We recently bought a waffle iron, and they love waffles equally as much. While I'm still experimenting to find the perfect waffle recipe, any waffle or pancake recipe will do for a kid's lunch. You can send 2 pancakes with syrup, peanut butter, hazelnut spread, applesauce, or anything you come up with. My daughter loves cinnamon-spiced waffles with applesauce for lunch.

Pancakes/Waffles
1 1/4 cups flour (I mix 50/50 white and wheat)
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons oil
1 cup milk + extra for thinning pancake batter
1 egg (2 for waffles)

Mix all the dry ingredients well. Add all the liquid ingredients. If making pancakes, add up to 1/2 cup extra milk to thin the batter. Then, stir just to combine (10-15 times around bowl) and leave it to rest 10 minutes. Cook pancakes on griddle or waffles in waffle iron.

For the lunchbox, freeze individual pancakes or waffles on a cookie sheet for 1-2 hours. Then package in a ziptop bag all together. Place in the lunchbox in the morning, and they will thaw by lunchtime.

Lunchbox Love: Corn Dog Bites

While making lunches in developed countries can still be a challenge or at least annoying, those challenges are much more complex in the undeveloped world because, unless you always want to fill a lunchbox with junk or spend a ton of money, you really have to work at it. My daughter recently started going to a school rather than homeschooling, and I knew she wasn't always going to like the options the cafeteria offered. These corn dog bites are a huge hit with her! They were inspired by the easier, packaged mix version at Renee's Kitchen Adventures.

Corn Dog Bites
1/2 package hot dogs/sausage, cut into smaller pieces
1 egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons oil

Preheat oven to 200C/400F, and line a muffin tin with papers. In a mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients, using only 1/3 cup of milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir just to combine. If the mixture looks too dry, add a little more milk. Fill each muffin tin just shy of 1/2 full. Top each muffin with several pieces of hot dog. Pop into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool. Freeze on a cookie sheet for 2 hours, place in a ziptop bag in the freezer, and take out in the morning while you're packing lunch. It will thaw by lunchtime.

Note: If you omit the sausage, this is a recipe for 1 Jiffy corn muffin box mix. Substitute sugar for the honey and leave out the wet ingredients for long-term storage of the mix.

Cheesy Beans

Lizzy asked me if I would post this, as it is an easy fix for a meal like lunch, and I really didn't know what I did before, so I made them again today and now have a rather rough "recipe."  I originally saw something like this in my More with Less cookbook, which is a great one for life overseas or just simple and frugal living anywhere.  I actually gave my copy to someone, but I think the recipe in there was called Monterey Beans.
This is one of those foods that really was just a matter of trying to give a little variety to the amount of beans we eat!  So, here is the basic run-down of what I did and a quick photo (clearly, food photography is not my calling) of the cheesy beans over some rice with some leftover veggies and olives for an easy lunch.

Cheesy Beans

You could use canned beans or dried and really any variety of beans.  I like black beans, but kidney beans work well with it as well.  Once the beans are cooked (or if you use canned ones), put them with a little bit of liquid.  I just kept some of the cooking water with mine right in the pressure cooker, but if you like to drain that off (especially if you are a bit prone to gassiness--ha, the things you say freely from life overseas!), just add in a bit of water until you can see liquid among the beans but they are not totally covered.  Kind of a preference thing on how liquidy you want them.  I probably had about 1 1/2 cups of beans and maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup water today.

I added 1/2 of a bouillon cube and some seasonings.  This is pretty flexible, but I put in a dash of onion powder and garlic powder (though, if you don't have them, I sometimes skip these, and I don't actually like having chunks of onions or garlic in beans this way, but you could put in fresh garlic and onions), and about 1/2 teaspoon of cumin.  If your family has a higher threshold for spiciness than mine, a dash of chili powder or sauce is nice in these.  

I then added...ugh, not loving admitting this...processed cheese!  You could try it with actual cheese, but I think it would get a bit stringy, and what I like about these is the smooth, sort of creamy texture.  So, yeah, I did it.  I tend to use whatever is available.  The slices actually work really well and melt much faster.  Despite one of the only actual advantages of processed cheese being that it melts well, some of it here really takes a long time.  Today I used 3 of the Britannia brand of cheese cubes.  Anything would work (think Velveeta or Amul or whatever you have available).  If you have something that melts faster, though, wait a bit to add it.

I brought the liquid to a boil and then simmered it all together, stirring occasionally because the cheese starts to burn before it actually melts!, for about 10 minutes.

That's it.  My super gourmet dish. :)  It's nice to have as a quick lunch to add a smidge of variety to the parade of beans and lentils that we have, though, so there you have it.

Spanish Beans and Rice

While I was searching for some new meatless meal inspiration for observing Lent, I came across this website which you should totally check out if you live where packaged goods are harder to come by. Most of the recipes use things we have readily available to us here, and they're vegetarian if you're trying to watch your budget or health. Now I cannot claim any authentic "Spanish"ness about this rice, but where I come from tomatoey rice dishes are usually called Spanish Rice. The original recipe from My Plant-Based Family had a couple things we don't have readily available so I just subbed in what we do have plus a little extra flavor. I love how you could play with this dish. We had ours as a stuffing in whole wheat roti with cheese, salsa, and sour cream on top. Delicious and something I can feel good about!

Spanish Beans and Rice
1 onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon oil
1 cup brown rice
3 cups warm water + 1 chicken bouillon cube, dissolved
1 cup tomato puree
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon American chili powder
2 cups cooked beans (kidney, black, etc.)

I cooked mine in a Miracle Oven to make it a true one pot dish. Heat the oil in a pan (or bottom of Miracle Oven) oven medium heat. Add the onion and garlic. Saute until lightly golden. Add in the rice, allowing the oil to coat the grains. Add in all the remaining ingredients. It's a squeeze in the Miracle Oven, but it does fit. Keep the heat high until the sauce begins to bubble. Drop the heat to low, cover, and cook until rice is soft and sauce has absorbed into the rice. Whether in the Miracle Oven or in a 175C/350F preheated oven, it should take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Note: If you need a short cut, you can drop the liquid in the recipe to 2 1/2 cups water and cook the rice (no beans) with seasonings on the stove top on low for about 45 minutes (according to the original recipe). At the end of cooking, you add in the beans and heat through.

Falafel

Sometimes cooking international food with imported ingredients can become quite pricey. I love finding meals that are nearly 100% from local ingredients. Granted, where I live there's not too much that is truly local as most of our "local" products actually come from neighboring countries. Anyway, enter the humble falafel, a recipe that could be completely local and cheap save for one non-traditional ingredient. Even with this additional flavor element, however, it's a super inexpensive vegetarian meal that's easy to prepare. If you make them in advance, you can reheat them in a traditional oven or even Miracle Oven.

Falafel on roti with tzatiki dressing

I found this recipe in my quest for more meatless meals last year and have been tweaking and tweaking the ingredients to get it just right. This week I think I hit the nail on the head. Again, this is my Americanized version so I make no claims of authenticity.

Falafel
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard (that's the one...)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans
1 slice brown bread, torn into small pieces
2 eggs

If you have a food processor, place all the ingredients in it and blend until you have a relatively smooth paste. You can also accomplish this in a blender, but you might need a little more liquid (and later cracker crumbs to absorb it). Heat a few tablespoons oil in a pan over medium high heat. Drop batter in large spoonfuls into the pan to make small patties. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side until golden. I really did not time this at all, but the original recipe made the suggestion. Drain on a paper towel and serve warm. Serve with pita bread or thick roti, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, and a drizzle of tzatziki (see bottom of this post for recipe).

Note: If you happen to use a can of chickpeas instead of dried ones, reduce the salt added to only 1/8 teaspoon. 

Scallion Pancakes

Today at lunch I was talking Korean food with a Korean colleague and remembered these delicious little treats I meant to write about earlier. In our quest to go vegetarian at least half of the week, this is one of the recipes I used to change things up. One of the highlights of my visits to Korean restaurants is the scallion pancakes they give you. The only caveat? You usually only get one for a whole table of people! For a light and easy weeknight dinner, these are super simple, and you can have as many as you'd like.

Given that I'm not Korean, I can't make any claim as to the authenticity of this recipe except that it tastes pretty close to what we get in a restaurant. I adapted this recipe from Kimchi Mom to suit my taste and the amount of work required. Mine don't look as beautiful as hers, but that does not negate the fact that you should try these. Pair this with a little dipping sauce and some Miso Soup, and you've got a delicious dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. A serious accomplishment in our neck of the woods!

Korean-Style Scallion Pancakes
2 bunches green onions, sliced diagonally
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups cold water
Oil

Mix all the dry ingredients except the onions together in a bowl. Add the green onions and stir to coat evenly with the flour. Add the cold water and stir until the batter is relatively smooth. Heat oil over med-high heat and ladle some of the batter into the pan. I swirl it around a bit to get the pancake thinner. Flip once the edges begin to get some color and cook the other side through. When fully cooked, slice into little pie wedges perfect for dipping!

Note: If you're looking for extra protein in the meal, you could add an egg to the batter without altering the taste or texture too much.

Dipping Sauce
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Splash of water

Mix thoroughly to dissolve the sugar. Adjust the amount of water to accommodate the saltiness of your soy sauce.

Pumpkin Ginger Soup

Yes, I've made comments about the crazy amounts of soup people tend to eat in their first years overseas, but I really don't have anything against soup, unless it's the only thing I eat all week. When I first moved to India, I went through a period where the most creative thing I could think to do with vegetables and no oven was make soup. Even though that was a rough culinary patch, we do enjoy lots of comforting soup in the winter. It's one sure way to stay warm at least a little while!

This Pumpkin Ginger Soup is an adaptation of a soup from Simply in Season, same series as the More with Less cookbook, but in my opinion, tremendously more applicable to modern life in a place with very seasonal eating patterns. I've owned the book for a couple years, and it has really taught me to think differently and more creatively about the vegetables we have in season. Totally a worthwhile purchase if you're looking for a good "from scratch" type book. Anyway, this soup combines some of my favorite flavors of the autumn season into a bowl of gorgeous orange. A disclaimer on this, though, is that over the few years I've made it my daughter has never liked it. The rest of us love it so take that for what it's worth.

Pumpkin Soup with Honey Butter on Toast

Pumpkin Ginger Soup
1 Tablespoon oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cups pumpkin chunks or puree
1 large or 2 medium apples, peeled and chopped
2 inches fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
4 cups water
2 chicken or vegetable stock cubes
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat in a soup pot. Add the onion and ginger and saute until golden. Add in the pumpkin, apples, water, and stock cubes. Bring to a boil and then cook over med-low heat covered until the pumpkin and apples are soft and mashable. If you use pumpkin that is already cooked, this process will only take 10-15 minutes. Add seasoning to taste. If you want a smooth soup, puree in the blender.

The cookbook suggests having this soup with bread smeared with honey butter. It's a delicious combination. This soup pairs really nicely with the Autumn Fruit Salad, too.

Savory Greens

I love, love, love dark leafy greens as mentioned in previous posts. I know not everyone does, but they're so incredibly good for you that you really should give them a try. Here's a very basic, adaptable version of savory greens that incorporates vitamin C to give your body the boost to absorb all that good iron. This recipe is portioned to be a small side for 4 people. I would generally make almost double for my family because we all like greens so much.

As a general rule, the smaller smooth-leafed varieties are milder in flavor, and big hearty leaves have stronger, sometimes bitter, flavors. Those happen to be my favorites. Bok choy has a very mild flavor and also tastes great prepared this way. You should note that the more delicate the leaf, the smaller it becomes in cooking so 2 bunches of something small would cook into less than 1/2 cup of greens. So, even if you're not a huge fan, I'd advocate giving greens another chance if only because they're little nutrient powerhouses.

Savory Greens
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-4 bunches greens
3-4 small cherry-sized tomatoes
1 Tablespoon oil

Clean the greens really well with water. Cut the greens into 1 inch slices. If using a larger leaf green, cut both length wise and crosswise. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the tomatoes into a paste. Heat the oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Add in the garlic, careful to keep it moving so it does not burn. Once it starts to change to golden, toss in the tomatoes and cook until they start to look more saucy and less like raw tomatoes. Toss in the greens and saute until wilted. If you're using a thick-stemmed variety, you may want to saute the stems a few minutes before the leaves because they require longer cooking times. Salt to taste.

Chana Masala

I do not like to be a creature of habit when it comes to food. I love variety in my diet. Even if I'm eating from the same region every day, I still would like some variety. Chana Masala is one of the ways I like to change up our lunches from the traditional lentils and rice. Padhu over at Padhus Kitchen has some of the best, easy-to-follow Indian recipes I've ever used. This is one of hers that we use interchangeably for both chickpeas and kidney beans. Generally, I'm too lazy to do the whole blanching and grinding of tomatoes for lunch dishes so I've adapted this one slightly.

Chana Masala
1 cup dried chana or rajma, soaked overnight
2 onions, diced
1/2 to 1 cup tomato puree, depending on how much "gravy" you want
1 green chili, sliced and seeds removed
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 Tablespoon oil
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (adjust according to your tolerance for spice)
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon chana masala
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 bay leaf (tej patta)

Cook the chickpeas in the pressure cooker until soft. This can take up to 45 minutes, but if they are soaked it should be more like 20-30 minutes. Mix the ginger-garlic paste, chili, and onion into a paste using a mortar and pestle. Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Once the cumin seeds are blackened and stop crackling, add the paste and cook until browned. This browning is an important step not to skip. It gives so much more depth of flavor. Add the puree, masala powders, and salt. Cook the mixture on low until the oil begins to pull away from the tomatoes. Add the cooked chickpeas, 1/4 cup of water, and cook another 3-5 minutes to heat through. Add fresh coriander leaves to the top for a garnish. Serve with rice or roti.

After lots of failed attempts at cooking Indian food, Padhu's site really got me interested to try again. I have not disliked anything I made from that site so give it a try if you like Indian food.

Brown Rice Salad

In the next few weeks, I hope to brush up on my food photography, but in the meantime, we're still working with unphotographed food. This salad is one of my quick lunch favorites. First, I'll give you the trick to perfect brown rice, and then the way to make this healthy ingredient a little not-so-healthy, but oh-so-delicious!

Perfect Brown Rice
2 cups brown rice
3 cups water

After rinsing the rice, turn on the heat and bring it to a boil uncovered. As soon as it begins to boil, put the lid on the pot, and drop the heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep the lid closed for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

I prefer my brown rice with a slight chew so 10 minutes is just right, but if you want it softer, you could leave it for the final steam longer. You can also vary the amount of rice, but the ratio should be 1 rice to 1.5 water.

Brown Rice Salad
6 slices bacon (how can we not love that?!)
1 medium red onion, diced
1/2 cup white or red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 piece chicken cube
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard (sub regular if you don't have it)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried
3 cups cooked brown rice

Cook the bacon until crisp and browned. Set aside to drain on a paper towel. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the grease. Saute the onion in the bacon grease until translucent. Add the vinegar, water, chicken cube, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Add the rice and crumbled bacon. Cook the rice on low until all the liquid is absorbed. This will take 7-10 minutes. Stir in the dill and cool slightly before serving. At this point, I also like to toss in some cold chopped vegetables like tomatoes or cucumbers just to give a cool contrast to the warm salad.

This is a great make ahead salad that keeps well in the fridge, too. It's perfect for days like today when we decide to come home for lunch after church.