Spicy Sprout and Pear Salad

I’ve moved back to Chennai, India, where the average temperature is 98F everyday. Some days are good, with 95, but most days we are at 100F.

Now you’re updated on the weather around me, and it’s time to talk about food. Sprouted lentils are nutritional in all ways, and they’re easy to make or buy in Chennai. I was inspired by a lentil and pear sabzi that I saw on a friend’s Instagram to try to make a sprouted lentil version.

What I used:
Sprouted lentils (assorted) : 2 cups
Pears: 2, small-medium sized. Make sure they are super ripe!
Cilantro leaves: A handful, chopped
Cayenne: 2 tsp
Lemon juice: 1 tsp, adjust to taste
Raw mango: I used about tsp, grated
Raw tomato: optional. I don’t like raw tomatoes but I’d say they would taste great!

What I did:
I soaked my store bought sprouts in salted warm water for about ten minutes to rid them of unwanted junk. Then I drained them and microwaved them for 4 minutes. To this, I added the salt, cayenne, chopped pear and grated raw mango(and/or tomatoes), and tossed it and microwaved it for one more minute.

Then I garnished it with cilantro leaves and: voila! Happy salad times began.

Enjoy cold or warm. If you like more fruit, feel free to throw in some pineapple or orange bits!

Red Quinoa Winter Casserole

I found beautiful rainbow carrots and jicama at the farmer’s market in Palo Alto, and inspired by how delicious they tasted oven-roasted last night, threw together this red quinoa casserole for lunch today.

What I used:

Quinoa: 1 cup, uncooked

Vegetable broth: 1 cup

Rainbow carrots: 2, big

Jicama: 10-12 strips, about 3/4 of a regular sized vegetable

Garlic: 4-5 cloves, cut in halves/ chopped roughly

Cayenne: 1 tsp

Black pepper: 1 tsp

Salt: To taste

Olive oil: 2 tbsp

Parmesan & Pecans: Optional, grated over.

What I did:

In a saucepan, I heated one cup of water, and added one cup of broth when it was warm. To this, I added one cup of red quinoa. While this was cooking, I cleaned and peeled my carrots and jicama, dicing them into chunky bits. I like chunky roasted garlic in my food, so I sliced the cloves into 2-3 big bits each.

In a bowl, I mixed together a tablespoon of EVOO, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cayenne, and 1/2 a teaspoon of black pepper. I microwaved this for 30 seconds to make the oil easier to move, and then tossed the vegetables in this mixture and let it sit until the quinoa was done.

I greased a pan with the rest of the EVOO and preheated the oven to 425 F. I added a layer of quinoa to the bottom, and poured in any leftover broth/water from the saucepan. A pinch of salt and black pepper over this make it come together with the rest. A layer of vegetables, and quinoa alternatively and finally some crushed pecans on top with sliced parmesan make it all better!

Baked this at 400 F for about 20 minutes, and voila!

Topped it off with some chopped chives for color.

Enjoy happy quinoa times, but not without:

Masala Kale Rice

Here’s a quick and easy masala-kale-rice recipe I tried out and absolutely loved.

What I used:

Rice: 1 cup, cooked

Kale: 3 cups, chopped

Green peas/sweet corn/minced carrots: 1/2 cup, optional

Onion: 1/2 jumbo yellow, sliced

Garlic: 4-5 cloves, sliced

Ginger: about 1.5″, minced

Green chillies/Serrano pepper: 2-3

Red chilli/ cayenne powder: 1 tsp

Roma tomato: 1

Fennel seeds: 1 tsp

What I did:

In a pan, I heated a tablespoon of lightly flavored oil, and fried fennel seeds in them. To this, I added the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. I proceeded to sweat these together and added the chopped tomato once the mixture turned slightly golden. Then, I added the chopped kale, salted it to taste, and a tiny pinch of sugar; then I allowed it to cook to a mellow, masala-y state. To this, I added cayenne and green peas, sautéed it for a minute, and let it rest with the lid on, off the heat.

Cooking rice well is my huge achilles heel, I absolutely bomb every time I don’t use a rice cooker. Moving in with my best friend, I could hide behind her rice making skills. But tear stricken pot blackened meals later, we went ahead and bought a rice cooker. It made beautiful fluffy rice, that I added to the mix and tossed it around until I had a beautiful long grained crazy kale fiesta. I garnished it with cilantro, and was joined by aforementioned roommate/bff to demolish our iron and Vitamin A filled carb fest.

To make better food, substitute rice with quinoa and add 2 tbsp of chia seeds to your Masala Kale Quinoa. But until then, go forth and be fabulous with:

Masala Kale Rice

Happy Holidays! Here’s this now:

Kale and Coconut milk soup

This was quite straightforward to make, really. A handful of ingredients and you end up with delicious soup. I used half a bag of kale, about a pound. Here’s what to do.

 

Makes 6 large servings

Kale- 4-5 cups

Jumbo yellow onion- 1

Garlic- 4-5 cloves

Tarragon- 2 tsp (best if fresh; I used fresh tarragon that I had frozen)

Light Coconut milk- 1 small can

Olive Oil- 1- 2 tbsp

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Sweat chopped onions and garlic with the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan with a lid. Throw in the massaged and chopped kale and continue to sweat. Add water slowly as the greens reduce. Overall, I added 2 cups of water while the greens were cooking. Add the tarragon and cook while keeping the lid on the pan. Once the kale is softened, allow it to cool and puree in a blender or with a pureer. Add in the can of coconut milk as you puree, and add more water if you want. I added about 1.5 can fulls after I mixed in the coconut milk.

Salt and enjoy! I think it tastes best with toasted cracked pepper. Try red pepper flakes or enjoy as it is.

I initially made this as a side for pasta but have not been able to finish this because it is so filling!

 

 

Curried tofu Scramble wrap

Sweat onions in a non stick pan with oil until they brown. Add diced tofu, a tbsp of tomato sauce (or a 1/4 tomato) and 2 tsp curry powder.
Add salt and mix the spice and sauce in while mashing the tofu. To this, add some frozen peas/carrots/corn/beans and a pinch of turmeric. Cook until browned.

I used a garden herb spinach wrap for color. Alternatively use a tortilla!
Here are some pictures

Stalk Up– Cilantro-Peanut Chutney

When my Mom taught me to de-stalk cilantro as a kid, I’d always complain that the chore left my hands smelling like food. My Mom woud insist I explore the full length of the stalk, and also open the basal node with the freshest little leaves. Only then could we be fully satisfied with optimally using the bunch of cilantro.

But the truth is that when you make a tonne of Indian food (or any other food that involves cilantro leaves), you are left with a bunch of cilantro stems that seem flavorful, but you’re just not sure what to do with them. My Mom would artfully dry grind them with other lentils and spices to make a spicy powder. I’d suggest you add it to stews or Daal or Salsa verde, but I already thought of something to do with my leftover stalks this weekend, and so you should probably do that 🙂

What I had:

First, I had a bunch of cilantro stems that I needed to rinse thoroughly.

I rinsed these in the colander. Following this, I chopped up half a jalapeño pepper. This particular one was being a nice poser.

I also needed Bengal gram, a type of lentil that was not on the Daal 101. Bengal gram is one way to refer to dried and split chickpeas. Here is how they look:

I also decided to throw in peanuts. I used roasted and salted peanuts, you can alternatively use unsalted peanuts, but roasting the peanuts will make the chutney stay fresh for longer. If you have un-roasted peanuts, you can roast them with the bengal gram before you begin.

Then, I got some grated coconut. About 1/2 a cup of it. I usually buy it frozen and so I thawed out a little bit .

Finally, I got some tamarind paste. We essentially need something to make our mixture sour. Vinegar+brown sugar, lemon juice+sugar are good ways to go. Clever substitutes (if I may say so myself) are HP Sauce or A1 Sauce, which should give the mixture the sweet-sour balance we want.

What I did:

First, I roasted 1/4 cup bengal gram in a pan and let it cool. Then, I put the sliced jalapeño, roasted gram, peanuts, grated coconut, cilantro stems and tamarind paste in a blender.

I pulse ground this, adding water and salt, until it turned into a nice chutney-like mass, like so.

You know what this will go with? Anything.

Just kidding. It will go with roti, as a side with the Baked Oats-Rava Idli, or just over some rice. Or anything, I mean, life is not an exact Science.

Happy eating!

More soon, soon more.

Stalks and Stems,

BerrfyFood

Also, enjoy:

Baked Brussels Sprouts