Tasty Tuesday

Dal is an Indian stew made with lentils and spices which is usually served over rice.  It is very easy to make and portions can be frozen for later use.

Serves 6 to 8

2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste (heaping)

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

3 medium red potatoes, cubed

2 1/2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drained (we used yellow split peas)

6 cups water

1 can coconut milk (we used “light”)

2 cups chopped tomatoes or one 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons sea salt or Herbamare, or to taste

1.  In a large 8-quart pot heat olive oil over medium heat, then add cumin seeds and black mustard seeds.  Saute until they begin to pop.  Quickly add onions and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

2. Add turmeric, ground cumin, cayenne, carrots, and potatoes, saute a few minutes more.

3.  Add red lentils, water, coconut milk, and chopped tomatoes.  Stir well.  Bring to a boil, then let simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes.  Add salt to taste and serve.

Elizabeth:  I also added a handful of curry leaves @ step 3; and a 1/4 tsp coriander seeds @ step 1.

Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by my love of two great dishes — tabbouli salad and hummous!  And, I had A LOT of broccoli in the fridge.  The tabbouli-inspired flavors are the mint-cilantro-parsley herb mixture and the tomatoes.  The hummous-inspired flavors were the lemon-tahini-olive oil-garlic, and of course, the chickpeas!  Super-easy to make, and delicious.  We even got two thumbs up from a self-professed “broccoli hater”.

You can choose the degree to which you cook the broccoli — I steamed mine in a vegetable steamer for about 12 minutes, and it was quite well cooked.  If you like, you could just lightly steam (perhaps 6 minutes?) and then mix it all together to marinate in the dressing for an hour or so before serving.  My broccoli was too soft to mix together until just before I served it.  Of course, if you prefer, you can use the broccoli raw; I feel it is easier to digest if it is cooked a bit.

In order to keep the recipe vegan, there is no cheese added, but I think it would be delicious with some crumbled feta over it. You could also substitute lacinato kale for the broccoli, and cannellini beans for the chickpeas.

This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free……but not taste-free.  You will find it is full of flavor.

Serves 12 to 14

Ingredients:

28 ounce can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans

2 1/2 to 3 cups broccoli florets (cut into bite sized pieces)

1 quart grape or cherry tomatoes, washed and cut in halves

1 bunch cilantro, washed and chopped

1 heaping Tablespoon (or more, to taste) chopped fresh mint

2 Tablespoons (or more, to taste) chopped fresh Italian parsley

1/3 cup tahini paste (I used Maranatha Roasted Tahini Paste because I like the roasted flavor, and it is just salty enough to my taste.  If you use a non-salted tahini, make sure you adjust salt to taste in your salad)

1 clove fresh garlic, peeled

1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup (or slightly less) water

Sea Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1.  If you are cooking your broccoli, go ahead and set that up in your steamer.  Once cooked to desired level, set aside.  Note that if you like it more well-cooked, it might be too soft to mix into the salad until just before serving.  If you mix it in, do so gently so that the florets do not get broken up — it is visually more interesting to have the nice, bite-sized florets whole).

2.  Rinse and drain chickpeas, then place in  a large bowl.

3.  Add tomatoes and chopped cilantro, mint and parsley to the chickpeas.  Toss to mix well.  At this point you can add the broccoli if it is not falling apart.

4.  Make the dressing:  I used a food processor — you could also use a blender or Vitamix. Add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil to the processor bowl.  Process until smooth.  It will be quite thick.  Start adding water until it reaches the desired consistency.  I used 1/4 cup of water for mine — you want the dressing to be thick enough to coat the ingredients….not too runny.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I used freshly ground coarse sea salt — about three grinds, and about five grinds of fresh black pepper.

5.  Pour dressing over the salad and mix well to coat ingredients.  Allow it to sit (refrigerated) for about an hour before serving.  We served it at room temperature yesterday and it was great.

Enjoy!

Fun, pretty on a platter, and super easy to make!  These skewers are Vegan, Gluten-Free, Fat-Free, and taste really great.  The whole office smelled yummy last week when they were out…..

Ingredients for 24 skewers (serve as an appetizer):

24 mushrooms — I used Cremini, but you can use any small, round mushroom

48 grape tomatoes

2 cans (15 ounces each) Hearts of Palm — cut into 24 1″ slices/chunks

Balsamic Vinegar

6 cloves garlic

3 TBSP finely chopped fresh rosemary, divided

3 TBSP finely chopped fresh thyme, divided

24 bamboo or wooden skewers

Instructions:

1.  Wash and dry the mushrooms and grape tomatoes.

2.  Drain the hearts of palm and cut them into pieces.  Some of them will fall apart while marinating, so put extra into the bowl.

3.  Create 3 bowls for marinade:  I used large shallow bowls for this purpose.  Each bowl gets 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 TBSP each of fresh rosemary and thyme, and about 1/4 c of balsamic vinegar.

4.  Put your prepared vegetables into the bowls — one each for mushrooms, tomatoes and hearts of palm.  Stir to mix them with the marinade.

5.  Marinate for 30-45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

6.  Transform mushrooms to a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and roast until softened, and starting to caramelize, about 30 minutes.

7.  When the mushrooms are cool enough to handle, thread a mushroom, tomato, heart of palm, then another tomato onto each skewer.  Enjoy!

8.  You can save the balsamic marinade to reuse on salad or as a marinade for more veggies or meat.

Our month-long celebration of quinoa continues with this fabulous and healthy salad from Susan O’Brien’s wonderful cookbook, The Gluten-Free Vegan.

I hope these different ways of preparing quinoa have given you some ideas of variations and ways you can adapt it to suit the season and your individual tastes.  This particular recipe would be wonderful served with sliced avocados and/or fresh corn.  For those who are not vegan, crumbling some feta cheese onto it, or adding grilled shrimp would also be delicious!  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock/broth

1 cup of quinoa — remember to rinse well and drain before cooking

1 yellow, orange or red bell pepper, diced into 1/4″ pieces

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 small red onion (or 2-3 scallions, if you prefer) finely diced

2 Roma (Italian) tomatoes, seeded, chopped and drained

1, 15 ounce can of beans — black beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans, or a mixture of whatever beans you like.  Of course, you can also cook your own from dried.  You will want about 1 1/2 cups

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup freshly made salsa (you can make your own or use store-bought from the produce section)

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 lime, juiced

Freshly ground pepper and sea salt

Instructions:

1.  Cook the rinsed quinoa — bring your stock to a boil, add the quinoa, lower heat and cook until the liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

2.  Place cooled quinoa in a large bowl and add your chopped vegetables (bell pepper, jalapeno, onion, tomatoes), beans, and salsa.  Toss to blend.

3.  Add ground cumin, cilantro, canola oil, and lime juice.

4.  Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.