Delicious Indian Dinner!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Mike's friend Trisha's mom gave us some great Indian recipes to try out, along with some spices for each recipe. We did a test run of two dishes (I made the Masala Masoor and Mike made the Alu Gobi), and they turned out really REALLY well, so we decided to invite Trisha and our friend Gabe over to partake in the delicious Indian food. Plus we definitely needed validation from Trisha that our dishes were made correctly!

Mike made the Alu Gobi again, and I reprised the Masala Masoor recipe this evening. I also made Indian spiced rice (recipe below).

All in all it was a great evening. We ate, talked, ate some more and then we relived our childhoods by playing a couple of rousing games of Candy Land (which, by the way, was A LOT more challenging when I was 6 years old...). We're going to try more of the recipes and then have them over again sometime soon!

Aromatic Rice

Loosely adapted from a recipe I hand wrote in a notebook in college - I have no idea where I got it

2 cups jasmine or basmati rice, rinsed

3.5 cups vegetable broth

1.5 - 2 tbsp olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp salt

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and saute, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for an addition 60 seconds. Add the cumin, coriander and salt and stir to incorporate. Stir in the rice and saute for 1 minute - until the grains become translucent. Add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil and stir the pot one time to incorporate all of the spices into the rice. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is fully cooked.

Fluff with fork and serve.

Masala Masoor with Wilted Spinach and Brown Rice

Our friend Trisha's mom is an expert in traditional Indian cooking. When Trisha found out that I want to learn how to make delicious Indian food, she told her mom, who sent us a packet of recipes from a cooking class she used to teach in State College, PA. Her mom also sent us several containers of different delicious Indian spices to make her recipes! We were so excited and we couldn't wait to try out one of the dishes. Tonight was our first attempt at Masala Masoor, and it was incredible. Masoor dal - red lentils - are used in this dish. I followed the directions exactly as she wrote them (which I don't normally do), and I am so glad I did because it was perfect.

Masala Masoor

(Recipe from Sadhna Agrawal)

2 cups masoor dal (whole)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 long green hot pepper, minced (we used a jalapeno)

1-inch piece fresh ginger, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp. ghee (purified butter) or oil (we used olive oil)

1 tsp. whole cumin seeds

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. red chili powder (optional)

2 tsp. coriander powder

Salt to taste (about 2 tsp.)

Pick over masoor dal and wash and soak for at least 4 hours.

Heat the oil or ghee and add the cumin seeds and let them splutter for a few seconds (I cooked them for about 1 minute). Now add the onions and fry for five minutes and then add the minced ginger, green chili and garlic. Fry until golden.

Next add the turmeric powder and fry again for a few seconds and fold in the rest of the ingredients. Add about 3 cups of water and cook in a pressure cooker and give it at least 10 minutes after the whistle starts. If cooking in a pot, add some more water and cook on medium heat until the dal is well cooked (I cooked in a pot - it took about 45 minutes).

If desired, garnish with chopped fresh tomatoes and fresh coriander. Always serve hot with a little bit of butter drizzled on top. Goes very well with plain basmati rice.

We also wilted some spinach as a side, along with cooked brown rice. I can't wait to make this again!

Quinoa with Cheese

This recipe is a real winner. Mike found it on Simply Recipes, and boy is it hard for me to turn down any recipe where cheese is the main event. We did have to make a couple of minor changes, though, since queso fresco was nowhere to be found (well, not within walking distance of our house, anyway).

Quinoa con Queso
(slightly adapted from the Simply Recipes version)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 large fresh tomato, chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped large green chile, either Anaheim or Poblano
2 teaspoons tomato paste
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2ish teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 pound (4 ounces) Fontina cheese, cut into small cubes
1 cup milk
Fresh basil, cilantro, or chives for garnish (optional)

Put 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups of water into a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the sauce. Heat olive oil and butter in a medium skillet on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for a couple minutes. Add the garlic, cook for a minute more. Add the chopped tomato, about 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, dried oregano, and tomato paste. Add chopped green chiles. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Stir until well combined. Let cook until the tomatoes have cooked through and the sauce has cooked down a bit. Then stir in the cheese. Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed.

Stir 1 cup of milk into the now cooked quinoa. Serve the quinoa in bowls and top with sauce. Garnish with chopped basil, parsley, cilantro, or chives. (We chose cilantro.)

I think next time we'll add a meat (maybe a sauteed chicken sausage?), but this was a very filling, tasty dish.

Brunch Tostadas!

Yes, the exclamation point is a necessity here. We accidentally didn't have time to try out the Shredded Chicken Hard Tacos recipe we had planned this week, so in a pinch we decided to use all the ingredients and substituted eggs for the chicken. It was a very exciting way to start the day.

Brunch Tostadas!

5 eggs
1 -2 tbsp skim milk
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red onion, diced & divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup salsa, divided
6 oz shredded light Mexican cheese blend
2 corn tortillas
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Sour Cream
Avocado
Lettuce, chopped
Tomato, diced


In a small saucepan, heat about 1/2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add 1/2 of the onion and saute for 2-3 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and stir until the scent of garlic is released, about 1 minute. Add black beans and stir until combined. When the black beans are heated through, stir in 1/4 cup of salsa. Reduce heat to low and cover to retain liquid.
Roughly chop the avocado. Place in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mash with a fork. It's okay if the avocado is still a little chunky - that's the best part.
Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Add milk and whisk until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat a pan over medium-low heat. Spray with olive oil spray to lubricate. Add eggs. Wait about 1 minute and then stir the eggs with a wooden spoon, gently scraping the bottom of the pan. Repeat this process until the eggs are scrambled and all the liquid has been cooked/evaporated, about 10-12 minutes.
While the eggs are cooking, heat a small pan over medium high heat. Spray quickly with olive oil spray. Add one corn tortilla and toast until both sides are brown and the tortilla is almost crispy.
Place the toasted tortilla on a plate. Spread 1/2 of the mashed avocado mixture on the tortilla. Add the black beans, sprinkle the cheese, then cover with eggs. The lettuce, tomato and sour cream will top off a deliciously complete brunch meal. Too bad we didn't have any guests to share this with! We'll be sure to make it again sometime.

Enchilada Manicotti

When Mike sent me this recipe, I was hesitant at first. It sounded so strange! Then I thought about it for a little while, and it started to make sense. Pasta instead of tortilla. Chunky enchilada sauce instead of a red sauce. Ricotta AND shredded Mexican cheeses. RICOTTA. I was sold.

This is a fun, simple dish to make and was a satisfying meal that produced at least two days' worth of leftovers - definitely a win in my book!

Enchilada Manicotti
(via The Food in My Beard)

For filling (slightly different from original recipe):

4 oz Jack Cheese (we used TJ's Lite Mexican Cheese blend)
1 Cup Ricotta
1 11 oz Can Refried Beans (fat free refried beans from TJ's are the jam!)
4 Tablespoons Parsley

For sauce:

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Small Onion
1 28 oz Can Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 4.5 oz Can Muir Glen diced green chiles (we used one can of TJ's fire roasted tomatoes with green chiles for convenience)
1 Tablespoon Cumin
1 Diced Bell Pepper
3 Chopped Chipotles from a Can with Adobo
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
5 Clove Diced Garlic

1 Box Manicotti Shells
4 oz Jack Cheese

Mix filling ingredients in a large bowl.

In a medium saucepan, saute onions in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir. Saute for about 1 minute. Add cumin and stir to combine. Add other sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.

Boil Manicotti shells according to package and strain.

Pour some of the sauce in the bottom of a casserole pan.

Stuff filling into shells.

Coat filled shells in sauce. Top shells with more sauce and cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool 10 minutes and serve.

This was delicious and a fun activity - who doesn't love stuffing shells with a gooey cheese mixture?!

Next time we might add a sausage to the filling (maybe TJ's jalapeno chicken sausage?) for additional flavor and protein. All in all, a successful dinner!

Roasted tomato soup & grilled cheese sandwiches

Mike and I love grilled cheese and tomato soup. We've attempted several different grilled cheeses (all turned out deliciously - you can't go wrong with hot cheese and buttered toast), and a couple of different tomato soups (with mixed results). When I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen's blog, I wanted to leap with joy. Roasted garlic and tomatoes?! Molten cheddar cheese?!? I'm in. Especially since our farmer's market has been stocked with a plethora of cheap, super ripe tomatoes over the past couple of weeks.

Roasted Tomato Soup with Broiled Cheddar
(from Smitten Kitchen's recipe)

Soup

3 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste) dried crushed red pepper
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Lid

4 1-inch slices from a large loaf of rye bread, whole wheat sourdough or bread of your choice (or 16 1-inch slices from a baguette), toasted until hard and lightly buttered on one side
1 tablespoon grated raw onion
1 cup coarsely grated cheddar (or more to taste)

For the soup: Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap garlic cloves in a tight foil packet. Place tomatoes, cut side up, on large baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (I used 1 full teaspoon of Kosher salt). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Add foil packet of garlic to tray. Roast until tomatoes are brown and tender (garlic will be very tender), about 1 hour. Cool slightly.

Unwrap garlic packet and peel cloves. Transfer cloves, tomatoes and any accumulated juices to a blender or food processor and pulse machine on and off until tomatoes are a chunky puree. Transfer tomatoes to medium pot and add thyme, crushed red pepper and stock and bring to a boil Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasonings to taste.

To make cheddar lid: Preheat oven to 350. Arrange four ovenproof soup bowls, crocks or large mugs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Stir grated onion into the warm soup. (I love this last-minute suggestion of onion.) Float toast slice(s) in each bowl, buttered side up and divide grated cheese generously over top. (If you’re using a wide bowl, you might find that you want more cheese to create a thick, broiled lid.) Bake soups on tray for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese on top is bubbling and brown at the edges. Serve immediately.

Veggie Pizza

Since my sister was visiting all weekend, I wanted to make sure she ate delicious vegetarian food every night she was here. Last night, we took her to Govinda's, an affordable and yummy vegetarian dine-in/take-out place in Philly. Tonight, I made a vegetarian pizza filled with veggies from the farmer's market on the corner of my street. It was way too easy - and thank god it was because we were exhausted from walking around Philadelphia all day.

Veggie Pizza
(inspired by my dad's delicious pizza ventures when I was a kid)

1 bag of fresh whole wheat pizza dough (thank you, Trader Joe's!)
1 cup of pre-made spaghetti sauce
1 bag of part skim mozzarella cheese
5-6 tbsp olive oil
1 large zucchini, halved and sliced
1 large yellow squash, halved and sliced
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3-4 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
1 bag of baby spinach

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a pizza pan. Using both hands, work the dough to soften it a little - just enough to make it pliable. Then, hold the dough out in front of you and gently stretch along the edges to round it out evenly. Set the dough on the pizza pan and spread it out by pressing it toward the edges of the pan.

Saute one half of the chopped onion in about 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat until they start to soften, about 2 minutes. Add squash and zucchini; cook, stirring frequently, until the squash and zucchini become translucent, 6-7 minutes. Add the chives, stir to incorporate, and then turn off the burner to allow the mixture to cool. Salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, in a large pan, saute the other half of the chopped onion in about 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat until they start to soften, about 2 minutes (yes, it's redundant, but I believe all veggies benefit from the flavor of sauteed onion). Add bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape pepper mixture into a bowl and set aside. Salt and pepper to taste.

Finally, add 1-2 tbsp olive oil to the pepper pan. When fully heated over medium-low heat (oil begins to shimmer), add the bag of spinach and cook, stirring often, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

While the squash, spinach and bell pepper mixtures are cooling, pour the spaghetti sauce onto the pizza-shaped dough. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, spread the sauce evenly over the dough. Sprinkle just a handful of cheese on top of the sauce.

Add the squash mixture to the pizza, making sure to spread it evenly over the pie (Cook's Note: If you have too much to put on the pizza, that's okay. Box it up and refrigerate it to add to another dish later - we are going to use our leftover squash mixture in the quesadillas we're going to make the Wednesday after this meal). Spread the bell pepper and spinach mixtures evenly over the pizza. Add at least 2 more handfuls of cheese (depends on how much you like on your pizza).

Bake, uncovered, until the dough is cooked and the cheese begins to brown (about 10-12 minutes, depending on how brown you want your cheese to be). Slice into 8 pieces (or 4 if you're lazy and you know everyone's going to eat 2 anyway) and serve with parmesan. NOMS!

Tofurkey and Veggies over Saffron Risotto

Brit's sister (Anja) and her sis's boyfriend (Drew) came to visit this weekend to see Brit and to go to the Yeasayer concert tomorrow night. Her sister is vegetarian and apparently doesn't have many options back home for eating good meat-free food. Brit really wanted to expose her to some good, tasty, vegetarian cooking this weekend to show her that it's possible to eat well with her diet. Tonight's meal is going to be an adaptation of a fantastic polenta dish that Brit's grandmother had sent us the recipe for and we've made a few times. The polenta is topped with some sauteed chicken sausage, onion, spinach, and some other veggies. We decided to take the topping, switch out the chicken sausage for some tofurkey we found at TJs, and serve the entire thing over my saffron risotto, which I would be making with veggie stock.

Saffron Risotto
(originally printed in a June 2007 SELF magazine)

Serves 5-6 (we doubled the recipe for our guests)

Olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped small
2 cups arborio rice
Salt
2 cups white wine
Large pinch of saffron
56 ounces veggie stock (I normally use chicken stock)
2 tbsp butter, quartered
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Using a medium pot, simmer the stock.

Using a large pot, over medium heat, saute the onions in the olive oil until they are soft and translucent. Add in the rice and a pinch of salt and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine and the saffron (appreciating the beautiful color that comes out of the saffron as it is cooked) and stir frequently until most of the wine is absorbed.

Add two ladles of stock to the rice and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. Continue to add a ladle of stock to the rice until the liquid is absorbed between each new addition. Once all of the stock has been absorbed stir in the butter until it is fully melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese. Let the rice sit for 2 minutes and serve.

I had actually turned the heat down to low on this dish because I needed to waste some time while Brit helped Anja and Drew find parking. Because of this, I believe the dish turned out creamier and more delicious than I had ever made it. It might have also helped using a veggie stock (I find that TJ's veggie stock is tastier than their chicken variety) as well. Either way: yummmmmm!

The veggie topping that Brit made was tasty, but I wasn't a fan of the tofurkey we had bought. The texture was a little off and the flavor wasn't very exciting (at least for me).