Kitchen Staples: American Chili Powder and Taco Seasoning

Okay. This one won't have a picture, but there are loads of recipes out there calling for chili powder of the American sort. That is not something that's available here, and often my stash runs out before I have a replacement. So, if you've got some that's almost empty, don't toss the spice container so you can fill it back up with your own mix! You can then use this to make your own taco seasoning, too, which you can use in the Green Enchiladas. After cooking with homemade mixes like these, I find the commercial ones to be really salty. This gives you some flexibility in choosing how salty you'd like things and can make you less reliant on imports if you can't buy these things ready made.

American Chili Powder (makes 1/4 cup)
2 teaspoons paprika
4 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder (adjust to your liking)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder (local one)

Mix all the ingredients and pour into an airtight container. Make in small batches as garlic powder tends to harden if kept on the shelf for too long.

Taco Seasoning
1/4 cup American chili powder
3 Tablespoons cumin powder
2 Tablespoons dried oregano
2 Tablespoons coriander powder
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1 Tablespoon cornstarch (optional)

Mix all the ingredients and pour into an airtight container. To use this seasoning, add 2-3 Tablespoons of the mix to a pound of browned ground meat and stir in 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. If you like your seasoning to really cling to the meat, you can also add the optional 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch to the batch of seasoning.

Green Enchiladas

As you probably know, I'm pretty crazy about leafy greens. For several years, I have owned this fabulous cookbook called Simply in Season, which in my opinion is a must have for people living where food is very seasonal. I like just about anything I cook from that book, but I've always been a bit nervous to try to the Chard or Kale Enchiladas in the book, just sounded a little too veggie! I finally gave them a go last night, and they were pretty delicious, especially if you're looking for more vegetarian oven meals. My husband ate the leftovers for breakfast so that was a good sign! I've added a few of my own twists to make it easier to make here, but it's very similar to the Spinach Lasagna I posted earlier this year with a Mexican twist.

Super high class on paper plates, eh?

Green Enchiladas
2 tsp oil
2 onions, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb or 500g leafy greens (2-3 large bunches), chopped with stems separate
1 tsp cumin powder
Pepper, to taste
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 - 2 cups paneer (or 1 500g block)
1 can tomato puree or sauce
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
10 tortillas or thin rotis
1 cup cheese, grated

In oil, saute onions, garlic, and the chopped stems of the greens until onions begin to turn translucent. Add the leaves of the greens, cumin powder, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium low heat until the greens are wilted. You may need to add a few spoons of water to keep them from scorching. Remove from heat and set aside. Crumble paneer into the greens mixture and taste for seasoning, making sure the filling is salted to your liking. Combine the tomato puree, taco seasoning, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a container and pour about half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Fill each tortilla with some of the paneer/greens mixture, roll, and tuck ends under, placing seam side down in the baking dish. The tortillas need to be a little warm to be flexible enough to do this. Pour remaining tomato puree over the top, cover with foil, and bake in a 350F/180C oven for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake uncovered for another 10 minutes to melt the cheese.

We ate ours without anything else, but they would probably taste great with a little sour cream on top!

Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit

Are you scared? You should be because I love beans, but let's just say they don't always love me. Nor does anyone else after I have eaten them. How's that for brutal honesty? Seriously, though, the dietary benefits of legumes are undeniable, and we eat tons of small lentil-type legumes several days a week in our house without a hitch. It's those other larger beans, however, that are so great if you're trying to eat more meatless meals that wreak some record-breaking havoc on the intestines...even if you eat them all the time. Yes, theoretically, your body is supposed to better tolerate them the more often you eat them, but I've eaten a ton of beans over the past 8 years overseas and my family would argue that nothing has changed. :) So, if you're like me, do you cut out this economical, power-packed nutrition altogether? I haven't given up, and I think I've finally found a solution that everyone around me can live with--sprouting. Not horns, but miniature plants.

Beauties sprouting in my kitchen

There is a ton of very technical research on the internet about the benefits of sprouting which people can get a little cuckoo about, but here's the reason I tried it: The body breaks down sprouts more like a vegetable so it reduces the war that happens in the body afterward. Other research suggests that not pairing beans with meat sources can also help, which I have found to be true. The verdict is that after we tried sprouting in our house this extra step in bean prep seems to make a significant difference. I ate a massive amount of mixed beans in chili and felt great the next day!

Here's how:

• Soak your dried beans overnight then drain them. 
• Place them on a cookie sheet lined with a lightly dampened towel. 
• Cover the beans with another lightly dampened towel.
• Every evening and morning, give the beans a good rinse in a colander, redampen the towels, and put everything back on the cookie sheet. If your house is hotter than 75F, give them a midday rinse, too.
• Keep letting the beans go through this cycle until they have tiny tails.
• To cook them, start with about half your usual cooking time and check them, as they will cook a good bit faster than other soaked beans.

My vegetarian chili with mixed larger beans took about 3 days from the start of the overnight soak. Smaller lentils and dals will take only about a day or so. With short (1/4") sprouts, you get the benefits of sprouting, but your kids won't look at you like you've fed them a science experiment. Given the type of water we have here, I would not recommend eating sprouts raw as some people in other places can do. Happy sprouting!

Change It Up!

Just a quick post to say that the day I tried Megan (and Liz's) Chickpea Curry, I had the thought that it might also work with lots of other vegetables and beans. Of course, other beans are a "no brainer" so you could use whatever you have: kidney beans, brown chickpeas, mixed beans, etc. Today, I decided to try one of my least favorite vegetables--cauliflower. I don't love cauliflower because how could such a white food possibly be good for you?!? I know, I know, it does actually have some nutrition which is why I decided to use it today. It turned out to make a great Cauliflower Curry to have with a mixed veg pulao, plain rice, or even whole wheat roti. You can also use fresh tomatoes, like I did, but extend cooking time until you have them really soft. Experiment! This is one of the quickest, easiest curry bases I have used. Thanks for sharing, Megan!

Just a smidge left of this delicious adaptation

Hot Spinach Dip

Yay! I'm back. I took almost two weeks for some mental recovery, but I've been itching to post some recipes, oldies but ones I've realized I never posted in the past. Before I get to that, however, a HUGE thank you shout out to Megan and Rachel for their posts while I was away! I will say that I have already tried almost everything they posted, and the results have been great on all of them. One more to go this week! I'm so thankful for these wonderful friends who have been in my life at various points during my time overseas.

So, now that the weather has begun to turn cool here (a little later than some of you on other continents), 'tis the season for parties and warming foods. With all the little get-togethers, I like to have some appetizer recipes up my sleeve, but I realized in the history of the blog I haven't actually posted any. This Hot Spinach Dip is probably my favorite appetizer to make here because having something warm as an app just makes it feel extra special and it actually tastes like something I might get at home. This is my adaptation of this recipe from Skinny Taste--since I'm not counting calories and since our local mozzarella clumps terribly in sauces-- but I am quite jealous of those little pretzel-cracker things she's got in the photo! Serve this with tortilla chips, crusty bread dippers, hearty crackers, or even a fresh veg crudite. The measurements do not need to be exact so just go for it.

Hot Spinach Dip
2-3 big bunches spinach, chopped, steamed, and squeezed until somewhat dry
1/2 cup sour cream (here's how)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup Parmesan or other salty cheese
1/4 cup onion or green onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup grated cheese
Pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Pour into an ovenproof dish, or if you're lazy like me, just mix the dip in the baking dish to save on washing a bowl. Bake at 375F/190C until everything is melted and the edges just begin to turn golden. Serve hot.

Note: If you're not up for spending the extra $$ for the parmesan, I have done this using 100% local cheese, and it has still tasted fine. It just needs a tiny sprinkling of extra salt if you do that.

Chick Pea Curry

This is Liz and her son Will in 2010. Wish I had more photos with/of her!

One of the best parts of living overseas for our family was the tight-knit community of ex-pats we came to know. When we first moved overseas, I felt so lost. In all the typical ways, like language, culture and trying to find our way around. But the most surprising thing to me was that I no longer knew how to cook! I was a pretty decent cook when we lived in the States and even thought I cooked from scratch pretty well, but then I came to a place where even canned goods are hard to come by consistently. This is one of the ways that our community of friends came to my rescue. Lizzy was certainly one of the biggest influences, pointing me in all the right directions for ingredients, blogs that she often referenced and sharing recipes. Another close friend, Liz Watson, was incredibly practical and skilled in the kitchen and today's recipe was one of her go-to meals and now is one of our family favorites as well. I think of her every time I make it and get to share it as a meal, which often leads to me also passing on the recipe. Quite a cooking legacy Liz! I love how quickly this recipe comes together and I generally tend to have all these ingredients on hand, so it's a good recipe when I need a last minute dinner idea.

Chick Pea Curry

Two cans cooked chickpeas (I usually use dried and soak them then cook them)
1 can peeled tomatoes. (Fresh can be used also. I also occasionally add a can of tomato puree if I want a more soup-like curry)
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chilli powder (I do much less than this so my kids can eat it, but if you like a good, spicy curry, go for it!)
1 tsp salt
2-3 sliced green capsicum (bell pepper)
Fresh coriander (cilantro)

Fry spices and salt with onions and garlic in oil. Then add chickpeas and tomatoes and capsicums, until boiling. Add fresh coriander right at the end and mix in. Serve over rice.

Peanut Sauce Chicken Stir Fry

Stir fry is a pretty easy option for dinner, but in trying to add a little variety lately, I decided to try to do a peanut sauce for stir fry.  I found a recipe for this Asian Pasta from Martha Stewart that I used as my starting point and tweaked to come up with something a bit easier and more feasible with available ingredients.  

I knew I wanted to serve it over rice.  We eat a lot of basmati or regular long grain white rice here, but stir fry dishes like this are nice with some sticky rice, if you have it available.  I had to search a bit to find directions for preparing sticky rice on the stovetop, and here is one site that I found.

6 T soy sauce

6 T rice vinegar

3 T honey

½ c natural peanut butter

½ t ground ginger

Pinch of red chili flakes (or more, if you like spicy)

2 small onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced

500 g chicken, cut in small strips or cubes

2 cups (approximately) of chopped vegetables (I used green bell peppers, carrots, and cauliflower.)

¼ c sesame oil

(Makes about 6 servings)

Mix the soy sauce, rice vinegar (the first time I made this I didn't have any rice vinegar and tried apple cider vinegar, and it was a reasonable substitute), honey, peanut butter, ginger, and chili flakes in a bowl to form the sauce.  As you might be able to see in the picture of the skillet, this makes a lot of sauce.  When I'm using rice as a base, I really like to have plenty of sauce, but if you decide to serve this with noodles or you just prefer stir fry to be a little less saucy, you could easily half the sauce ingredients.

Saute the onions and garlic in a couple tablespoons of cooking oil for a couple of minutes until the onions start to soften.  Add the chicken and brown on all sides of the pieces.  I used chicken cut into approximately 1-inch cubes, but you could do strips, if you prefer.  Other meats could also be substituted.  Pork or beef also work nicely with peanut sauce.

When the chicken is nicely browned, add the chopped vegetables.  Stir fry is quite flexible with which vegetables to use.  We are always dependent on what is specifically in season, so I like to have recipes that can adjust to what is available.  This time, I used green peppers, carrots, and cauliflower.  Bell peppers of any variety work well and veggies that will stay a bit crunchy after a bit of cooking are good choices.  I would also add that you could easily use less meat and more veggies, if you like a stir fry heavier on veggies.  I was wanting to stretch the servings this made a bit, so I actually added more like 3 cups of veggies this particular time.  

After about 2 minutes, add half of the sauce to pan.  My kids tend to like the veggies a little on the softer side, so I continued sauteing them for about another 5 minutes, but it is a bit of a preference as to how crunchy you want the veggies. The goal is to let the veggies soak up some of the flavors of the sauce but still remain a bit crunchy (and for the meat to be cooked through).  In a perfect stir-fry, the meat and veggies would likely be done in separate rounds or pans, but I was going for simple!

When the veggies and meat are done, turn off the heat, stir the sesame oil into the remaining sauce (can easily be skipped, but I love the taste of sesame oil) and pour in the pan and stir to mix in.