Greek Style Eggplant Stew

This was one of the recipes I wanted to try during chickpea week  and finally did so this past week.  This is based on the recipe found here.

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chickpeas
10-12 baby carrots, chopped
2-3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
Some chopped onion (I tend to use light onion)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Ground coriander
Ground cumin
Salt and black pepper
Crushed red pepper
Fresh basil and parsley

If using dry chickpeas, soak overnight and steam cook.

Pre-heat  oven to 375 degrees.

Heat oil in a pan and add onion, garlic, peppers and carrots. Fry lightly for 3-4 minutes. Add eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas, and spices and continue frying for another 4-5 minutes.

Transfer to an oven safe bowl. Bake for 30 minutes.

Garnish with some parsley and serve warm with some pita bread or ancient grain naan bread.

 

Quick Lunch Series: Chickpea Week

I have been meaning to try these chickpea based recipes for sometime now. Although I always have canned chickpeas ready to go, it is always fun to use dry chickpeas: soak, cook and use! And while you do that, don’t forget to snack on the soaked chickpeas! Delicious!

I soaked some chickpeas during the weekend and steamed them Sunday night, so they were ready to go for the weekday lunches. I did not get to try all the recipes I wanted to, but here’s three fun ones.

First up is Chickpea Salad. I made absolutely no change to the original recipe and you can find it here.

Next up is this Quinoa salad. The only change is I added left over avocado. You can find that recipe here.

The last recipe is an old one but a favorite. This time around I did use artichoke. It is good with artichoke or mango. Check it out here!

Quick Lunch Series: Roasted Eggplant & Cauliflower

This recipe is adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 Japanese Eggplant, sliced into wedges

1/2 Cauliflower cut into florets

1-2 tbsp red curry paste

1 cup chickpeas

1-2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 small piece of ginger grated

olive oil

salt to taste

a few fresh basil leaves

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

If using dry chickpeas, soak in water overnight and steam. If using canned, rinse and set aside.

Toss eggplant, cauliflower, ginger, garlic, oil, salt and curry paste. Roast in oven for 30-40 minutes until lightly brown.

Add chickpeas and mix well. Continue to roast for another 5-10 minutes.

Garnish with basil and serve warm over a bowl of rice. Perfect for that office day meal.

Baked Falafel with Hemp Sauce

This is a confluence of three ideas.

I loved Ronit’s idea to bake falafel and have been wanting to try.

I just didn’t have all ingredients. I followed Elaine’s idea to use a combination of Sadia and Ronit’s recipe.

I topped it all off with my variation of Elaine’s Hemp Sauce.

Hemp has been my favorite grain/seed in recent years. I use it often in cereal, smoothies, soup , and salads. And even love to toss some in  curries and more.

I haven’t yet tried to make butter or sauce with it. So Elaine’s recipe was perfect to venture in that direction!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup hemp
1 jalapeno
a handful of parsley and cilantro
a little water
some lemon juice
salt to taste
Place the hemp, jalapeno, parseley and cilantro in a blender. Add water and blend into a smooth sauce. Season with salt and lemon juice.

Serve with some fresh baked Falafel!

Next time I would love to try hemp with sun-dried tomato!

Quick Lunch Series: Edamame & Zucchini Wraps

Recently, during a flying trip,  I picked up some wraps from Starbucks as snacks. I wasn’t sure if I would have time to halt for lunch and seeing them on the menu, I knew they were perfect snack to fill in until the next meal. And I was right. They were delicious!

Since then, I have been itching to make them at home. And here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:

Sun dried tomato, jalapeno and garlic hummus (BTW Starbucks used Edamame hummus & garlic and herb cheese spread)
1 Spinach tortilla
a handful of edamame, shelled (optional)
2-3 mini zucchini, sliced
1/4 red bell pepper, sliced or chapped
a handful of spinach leaves

To make wraps, lay out a tortilla. Generously apply 1-2 tbsp of hummus. Layer thinly sliced zucchini, red bell peppers, edamame (optional) and spinach. Drizzle some lemon juice. Roll into a wrap and slice into two or three mini wraps.

Delicious! I think the hummus makes the difference 🙂

See Also:

Sun-dried Tomato and Jalapeno Hummus

Sun-dried Tomato & Jalapeno Hummus

One of my favorite combinations is Sun-dried Tomato and Jalapeno: be it for bread or hummus. And of course you can’t find this in the grocery store. So I decided to make my own.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup dry chickpeas
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1-2 jalapenos
2-3 garlic cloves
3-4 tbsp olive oil
juice of one lemon
salt to taste
a few crushed peppers to sprinkle

Soak the chickpeas overnight or for 10 -12hours in twice the amount of water. Rinse and cover with 1.5 times water and steam in a pressure cooker. I typically use twice the amount of water, but this time decided to reduce the amount, so I don’t need to throw any left over water away. You can also cook the chickpeas stove top until the chickpeas soften. Remove and let cool.

To make hummus, add cooked chickpeas, sun dried tomato, jalapeno and garlic to a food processor. Add  the left over water from the the cooked chickpeas as needed and pulse till the ingredients are processed to a smooth paste.

Season with salt,  drizzle olive oil, lemon juice and pulse lightly.

Sprinkle some red crushed pepper (optional) and serve with some crackers or make some healthy wraps.

Cauliflower, Kale, and Chickpea Curry Pot

I love one-pot meals, and coming across this blog and recipe, I was all for trying it out. Considering, I had all the ingredients, it was a no brainer.

Ingredients:

1 small cauliflower, washed, trimmed and cut into florets
4 tomatoes, crushed
1 cup chickpeas, soaked for 24 hours and steamed
1 onion, chopped
1-2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeno, minced (de-seeded if you prefer)
1 in piece of ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 cups chopped Tuscan or Lacinato kale
1 tbsp curry powder
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
lemon juice (optional)
cilantro or parsley to garnish
1-2 bay leaves
1-2 tbsp coconut oil

Soak chickpeas for 16-24 hours. Rinse and steam with double the quantity water, in a pressure cooker. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large pan or dutch oven. Add bay leaves, onions, garlic, jalapeno and ginger and fry till lightly brown about 5-7 minutes. Add potatoes and cauliflower and continue to fry for 1-2 minutes.

Meanwhile, process tomatoes in a blender and add to the pot. Add steamed chickpeas. Season with  curry powder, salt and fresh ground pepper and mix well. Add 1-2 cups broth or water, and  bring to a boil. Reduce flame and let simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Add chopped kale and continue to cook for another 5-6 minutes. Adjust seasoning as desired, garnish with cilantro or parsley and serve warm with rice or bread.