Bombay Aloo

(I'll post photos of the delicious blackbean pumpkin soup shortly--after congealing in the fridge overnight it was like baked black beans! So yummmmmmy.)


Although I've seen so many soups that look irresistible, we currently have lots of soup in the fridge and are running out of pots to hold them.  Also, I still have a lot of that garam masala I made so I figured why not put it to use with this recipe:

Bombay Aloo (Serves 4)

3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces

2 tsp salt

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2" piece fresh ginger, grated

4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1 tsp garam masala (I use homemade)

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 onion, sliced

1/2 green capsicum, deseeded & sliced  (apparently this is just a bell pepper, she's a Brit living in Spain, they make words up over there I hear)

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tomato, skin & core removed, cut into 8 pieces

4 tbsp chopped coriander

Boil the potatoes in water with a little 2 tsp salt and the turmeric until cooked.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a karahi or deep frying pan and fry the finely chopped onion for about 3 minutes, until translucent.

Add the ginger, garlic, garam masala, cumin and chilli powder, stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add the 1/2 tsp of salt, the sliced onion, capsicum, tomato puree, lemon juice and cut tomato, stir fry for 2 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and add to the pan. Mix well and serve immediately sprinkled with coriander.

Note: This dish can be made ahead and re-heated.

from http://debskitchencreations.blogspot.com/2010/11/bombay-aloo.html


Sounds easy enough, right?

Pumpkin Blackbean Chili

First plate served - pretty on pink

On the table

On the stove

Prepared the chili Saturday afternoon.  The roasted pumpkin added a delicious flavor to the chili.  Danny Barnes provided the perfect sound for cooking.  Didn't use a slow cooker.  Cooked the whole thing on the stove using black beans I'd cooked earlier in the week.  Next time, and yes, there will be a next time, I think I'll add peppers.  Definitely could have used an additional punch.  Nice way to give a fall flavor to chili.

A Poem

Sisters
Janet Wong

She calls me tofu
because I am so soft,
easily falling apart.

I wish I were tough
and full of fire, like ginger-
like her.

Looky here...

Recipe for this love dip: http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/02/looking-for-love-dip.html

Get ready for this: Pumpkin Blackbean Chili!

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili (Slow Cooker)

(from the Guilty Kitchen blog)

1 large onion, diced
1 lb ground beef (I'm going to use the morning star vegetarian meat, the blogger says it can be left out entirely, maybe another type of bean?)
1 cup pumpkin purée
1 19 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, preferably no salt added
1 7oz jar of tomato sauce
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp instant coffee
2-3 tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp hot sauce (like Cholula Chili Garlic)
1-2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 buttercup squash or small pumpkin
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1. In a large frying pan on medium heat, sauté the ground beef until thoroughly browned. Place in bowl of crock pot and set aside.
2. In same frying pan, sauté onions until translucent and then add those to the beef in the crock pot bowl.
3. Add remaining ingredients, except whole squash and cilantro to crockpot. Stir and mix and turn to low.
4. Cook on low for at least eight hours.
5. To roast squash preheat oven to 400°F. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. Slice into small crescents about one inch in thickness, brush with a small amount of oil and bake on baking tray for 20-25 minutes.
6. When squash is done, cut into large cubes and stir into chili just before serving.
7. Garnish chili with chopped cilantro and a dollop of sour cream if desired.

This just looked to good to ignore! Laura did you tell me about this blog? I love it, this woman is smart and creative, jeeez. And talks about this recipe book based collected from blogs, cool, called "Foodies of the World" that was just published!

Alright you two, deadline is going to be extended to Tuesday because of the delayed posting, and its a good recipe for a workday. However I want to make asap!

What do we have here?

Click it. I dare you.

And now that I know they're called Alfajores? I'm making 'em myself!

Mexican Pepper Casserole

So sour cream freaks me out so I used Greek yogurt instead (0% fat) and it was delicious! So creamy (and eggy, Mom). A really easy, versatile dish too.

The whole.

The part.

I'm excited to hear about this weeks recipe! I made delicious cinnamon rolls for breakfast today (started them last night) from scratch! Here's a little peek at those:

Mexican Pepper Success!

Yummmmmm. So yummm I forgot to take pictures before eating oops. This was so delicious, the custard thing worked out really nicely. I also forgot to cover it while cooking and did not have flour to throw in (for texture I imagine?) but neither seemed to effect the casserole structure. I imagine you'd be safe getting rid of the two tbs. of butter and replacing it for some extra oil. And with out the flour, I ended up draining the peppers after sauteing them because there was lots of leftover oil and continuing to cook them would have made them too soggy (I imagine a range stove opposed to my electric would have helped this factor...)

Anyways, the meal was delicious after having a fulfilling day filled with planting trees and reading permaculture books (my two new favorite things.) Can't wait until we're together again and I can talk more about how amazing permaculture is and everything involved, yay December is coming soon!

Also, the next two days will be busy for me, but once I get through them I'll have this week's recipe up!

Mexican Pepper Casserole

6 medium bell peppers

1 1/2 cups of thinly sliced onion

2 tbs each butter and olive oil

3 medium cloves crushed garlic

1 tsp salt, cumin, coriander

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp each black and red pepper

2 tbs flour 

1/2 lb medium sharp cheddar thinly sliced

paprika

for custard

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cps sour cream (you can use some yogurt)

Slice peppers in thin strips.  Heat butter and olive oil together in a heavy skillet.  Sute onions and garlic with salt and spices.  When onions are translucent, add peppers.  Saute over low heat for about 10 minutes.  Sprinkle in the flour.  Mix well and saute until there is no extra liquid.

Butter a deep casserole.  Spread half the saute, topped with half the sliced cheese.  Repeat these layers.  Pour custard over and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake 40-45 minutes at 375.  Uncover for last 15 minutes.

Recipe from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook

For dining this week.

Garam masala

Also from the Vegetarian Epicure

1/4 cup caradamom pods
2 tbs peppercorns
2 tbs cumin seeds
2 sticks of cinnamon, each 2 inches long
2 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp ground mace
2 tbs ground coriander
1 bay leaf

Spread spices out on a large metal pan and roast them in a 200 degree oven for about 20 minutes, stirring them often and making sure they don't scorch.
Remove them from the oven and shell the cardamom seeds, discarding the pods.  Crush the cinnamon sticks by wrapping them with a wooden mallet or other blunt instrument.
Combine all spices and grind them in batches if necessary in an electric blender or food processor, until they are a powder.  If you don't have a blender, you can grind the spices in a stone or ceramic mortar and good luck to you.

Keep the masala in an airtight container, at room temperature.

Here it is! Aren't you proud? Rachel finally read the blog. Made it with some lentils (kind of Dal like...as close as I could come with my cupboard), some parmesan toasted on tandoori bread, as well as some slice heirloom tomato to add to the bite. I made this for some friends, one of which who'd been hopping couches for the past week, you should have seen their grateful faces, like they were eating the first home cooked meal in their lives.

Next time I'll probably use smaller measurements of the spices, the sweet potatoes helped on the spiciness but we all agreed the spices were a bit over kill...I have yet to understand this Garam Masala thing. I'm trying to decide on a recipe for this week, either a good veggie crock pot chili or a green chili corn chowder? Something warm, but also I'm poor so something cheap. Any ideas?

This was successful, I'll attempt to keep it up!