Quick Lunch Series: Mexican Cauliflower Rice

Since I discovered Cauliflower rice, I have been enjoying trying different recipes. My favorite so far is the Cauliflower Fried Rice I posted previously.

Whenever I bring a bag of Cauliflower rice, I usually try a couple of recipes. This time wasn’t different. This recipe is loosely based on this one.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups of Cauliflower Rice
1/2 cup diced orange and yellow peppers
1-2 tbsp chopped onion
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 jalapeno, chopped
1 tomato chopped
olive oil
salt to taste
dash of cumin
dash of paprika
lemon juice
chopped cilantro

Saute onion, garlic and jalapeno in a pan till lightly golden. Add tomatoes, salt, paprika and cumin and cook for another few minutes. Add peppers & cauliflower rice and continue cooking on a low flame for 5-10 minutes or longer until cooked, and the moisture evaporates.

Drizzle lemon juice and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve warm with sliced avocado, sour cream, and pico del gayo.

Perfect for a workday lunch!

Links:

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Cauliflower rice and Kale soup

Fenugreek Leaves (Methi) cooked two ways

I love all green leaf vegetables. There is always kale and spinach in my fridge at the minimum. Or other greens such as chard greens, mustard greens, collard greens, amaranth leaves, and red sorrel leaves.

But fenugreek leaves is a whole different story.

While I admired the patience with which my mother extracted, cleaned, chopped and used them in cooking and enjoyed the end product, I am lazy when it comes to following the arduous process involved!

I rarely buy fenugreek leaves, but on a rare occasion I do commit and often regret, which was the case this past week. Good news is, these days you can buy fenugreek leaves in the frozen section of an Indian grocery.

The most common recipe that we used to make at home was to cook fenugreek leaves with toor dal (pigeon gram). I scoured the web for other ideas and finally decided to also try a curry recipe with it.

Here’s how I used my bunch of fenugreek leaves.

Peas, Methi Malai (Creamy Peas & Fenugreek Leaves Curry)

3/4 bunch of fenugreek leaves, extracted, rinsed and chopped
1 cup frozen peas, washed
1 small onion chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped
small piece of ginger, chopped
2 Roma tomaotes, blended
3-4 tbsp of sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
1-2 tsp oil
dash of tumeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Extract, rinse, chop and set aside the fenugreek leaves.

Heat oil in a pan. Add tumeric and cumin seeds and fry till lightly brown.  Add onion, garlic and ginger and fry till lightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add peas, and fenugreek leaves and continue flying for another 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and spices as desired.

Add milk, sour cream and a cup of water. Bring to boil, and reduce flame and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes until the curry thickens. This is very lightly seasoned, always adjust seasoning to personal preference. You can also add paneer if desired.

Garnish with cilantro and serve with naan, roti or a bowl of rice.

Methi dal

 

I previously posted the recipe for Methi dal and you find the recipe for Methi dal here.

Note: Fenugreek leaves have a very strong flavor, and unlike other greens, using a whole lot of them in dal can make it bitter. I usually like to err on the lighter side and use less rather than more!

Quick Lunch Series: Curried Quinoa, Roasted Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts Bowl

This recipe is loosely base on this one.

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower
1/4 chopped onion
1 bag Brussels sprouts
1/2 cup quinoa
salt and fresh ground pepper
olive oil
1/2 cup coconut milk (I used lite)
coconut oil
red pepper flakes
curry powder
cardamon powder
Turmeric
Ginger
lemon juice
kale or other greens (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Trim and rinse cauliflower florets. Toss in oil, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes in an oven safe bowl.

Trim and slice Brussels sprouts. Toss in oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to an oven safe bowl

Bake for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp coconut oil, add onion and cook until translucent about 5 minutes. Add turmeric, curry powder, ginger and cardamon powder and fry for an additional 30 seconds. Add coconut milk, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup quinoa. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15-20 minutes until cooked. Season with salt.

Fluff the quinoa, top with roasted cauliflower, and  Brussels sprouts. Top with green onions, drizzle lemon juice and toss in some greens such as green onions and chopped kale!

Perfect for a guilt free, week day, office meal!

Cherry Friands

I can’t re-blog any more in WordPress…What gives?

But glad to see cherries back in the groceries!

This is a re-post from September 2016.

Looking forward to making this again!

Cherry Friands

When I saw these, Cherry Friands, I knew I desperately wanted to try them. I saved the recipe. I even saved my last batch of fresh cherries in the freezer just for this recipe!

I created a lighter version with less butter and maple syrup. Here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:

45 grams flour
3/4 stick butter (will use only 1/2 next time)
80 grams almond meal
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 egg whites
a pinch of salt
6 pitted cherries

Prepare a 6 muffin tin. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together: melted butter and egg whites. Add in flour,  almond meal, pinch of salt and maple syrup. Add 1-2 tbsp of batter into muffin tins. Top with a pitted cherry.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked and toothpick test passes.

 

Enjoy with a nice cuppa tea!

Guilt free Vegan, Banana, Coconut, and Dark Chocolate Bread

So, I had some ripe bananas, finals and stress.

What better way to beat the two, but to bake some bread.

I baked some guilt free, vegan, banana, walnut, coconut, and dark chocolate bread with white and whole wheat flour and ate guilelessly, while I stressed out over my finals!

I followed the recipe almost to a T.

You can find the full recipe here.

Sunday Morning Brunch & Panda

So, last weekend, I met up with my old co-workers for a bagel brunch….

I baked fresh home-made bagels: sun-dried tomato, olive and jalapeno.

and visited the Smithsonian Zoo to see Bao Bao, who was leaving 😦

We will miss you, Bao Bao!

Quick Lunch Series: Cauliflower Rice and Kale Soup

As soon as I came across this soup recipe, I was propelled to try it! Here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:

1 small Cauliflower, separated into florets
1 bunch of Tuscan Kale, chopped
1/4 red onion chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 carton of light coconut milk or use Almond milk
cumin powder
paprika
curry powder
red pepper flakes
salt and fresh ground pepper
olive oil
lemon juice
3-4 cups of broth or water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss Cauliflower florets in olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Layout in a baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare other vegetables.  Heat a little oil in a large pan or dutch oven. Lightly fry onion and garlic till translucent. Add carrot and kale and lightly fry. Add seasoning, coconut milk and broth or water and bring to a boil. Reduce flame and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Process the roasted Cauliflower in a food processing, pulsing lightly to create Cauliflower rice. Transfer to the soup pan and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes.

Season with salt and fresh ground pepper. Sprinkle croutons or pumpkin seeds. Drizzle lemon juice. Sprinkle herbs as needed and serve warm!

Cranberry Friands

I really enjoyed my Cherry Friands.

A lot.

I have been eagerly awaiting the Cherry season so I can make them again with fresh cherries.

Meanwhile, I decided to try some Cranberry Friands, mostly  following this recipe. It makes 12 friands and here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking power
1 stick butter
5 egg whites
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup coconut flakes
2 tbsp white chocolate bits
a handful of slivered almonds (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 360 degrees F. Prepare two muffin tins.

In a bowl mix together flour, almond meal, and baking powder. Whisk together egg whites, melted butter and sugar. Combine the two and mix well. Fold in cranberries, coconut flakes and chocolate bits. Mix well.

Scoop and add batter to muffin tins about 3/4 full. Sprinkle some slivered almonds and bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy with a cuppa tea!

Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens for the New Year

I am a little late in posting this. Following the tradition from the last few years I made black eyed peas and collard greens on New Years Day.

For lunch, I made these Mediterranean flavored wraps with steamed black eyed peas seasoned with salt, sun dried tomatoes in oil, black olives, sliced cucumber, sliced orange pepper, banana peppers and roasted pepper hummus.

For dinner I made soup loosely following the recipe here.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup black eyed peas, soaked over night and steamed
2-3 large collard greens
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 bay leaf
1 inch ginger, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup broth (or use use water like I do)
1/2 tsp berbere spice
touch of turmeric
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
cilantro to garnish
squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional)

If using dry black eyed peas, soak in water overnight. Steam in a pressure cooker with twice the amount of water.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large dutch over or pan. Add bay leaf, turmeric, onion, jalapeno, ginger and garlic and fry till lightly golden. Add berbere, salt, fresh ground pepper and tomatoes and continue cooking for five minutes.

Add broth or water, coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce flame to medium low and continue to simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cooked black eyed peas. Add more broth or coconut milk as needed and continue to simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Add chopped greens and mix well. Keep cooking for another 5-10 minutes.  Garnish with some cilantro, drizzle of lemon juice  and serve warm with some rolls.

See Also:

Black-Eyed Peas for Prosperity in the New Year
Hoppin’ John
Black-eyed Peas and Greens with Navrattan Spices to start the New Year
Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens

Fun with Chia

Since I discovered Chia pudding last fall,  it has soon become one of my favorite breakfast items. It’s healthy, easy and delicious, so what’s not to like?

My basic recipe is given below along with some topping choices I have tried.

Servings: 2

Prep time 5 minutes. Total Time: 2-4 hours or overnight.

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk (or almond milk)
1/4 cup chia seeds
1-2 tsp maple syrup
dash of lemon juice (optional)
toppings as desired, see below for some I have tried.

Mix all three ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Refrigerate. Mix after two hours again.

Serve with fresh fruit and nuts.

Fresh blueberries, banana and walnuts chia.

Home made granola, kumquat and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Cherry almond delight or add some dark chocolate chips and make it a Cherry Garcia!

Berry walnut crunch

Tropical paradise with mango, coconut and pistachio