instant chickpea idli and roti hot pockets

 Today I felt motivated to cook.  Not that I haven't cooked in the past few days, but I was neither motivated to do it nor to blog about it.  This morning the kids were off from school, so I had a leisurely morning.  I wanted idli, but I wanted them now and I wanted to use chickpea flour.  I took some inspiration from Usha at Veg Inspirations and some recipe bits from Lord Krishna's Cuisine and whipped up an Instant Oat Garbanzo Idli.  I also spiked them with some nutritious powdered, dehydrated dandelion greens and some dried, powdered arame seaweed.  I make dehydrated greens and I use them in cookies, cupcakes, muffins, pancakes, etc. to get some veggie nutrients into the kids' diets.  I powder the dried land and sea greens in a spice blender and keep them on hand.  I figured that they would go just as well in the idli.  These idli were low fat and high protein from the addition of nonfat kefir and the chickpea flour.  I garnished them with some toasted coconut, sesame seeds and mustard seeds.  A perfect breakfast with a beet/carrot/mango smoothie. 

A few days ago I saw some vegan pepperoni in the supermarket (Yves brand).  I thought I would use it on the matzah pizza.  I prefer to stick to unprocessed fresh foods, but I just couldn't resist this as a treat.  They are high in protein and have lots of vitamins and minerals added, so, as processed foods go, this seems OK.  Instead of pizza, I wanted to experiment with something that could go on the road.  I rolled out two very thin rounds of dough, layered in a half slice of lite provolone and a few slices of the pepperoni on one and put the other on top and pressed the edges.  Cooked like a roti.  Not bad, although more cheese would have been more tasty.  Definitely something to put in a lunchbox. 
The recipe below for the idli is not quite perfect, and I always estimate the amounts.  So here it is:

Instant Oat Garbanzo Idli

1/2 c oat flout
1/2 c garbanzo flour
1t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 chili pepper chopped fine
1t ginger grated fine
a generous grinding of black pepper to taste
1/4 t salt or to taste
1 - 2 t of dried ground dandelion greens
1/2 t ground arame or other sea vegetable
1/4 t turmeric
pinch of hing (asafetida)
kefir, buttermilk, or thinned yoghurt (about 1 cup)

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add kefir, buttermilk, or yoghurt a bit at a time, mixing until the consistency of the batter is good for idli (like a thick muffin batter).  Make the idli in the usual way; takes about 20 minutes.

Coconut Garnish

heat a bit of butter in a pot and toast some mustard seeds, coconut, and sesame seeds.  Use to garnish cooked idli, or sprinkle on top of the uncooked idli and steam into the idli.

Indian Influences

http://www.ronobirlahirimusic.com/


One of the things we enjoy about Southern California is the diverse cultural landscape. We had blogged before about "Paneer Avenue" and the Indian community here; but, had not mentioned the music scene. On a recent farmers market trip to buy some flowers, pretzels and juice for the kids, etc. we happened upon an innovative sitar player Ronobir Lahiri who was was lighting up the market with his melodic riffs and moving the market goers to impromptu dance and half dancing (think car dancing up until the driver in the car next to you catches your eye). On Sunday around dinner time we were making a batch of breads, drinking some wine, and listening to an Ronobir album we had purchased at the market. A link to his music site is attached, something very different and relaxing.

Stay Healthy Rant

Hi, Sorry for the bit of a hiatus in posts.  Busy week for us.  So, I just have to get this off my chest.  Read this article in the New York Times.  Now, I'm a dyed in the wool liberal, but really, this is no way for our government to be spending its time and our money.  I love milk and cheese and I support well operated, sustainable, humane dairies, but clearly, when an industry is being subsidized by government purchases of "excess" dairy and at the same time uses hormones to increase production, the case for continuing subsidies and market interference falls apart.  Not only that, but when the USDA can't keep up with testing foods for safety, the diversion of resources to promote cheese strikes me as the definition of bloated, self-perpetuating bureaucracy.    Check out the stats on the pizza in the image above (from the NYT).

In past posts, we blogged about making healthy and quick roti pizza.  Here is a recipe for a Matzah Pizza that has less than 200 calories and 4 grams of satfat and is even faster to make in the microwave. Add in a cup or two of easy and quick vegetable soup and a piece of fruit for dessert (heck, you can even add one of my vegan sesame cashew cookies and still be healthier than a slice of the store bought pizza).

Healthy One-Minute Matzah Pizza and Soup

for one serving
1 Whole Wheat Bran Matzah (80 cal)
2T organic fat free pizza sauce (I use Trader Joe's brand, but whatever you like) (20 cal)
1 oz shredded organic Mozzarella (80 - 100 cal depending on the brand)

put the Matzah on a large plate.  Spread the sauce and sprinkle the cheese.  Microwave for one minute or cook in a toaster or regular oven until the cheese melts and bubbles.

Soup, So Easy
chop your choice of carrots, celery, summer squash, eggplant, bell pepper, peas, corn, potatoes, sweet potatotes to equal about 1 1/2 cups of veggies and put in a pot.  Add water just to cover.  Add 1/4 t. iodized sea salt (or uniodized and add a bit of wakame or other sea vegetable).  Add 1/2 t. of salt free seasoning such as Spike or Bragg.  Simmer until the veggies are tender.

Speaking of healthy, I am in love with this healthy, protein packed salad.   This features soaked split mung dal, thinly sliced cucumers, and a bit of shredded fresh coconut.  I made this for dinner a couple weeks ago.  I made two servings hoping to have leftovers, but ended up eating it all at dinner!  Guilt-free because this is so nutritious.

Here is the recipe, again with credit to Lord Krishna's Cuisine

Mung Dal, Coconut, and Cucumber Salad

1/2c split mung dal
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 c grated fresh coconut
1/4 cup or more of thinly sliced cucumber
1-2 hot green chilis
1T lime juice
1/2 t sea salt
1T ghee, oil, or coconut oil
1t black mustard seeds
1/8 t hing (asafetida)

Soak the dal in the water for 4 hours or overnight.  Drain.  Combine the dal, coconut, cucumber, chilis, lime juice and salt in a bowl.  Heat the ghee or oil in a pan and add the seeds.  Fry until  they pop.  Then add the asafetida and immediately pour into the salad.  Mix and Eat!

Fall Colors in Food

We don't have much fall color to speak of here in So.Cal. so I have to get my fix of autumn display through food.  I had a butternut squash taking up space in the fridge and I was inspired to make a lovely dal homage to the turning leaves of the Norway Maple.  I also felt that it was the right time of year to feature apples and carrots.  I made a shredded carrot - apple salad with a creamy yoghurt dressing.  The dressing is an adaptation of a sauce in Lord Krishna's Cuisine.  The sauce features a smoky roasted soy or garbanzo flour and toasted warm spices and almonds.  Nutmeg is the predominant note, supported by creamy smooth and tart yoghurt with ... a wasabi (or horseradish) kicker!  I thought it would go well with the sweet apples and earthy carrots.  I had some squash left over so I steamed it and paired it with a tamarind-coconut-cashew chutney.
Not pictured, but a nice surprise, was batter-fried paneer balls.  I got the recipe from a nice blog called Authentic Food Delights (click for the recipe).   I don't usually do fried foods, but this looked irresistible.  I didn't make the whole recipe, just the balls.  The simple batter made from all-purpose flour, salt, and water fried up so tender and light.  I was very surprised at how "un-oily" these were.  I made them small (half-dollar sized patty) and they were absolutely delightful.  Lots of bright herbal flavor paired with richness from the paneer and the batter-crust.  I definitely need to make these again. 

Butternut Dal Soup

1 cup diced butternut squash
1/4 cup red lentils
1/2 cup chopped spinach leaves (or more it you like)
1T oil or ghee
1/4 t each of cumin seeds, mustard seeds, nigella seeds, and fennel seeds
1/8 t asafetida
1/2 t salt or to taste

Place the squash and red lentils in a saucepan and add enough water to cover the ingredients by one inch.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the squash and lentils are very soft.  You may need to add more water to achieve soup consistency.  Add the spinach and cook a couple minutes until wilted.  In a small skillet, heat the oil and then add the seeds and cook for 1-2 minutes until the seeds start to turn color.  The longer they cook, the stronger the color.  Add the asafetida and immediately pour into the soup.  Add salt and stir.

Shredded Carrot Apple Salad
sauce adapted from Creamy Almond Sauce with Horseradish in Lord Krishna's Cuisine

1 medium carrot
1 apple
currents or sultanas or raisins (optional to your taste)
1T oil or ghee
1/8 t each ground cardamom, nutmeg, cayenne, turmeric, and white pepper
1/4 t ground coriander
1T toasted soy or garbanzo flour
1/4 cup almond meal or ground almonds
1 cup yoghurt (thinned with water to thick-cream consistency)
1/4 t salt or to taste
2T freshly grated horseradish or 1/2 T ground dried horseradish or wasabi powder.

Shred the carrot and disc the apple and place in a bowl.  Add the dried fruits if using.  In a small saucepan, heat the oil or ghee and temper all the spices for 1 minute or so.  Take off the heat and add in the remaining ingredient, whisking until blended.  Return to heat and gently heat until the mixture simmers and thickens.  About 10 minutes. Allow to cool and then mix about half of the mixture into the carrots and apples.  You can refrigerate the rest of the sauce to use in another dish or just make a bigger salad with more carrots and apples!  You could also include grapes, cucumbers, jicama, persimmons, green tomatoes or other type of firm, juicy, fruit, depending on the season.  The nutmeg makes this a fall/winter dish for me, but if you left out the nutmeg, this could be part of a summer or spring menu, especially with a bit more horseradish.

The Red Tilapia: Snappy and Peppy

Lisa has made a delicate pan-fried tilapia in a red curry sauce. The sauce was made by tempering some a garlic ginger paste and some dry ground spices. The spices included ground chili pepper, cayenne pepper, tumeric, cumin, and coriander. The pan was de-glazed with a dab of water and then coconut milk was added to the pan and simmered until reduced by half. (Lisa will post the complete recipe on Thursday)

We paired with yet another riesling, a Firestone Vineyard 2008. This wine has a yellow-green colour with apple and floral aromas, and a medium body. There is a bit of acidity and some ripe apple flavours and a relaxed finish.

Andalusian Sausage and Rice Dish With Riesling

Fridays are often a time for odd combinations of foods in our house. Today we paired a grilled Andalusian sausage with a classic Indian yellow rice, a basmati rice with tamarin, corriander, cinnamon, etc. This was topped with a smidgen of red hot pepper. True comfort food. The Spanish hot spices coupled with a delicate and mellower rice and the different hotness of the pepper make this work.

Truth be told this was just an excuse to imbibe in my new found fondness for Rieslings, a wine that for too long I had ignored as either too sweet or too mineral induced. Apparently I had not tried a good one before. Last weekend I stumbled upon a nice German rendition and have been hooked since.

This meal was paired with a 2007 Claiborne and Churchill that Lisa picked up from Bristol Farms. Lisa rocks pretty much everything she does, her selection of wines this week was no exception. The vines for this wine are planted on the marine and alluvial bench lands of Monterey County (California). The property is close the ocean breezes which help create an intense fruity flavour. The wine has tasting and aroma hints of kaffir lime and white peach and a subtle finish. There is not much of a residual sugary taste left on the palate but rather a delicate mineral undertone. It really was a nice experience with hot food.

Pistacio Cupcakes and Healthy Milk

This story has not been given much play in the media, (we'll get to that in a second), but the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has determined that rbGH and rbST, hormones given to cows to increase milk production, have a detrimental effect on the quality and healthfulness of the milk. You can read the article here on NPR.org. 
The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said there is a "compositional difference" between milk from cows given growth hormones and those without.
The court gave three reasons they're different:

• Increased levels of the hormone IGF-1;
• A period of milk with lower nutritional quality during each lactation; and
• Increased somatic cell counts (i.e. more pus in the milk).

Now, why wasn't this front page news?  The adverse effects of hormones and anti-biotics in foods, and the ability of producers to label their products, and of consumers to get information about how their food is produced, should be an important news topic.  Not as dramatic on the front page as e-coli or salmonella, hormones and anti-biotics (and other farm practices) are a much more insidious threat to food quality and public health.  Anyway, I hope that this gives serious researchers and serious food producers hope that their efforts to label foods to provide information for consumers will not be quashed by regulation.

OK, Now for the food stuff.  In the previous post, Michael gave the link to the Pembroke College kitchen blog.  I browsed around it for a while yesterday.  Oh, my!  How does the chef do it?  He creates gourmet meals every day with incredible variety and sensitivity.  He is not just slinging the same old hash around every day; the menus are ever-changing and spectacularly presented.  The green pistacio cake caught my eye.  I searched the internet for a recipe and was disappointed to find mostly recipes that called for boxed mix and instant pistacio flavored pudding mix.  HMMM, I finally found a recipe that used fresh ingredients and real pistacios at a site called PlanetGreen.   I slightly modified it by using whole wheat flour and adding dried shredded coconut.  I did use eggs in the recipe, but I will experiment with an egg-free version.  I made 24 mini cupcakes from this recipe.  Of course my daughter loved them!  I feel OK about that as they are pretty healthy and I used a relatively small amount of sugar.  They didn't turn out green, however.  I'm not sure where one gets "green" pistacios, but I didn't want to put food coloring in them.  Maybe some spinach juice in the next batch!

I didn't take a picture of my cupcakes, since they didn't last long enough, but here is a pic of the cake that inspired me.  Doesn't that look yummy?

OK, here is my recipe

Pistacio Cupcakes
makes 6 large or 24 mini

1/2 cup "white" whole wheat flour
2 oz ground raw pistacios
1/4 cup dried shredded coconut
1/4 t cardamom
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2T goat milk butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3-4 oz goat milk (use your eye to mix in enough milk to make a thick batter)
2T spinach juice???? for green color????

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then add in the egg and whip until creamy.  In batches, add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients and 1/3 of the milk, folding until just mixed each time.  Continue adding in until you have a nice cake batter.  Pour into lined muffin tins and bake at 350F for 30 min for large cupcakes, 18-20 min for mini cupcakes.