Quinoa and Lima Beans Salad with Walnut Dressing

By / Beans, Grains, Salad / 2 Comments /

2013 was declared the ‘International Year of Quinoa’ by the United Nations General Assembly, with the objective drawing the world’s attention to the role that quinoa can play an important role in eradicating hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
 

red-black-quinoa

 
Official_Logo

So what is so special about quinoa?
 
For starters, quinoa is a complete source of protein that includes all nine essential amino acids. Imagine what a blessing it is to vegans who always have a problem about enough protein in their diets. While quinoa is low on calories and carbs, it is also gluten free and rich in fibre. Quinoa also contains minerals like magnesium, iron, tryptophan, copper, and phosphorous.
Its qualities are so much recognised that NASA includes it in the menu of its astronauts!
 
quinoa-salad1

Quinoa, pronounced ‘kinwah’ following its Spanish spelling, is the grain-like seed of a plant belonging to the spinach family. It was cultivated in the countries of Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, of the Andean region, 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. A staple in the area, quinoa has become increasingly popular world over in the last few years.
 
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Quinoa seeds have a bitter coating called saponin, which makes birds avoid them. In the case of most of the quinoa that is available today in the market, this coating has been removed. Still, it is better to wash it thoroughly before cooking it.
 
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You can cook quinoa the same way as rice. You can boil it in lots of water and then drain it. Or you can combine quinoa and water in a ratio of 1:2, bring it to boil, and simmer it till done and water absorbed, in around 15 minutes. For added flavour, quinoa can be toasted dry for five minutes over low heat and then cooked.
 
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Though quinoa can be used in many ways – quinoa burgers are quite tasty! – my favourite use for it is in salads. It is very versatile and you can add a lot of varied stuff to it to come up with interesting combinations. I like it best when I add a lot of my favourite things and come up with a satisfying meal in one dish!
The addition of lima beans, broccoli, carrots and avocados make this a complete, nutritious meal. The onions add flavour to the salad.
 
broccoli-onion
carrots-lima
 
And if you grind the dressing a bit coarse, it adds a bit of crunch too! And if you like the dressing on the spicier side, you can even add some red chilli flakes to it.

~Ria

Quinoa and Lima Beans Salad with Walnut Dressing
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: International
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Ingredients
  • Half cup quinoa seeds
  • 1 cup frozen baby lima beans
  • 1 head broccoli
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 1 carrot
  • Half a small red onion
  • Half cup walnuts
  • Quarter cup olive oil
  • Two cloves of garlic
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Wash the quinoa thoroughly under running water and drain.
  2. Bring one and a quarter cup of water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and the quinoa to the boiling water. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
  3. Wash the frozen lima beans under running water to defrost it. Cook in a microwave with a pinch of salt and two tablespoons of water, for three minutes.
  4. Cut the broccoli head into florets. Cook in the microwave with a pinch of water and two tablespoons water, for two minutes.
  5. Scrape the carrot into longish strips.
  6. Slice the onion thinly.
  7. Cut the avocado into pieces.
  8. Soak the walnuts for 15 minutes. In a blender, add the walnuts and garlic and blend. With the blender running, add the olive oil in a steady stream. Transfer to a dish and season with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
  9. To assemble, in a large bowl, toss together the quinoa, lima beans (drain off any excess cooking water from the lima beans and broccoli), broccoli, carrot, onion and avocado. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle the dressing over the salad. Serve the extra dressing along with the salad. Delicious!

Houmous – A guilt-free pleasure

By / Grains, Sides / 1 Comment /

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Creamy houmous drizzled generously with olive oil is more or less a permanent dish featured in a Middle Eastern meal. Consisting mainly of chickpeas, houmous can be eaten as a dip with crudités, pita chips etc and as a spread with pita bread. Sometimes I do enjoy houmous on its own, and with no guilt as the chickpea is a legume that’s high in protein and fibre with a low glycemic index making it a good choice for weight control as it gives you the feeling of being full with fewer calories.

Though houmous is easy to make, neither super skill nor fancy ingredients are required, Anthony Rose, a Toronto restaurateur, is serving houmous at a $ 175 -a -ticket culinary fundraiser where 21 of Canada’s best chefs are participating.

The first time I came across houmous was when I started exploring cuisines from different corners of the world. When I heard about houmous and how it was made, I couldn’t fathom how a ‘chickpea paste’ could be so tasty. I first got to try it when one of my students, a Lebanese girl, brought it for an end of year party at school where I worked. A bowl of houmous, that too from a Lebanese kitchen, did taste heavenly and I became an ardent fan of houmous and its variations.

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As I tend to make most dishes from scratch whenever possible, I’ve used dry chickpeas and homemade tahini. Dry chickpeas have to be soaked in water overnight and cooked well with a little salt. It’s important to remember that dry chickpeas expand:  1 cup of dried chickpeas will give you 2 ½ cups after soaking.

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Tahini and tahini sauce are extensively used in Middle Eastern cooking and it is just a fine paste of dry roasted white sesame seeds. If you are like me and enjoy the flavor of sesame you can add 1-2 teaspoons of pure sesame oil at the time of grinding. Although I prefer using dry chickpeas and making my own tahini, canned chickpeas and store bought tahini will still give the same result.

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In my basic houmous, I add cumin powder and some chilli flakes besides chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lime juice and salt.

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Try these variations to make it more interesting.

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Add some chopped caper berries to the houmous. The tangy bits of capers give it an interesting  texture.

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Soak some sun dried tomatoes in olive oil and grind it along with the rest of ingredients.

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Grind some kalamata olives coarsely and add to the basic houmous. Little black specks of olives change the appearance and add a very nice flavour.

My recipe for original houmous calls for 6 tablespoons of lemon juice but be a little shy of adding that much to any of these three variations as all three ingredients are sour.

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Though houmous tastes best when it’s freshly made, it can be refrigerated for a week and can be frozen up to a month.

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~Min

Houmous – A guilt-free pleasure
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Ingredients
  • Chickpeas 1cup dry chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked with a little
  • salt 2 ½ cups canned or soaked chickpeas
  • Chickpea liquid as required
  • Tahini ½ cup
  • Garlic 3 cloves
  • Lemon juice 6 tablespoons
  • Cumin powder 2 teaspoons
  • Chilli flakes 1 teaspoon or according to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • Olive Oil ¼ cup
  • To make Tahini
  • White sesame seeds1/3 cup
  • Pure sesame oil 1 teaspoon
Directions
  1. Soak dry chickpeas in enough water overnight or till it becomes soft to bite.
  2. Cook the soaked chickpeas. Do not throw away the water in which it’s cooked.
  3. To make tahini, dry roast the sesame seeds till light brown and grind to a paste with 1 -2 teaspoons of sesame oil.
  4. Make a puree of cooked chickpeas, garlic and salt with some chickpea liquid using a food processor.
  5. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse more till smooth.
  6. Test for seasoning. Transfer to a container and pour the olive oil on top.

Chicken Cacciatore

By / Entrée, Poultry / 1 Comment /

The other day, I was watching Lidia Bastianich (of Lidia’s Italy fame), on ‘CreateTV’, making chicken cacciatore. And I realised that I hadn’t made it for a while, though it was one of my quick go-to recipes a while back. To pick out the recipe from the file (I do keep a physical file of my favourite recipes!) and create a shopping list was just a five-minute job!
 
According to Lidia, the dish must have been based originally on some kind of wild game birds, as ‘caccia’ means ‘to hunt’ in Italian. Somewhere along the way, chicken replaced the wild game, and other tweaks happened as well I’m sure, and we have the modern day cacciatore!
 
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Usually, this dish is cooked with a whole chicken cut up into large pieces. But I prefer to make it with bone-in chicken thighs. The uniform sized pieces make it easy to calculate the cooking time.
 
The way I use the garlic and red chillies in the original cacciatore recipe, is the unique twist to this version. And believe me, it makes a big difference. Marinating the chicken in a mix of finely crushed garlic and red chilli powder, instead of the chilli flakes, lets the flavour penetrate into the meat.
 
marinated-chicken

You can marinate the chicken in the refrigerator anywhere from one hour to 24 hours; the closer it is to 24 hours, the softer and more flavourful it is.
 
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And mushrooms… though shitakes are preferred, I use portabellas in a crunch. Lots and lots of them. You can even do away with the stock as the juice of the mushrooms will add sufficient flavour to the dish.
 
onion-peppers

Whenever possible, I like to incorporate some vegetables into any dish I’m cooking. Here I have used red and green peppers. You could also use yellow/ green squash, brussels sprouts, green peas etc.
 
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Chicken cacciatore is very versatile in that it can be served with pasta, rice, or any other starch. I prefer mashed potatoes with a slice of crusty bread on the side to mop up the gravy. And a green salad on the side…
 
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~Ria

 
Recipe for easy printing

Chicken Cacciatore
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Ingredients
  • 2 to 3 lbs chicken, skinless thigh pieces
  • 6 large cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • ½ cup flour
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped onions
  • 1 cup each red and green pepper pieces, cut lengthwise
  • 2 cups sliced mushrooms, shitake or portobello
  • 2 cups tomato pieces, seeds and pulp removed
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • A few springs of fresh thyme
  • Fresh basil leaves
Directions
  1. Crush the garlic finely and mix with the chilli powder and enough salt and sprinkle all over the chicken pieces and rub in well to coat. Keep aside for at least an hour (up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator.
  2. Season the flour with salt and pepper, and dredge the chicken pieces in the flour.
  3. Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a wide pan. Add the flour dredged chicken pieces to the oil and fry till browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Note: If there is more chicken than can be accommodated without crowding in the pan, fry them in batches.
  4. Drain the chicken pieces on a plate. Into the same pan, add the chopped onions and stir fry till they start to wilt.
  5. Add the mixed vegetables and cook for two minutes.
  6. Add the mushrooms and let it cook for five minutes.
  7. Now add the wine, bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.
  8. Add the stock, tomatoes, and thyme.
  9. Place the chicken pieces back into the pan. Add enough salt and mix everything together. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
  10. At the end of 20 minutes, the chicken pieces should be done, with enough liquid to coat the pieces. If there is more liquid, cook uncovered to let the extra liquid evaporate. If there is not enough liquid, add enough stock or water and allow it to boil for 2 minutes.
  11. Add the fresh basil and stir. Serve with pasta, brown rice, or mashed potatoes.

 

Pumpkin Soup – tasty and healthy

By / Soups, Vegetarian / 1 Comment /
P1 Pumpkin soup Pumpkin and papaya were two of the vegetables I detested most during my childhood, but once I started cooking that slowly changed. Pumpkin found its way into my culinary escapades as my husband was very fond of it and papaya was only made appealing to me by the lovely Pawpaw man. P2 Pumpkin Soup Now, I love pumpkin almost as much as my husband, not only because it is actually really delicious but also because it's really healthy. Pumpkin is good source of vitamin A, B, C and E. A 100 gram pumpkin provides 100% of the daily recommended Vitamin A while containing only 20 calories. Even the seeds inside the hollow of the fruit when dry roasted with some salt are a good low calorie snack. P3 Pumpkin soup Pumpkins are so versatile that they can be used in both sweet as well as savoury dishes.  My favourite way of making pumpkin has to be pumpkin soup which is a big hit with my daughters. It's always on the list of things they want me to make for them when they come to visit me. The last time I made my pumpkin soup, I made a very large batch and decided to freeze half of it to save me the trouble of making it twice. It worked really well and I would definitely recommend it as it's always nice on those lazy days to simply heat something up and have a great, healthy meal with no fuss. P4 pumpkin soup Here I’ve used fresh pumpkins as it’s easily available but canned pumpkins can also be used. The soup is already full of flavour especially with all the roasted cumin and paprika, but you can always tweak it to your taste by adding more garlic or chilli flakes or whatever else you think might make a good addition to the soup. When making the soup for my girls, I always use cream as it is best suited to achieve the smooth, creamy texture but full cream or semi skimmed milk make adequate substitutes when considering the calories.

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~Min

Pumpkin Soup – tasty and healthy
Recipe type: Soups
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Ingredients
  • Pumpkin 250 grams (3 cups) - peeled and cut into cubes
  • Onion 1 medium sized – sliced
  • Garlic 6 cloves
  • Chilli powder ½ tsp
  • Paprika 1 tsp
  • Roasted Cumin powder 1-1 ½ tsp
  • Bay leaf 2
  • Vegetable stock cube 1
  • Cream / full cream milk ½ cup
  • Salt to taste
  • Chilli flakes 1 tsp (optional)
  • Olive oil or any refined oil 1 tbsp
Directions
  1. Heat a thick bottomed pan with oil.
  2. Add garlic, sliced onions, bay leaf and sauté till onions are transparent.
  3. Add chilli powder and half of the cumin powder and sauté for 2 minutes.
  4. Add the cut pumpkin cubes, sauté for another 3 minutes, pour 1 cup of water, crumble stock cube and salt, cook till the pumpkin pieces are tender.
  5. Blend this after removing the bay leaf into a smooth puree.
  6. Heat the puree. You can add more salt and chilli flakes, if required, at this point.
  7. Once it starts simmering, add cream and the remaining cumin powder and remove from the heat.
  8. You can add more milk or hot water to the soup to attain the required consistency.
  9. Serve with a small dollop of cream or some croutons.

A pie for Pi Day!

By / Entrée, Poultry / 3 Comments /

March 14th, as you know, is Pi Day worldwide, a day on which math enthusiasts celebrate the constant 3.14, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. One way to celebrate the day is to have pie parties, or at least make and eat pies! And to join in with the spirit of celebrations, that is what I decided to do too... make a pie!   pot-pie-slice Having been gorging on all kinds of sweet stuff during my recent vacation, my choice for this occasion was a pot pie... a vegetarian pot pie! A lot of veggies can go into this pie...   pot-pie-veg The key ingredient that gives this pot pie a unique kick up is ginger root! And instead of using a roux to thicken the filling, I like to use coconut milk which is healthier and adds to the flavour and creaminess of the filling.   And you can prepare the dough ahead of making the pie, and keep it chilled in the refrigerator up to 24 hours.   pot-pie-dough This pie makes a very good winter meal. And the leftovers will freeze very well too.   finished-pie

~Ria

Recipe for easy printing 
A pie for Pi Day!
 
Author: 
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Ingredients
  • 1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1” pieces
  • 1 large onion, cut into small wedges
  • 4 ribs of celery, cut into small pieces
  • 3 cups mixed vegetables (red and green peppers, carrots, brussels sprouts) all cut into bite-size pieces. Peas too, but don’t cut them!
  • 2” piece ginger root, cut into thin juliennes
  • 1 can Coconut milk (available in Asian/ Mexican markets)
  • Salt & black pepper
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, chilled in the refrigerator
  • Ice cold water
Directions
  1. To make the pie crust, mix together the flour and salt. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and add to the flour, shaking to coat each piece. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour till the butter is reduced to pea sized bits. Sprinkle ice cold water on the flour and mix till you can just about form a loose dough. Shape the dough into a flat disk, cover with cling film and chill in the refrigerator.
  2. To make the filling, in a heavy bottomed pan, cook the potato, onion, celery and ginger with a half cup of water. When the potato is half done, add the rest of the vegetables, coconut milk, and enough salt. Cover and cook till everything is done.
  3. While the pan is still on the stove, mash a few of the potato pieces using the back of a wooden spoon to thicken the liquid in the filling. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Allow the filling to cool.
  4. When cool, transfer the filling into a 9” pie pan.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree fahrenheit.
  6. Roll out the dough into a thick circle slightly larger than the pie pan. Gently lift the rolled out dough on the rolling pin and lay it over the pie pan with the filling. Fold under any extra dough and crimp with the edges. Make a few cuts in the dough to allow steam to escape.
  7. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 40 minutes. When the top starts to get slightly brown, take the pie out of the oven. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting the pie.

 

Sticky Toffee Pudding

By / Desserts, Puddings / 3 Comments /

Sticky Toffee pudding is an indulgent and comforting pudding on a cold winter day. The warm, sweet decadent crumbs drenched in toffee sauce, topped with some cold ice cream, is a treat indeed.

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The excitement turning into disappointment on Natasha’s face is the regular visual I get whenever I plan to make sticky toffee pudding. Natasha, a good friend of ours, is a wonderful person who appreciates good food, especially the latter part of the meal viz. desserts, with oohs and aahs. A few years back some of us got together for dinner at a restaurant called “Blue Mango”. It was Natasha’s birthday. As usual she scanned the dessert section as soon as she got hold of the menu and her face lit up the moment she spotted sticky toffee pudding. Many laughs were shared over the meal and soon it was time to place the order for desserts.Orders were promptly placed and were executed in a random manner. Most of us digged in as soon as we got our desserts only to realise moments later that Natasha was yet to get hers. The guy  waiting on us, realised that he had forgotten to mention that they ran out of sticky toffee pudding and she therefore had to choose something else. The disappointment on her face was so intense that I had to ask her over the next weekend and I made sticky toffee pudding for her, despite my busy schedule.

This time the plan to make this pudding somehow got postponed a few times.And finally when I started putting the ingredients together I realised that the girl at the supermarket till had forgotten to pack the Oman dates I bought. Hence I had to return to the supermarket and for my misfortune on my way back home a young boy on a motorbike grazed the right side my car. He was perhaps trying to squeeze through the limited space available on the right since a bus had blocked off any options on the left.  To cut the story short,the minor accident held me up for the rest of the day and was in no mood to go ahead with the pudding that day thereafter. I finally managed to make the pudding yesterday. Yipee…

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Sticky toffee pudding is an English steamed dessert consisting of a very moist cake with lots of dates drenched in toffee sauce. This is actually a cross between a cake and a pudding and is normally served warm with custard, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, besides the toffee sauce.

According to Wikipedia it’s Francis Coulson, who with his partner set up the first country house hotel, created and served this pudding at his Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel. It looks like he got the recipe from Patricia Martin who published the recipe and served it at her hotel. Her son later told Simon Hopkinson, the food critic thst she got it from two Canadian soldiers who stayed at her hotel during second world war. The Canadian origin makes sense as the batter for the pudding is more similar to the American muffin rather than to an English sponge. Anyway it’s considered a modern British classic alongside the bread and butter pudding and Jam RolyPoly.

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I used dates from Oman, which is one of the world’s top producers of dates. As an age old tradition Omanis plant a shoot of the date palm to celebrate the birth of a son.

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I used 2 tablespoon of blackstrap molasses. Regular molasses or treacle can be used as well. If you find the flavour of molasses too strong replace it with honey or golden syrup. I used demerara sugar for the pudding and light brown sugar for the toffee sauce. If you prefer lighter coloured sauce use white refined sugar instead of brown sugar. Calorie conscious people can sustitute double cream with single cream.

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To make the pudding lighter, separate the eggs and only beat in the yolks at the beginning. The egg whites can be whipped stiff separately and folded in as the last step.

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Ramekins can be used to make individual puddings. I used an 8 inch square pan as soaking of the pudding with toffee will be easier. This pudding can be made in advance, and left at room temperature. Rewarm before serving. Can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks and warmed again just before serving.

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My personal preference for a topping is the humble vanilla ice cream 🙂

~Min

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Recipe type: Dessert
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Ingredients
  • For the pudding
  • 225 gms Dates with stone
  • 175 ml water
  • 1 teaspoon Baking soda
  • 175 gms All purppose flour
  • 11/2 teaspoon Baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon Salt
  • 85 gms Butter
  • 140 gms Demerara sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoon Molasses
  • For the Toffee Sauce
  • 175 gms Light brown sugar
  • 50 gms Butter
  • 1 tablespoon Molasses
  • 225 ml Double Cream
Directions
  1. Stone the dates and chop them into tiny pieces.
  2. Boil the water and add the chopped dates into the boiling water along with the baking soda and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Leave it aside to cool.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius. Butter and flour an eight inch square baking pan.
  4. Sieve all purpose flour with baking powder and salt.
  5. Beat the butter in a medium sized bowl till creamy.
  6. Add the demarara sugar and beat well till the mixture is smooth and creamy. Scrape the sides if needed.
  7. Now add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Vanilla extract can be added now.
  8. Once the mixture is beaten well, add the sieved flour in small quantities and beat mixture till well blended.
  9. Mix the cooked dates pulp and the molasses and beat well till it is uniformly distributed in the batter.
  10. Transfer the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes. Keep a close watch after that and remove the pudding from the oven as soon as a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  11. While the pudding is in the oven, make the toffee sauce.
  12. When done, cool the pudding on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
  13. After 5 minutes poke the pudding with a skewer and pour half of the warm toffee sauce all over the pudding.
  14. Keep it aside for about 20 minutes.
  15. Cut it into pieces and serve with some more toffee sauce and custard, whipped cream or ice cream as you wish.
  16. To make the toffee sauce
  17. Heat the butter and sugar till the sugar melts. Add molassess and simmer for a minute.
  18. Add cream and simmer till it reaches the right consistency (similar to warm honey). It might take only 2-3 minutes. Leave it to cool.