Armenian Red Lentil-Apricot Stew, with Sesame Rice

So, so, so busy with school... which means cooking big vats of stew and soup on the weekend and eating it all week. One and a half weeks left, and then I'm off for three weeks. Woohoo!!!

Last weekend I made this stew. It was so good, and is totally affordable! I didn't buy a big thing of tahini, just about 1 cup from the bulk store. The recipe comes from the Big Vegan cookbook, and I pretty much stuck to it as written, except for boosting up the spices (it seemed a bit bland without any heat). I'm a heat fiend, I guess you could say.  The fresh mint and parsley really make the dish, so don't leave those out. 

Armenian Red Lentil-Apricot Stew, with Sesame Rice

INGREDIENTS

1 cup red lentils, rinsed

1 medium onion, chopped

14 oz tinned diced tomatoes 

1 small eggplant, peeled and diced

½ cup dried apricot, chopped 

2 tsp paprika

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp cayenne 

1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 cup fresh mint, chopped

Rice:

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

¼ cup sesame seeds, toasted

1 ½ cups long-grain brown rice

½ tsp salt

3 tbsp tahini paste

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large pot, combine 1 qt water, the lentils, and onion. Bring them to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Add the spices, salt, eggplant, tomatoes, and apricots and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Add the parsley and mint just before serving. Keep the stew warm while cooking the rice.

4. To make the rice: In a 2-qt/2-L pot over medium heat, sauté the onions in the oil . When the onions are clear and soft, add the sesame seeds and sauté for 5 minutes.

2. Add 3 cups/720 ml water, the rice, and salt. Bring them to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover. Check after 35 minutes. When all the water has been absorbed, remove the pot from the heat and let it sit, covered, to finish steaming the rice, 5 to 10 minutes.

3. In a small cup, stir together the tahini and lemon juice, then fold them into the rice. Serve the rice hot with a ladleful of stew on top.

To refresh the stew the next day, squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over the stew before serving.

Image by alemdag, Flickr

Baked Beet BreadRoll

I have been exploring the Bengali supermarket around the corner from me, wandering down the aisles inspecting all the different ingredients and spices, and pestering the staff with questions on what they are and how to cook them. One day I will travel to India and Bangladesh and learn how to cook these dishes properly, but for now there is the web!

Thanks to Mr. Google I have bookmarked a few Bengali food blogs and will be experimenting with their recipes. It may take some practice, but it all looks SO good.

One of the blogs I am really enjoying is Bong Mom's CookBook, and since I picked up a 5 pound bag of beets today for 99 cents, I am now on the lookout for new beet recipes!  This is her recipe for Baked Beet BreadRoll, a snack for surprise visitors. I imagine you could also serve two or three rolls together with a green salad for a nice lunch or dinner.

Baked Beet BreadRoll
Recipe by Sandeepa of Bong Mom's CookBook

Ingredients

For the Stuffing
Red Beet - 1 and 1/2 of the medium sized ones. Chopped into small pieces and put in the blender to chop finely
Green Coriander Leaves ~ a quarter of a bunch chopped
Green Chillies ~ 4/5 chopped fine (optional)
Raisins or Kishmis ~ a fistful (about 20) soaked in water
Cashew or Kaju ~ 20 crushed
Salt
Garam Masala ~ 2 tsp heaped

For the Roll
Bread ~ a slice for each roll. Filling makes 12.
Butter ~ 1 tbsp melted
Egg ~ 1 beaten

Stuffing Instructions

1. Chop the beet into small pieces and put them in the blender. Process them till they are chopped real fine, beet being solid you will not get a fine paste (you don't want that) but it will be granular.
2. Heat oil. Use olive oil if you want.
3. Add the chopped green chillies, the chopped beet, and sauté.
4. Add the chopped coriander leaves, the raisins, the crushed cashew.
5. Add salt & the garam masala.
6. Sauté and cook covered for about 10 minutes till the beet is cooked. It will be lightly crunchy but totally dry.

Assembly Instructions

1. Take a slice of bread (it is better to use wheat bread her mom says, but she only had White Bread at home).
2. Remove the sides.
3. Now comes a slightly difficult part. To make the bread pliable you have to sprinkle water on it and then press it between your palms to drain the water out. If you have already done this before it is easy, else it will take one or two attempts to get this right.
4. Make a round from the stuffing and put it at the centre of the bread. Now mould the bread around the stuffing to make a roll or a round.
5. Brush the rolls with little butter and the beaten egg. Use a brush lightly to do this.
6. You can fry it at this point if you want. If you are frying no need to brush with butter.

To Bake

1. Refrigerate for about an hour
2. Take the roll out of the refrigerator and lightly brown them on both sides on a griddle or shallow frying pan.
3. Heat oven to 400F
4. Sprinkle corn meal (I used semolina/sooji) on the baking pan which has been lined with aluminum foil.
5. Place the rolls on the baking pan and bake for approximately 45 minutes
6. The baking time might vary, so check and bake till the roll is evenly browned
7. Serve with hot Tea or Chai.

Photo Credit
Inani Beach, Bangladesh, by Mohammad Hasan, Flickr

Rutabaga Fries, or how much do you love your rutabagas???

I love my rutabagas very much.

Rutabaga with onions and garlic
Image by downtownpearl

On Wednesday I had a burger for dinner, and thought I'd try something a little different than french fries. I had read about rutabaga fries, and since I had half a rutabaga leftover from earlier in the week, I thought let's give this a go.

I admit, I didn't re-read the recipe before I made the fries, so they took a while to cook. Apparently you should steam them first, dry them thoroughly, toss in oil (and herbs or spices as desired) and bake.  Instead I just cut into french fries, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, and hot pepper flakes, and cooked at 400F for about 40 minutes, tossing from time to time.  They were delicious: crispy, buttery, with a little heat from the pepper.  What a nice change from french fries.

Here's the original recipe:

Rosemary Rutabaga "Fries" -- from Stephen Cooks!

6 servings, about 4 ounces each

Ingredients

• 1 rutabaga, about a pound and a half
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 400º.

1. Peel the rutabaga and cut it in 1/2" x 1'2" spears. 

2. Steam about 12 minutes in a steamer basket until just tender. 

3. Dry the spears with paper towels and then toss with the olive oil, the garlic and the rosemary.

4. Lay the rutabaga spears out in a single layer (ideally with none of the spears touching each other) on a jelly roll pan and bake in the preheated oven about 25  minutes, turning once.  

5. Place them under the broiler for a few minutes, watching closely, to finish browning them. Salt to taste and serve immediately.

Other flavouring suggestions:

1. "Indian." Omit garlic and rosemary. After cooking scatter on some garam masala (recipe below).

2. "Chinese." Omit garlic and rosemary.  Before baking, toss the rutabaga spears in a mixture of hoisin sauce, sesame oil, grated ginger and five-spice powder.

Other ideas for your rutabaga, elsewhere on the web:

• Roasted Rutabaga with Sage and Dates
• Ginger Rutabaga Muffins
• Winter Slaw
• Apple Rutabaga Soup (I would use far less butter and substitute soy milk for the cream... but you can decide for yourself!!)
• Smoked Paprika and Rutabaga Bisque (ditto)

Tell me, how do you cook your rutabagas??

Lentil Eggplant Chile Mole

Ahhhhh.... Mondays.

Mondays are hard for me. I'm a natural night owl, so I stay up very late on weekends. It's not unusual for me to up be up until 3, 4 or even 5 a.m. I sleep until noon, and then get up and on with the day.

But I can't do this on weekdays, as I have to be at school for 9 a.m.  And I have a long commute, a very long commute.  So when Monday rolls around I have to switch from being a night owl to... what's the opposite of a night owl... a day owl??!!?

I commute 4 hours daily.

2 hours there, and 2 hours home again.

I live in Toronto, but go to school in Oakville. It is not so far if you drive, but I take public transit. Which means taking the subway to Union Station, the GO train to Oakville, and then Oakville transit to campus.  And the GO train, going against commuter traffic, only goes once an hour.

I get up at 5:30 a.m., leave the house at 6 a.m., and get to school at 8 a.m.  I'm usually home by about 4:30 or 5:00 p.m., except for Tuesday's when I have afternoon classes and am not home until 7:30 p.m.  Mondays to Thursdays I am totally knackered from all that learning, commuting, and homework.

Which is why I am thrilled to open the fridge and find dinner waiting for me!

Tonight it was Lentil Eggplant Chile Mole, which I prepared yesterday and reheated tonight as I got into my PJ's.  I found the recipe when I googled lentils and eggplant, as I had both sitting around and thought they might go nicely together. I also make a lovely lentil eggplant curry, but I was in the mood for something new.

I made some modifications to the original recipe by making it a little spicier than originally called for. If you don't like spicy food, you can leave out the hot cherry pepper, the chipotle sauce, and the red pepper flakes, and use a mild chili powder. As it is, this is nice and fiery!!


Lentil Eggplant Chile Mole
Adapted from a recipe by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

2 medium or one large eggplant, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, diced medium

1 hot cherry pepper (remove seeds and membrane, then cut into small dice)

1 red pepper, diced medium

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chili powder

3 teaspoons ground cumin

3 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon hot chili flakes

2 teaspoons chipotle sauce (**I get this in tiny cans at No Frills,
if it's not available you can leave it out)

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup lentils, red or green, washed

4 cups vegetable stock

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat a 4-quart soup pot over medium high heat. Saute onions and bell pepper in oil until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and finely diced hot cherry pepper, and saute for another minute, using a splash of water or stock if it's sticking. Be careful with the hot cherry pepper. Although most of the heat is in the seeds, you will get some natural oils on your skin. After  handling the pepper do not put your hands near your eyes. Wait until you have washed your hands thoroughly. Mix in chili powder, chili flakes, cumin, coriander, oregano, salt and cinnamon. Add 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth and the cocoa powder; cook for about 1 more minute, while stirring, to dissolve the cocoa.

Add lentils, vegetable broth, diced tomatoes and eggplant. Cover pot and bring to a boil, keeping a close eye. Once it's boiling, lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes, until lentils are tender and eggplant is soft. Mix in sugar. Taste for salt and seasoning.

I found this quite bitter the first day, with a slightly unpleasant cocoa taste. I've never added cocoa powder to chile before, and wondered if this was how it was supposed to taste. And I was worried, because I can't afford to throw out food, and I wondered how I might save this dish. But after a day in the fridge, when all the flavours had the chance to blend together,  I can vouch that it is absolutely DELICIOUS!!! I will definitely be making this again!!!

What did you have for dinner tonight?