Portobello Saute with Green Beans

This dinner was incredibly fast and delicious-- mashed potato, portobello mushroom saute, and steamed green beans. I sliced the portobello caps (saving the stems for quesadillas-- don't waste them!) and sauteed in olive oil with garlic and large onion slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and arrange on a bed of steamed green beans. Yum!

Plus-- we're approaching thanksgiving-- keep this in mind as a classy side dish or preserve the entire mushroom cap to serve as an entree portion for vegetarian guests.

Fire and Spice Chicken Curry

Its cold and flu season! Time to beat back the misery and heighten your immune system with some spicy curry.

Be forewarned-- this one is HOT. I recommend cutting the whole red chilies to take away some of the kick. Serving alongside plain yogurt will also help you conquer this curry.

Ingredients:

Chicken-- 2 breasts, or 3-4 thigh portions well trimmed

Yogurt-- plain. Any fat content will work. Approx. 1/4 cup.

Spices: 1 Tbsp of: cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, paprika; 1/2 tsp of: turmeric, black pepper, ginger powder

Trim the chicken. This is best done with partially frozen chicken-- it is easier to cut and maneuver than a fridge-temp piece of meat. Add all the powdered spices listed above and the yogurt, and marinate at least 1 hr. The goal is to have the chicken well coated, so if you need more spice don't be afraid to add it! I leave mine overnight, with a little warning so that Potato doesn't eat it:

After the chicken is done marinating:

1/4 cup onion

1" piece fresh ginger

1 large garlic clove

4 dried red chilies

4 Tbsp Coriander seeds

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fenugreek

1 tsp cumin seeds

2" cinnamon stick

8 peppercorns

4 cloves

1 14 oz can of diced tomato

10 cashews
1/4 bag of frozen green peas

2 med red potatoes, stabbed with a fork, microwaved till cooked, and diced.

Brown the onions, garlic and ginger. Add red chilies, saute for a minute. Add coriander, mustard, fenugreek and cumin seeds. stir. Add the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns. Put these spices,1 can of diced tomato, and 10 cashews into a blender or food processor and blend till smooth.

Cook the chicken. Make sure to discard the excess yogurt marinade. After the chicken has cooked for 5 minutes, add the blended spice mix and cook till the chicken is done. Add green peas and 2 potatoes immediately before serving. Enjoy!

Acorn Squash and Pumpkin Soup

One of the joys of getting vegetables delivered to my door is that I have no choice regarding what I get. Sound like a bad thing? Let me explain. Choice can be debilitating. Almost everywhere in the US, consumers are faced with an abundance of choice at the grocery store. Just stroll down your local supermarket and see how many varieties of ice cream are sold, as a simple example. Our abundant food choices also includes several "easy" options that we can choose almost without thinking. This category includes fast food, ready made supermarket food (the soup and salad bar.. frozen dinners) and restaurant food. Going down this road does not take much effort (it does take money, but with credit cards it is easy to forget finances when hunger strikes).

So choice really throws a wrench in my meal planning. I can imagine thousands of possible meals, with thousands of possible ingredients. If I am making the trip to the store myself, I look up recipes, pick a few, list the ingredients and then check to see which store has the best deal for my purchases. Ultimately, this translates into A LOT of prep work, read: time. Juggling work and school and food, time is not something I can afford to waste.

Home delivery, on the other hand, eliminates the kabillion ideas in my head, and forces me to consider a simpler set of problems: what can I do with acorn squash? How do I prep purple cabbage? One veggie at a time, I look for recipes that suit what I have, instead of going to the store to buy ingredients. As a bonus, this has saved some valuable real estate in my spice rack (as you can imagine, with all of the spices required for Indian cooking, my collection is quite extensive), because I don't buy a whole jar of spice for just one recipe.

This soup was the product of this deductive approach to cooking. I got an acorn squash in my grocery delivery. I had a decorative mini pumpkin. Now what?

I was actually dissatisfied with my search for acorn squash recipes; I wanted something savory and not sweet. But I did pick up some great tips: cut the squash in half, scoop out the stringy stuff and the seeds, and microwave cut side up with a bit of water. I zapped both the pumpkin and the acorn squash together for about 15 minutes. I was able to use a spoon to scoop the fleshy cooked squash and pumpkin from the tough rind. The skin separated fairly easily when the squash was well done.

This soup recipe is my personal adaptation of a recipe for sweet potato soup. It is yummy.

2 cups cooked squash
1/4 cup diced onion
1 and 1/2 cups vegetarian broth

2/3 cup skim milk

1 and 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp Chinese 5-spice

salt to taste

green onion to garnish (optional)

Methodology:

Brown onions in oil with salt and pepper. Add cooked squash mix (from cooking method above), vegetable or chicken broth, Chinese 5 spice, and mustard. Heat through. Spoon the mixture into a food processor or blender, add milk, and process till smooth. Varying the amount of milk will alter the thickness of the soup, so use your personal preference as a guide. Ladle into bowls and serve with green onions and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Enjoy!

Tofu Curry

Tofu curry is a great vegetarian staple.. This easy meal requires quite a few spices, but you may be able to simply your shopping with a multi-purpose spice mix of bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and cardamom pods. These mixes can be found at an Indian market.



Tofu Curry:
1 box extra firm tofu
1 Tbsp oil
1 can diced tomatoes
1/3 bag of peas
1 jalapeno pepper
1/4 medium onion
1 Tbsp ginger + garlic paste (make on your own.. can make large quantities, 1:1 ratio, and freeze for use later. Can even freeze in small ice cube tray to make little pods)
1 bay leaf, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
red chili powder (adjust according to preference)
black pepper

Whew, get all that? fortunately the ingredient list is the complicated part. The cooking part is easy. Fry the tofu and set aside (note, tofu fries really well on "high"). In the same large saucepan, brown onion in a little bit of oil. Add the whole spices (cumin seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and cloves). Fry for a minute. Add the ginger garlic paste, fry for a minute. Add the powders (coriander, cumin, turmeric, chili, and black pepper), and then add the can of tomato. Add ~1cup water, let it sim for 10 minutes. When nice and tasty (the longer it sims the better.. I leave mine for a good 1/2 hour), add the tofu and green peas. Garnish with fresh cilantro, optionally. Serve hot with parathas, chapati, naan, or rice.