Seitan & Veggie Stir Fry (for the whole family)

I wanted to make Bibimbop, but given it was a weeknight and we had to run an errand before getting home, we needed something ASAP.  I had Seitan from making it earlier; the recipe from Veganomicon turned out great!  I put some white basmati rice on the stove, and while that was cooking got Arundhati's dinner ready:

Baby Stir Fry

• diced Seitan
• tips of diced baby broccoli

In the Mini-prep chopped:

• fresh shitake mushrooms
• fresh garlic cloves
• ginger (tiny wee bit of fresh peeled)
• onions
• carrot, peeled
• orange bell bepper

I sauteed this all in olive oil in the wok, and when it was almost done, added Bragg's Liquid Aminos and sugar to taste.  Fried that for a minute or so, then added in some cooked white rice.  We know she approves if we get a "num!"

Luckily, she isn't allergic to wheat or mushrooms.  An alternative would be use tofu and any other veggies your child likes.  Cooking a small batch like this in the wok makes everything just right - the right balance of crispy and soft, done to perfection.  Large quantities, and it seems things get soggy.


We are pretty much having the same thing for dinner, only changing the quantities and adding jalapeno peppers, rice wine vinegar, and maybe some other sauces for spicier flavor (but hers tasted great w/o it).  I'll probably also smother mine with Sriracha.  Debashis did throw in some fried spanish peanuts (cashews would work too), but you can omit this if you have a peanut or nut allergy.

an arsenal of spices

Some people in the US stock an arsenal of ammunition for their large gun collections.  Since we neither own guns or ammunition, we have plenty of room for an excessive amount of spices.

Shocked at the prices of organic spices ($54/lb for organic premium cardamom pods????) we try to "save" by buying bulk.  We do go through them fairly fast, or so it seems at the prices we pay.  To grind, we use either our granite grinding stone, Sumeet Asian kitchen machine, small coffee ginder, or Vitamix, depending on the application.  


The large granite mortar & pestle I bought at a department store in a totally random find.  They only had two and I should have bought them both.  The quality is excellent and it's a good size.  We wet and dry grind in it.

The Vitamix and Sumeet will both wet grind spices, but you have to put enough in the Vitamix for it to work right - otherwise the tornado inside swirls everything towards the sky inside the tall container.  The Sumeet was specifically designed to handle wet grinding of spices (at least the attachment I am talking about here).  I need a Sumeet shape with a Vitamix blade, base and power.

Tonight we made Palak Paneer from Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine.  It calls for wet grinding the spices along with water or whey, and fresh ginger and chili.  We omitted the chili for Arundhati's sake, and because it was such a small quantity Debashis ground it up in the mortar & pestle.  It was pretty easy to make because we had everything we needed on hand - right from our arsenal.  Debashis served that with coconut rice and it made us wonder why have we been missing out on coconut rice all these years?

A friend today said he put curry powder on his dinner and liked it, and my first thought was......what kind of curry powder?  We generally grind all of our own.  If you have a favorite blend, let me know!

Fresh Grape Leaves, Dolmades & Seductions of Rice

Fresh grape leaves in the yard this time of year made us think of the delicious fried grape leaves stuffed with goat cheese.  That led us to dolmades......and we compared a few recipes from various cookbooks.  Seductions of Rice won out, and the dolmades were so delicious we ate every one of them, including the grape leaves at the bottom of the pan.  We decided in the future we might even just line the pan, throw in the rice mixture, more leaves, and just have that for dinner.

Debashis made a white bean dip, and served that with rice crackers and endive spears:

White Bean Dip
Smashed peeled garlic cloves and rosemary sauteed in olive oil.  Once things were crispy and fragrant, he removed the rosemary and kept it aside. 

In the mini prep he added the olive oil & garlic, drained canned beans (rinse as you prefer), salt to taste, and some kalamata olives (4-5), and coarsely blended.  Into a bowl it went, with the rosemary added back in.  He adjusted for salt and pepper, fresh squeezed lemon & a little lemon zest. 

Roasted Potatoes
Boiled small red potatoes were transformed in a skillet with olive oil, garlic, rosemary and salt into delicious, crispy roasted bites.

Easy Salad
The last addition was an easy salad of herbed lettuce mix, cucumbers, early heirloom tomatoes and avocado.  This was served on a platter with olive oil and balsamic glaze drizzled on top.  Easy, and tasty.

Every Day Bengali Khitchri (a.k.a. Kitchari)

When we need a fast, nutritious dinner that tastes good when we are all sick or exhausted, we make this in our pressure cooker.  It's basically just an east-indian risotto.  All spices whole unless noted.  Easy on the turmeric until you get the hang of it, most people over do it and it gets bitter, yuck!  Sub coconut oil or canola to make this vegan.  We have a stainless steel pressure cooker (actually 2) and we use them a bunch.  I blew the pressure gasket off one but Debashis fixed it.   We are eating this tonight with sauteed kale in olive oil & garlic.

We have been trying to find a good US or North American source for organic dals, specifically mung dal and yellow pigeon peas.  Our local COOP sells organic mung dal from.... China?  Let me know if you have a good source.

Serve this with: samosas and/or papads, indian pickle, and a quick salad of lime, cucumber, salt, jalapeno or some other fresh chili, cilantro, tomatoes, sliced red onions.


easy bengali khitchri
1/4 c mung dal - yellow, hulled, split mung dal
1/4 c rice (any aromatic kind), tonight I'm using white basmati
 wash carefully & drain

sautee in pressure cooker:
ghee
cumin
nigella
red chili
ground coriander
ginger, fresh, peeled, minced

add tomato to melt

veggies as you prefer, we use:
carrots, peeled & chopped (1 tonight)
potatoes, peeled & quartered (tonight I'm using small red)
peas (shelled or frozen) - small handful tonight
spinach (handful)
cauliflower (in proportion to the carrots)

add the:
rice & dal
turmeric (not too much at all)
salt

Optional: nuts or raisins.  Arundhati loves raisins and Debashis loves cashews, so in they go for us.

add 3-4 parts water (so for this one I'll add 2 c.)

Cover pressure cooker, on medium heat bring to pressure, maintain pressure for 3-5 mins then turn the heat off, and let the pressure drop.  Open & serve in shallow pasta bowls. 

Daily Chai

Every morning we make chai:

• approx. 1 cup skim milk
• approx. 1 cup water
• ~1" peeled & diced fresh ginger
• 2 T. black ceylon or assam tea leaves
• sugar
• cardamom pods (2-3 if you are Debashis, 7-8 if it's me, mine tastes better).

Boil the water, ginger and smashed cardamom pods for a few minutes.  Add the tea and boil for 3 minutes.  Add the milk, and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and cover for another few minutes.  Strain into cups, sugar or sweetener to taste.

Note: I've tried un-caffeinated using Rooibos with mixed results.

On Acquiring Ingredients

Where do we shop?  The answer is - everywhere.  Within reason, we will hunt down whatever ingredients we need, and sometimes this takes advance planning (like muling things from India).

Currently we are trying find organic thai sticky rice.  If you know of a good source, let me know.

Regular shopping:

• Local Coop - all 3 close locations (w/in 60 miles of each other)
• Whole Foods (various locations)
• Trader Joes
• Costco
• Online grocers, including Amazon
• Local Farmer's markets (seasonal)

Summer is around the corner so we are trying to grow as much as we can.  Debashis has 16 varieties of eggplant seeds this year so stay tuned on what to do with eggplant.  I think I'll post something separate on the kitchen garden.

East Indian Kadhai Paneer, Pulao, Salad, Naan, Bengali Tomato&Date chutney

We were craving some real food, so decided to make a serious dinner and have the neighbors over.

Kadhai Paneer - made the paneer from a gallon of Organic Valley milk and 1 container Stoneyfield Farms whole fat plain yogurt.  Ground spice mixture, diced onions, peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, etc. and canola oil, finished it off with mustard oil on top and roasted it in the oven.

Naan - we had pizza dough made and wondered, could it be used to make naan?  Yes, it worked out!  A little on the chewier side but better than the frozen stuff.  This was the one dish not gluten-free.

Salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno or serrano, red onion, lime juice, salt.

Pulao - Kalijera rice with spices, onions, cashews, slivered bell peppers, so good.


On the side:

• Pickled red onions.  We quick pickled some red onions in sugar and wine vinegar as a condiment on the side.
• Diced cilantro
• jalapeno rounds with lime juice
• Cilantro-mint chutney.  Fresh mint, fresh cilantro, lime juice, 1/2 a jalapeno (or green thai chili, or serrano), salt.  Mix in blender or food processor.  
• Tomato-date chutney.  Debashis's top-secret recipe.

Appetizers were Samosas and the neighbor's brought Koftas.  
 

Vegan Collards, Grits and Aparagus

Wednesday night dinner:

Collards looked great at the store, so Debashis washed, stemmed, chopped, blanched then sauteed them in olive oil with salt, sugar, and garlic.

We ate them along with some olive oil roasted asparagus, zuchinni, garlic, onions and Quorn meatballs thrown into a cast iron skillet.

This was served on top of delicious grits with creamed cashews from chef Bryant Terry as featured in March's Sunset.  Debashis modified the recipe by lightly toasting the grits first, and adding a veggie bullion cube to the water to make the broth.  Without thinking, we made another vegan dinner (except the Quorn meatballs).