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. 

Why do people hate eggplant?

I can only imagine it is because of the rubbery eggplant that looks like it's been through a war.  Giant, wrinkled, and beat up, that's what most people associate with eggplant.  Chewy like a tire, disgusting. 

Compound this with equally disgusting preparations - like rancid bread crumbs thrown on it, smelly egg batter, etc. GROSS!!!!!!!

From the eggplants point of view, this is an embarrassment to the species.