Besan Ka Amlate

Vegetarian "omelette"
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

1 small onion, grated (reserve juice)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
7 ounces (1 and 3/4 cups) chickpea flour
Salt, to taste
Sunflower oil for dotting the pan (I'm sure you could use olive oil)

Combine the onion, tomato paste, cilantro, cumin, chickpea flour, and salt. Mix well. Add the juice from the onion and enough water to make a batter of dropping consistency.

Heat a frying pan and dot with oil. Ladle in a spoonful of batter and flatten with the back of the spoon into a 5 inch diameter disk.

After 2-3 minutes, lift the omelette, flip over, add a little oil to the pan, and cook on the other side. Both sides should be golden.

Tarka Dal

Lentils with onion and garlic
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

One of the most popular and common Indian dishes. She buys ready made ginger paste and garlic paste, and mixes them together. With the tomato paste and ginger-garlic paste on hand, this recipe is a quick one when you need something for dinner fast.

10 ounces (1 and 2/3 cups) red split lentils
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon ginger/garlic paste
2 green chilies, slit
Salt, to taste
Handful of chopped cilantro

Pour boiling water over the lentils and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.

As the seeds begin to pop, add the onion and stir until golden and slightly crisp. Remove half the onion with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels.

Add the tomato paste, ginger-garlic paste, chilies, and salt to the pan and cook until blended.

Carefully add the cooked lentils and adjust seasoning.

Serve hot over rice. Place reserved fried onions piled on top with a sprinkling of cilantro.

Rishta

Fennel Meatballs
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

Normally this blog is meat free but these looked so good. And I haven't found a meatball recipe until now that was free of my long list of allergies.

1 pound lean ground lamb
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground fennel
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 tablespoons sunflower oil

Put lamb, giner, half the funnel, and salt in a blender and whiz around once to get a smooth mixture. Form into golf ball sized balls and set aside.

Mix the turmeric, garam masala, chili powder, and the remaining ground fennel with 1 and 1/4 cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour in the oil and season with salt.

Gently place the meatballs in the sauce and cook until they are browned and cooked, adding more water as necessary. Baste them from time to time for flavor. The meatballs should be coated with the sauce, not floating in a gravy.

Serve with rice noodles.

Palak Aloo Bhajia

"Spinach and Potato Fritters"
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

8 ounces fresh spinach leaves, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup grated potato
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup chickpea flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Sunflower oil for frying

Combine all ingredients except the oil in a bowl, and add water to make a thick batter.

Heat oil in a large, heavy frying pan and drop a tablespoonful of mixture. Cook, turning, until lightly browned on both sides.

Drain on paper towels and keep warm while you make the rest. Serve hot.

Spring Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce

SPRING ROLLS

Start with a stir fry for your filling.

Make sure your ingredients are finely chopped or shredded/grated. There's many things you can put into it, but we did:

Carrot (grated)
Ginger (grated)
Bean sprouts
Green onions
Spinach
Mushrooms
Garlic
Cilantro

Toss your freshly chopped ingredients in rice vinegar, salt, and pepper.
(Soy sauce or sesame oil would also be good instead of vinegar)
Stir fry and with a little oil (we did canola)

Make one rice wrap at a time:


Turn on your faucet in the sink and dip the rice paper under the running water, coating both sides in water. Put on plate, and scoop 2 Tablespoons of filling in the middle. Wrap up like you would a burrito. Brush all sides of the wrap with water and corn starch or water and rice flour.

Heat oil and fry. Spring rolls are usually deep fried, but we just lightly browned them on the stove with canola oil.

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE

1/4 cup pineapple or orange juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
3 Tablespoons agave
1 and 1/2 teaspoons organic ketchup
1 teaspoon corn starch or rice flour dissolved in 2 tsp. hot water

Heat everything to boiling, stir and let boil for 30 seconds to a minute.
Put in fridge and let it thicken up as it cools.

Pol Roti

Sri Lankan Coconut Flat Bread

(From "The Complete Asian Cookbook" Charmaine Solomon)

2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup desiccated coconut (meaning completely dried, shredded. Regular shredded coconut is fine, although it will increase the moisture content. And watch out for added sweeteners.)
1 teaspoon salt
scant 1 cup water
oil for cooking

Mis flour, coconut, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add enough water to form a soft dough. Knead dough until it forms a ball and does not stick to sides of the bowl.

Rest dough for 30 minutes.

Shape dough into balls, approximately the size of a golf ball. Pat each one out to a circle the size of a saucer. Cook on a hot griddle or in a heavy frying pan very lightly greased with oil.

Serve hot.
Serve with curries or sambols. It is a popular breakfast in Sri Lanka.

Asian Pesto

(From "Simply Ming" Ming Tsai)

Makes about 3 and 1/2 cups
Lasts 2 weeks, refrigerated

2 jalapeno chilis, stemmed and seeded
8 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
1 heaping tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 cup roasted salted macadamia nuts or roasted salted peanuts
zest of 2 lemons
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
1 cup fresh mint leaves, packed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, packed
salt and pepper to taste

In a blender or food processor, combine the chilies, garlic, sugar, ginger, nuts, zest, and 1 cup of the oil, blend until smooth.
Add basil, mint, and cilantro, and blend while slowly adding the remaining oil until a thick puree is formed.
Season with salt and pepper.

Store in a tightly covered jar and refrigerate.

Serving suggestions:
Spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and chicken breast.
Rice or pasta and sauteed mushrooms

Korean Jap Chae Noodles

(From "The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook" Jaden Hair)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce (I used rice vinegar)
1 & 1/2 Table. brown sugar (I used agave, could be left out)
3 oz sliced fresh shitake mushrooms (I used the cheapest white mushroom on sale)
8 oz dried Korean glass noodles -made from sweet potato starch
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, cut into one inch length, using the green stem too
6 oz thinly sliced sirloin beef (you could leave this out or substitute with a bean)
1 carrot, cut into match sticks
1/4 pound spinach leaves
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
*Handful of bean sprouts

Sit together and set aside-soy sauce and sugar. I did the vinegar and added a little sesame oil to the mix for added flavor since I wasn't using soy sauce.

Boiling water-cook glass noodles for 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water, drain well and toss with sesame oil. Cut up with kitchen shears into shorter noodles (they are really long)

Large wok or saute pan-High heat. When a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact, add cooking oil and swirl to coat.

Add-onion, garlic, green onion, and beef slices. Spread out in one layer. Stir fry 1 minute.

Add-carrots, spinach leaves, mushrooms, *and I added a big handful of bean sprouts.

Add-soy sauce/vinegar mixture and noodles. Toss until warmed through. Toss with sesame seeds. (if not using soy sauce, sprinkle with salt. My husband put soy sauce on after and I did a little sea salt)

If you're out of one of the ingredients, throw in whatever you have in your fridge. I added the bean sprouts, and they were awesome. Broccoli or bell pepper or anything would be so good.

3 Bean Mexican Soup

This recipe has some canned beans, and some beans cooked at home. I pretty much used what I had in my fridge and in my pantry. But I'm sure you could adjust the ingredients, if you would like to do all homemade beans, or all canned, or a mix like I did tonight.

Sautee in olive oil until tender:
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 small stalks celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup tightly packed cilantro, finely chopped

Stir in until it's all smoothly mixed in:
1 box (1 QT) organic vegetable broth
1 can Fat Free refried beans (it's just pintos and salt, no lard)

Add:
1 can organic black beans, undrained
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
Juice of 1 lime

Add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon each:
pepper
cumin
chili powder
onion powder
garlic powder
oregano

Simmer 20 minutes

Garnish with olives and green chilies

Italian Tomato Soup

This recipe is SO good, it came from the back of a Barilla brand pasta box.

Soup:
1 jar Roasted Garlic and Onion Barilla sauce
3 cups chicken both (we did vegetable broth)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
1/2 Tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
1/2 cup orzo pasta (we did 2 cups cooked great northern beans instead)

Pesto:
2 cups (2 oz.) fresh basil leaves, trimmed
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Make the pesto in a food processor, gradually adding the oil.
Heat the ingredients of the soup together until hot.
Serve each bowl of soup with a dollop of pesto.
We also toasted wheat pita bread slices with olive oil and garlic salt.
Serves 4

*We halved the pesto recipe and it was fine. The basil and pine nuts are quite expensive.

Vegan Birthday Cake

There are certain occasions that you just really want some good old fashioned cake, like a birthday party. Well this one is from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, it has no animals products in it. You could substitute the white flour for wheat flour, or maybe a non-gluten flour? I don't know if that would work or not. You can also substitute the white sugar with a natural sweetener too. You could also try apple sauce instead of vegetable oil, although I didn't test that with this recipe. Play around with it to make it as healthy as you want.

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour -not self-rising
1 cup sugar (I used turbinado)
1/4 cup cocoa (I used carob powder)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water

Preheat oven 350. Grease and dust your pan with flour.
Mix dry ingredients.
Mix oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Quickly add oil mixture and cold water into the dry ingredients, mix vigorously for 1 minute or until well blended. Immediately pour into pan and put in oven.

Bake 30-35 minutes, test with toothpick in center.
Cool 15 minutes.

Split Pea soup with Sesame CrackerstickS

Madras Split Pea Soup and Sesame Crackersticks (not quite a cracker, almost a breadstick)
The soup is an Indian recipe. But to me it tasted like a very basic, plain yet hearty, bean soup. The flavors are very mild and delicious. We didn't try to mint yogurt but I'm sure it would be good.

SOUP
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups green split peas, sorted and rinsed
1 quart organic vegetable broth (one box)
2 large carrots, sliced
1 small box of frozen spinach, 10 ounces
1/2 teaspoon salt
RAITA:
8 ounces fat-free plain yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Directions

1.To make the soup: Warm the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, or until tender. Add the cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric, and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
2.Add the split peas and broth. Increase the heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes, or until the split peas are very tender.
3.Add the carrots, spinach, and salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes longer, or until the vegetables are tender and spinach is thawed and thoroughly mixed.
4.To make the raita: Meanwhile, mix the yogurt and mint in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
5.Ladle the soup into bowls and top each with some of the raita.

CRACKERSTICK
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cup milk (almond milk)
6 tbs. melted butter (earth balance)
Sesame seeds and garlic powder/fresh garlic.
In a small bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Gradually add milk and stir to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface. Knead gently 3 to 4 times. Roll very thin, think pizza crust. Cut into 24 breadsticks. Place butter in 2 13x9x2" pans. Put breadsticks in butter and turn to coat. Sprinkle with seeds and garlic.

Bake at 450°F for 14 to 18 minutes.

Soup from Prevention's "The Sugar Solution Cookbook" and breadsticks from Cooks.com

Cashew Milk

Most of you have this recipe, but it is so basic, that I thought we ought to make sure it's on the blog.

Cashew Milk

1 cup cashews, soaked
4 cups water
Pinch of cinnamon
1 T raw agave
1 tsp vanilla

Blend till smooth (Blendtec: whole juice)

Live Raw Granola

I've been fiddling with making granola in my dehydrator and the results have been delicious! I used to make a great whole foods granola from a recipe from Tosca Reno's Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook, but here's my doctored-up version to make it even better. The reason you soak the foods first is that it activates the enzymes and then it is crisped in the dehydrator at low temperatures to keep those enzymes live. If you do not have a dehydrator, you can cook this granola in the oven at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, stirring every once in a while. Cooking will kill about 25% of the enzymes, but you're still eating a great power food!

Live Raw Granola

2 cups buckwheat groats (buckwheat is not related to wheat, if you have an allergy)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup other seeds: sesame, hemp, flax, chia or whatever
1 cup of favorite raw nuts

Soak the above ingredients overnight or for a few hours then mix with:

2 cups rolled oats (not instant)

Mix in a bowl:

1/2 cup raw agave
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch sea salt
1 tsp vanilla

Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir well. Cook overnight at 118 degrees in a dehydrator. This makes the basic recipe. You can anything you want. Try:

• adding raisins, cranberries or other dried fruit after cooking.
• adding fresh or frozen berries before cooking
• adding raw nut butters and cacoa powder into the wet mixture for a chocolate-peanut butter flavor
• use walnuts for the nuts and add mashed bananas into the wet mixture.

The varieties are endless.

Hummus Crazy!

I love hummus - my family loves hummus - and I always make it when I have to take something to share at a party. I used to use it only as a dip for chips, crackers and veggies, but now I use it in my sprouted wheat tortillas and on everything. Here are the four varieties that I have tried - I'm sure there are many more. The first three recipes come from The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno.

The Classic Hummus

4 cloves garlic
2 cups chickpeas or one can drained and rinsed
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup tahini
Juice of 2 fresh lemons (I usually only use one)
1 T Olive Oil

Blend till smooth - adding water if needed.


Zucchini Hummus

2 cups chopped unpeeled young zucchini
2/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh basil
juice of 2 fresh lemons
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt

Blend until smooth.


Pumpkins Hummus

2 T tahini
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp pumpkin oil (or olive oil)
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 ground pepper
15 oz canned or baked pumpkin
4 cloves garlic
2 T cilantro

Blend till smooth.


Sweet Potato Hummus

I just take about 2 cups sweet potato and substitute it for the pumpkin or chickpeas in one of the recipes above.

Don't be afraid to adjust the ingredients to your liking so that you can get the right blend of garlic and lemon or spices for your tastes. Always add a little water to your blender to keep it moving, if needed.

Banana Teabread

This recipe comes from the Ener-G Egg Replacer box. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this product, it's an egg replacing powder you mix with water. It's made out of potato starch, tapioca flour, and other leavening agents (no animal products).

1 1/2 cups wheat flour
2 teas. egg replacer powder
2 teas. baking powder
1 teas. baking soda
1/2 cup sugar (I did 1/4 cup turbinado and 1/4 cup agave due to what I had on hand)
3 table. oil
4 table. water
1 table. orange juice concentrate (I didn't have this-it was fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed banana

Preheat oven 350.

Mix dry ingredients. Add remaining ingredients, mix one and a half minutes.

Pour into 1 pound pan (...? I just used a bread loaf pan)

Bake 40 minutes or until golden brown.

-we made an orange glaze with powdered sugar, orange juice, orange concentrate, and a little butter (smart balance). And I'm sure you could add nuts or raisins to the bread batter and it would be delish.

Mushroom and Garlic Cream Pasta

WARNING!!!!!!! This recipe is TGTBV!!!! (too good to be vegan)

I adapted this recipe (http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1735,154167-239201,00.html) from cooks.com

Blend=
1 1/2 cups cashews (soaked)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (not soaked)
2 cups water

Set aside. This is your cream.

Sautee in a generous amount of olive oil and black pepper=
6 jumbo cloves garlic
1 small onion
8 ounces mushrooms
1 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
(all the above ingredients are finely chopped, I used my chopper)

Stir in cream and let simmer for a few minutes. Season with sea salt to taste (I did quite a bit)

Serve over noodles (we chose whole wheat penne) and tell me you are not sitting in macaroni grill when you are eating this!

Quick Curry

I got this from Nathan's sister, I'm not sure where she got the recipe. It's so mild and fast. You could use fresh tomatoes if you want to make it even more fresh.

Cooked lentils or garbanzo beans (recipe calls for 2 lbs chicken, we chose lentils
1 1/2 Tablespoon canola oil
14 oz. can coconut milk (Thai Kitchen brand)
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons curry
2 cloves garlic, crushed
14 oz can stewed tomatoes (or you could use fresh)
8 oz can tomato sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix oil and curry in pan and heat for 2 minutes.
Add onions and garlic, cook 1 minute.
Add beans, tossing to coat in curry sauce.
Stir in coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Heat until warm enough to serve.

Eat with brown rice, potatoes, or anything.

Tortillas

We can't get any good tortillas in Kansas. Or bread for that matter. You would think when you are in the grain-center of America, surrounded by farms, you could find some quality whole grain products. Not so.

The "best" tortillas I can find are these

and the ingredient list is one mile long with words I've never seen in my life!

Let's go back to the basics:

-2 cups wheat flour
-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil (I used canola)
-2/3 cup warm water

Mix dry ingredients. Work in the oil with your hands, until everything is evenly dispersed. Drizzle the water a little at a time, work it in with hands, until you have a ball of dough. You may use a little less than 2/3 cup.

Make 12-15 little balls, cover with a clean towel, let the dough rest 15 minutes.
Roll out as thin as you can get 'em and heat them through on a non-stick pan.
And don't forget to save one (or two or three) to eat with agave and cinnamon :)

Eggplant Manicotti

From: www.cok.net (compassion over killing)

1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 12 1/4-inch thick slices
1 medium onion, chopped
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
dash of nutmeg
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 cups marinara sauce
Lightly oil a nonstick skillet and cook the first side of the eggplant slices until slightly browned. Turn and cook the second side until easily pierced with a fork. Set aside.

Heat 1/4 cup of water in a large, nonstick skillet and cook the onion over medium-high heat until the liquid has evaporated. Stir in 2 tablespoons of water to loosen any bits of onion stuck to the pan. Cook until the liquid evaporates again, then stir in 2 more tablespoons of water. When the liquid has evaporated, add the spinach and seasonings. Stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes. Set aside to cool. (WE ALSO STIRRED IN 1 CAN OF KIDNEY BEANS, DRAINED AND CHOPPED UP IN THE CHOPPER, TO ADD SOME PROTEIN)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place a spoonful of the spinach mixture across the center of each eggplant slice. Then, beginning with the narrow end of the eggplant, roll around the filling. Arrange in a baking dish, seam-side down. Top with marinara sauce. Cover and bake for 20 minutes.