Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Healthy Options

  • Cerialic (Celery Root) Skordalia

    I held a multi-dish Greek dinner several weeks ago, and over the next few posts, you'll be able to see my full spread of dishes as well as hear more about what worked and what didn't.  

    The first dish I will post about also helped start our meal – celeriac or celery root skordalia by Hugh Acheson.  The dish was the only that I pulled from one of my cookbooks, the Food & Wine 2011 Annual Cookbook, a gift from some co-workers.  And it was a nice variation on a Greek classic which I thought might be nice to add to our vegetable-heavy meal.

    The dish was really easy to prepare as I was making the rest of the meal, and I could make it in advance which made it a great go-to appetizer.  The celery root flavor was very light, and folks generally seemed to really enjoy the dish (and the leftovers went well at another dinner party later that weekend).  For me, I thought it was a little bland and would maybe increase the garlic.  But that criticism may apply to skordalia generally, which can have a very light flavor.

    Cerialic Skordalia

  • Nancie McDermott’s Nahm Prik Pao (Roasted Chili Paste)

    To the cookbooks I have returned as readers will note from this and upcoming posts.  I started to feel the internal pressure again to use the cookbooks I have on the shelves, so recently pulled out Nancie McDermott's Real Vegetarian Thai to try her Nahm Prik Pao or Roasted Chili Paste with Tofu and Vegetables.  

    The chili paste was recently easy to make – had to roast dried chili arbol and garlic to achieve the roasted/smokey flavor of the paste, and otherwise just blend the ingredients together.  The one mistake I may have made (which has the potential for significant ramifications) was to over-roast the chilis so that they may have had a slightly burnt flavor.  Unfortunately I couldn't ultimately tell if I prepared the recipe correctly or not because even the arguably light smokey flavor was generally a little unpleasant for my taste.

    I tossed several tablespoons of the roasted chili paste with a block of extra firm tofu, onion, bell peppers, zucchini and ultimately some chili-garlic paste to soften the smokey flavor of the roasted chili paste.  The result I have to admit was just ok – I think this recipe is probably not going to be repeated in the future.

    Roasted Chili Paste with Tofu

  • Kale Two Ways – White Bean and Kale Soup and Braised Kale

    We've hopefully reached the end of our kale experiments for the season with a new bounty of summer vegetables and fruits hitting the market.  To close out the season of kale though, I have been making a lot of white bean and kale soup and even tried a new braised Cavolo Nero (or lacinto) kale dish a few months ago.

    The white bean and kale soup recipe I have been using is incredibly flexible to new ingredients and different types of kale – definitely a year-round delicious meal.  The modifications I consistently made the three times I made the soup were to include 3 cloves of garlic, add 1/2 tsp or so of fresh rosemary and 1 – 2 inch parmesan rind to the broth, and to partially smash the beans while cooking to give the soup a richer texture.  I sadly did not come up with these modifications on my own, rather found them used in similar recipes from Epicurious.com and Martha Stewart.  With at least one attempt of the soup, I also added more water with the kale to make sure the soup had more of a soup than stew consistency.  I think the key to an outstanding result is definitely using a parmesan rind piece while simmering the broth – it definitely adds complexity and a nice, mind saltiness to the broth.

    White Bean and Kale Soup
    Unfortunately, the next kale dish was far from stellar.  For this dish, I used lacinto, dinosaur or cavolo nero kale to make the Vegetarian Times Braised Cavolo Nero Kale recipe.  I halved the amount of kale and water called for in the recipe while keeping the flavoring ingredients (onions, carrots, etc.) as is.  I also added a vegan bouillon cube to the water for a more flavorful result.  

    The final dish was still pretty bland despite these efforts.  It also was too kale-y and bitter, even though I used lacinto kale which is pretty mild as far as kale goes.  Serving the dish over orechiette and with a healthy amount of grated parmesan also did not save the dish from being a let down.

    Braised Kale

  • Cuban Black Beans and Rice – A Likely Recipe Repeat for a Big Gathering

    Another successful, but complicated Cooks Illustrated recipe was completed a few weeks back – the vegetarian version of the Cuban Black Beans and Rice.  In true Cook's Illustrated form, the recipe required not only a number of ingredients, but also a number of cooking tools.  Despite the multi-step and laborious preparation process, the result – despite the vegetarian alterations – was fantastic.  Very flavorful, rich and filling – and while not being presumably that bad from a nutrition and calorie perspective.  

    The only modification I would make the next time I make the dish is to make sure I have a more "fresh" bag of black beans.  The dried beans I have in my cupboard have probably sat there for over a year, and you could tell the beans, despite being well-cooked, were tougher than they should have been.  I also would consider halving the recipe because it definitely produced way too much food than two people can reasonably eat, even over a few days.  So maybe it would be a good anchor to a dinner party in the future?

    Cuban Black Beans and Rice

  • Yellow Split Peas with Cucumber and Tomato – Quick Protein-Rich Side Dish (Cucumber Pappu)

    As a vegetarian, I struggle with getting enough protein and calcium in my diet.  In fact, sometimes I wonder how I survived several years of my life given how poorly I have eaten at times.  In any case, I've been trying to integrate more lentils and beans into my diet to get more protein.  One easy way is to always include dal with any Indian meals or any other meals with rice.  

    I recently decided to make a more complicated dish than I usually make by adding some additional vegetables in my pappu (dal).  This simple, quick recipe was sadly not documented by a picture, but will be likely be replicated again soon in my kitchen.

    Cucumber and Tomato Dal

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 cup dried toor dal
    • 1 cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
    • 1 medium tomato, coarsely chopped
    • 1 tsp. ginger, minced
    • 1 Thai green chili, sliced
    • 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric powder
    • 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
    • 1/2 tsp. dried chili powder
    • 1 tsp. cumin seeds
    • 1 tsp. urad dal (available in Indian grocery stores)
    • 1 tsp. mustard seeds
    • 3 Indian curry leaves
    • water
    • vegetable oil
    • salt to taste

    Directions

    • Rinse the toor dal well and put it in a pot with 1 cup of water.  Bring contents to a boil on medium-high heat, and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    • Add additional water as necessary to ensure the mixture is not dry (approx 1/2 cup). 
    • After dal is mostly cooked to taste, add the cucumber, tomato, ginger, green chili, turmeric, and tamarind and stir well.  Add additional water as necessary and then re-cover, cooking for another 5 – 7 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked to taste.
    • In a small saucepan, heat on medium heat 1 tbsp. of oil, and when hot, add urad dal, cumin and mustard seeds and cook until the mustard seeds begin to pop.  After the mustard seeds pop, add the curry leaves and remove the mixture from the heat.
    • Stir the contents of the saucepan into the pot of dal, and add chili powder.  Salt to taste and serve.

  • World Vegetarian Spanish-Style Spinach with Chickpeas

    Bag of spinach from the market + desire to not just saute it with garlic = search through cookbooks (for once) for an interesting but quick recipe.  Thankfully, World Vegetarian offered a simple recipe that contained exclusively ingredients I have at home – Spanish-Style Spinach with Chickpeas.  

    I didn't use dried chickpeas, rather a can of chickpeas, so the cooking time was really only 20 – 30 minutes which made it a perfect dish with a side of rice or bread for a weeknight dinner.  The only change I will make the next time I make the recipe is to reduce the amount of spices called for in the recipe – particularly the 2 tsp. of ground cumin and 1 tsp. of ground coriander were a bit much for only one bag of spinach and one can of chickpeas.  And now that I have also purchased dried chickpeas for the first time, I'll probably also try the recipe with them as well!

    Spanish Chickpeas

  • Great Vegetarian Mexican Rice – Incredibly Flavorful Side Dish

    Finding a good vegetarian Mexican rice recipe has been a challenge during my eight-year serious cooking run.  Most recipes seem to result in incredibly bland or salty dishes, and none generally taste as good as one can find at a restaurant (which should lead me to doubt what exactly they put in the "vegetarian" rice when I am out…).  

    For some reason though (sadly, I don't remember why!), I decided to shelve my pessimism recently and tried the Cooks Illustrated Mexican Rice recipe.  The first time I made the recipe, I halved the amount of rice but kept a whole onion and two small tomatoes for it.  The result was amazing – flavorful and also moist and yet not mushy.  It was also very easy to make because most of the cooking occurs in a dutch oven placed in the oven instead of taking up space on the stove top.  

    The second time I made the recipe, I made the full recipe portion but ended up with slightly less than the tomato/onion liquid called for in the recipe by using one onion and two tomatoes.  The result the second time was more bland, though it was still good.  The next time I make the recipe, I will probably use 3 – 4 tomatoes and 1.5 onions because I don't think it will overpower the dish.  

    The bottom line is that this is an excellent vegetarian Mexican rice recipe that can be a quick side dish to add to any meal – particularly because while the rice cooks in the oven, one has the whole stovetop set available for preparing other meal elements (beans, tortillas, etc.).

    Mexican Rice

  • New Pizza Sauce Recipe – Fresh-Tasting and Very Simple

    I recently tried a new pizza sauce recipe because the only tomato paste can in the cupboard recently was Target brand which I thought would not be able to hold my usual pizza sauce recipe on its own.  So I went to CooksIllustrated.com and used their Quick Tomato Sauce for Pizza recipe, which fit the ingredients I had at home and took the right amount of time to make (15 minutes – I was in a hurry!).  

    The recipe was incredibly easy to prepare.  I used a 14 oz. can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, which I roughly chopped before adding to the pot.  I used the same amount of garlic 2 oz and eyeballed the olive oil.  I cooked slightly for about 10 – 15 minutes, and then froze the leftovers that I didn't use for the two pizzas I made.  The frozen sauce reheated incredibly well, and each time I consumed the sauce, it tasted like fresh, seasoned tomatoes.  In other words, the perfect light sauce for a New York-style pie.

    Unfortunately, no pictures for this post – but a good recipe, so that is at least one slight improvement from the norm? 

  • Momofuku Ginger Scallion Sauce over Noodles – Great Quick Meal

    While blog-hopping several weeks back, I found an unexpected recipe for a restaurant dish I really enjoy – the Momofuku Ginger Scallion Sauce.  I've had the sauce with noodles at the Momofuku Noodle Bar, and had no idea that a) the recipe was publicly available and b) it would be so easy to make!  

    Because it is so easy to make – and uses ingredients that I generally have on hand (or in spring, are not hard to find at all), I've already made the recipe twice.  Both times, I guestimated the ingredients and proportions and the dish has turned out really well.  I have also substituted apple cider vinegar for the sherry vinegar and used regular soy sauce in place of the usukuchi.  I probably have also made the ginger portion smaller than what the recipe calls for, but that is more of out laziness in microplaning or mincing the fresh ginger than for a specific, intended purpose.  And each time I have made the dish, I've used ramen noodles (minus the seasoning packet), mostly because I haven't had any other noodles on hand for some reason, so the dish takes at max 15 – 20 minutes to make.

    Momofuko Ginger Scallion Sauce

  • MadhuKnitsandCooks.com Guest Post by Elizabeth – Jacques Pepin Chickpea Ragout

    A historic moment for MadhuKnitsandCooks.com – a guest post!  And a guess post from a blogger extraordinaire in her own right – my friend Elizabeth.  Please check out her wonderful description of a recent Jacques Pepin vegetarian recipe attempt:

    Jacques Pepin's
    Chickpea Ragout

    Because my TV antenna only picks up two channels right now –
    CBS and a slew of PBS stations – I watch a lot of French chef, Jacques
    Pepin.   Julia & Jacques,
    Fast Food My Way, the Essential Pepin, all of these shows I began to watch more
    as background noise.  But slowly, I
    began to realize that Jacques Pepin is awesome (you have to see him de-bone cod!).  I don't consider myself a cook, let
    alone a chef, but he makes everything seem so easy and everything seem so
    scrumptious.  And he seems so
    non-judgmental.  If I messed up a
    little, he wouldn't judge.  He
    would provide constructive criticism and encourage me to do better.   I could do this.  I could make Jacques proud.

    So, at the suggestion of Madhu, I took out one of his cookbooks
    from the library – Jacques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way" (btw, she is
    right that you should always check out a cookbook from the library before
    buying it – I have a number of cookbooks that I rarely use because when I got
    them home to try, the recipes were just too complicated). Fast Food My Way is
    not about greasy hamburgers and french fries.  Rather, it conveys Jacques' philosophy that you can make
    good, hearty meals with fresh ingredients in a short amount of time.

    I decided to try his chickpea ragout as my
    first venture in Jacques' pantheon of recipes.  The reason I chose it is that aside from the scallions and
    the parsley, all the other ingredients I had in my house.  However, to save a little extra time,
    instead of freshly diced tomatoes, I used canned diced tomatoes (2 cups is
    about two cans) and to make it a full vegetarian dish, I used canned vegetable
    broth instead of chicken broth. 
    Prep time was five minutes. 
    Cooking, about 15 (letting it just boil).  This was fast, easy, and little clean-up. 

    Even with those changes, the dish was delicious.  It tasted very fresh and full (although
    I do think the fresh diced tomatoes would have made it even better).  I decided to eat it with white rice
    which was a good idea because when I allowed the soup to boil uncovered for a
    "few minutes" at the end to reduce the liquid, I ended up letting it
    go for about five minutes without watching it.  As a result, I had very little soup (ragout is French for
    soup).  If you want more a soup,
    definitely only let it boil in the open for a minute; two at the most. 

    The only thing is that I thought it could use a bit more of
    a kick.  This dish doesn't add any
    spices (just garlic, scallions, onions and a little bit of parsley).  I don't cook with a lot of chickpeas,
    so I don't know what usually goes with them, but I think the next time I might
    throw in some cumin.  Or do you
    have any suggestions?

    So far so good with my culinary idol.  Chickpea ragout is classic Pepin – you
    should give it a shot.