Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Healthy Options

  • Asian Tofu and Noodle Soup — A Reminder of a Chicago Favorite!

    When I used to live in Chicago, I LOVED Penny's Noodle Shop.  It wasn't necessarily the most amazing place in the world, but it was fresh, fast and really cheap.  It was in short, the perfect place for a rushed dinner, leisurely weekend lunch or even a mid-afternoon snack.  Since leaving Chicago, I've tried a variety of clear Asian tofu and noodle soups to find something that at least approximates what I enjoyed so much at Penny's.  Unfortunately, while I've found some decent soups here and there, I haven't been able to find a place that is able to recreate what seems like a fairly simple dish.

    The weekend before last, I went to two Asian grocery stores in New Haven and decided to try to make this soup as best as I could.  I was able to find most of the ingredients that I thought I needed, and I decided to plot forward even though I didn't necessarily have all of the vegetables I wanted (e.g., sprouts, lime, carrots).  I'm glad that I tried it because after a little trial and error, I actually felt like I was sitting at the Penny's in Wicker Park!  

    The "error" part was mostly forgetting to include the sesame oil — when I tasted the soup without it (and even with the cilantro, green onion and chili-garlic sauce accompaniments), the soup tasted really bland.  Adding the sesame oil really kicked up the flavor of the soup, and brought all of the ingredients together.  Additionally, I used a full package of tofu, as well as a full can of baby corn, which I think was just too much given the amount of soup I made.  I've made adjustments to the recipe below to accomodate those changes.

    Finally, I lost the little sheet of paper that I wrote all of my ingredients/directions on, but hopefully I've recaptured it here.  I'll update the post if I realize that I've forgotten anything!

    Asian Tofu and Noodle Soup 

    Ingredients (for 3 large, meal-size servings, or 4 – 5 appetizer servings)

    • 5 cloves garlic, crushed and coarsely chopped
    • 1/4 – 1/2 serrano pepper, finely chopped (vary pepper amount by your spice level, but I would start out with a smaller amount)
    • 4 green onions, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
    • 5 cups water
    • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    • 1/2 package firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
    • 1/2 can baby corn, drained and cut into 1/2-inch segments
    • 2 ounces fine rice noodles (I prefer slightly thinner, pho-style noodles)
    • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
    • 6 tablespoons chopped, fresh cilantro
    • salt to taste
    • chili-garlic sauce (optional)
    • fresh lime wedges (optional)

    Directions

    • Boil water in medium saucepan, and add noodles, cooking according to package directions.  Drain water from noodles, and rinse with cold water.  Set aside cooked noodles.
    • At the same time the noodles are cooking, heat vegetable oil in a large pot on medium-high heat, and add garlic, hot pepper and one chopped green onion.  Add the soy sauce as well, and saute until the garlic is fragrant (about 2 – 3 minutes).
    • Add the five cups of water, and turn up heat.  Bring water to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add tofu and cook for 5 minutes.
    • Then add the baby corn, and 1 tsp. of salt (to taste).  Simmer soup for another 2 – 3 minutes.
    • Add cooked noodles, and add additional salt if necessary.  
    • Turn off heat, and add approximately 1.5 – 2 tsp of sesame oil (to taste).
    • Ladle soup into serving bowls, and garnish each bowl with equal parts of cilantro and remaining green onion.  Add chili-garlic sauce and juice from a lime wedge if desired, and serve immediately.

  • Trio of New Indian Dishes

    I think I've been in an Indian food rut of late, having run through the handful of Indian vegetarian recipes I usually make a few times over the past couple of weeks.  This newfound desire to try out some new recipes, particularly North Indian recipes, thankfully came at the same time as the closing sale at a local Borders (20% off the entire store!).  I spent a good chunk of time one afternoon browsing the cookbook section, and settled on Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking and Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.  

    When I had a friend over for dinner recently, I tried one new recipe from each of these cookbooks, as well as, for the first time. an childhood favorite — Spinach Rice — from Saranya Mandava's newer cookbook, Millennium Mixture.

    Trio of New Indian Dishes 

    Unfortunately, the results was a bit mixed.  The first dish I made was Julie Sahni's Potatoes Smothered in Shallots (link is to a website that reproduces the recipe).  I substituted new potatoes for the standard potatoes called for in the recipe, but other than that, followed the fairly simple recipe as is.  In addition to potatoes and shallots, the recipe calls for only salt and pepper.  I should have realized that that simplicity would mean an incredibly bland result (think plain potatoes with salt and pepper, and just a hit of shallots), but unfortunately I didn't and so missed the opportunity to make it more flavorful.  Oh well.  Flipping through the rest of Sahni's book, I think the other dishes will be equally as bland so I will probably just use the recipes as bases for new experiments.  

    The other two dishes turned out really well, and I am really happy I decided to pick up the Madhur Jaffrey compilation book, which has a ton of interesting-looking recipes.  I tried her Green Beans with Cumin and Fennel recipe, particularly because I have never cooked with fennel seeds.  I really enjoyed the multi-layered flavor they brought to the final dish — so much so, that that following week, I made the recipe again!  To add an interesting starch to the meal, I cooked the Spinach Rice recipe from Millennium Mixture, which was an exact replica of one of my favorite childhood dishes (spinach rice with some plain yogurt was a complete, and satisfying, meal for me for many years).  As the dish was simmering, the smells emanating from the kitchen actually reminded me of my childhood.  Thankfully, I didn't mess up the result, and I'm definitely going to be adding both recipes to my regular cooking rotation!

  • Potato Vindaloo…A First (Maybe Last?) Try

    I bought some pre-combined vindaloo spice powder at Kalustyan's in New York a few months back, but have been a little stumped about how best to use it in my vegetarian cooking.  I finally decided that I can't make the perfect the enemy of the good, and endeavored to use the spices with some russet potatoes.  The end result was just ok — it was a little bland for my tastes (others who are new to Indian cooking will probably find it to have a good level of flavor) and I don't think the potatoes really absorbed the full flavor of the spices.  I think maybe I need to use a porous vegetable that will break down during cooking and better absorb the flavor of the powder, and to make it more of a curry than a dry dish like the potato vindaloo had turned out.  But for those who like potatoes and want a new variation on a potato dish, the recipe I put together is below the picture:

    Potato Vindaloo 

    Recipe

    • 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1/2 inch segments
    • 4 cloves garlic, sliced
    • 3 dried red chili peppers (available at Indian grocery stores)
    • 4 tbsps chopped onion
    • 1 heaping tbsp vindaloo powder
    • 1 – 2 tbsp vegetable oil
    • 1/4 cup water

    Directions

    • Heat vegetable oil on medium to high heat, and when heated, add garlic, dried red chili peppers and vindaloo powder
    • After one minute, or after garlic becomes fragrant, add the onion and stir, cooking for another 3 minutes
    • Add the potato, and stir to coat the potatoes with the spice mixture
    • After coated, add 1/4 cup of water and cover the pan to cook the potatoes.
    • Stir periodically and cook until potatoes are tender and cooked throughout

  • Vegetarian Times’ Grilled Hearts of Romaine with Balsamic-Shallot Vinaigrette

    As regular readers of MadhuKnitsandCooks.com know, I have been making a concerted effort to use more of my cooking magazines, especially my stacks of the Vegetarian Times.  Generally, this has been meant flipping through past issues to get meal ideas, but this past month, I made a big advancement in that I used the current issue of the Vegetarian Times! 

    I tried the Grilled Hearts of Romaine with Balsamic-Shallot Vinaigrette recipe in the May/June 2010 issue, which unfortunately isn't available online as well.  Instead of grilling the lettuce on a stove-top grill pan or an outdoor grill, I ended up charring the lettuce on a cast-iron skillet.  The hearts of romaine weren't fully intact after I had cleaned them, so the leaves were a little more evenly cooked than I imagine they would be than if they were still together.  I also used plain balsamic instead of the prepared vinaigrette called for in the recipe, but it turned out incredibly well.  The lettuce was really flavorful after charring, and shallots and balsamic worked really well together so that the dish was almost spicy.  I definitely look forward to making it again, especially when I next have company over (perhaps this salad and some sort of "upscale" pizza would be a good combination!).  

    Grilled Romaine 

     

  • A Slightly Failed Attempt at Hot and Sour Cabbage

    I continue to make good progress using my cooking magazines, with one of the latest adventures focusing on the Vegetarian Times March 2010 Hot and Sour Cabbage recipe.   Unfortunately though, my attempted experimentation with a new type of cabbage didn't quite work out as I didn't quite know the difference between napa cabbage — which was called for in the recipe — and savoy cabbage.  When I went to the local grocery store, I picked up the cabbage that was labeled "napa", even though Andy pointed out that it seemed like it was plain, green cabbage (read: savoy cabbage) which I have used a few times before.  But because it was labeled "napa", I thought I should just go with it.  Well, that turned out to be incorrect, and as such, the dish didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped.

    Hot and Sour Cabbage 

    The main issue seemed to be that savoy cabbage leaves were seemingly thicker and take longer to cook than what I imagine napa leaves take, so that the balsamic vinegar didn't quite coat all of the leaves so some leaves had a really strong balsamic taste while others lacked the flavor.  In addition to making an uneven flavor, the vinegar also didn't quite mix with the sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce and other flavor additions, so I didn't really experience the "hot and sour" nature of the dish (which was quite nice) except in a few random bites.  Hopefully I'll be able to find some real napa cabbage next time so I can really make this recipe the proper way!

  • Vegetarian Times’ Grown Up Mac and Cheese — My First Bechamel Sauce!

    The Vegetarian Times featured a "roux how-to" in their March 2010 issue that included a recipe for making a basic bechamel sauce — the class French white sauce used as a base in many common dishes.  I decided to try one of the recipes that featured the roux/bechamel base, the Mac and Cheese for Grown-Ups.  

    Grown Up Mac and Cheese 

     (Unbaked Mac and Cheese)

    The recipe included lots of fresh spinach leaves, penne and a bit of parmesan cheese to provide additional flavor to the bechamel.  I made a few minor substitutions — substituting regular penne for the whole wheat penne called for in the recipe and skipping the optional nutmeg — and the result was really spectacular.  It created about 5 – 6 servings, as promised, and was a good main course for the occasion of inviting a friend over for dinner.  

    I look forward to trying the dark chocolate souffle recipe next in the "roux how-to" section!

    Grown Up Mac and Cheese Close Up 

  • Fresh and Light Spinach-Zucchini Soup

    This is going to be the first of many reviews of recipes in my cooking magazines.  I have decided to make a concerted effort to go through and use my stacks of magazines, so that they aren't just unnecessary clutter in my apartment.  I chose to pursue this effort after flipping through some of my old issues one evening, and realizing that I hadn't made a single recipe in them.  It's really quite ridiculous that I pay money for these, and I generally get good results while also pushing myself to use new ingredients, so there isn't really much reason for me to not put them more to use. 

    Given the recent change of a season in Washington, I decided to start with some light recipes that would highlight the flavor of fresh vegetables.  I found a great Spinach-Zucchini Soup recipe in my September 2009 Vegetarian Times issue that called for a lot of lemon juice and fresh herbs (mint).  I tried it on a Sunday afternoon, and it ended up being a fantastic light lunch.  I made a few alterations to the recipe, and I look forward to making future changes because the recipe seems pretty adaptable.  I substituted fresh cilantro for the mint because I had it in the fridge, I used 5 ounces of spinach instead of the 4 called for the in recipe, and finally, I reduced the amount of lemon zest a bit, and just squeezed half a large lemon into the recipe to taste.  The soup was very light and fresh-tasting because of the lemon (but not too lemony, which I am not a fan of), and I look forward to making it again throughout the summer!

    Spinach-Zucchini Soup 

     

  • Wonderfully Fresh and Flavorful Vegan Meal — Indian-Style Roasted Cauliflower, Chinese-Inspired Sauteed Spinach and Red Quinoa

    I have been trying to create new versions of some traditional Indian dishes that I like — so adapting the usual spice blends I use for the vegetables I ate growing up to new ingredients, and trying to cook things differently by using new techniques.  Through these adventures, I recently made what in my mind was a pretty successful dinner — it was flavorful, quick, and used good, fresh ingredients.  Details about the meal — an Indian-style roasted cauliflower, a super-simple Chinese-inspired sauteed spinach and cooked red quinoa — follow the picture.

    Roasted Cauliflower and Chinese Spinach 

    Roasted Cauliflower

    Ingredients

    • 1 medium head cauliflower, cleaned and coarsely chopped into 1/2 – 3/4 inch segments
    • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
    • 1 tsp mustard seeds
    • 1 tsp cumin (whole not ground)
    • 3 dried red chili peppers
    • olive oil
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Directions

    1.  Pre-heat over to 450 degrees, and cover a large baking sheet with foil

    2.  Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and add mustard seeds.

    3.  When the mustard seeds start popping, add cumin and break the red chili peppers in half, adding them to the saucepan as well.  Mix together.

    4.  When spice mixture is fragrant, add sliced garlic and saute until garlic also becomes fragrant but before it burns.

    5.  Immediately add cauliflower, and toss for 1 – 2 minutes to ensure the cauliflower is completely covered by the olive oil and spice mixture.  

    6.  Remove pan from heat, and place the cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet in one layer.  Add additional olive oil and toss, if the cauliflower pieces aren't covered by a very light layer of oil.

    7.  Place baking sheet in oven on the highest rack, and roast for 15 – 20 minutes or until the cauliflower has browned to your liking, and is tender.  Liberally season with salt and pepper, and serve.

    Chinese-Inspired Sauteed Spinach

    Ingredients

    • 1 bunch spinach, thoroughly cleaned, patted dry (this is important) and with only the ends trimmed
    • 5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
    • 1 tablespoon soy sauce, additional to taste
    • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
    • 2 dried chili peppers (optional)
    • Vegetable oil

    Directions

    1.  Heat 2 – 3 tsp. of vegetable oil on medium-high heat in a large saucepan.  Add garlic and red chili peppers, and cook until mixture is fragrant (approx. 1 – 2 minutes).

    2.  Add spinach, tossing with tongs to ensure all spinach wilts evenly.  After the spinach is lightly wilted, add the soy sauce, tossing to coat.

    3.  Once the spinach is cooked to your liking, stir in the sesame oil and remove from heat.  Serve immediately.

  • Flavorful, and Quick, Tomato Bisque

    Last weekend, I decided to make a very simple lunch — a grilled cheese sandwich.  I realized though that because I had just finished a long run, it probably wouldn't be enough to satisfy my hunger.  I started looking in the cabinet for accompaniments and saw a can of fire-roasted, diced tomatoes and I realized I could probably make a soup to accompany the sandwiches.  At first, I thought about making the Rachel Ray corn and salsa soup, but I thought it wouldn't be that flavorful because I didn't have any poblanos or avocado.  And so, I did what I do too often when confronted with a cooking question — I turned to the internet!  

    Using the ingredient search on Allrecipes.com, I found a relatively simple tomato bisque recipe that I thought would be a good base for a customized soup.  I ended up making several alterations, which I'll detail after the picture.

    Tomato Bisque 

    Making the following alterations resulted in a creamy, rich soup that was also spicy.  While I thought these adjustments produced a wonderful result, I may in the future make other changes simply because I think there is a lot you can do with this soup base.  

    • Only made 1/2 of recipe to accommodate 14.5 oz. can of fire-roasted, diced tomatoes
    • No celery
    • No nutmeg
    • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
    • A few hearty shakes of cayenne pepper
    • Substituted 2 cups of water with one ground up cube of Telma vegetable seasoning cube for chicken broth
    • Only one tablespoon of sugar
    • I blended 7/8 of the soup in a magic bullet (very fast, and much easier clean up that using the large blender).
    • Substituted 2 teaspoons of sour cream for the heavy cream

    Happy Experimenting!

  • Mutter Tofu

    In 2006, I learned how to make Mutter Paneer, a popular North Indian dish.  Someone commented on a related post that they had successfully attempted the recipe, and had substituted tofu in place of paneer.  That comment has stuck with me the past few years, and when I finally decided to try this recipe myself, I decided to use tofu as well instead of the traditional paneer.  I also adapted the recipe to what I had in my kitchen — which slightly deviates from the original recipe.  Below the picture, I detail what I did to make the dish, what I would change in the future, and how this more simple approach differs from the original recipe — which I still think is probably the gold standard for mutter paneer.  

    Mutter Tofu 

    Ingredients (for approximately 4 servings)

    1 teaspoon ground cardamom (I would reduce this to 1/2 tsp. moving forward, especially because I freshly ground cardamon seeds)

    Vegetable cooking oil 

    2 teaspoons store-bought ginger garlic paste (in place of homemade paste)

    1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (in place of dry fenugreek)

    1 medium onion chopped

    1 ½ medium tomatoes, chopped and microwaved for 2-3 minutes 

    1 teaspoon paprika

    1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

    1 teaspoon roasted ground cumin 

    1/2 teaspoon roasted ground coriander (in place of 1 tsp. in original recipe — I may decrease in the future)

    1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

    1 green chile, sliced

    2 tablespoons sour cream

    1 teaspoon salt

    ½ teaspoon store-bought masala (in place of homemade masala)

    1 block extra firm tofu, squeezed dry and cut into 3/4 inch square pieces (I would recommend making them 1/2 inch square pieces instead)

    3/4 cup frozen peas


    Directions (I basically followed the original recipe, except for separate cooking of the tofu)


    -Heat oil in saucepan (medium heat, depending on quality of pan)

    -Add ground cardamom

    -Add garlic/ginger paste, let simmer for a few minutes

    -Add dried fenugreek and chopped onion

    -Let simmer 5-10 minutes, or until the onions don’t smell raw

    – At the same time, heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in another pan on medium-high heat.  Add tofu, and saute, stirring occasionally, until the tofu is lightly browned on all sides or the desired consistency is reached. 

    -Cut the tomatoes, and then put in microwave for 2-3 minutes

    -Add paprika, cayenne, cumin, and coriander

    -Add water if the ingredients are sticking to the pan (I would add about 1/4 – 3/4 cup of water)

    -Add cilantro

    -Add chopped tomatoes, and lower the heat a bit

    -Let simmer so flavors blend (few minutes)

    -Then put i
    n a food processor, until consistency is like gravy

    -Put back in pan, and add salt to taste

    -Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream.  Turn up heat and stir vigorously until mixture bubbles

    -Keep stirring after bubbling and add homemade masala

    -Then add peas, stir and cover, lower heat to medium/low.

    -Stir periodically and add water if looks dry (maybe another 1/4 cup).  Let simmer for 10 minutes.

    -Uncover and stir in tofu, and let simmer for 3-4 minutes for flavor to set in paneer.


    Potential Further Alterations


    The recipe turned out incredibly well, though I think that there are three key changes I would consider making.  First, as I describe above in the ingredients section, I would reduce the cardamon to 1/2 teaspoon instead of 1 teaspoon.  I think the end result had a little too much cardamon flavor — potentially because I freshly ground the cardamon — and that made the dish a bit sweet.  Second, I would recommend cutting the tofu into smaller pieces.  I usually cut my tofu to about 3/4 inch square pieces when I stir fry them with vegetables, but I would that size is too big to get the tofu properly flavored in this gravy dish.  I think that a 1/2 inch square size would probably work better for this recipe.  Finally, I would add more water to the recipe as I detail in the directions section.  I added perhaps only 1/4 cup of water through the cooking process, and the leftovers were somewhat dry, so I would probably add approximately 1/2 – 3/4 cup through the cooking process.  I don't think that extra water would undesirably dilute the flavor.


    I'll report back if I try these alterations in the future!