Veggie-Chickpea Curry

 I got a fistful of "what the heck?" today. 

 

I recently started volunteering at my friend Francesca's Ceres Project in Sonoma. The Ceres Project is a beautiful non-profit that teaches teens to cook, and then takes the meals that they prepare and delivers them to cancer patients and their families.  Francesca was a student of mine in culinary school, and graduated with the idea of opening a restaurant.  But after a year of volunteering for Ceres, she decided to open a new branch of the program in her home town of Sonoma.  A brave and selfless move, and one of the reasons I love this lady.

 

Another one of her classmates, Lorrine, volunteers on Tuesdays, too.  When I showed up today she took one look at me and said, quite passionately, "Why aren't you blogging?!"  She told me how she loved reading my blogs and making my recipes.  I was shamed!  I realized that I've been working for other people so much that I've left behind my beloved blog.  So this is for you, Lorrine and Francesca.....

 

My new favorite one-pot meal is Veggie Chickpea Curry.  I was inspired by a recipe I found that included browning chickpeas for a stir fry.  A lot of times it takes just one little thing like that, that I find interesting, and a dish just kind of evolves.

 

 onions, cremini mushrooms, red bell peppers, baby spinach, broccoli, and zucchini

 

 jalapeno, ginger, garlic

 

 

 The key to this dish is getting the chickpeas completely dry.  I popped them in the oven for about 10 minutes to dry them out (I've tested this recipe A LOT and this is the best way to be sure they are dry, and therefore brown appropriately).  Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and add the chickpeas, tossing occasionally until lightly browned.  Removed them from the skillet and add the onion to the skillet. When the onions started to soften, add sliced mushrooms and let them do their thing, too.  "Let them do their thing" means "don't stir them all the time."  I notice in my classes that people loooove to stir.  We think we're not cooking if we're just standing there.  But if you want to get a nice brown on these mushrooms (and you do), you have to let them sit on the heat.  Stir them only occasionally to brown them evenly.  Next, create a little opening in the center of the skillet and add chopped garlic, ginger and jalapeno pepper.

After a few minutes, make another hole and add Madras curry powder (my fave curry) and let that toast for a minute or two to bring out the smoky flavor.  Now we need some color..... sliced red bell pepper, broccoli and zucchini - use whatever veggies you like.  And then we need some yumminess.....coconut milk.

Cover the skillet and let it simmer for 5 minutes, then throw in the chickpeas, a handful of baby spinach and a good pinch of salt.  So pretty, right?  Even more delicious than pretty.  Serve it over brown rice and your taste buds will love you.  OK, technically that makes is a two-pot meal, but.....

Feel free to add any veggies you like. The combo of chickpeas and rice creates a complete protein, but chicken, shrimp or pork are a nice addition if you're needing more.  And why not?

Go ahead, give it a try.  Fast and fabulous....just the way I like it!

Veggie-Chickpea Curry
Serves 4

1 cup short grain brown rice
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo), rinsed and drained

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 cup thinly sliced onion

8 ozs. cremini mushrooms

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon Madras curry powder

1 15-oz can coconut milk

2 cups broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced 

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 cups baby spinach, stems removed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

Sea salt and pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cook brown rice according to package.  Set aside.
• Place chickpeas on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes until dry.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chickpeas until lightly browned.  Remove from pan and set aside.
• Heat remaining 2 tablespoon oil in skillet and add onions and mushrooms. Saute 5-10 minutes until crisp-tender.
• Move veggies to sides of skillet and create a well.  Add jalapeno pepper, ginger and garlic and cook 1-2 minutes.
• Mix jalapeno mixture into the veggies, stirring to combine well.
• Create another well and add curry powder.  Let toast 1 minute and then stir into the rest of the ingredients.
• Stir in coconut milk.  Add broccoli, zucchini and red bell pepper, stirring to combine.
• Cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, until broccoli is crisp-tender.
• Stir in spinach, basil and chickpeas, tossing until spinach is wilted.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve over brown rice.

 

Get cookin'......you can thank me later!



 



Cooking Without......

I feel so fortunate, for so many reasons.  But today I feel especially fortunate because it was one of those days when I get to cook therapeutically for a client.  I have a couple clients that I cook for who just don't like cooking.  I have a couple clients who want to feed their families healthy meals and just don't have the time to do it themselves.  But I also have a couple clients who need "healing" meals.  One is a single mom going through chemotherapy for breast cancer.  The other had a heart attack and has had to drastically change his diet.

I cooked for the latter, and his family, today.

I love cooking.  I love cooking for other people.  But I get a special kind of joy when I cook for someone who needs and wants "therapeutic" meals.  When I went through the Natural Chef program at Bauman College, I never intended to cook for people suffering from heart disease, cancer or any other chronic disease, even though that's what the program is designed to teach you to do.  That was just a beautiful bonus of my learning there; and now that's what I love doing the most. 

Here's the thing.....for my client today, I cannot use any oil, any sweetener, any salt, or any animal protein.  When I told my students at Bauman College this, the first (obvious) question was, "how do you make food taste good?!"  I mean, these are the things that we chefs rely on to make food taste delicious.  But it can be done.  You can cook" without" and still make great-tasting food.  This particular family requests certain dishes again and again.....and three out of four of the family members don't need to be on this kind of diet, and are probably used to eating food "with."

So what do I use?  Well, I saute veggies in stock instead of oil.  I use lemon juice and zest at the end of cooking to bring up the flavors, like salt does.  When some sweetening is needed, I use dates.  I also add lots of herbs and spices, ginger, garlic, onions, etc.  It can be done, people.  Just give it a try one night....

I made roasted spaghetti squash with a homemade mushroom marinara, vegetable green curry and brown jasmine rice, carrot-ginger soup (with roasted cashews to "cream" it up), and roasted beets with fennel, orange segments, mint and walnuts.  Easy Peasy.  Did I mention...no oil, no salt, no sweeteners, all vegan.  and yes, family approved!  In fact, the eldest son came in as I had just packaged it all up and put it away.  I said, "All your faves are in the fridge."  He went immediately to it and scooped up a bowl of spaghetti squash and sauce....didn't even heat it up.  Then he moved onto the beets and said, "I don't know what you do to these beets, but they're the best thing I've ever eaten."

And I walked out to my car one happy girl.....so thankful, so lucky, so fulfilled.

Try to cook "without" tonight...trust yourself; you can do it.  Here's a start....

Roasted Spaghetti Squash

·         Preheat oven to 375°.

·         Cut squash on half and remove seeds.
·         Place on baking sheet and bake rind side up for 30-40 minutes.
·         Remove from oven when softened and when cool enough to handle, use a fork to scrape out the flesh.

 

Marinara Sauce

3+ tablespoons vegetable stock

1 cup diced onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, including juice
1 8 oz can tomato paste
1 medjool date, cut in half, pit removed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon pepper
Lemon juice to taste

• Heat stock in a saucepan over medium high heat. 
• Add onion and sauté 5 minutes. 
• Add garlic and sauté2- 3 more minutes, until lightly browned. Add more stock if necessary. 
• Add remaining ingredients (except lemon), bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. 
• Remove date halves.
• Add lemon juice to taste.

Happy Cooking!

Curry Up Already!

People ask me all the time where I get my recipe inspirations.  There are lots of ways...sometimes desperation (I'm hungry and I have to figure out something with what's available in my kitchen), sometimes it's the students at Bauman College with their young, creative minds, and often it's seeing a recipe somewhere that sparks an idea in me.

The latter is what we have here....I saw a recipe for a tofu curry dish, and what hit me most was the fried (did she say "fried"???!!) shallots that created a base of flavor and then became a garnish. I loved that idea, and it was something I hadn't done before (you know me and fried food!), so I decided to try my own variation on the dish. 

I started with pan frying a couple large shallots in coconut oil.  I love using coconut oil in ethnic dishes, because it gives a really nice background of flavor.  After a few minutes, when they start to brown, I added fresh curry leaves (you can find them at an Asian Market; there's a great one in San Rafael across Mary Street from Whole Foods), garlic and Madras curry powder.  Madras curry powder is a little spicier than regular curry powder, but you can use what you've got, just use a little more if it's not Madras.

I removed the curry leaves (they can be a little bitter to bite into later), and about half the crispy shallots for garnish.  What you're left with is a beautifully flavored oil, to which I added cooked, shredded chicken.

When the chicken is heated a bit, I added some sliced water chestnuts for crunch and a can of coconut milk (buy the full fat version, you're not drinking the whole thing!)  Give it a little pinch of salt, coconut palm sugar (you know I don't do white sugar), and red pepper flakes.  Sautee a little longer and throw in a couple handfuls of baby spinach.  The spinach adds a nice pop of color and the fiber you need to feel full.

Once the spinach is wilted, pour this deliciousness over some brown jasmine rice, top it with a little of the reserved crispy shallots and start writing me a thank you note!  Soooooo good!

Chicken Curry with Crispy Shiitakes

Serves 4

2 tablespoons coconut oil

½ cup thinly sliced shallots (about 2 large)

10 fresh curry leaves

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

3 teaspoons Madras curry powder

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 14-oz can coconut milk

1 8-oz can water chestnuts, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon coconut palm sugar

½ teaspoon sea salt

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

2 cups baby spinach

2 tablespoons chopped basil

·         Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add shallots and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes.

·         Add curry leaves, garlic and curry powder and continue cooking for a few minutes to infuse the oil with all the flavors.

·         Remove the curry leaves and discard.  Remove half the shallots for garnish.

·         Add cooked chicken to the skillet and cook until warmed through.

·         Add coconut milk and water chestnuts and  cook, stirring, for a couple minutes.

·         Season with palm sugar, salt and red pepper flakes, and cook an additional minute.

·         Add spinach and basil and cook, stirring to coat spinach until wilted, about 3 minutes.

·         Serve over brown jasmine or basmati rice and top with crispy shallots.

Curry up!

Ever had one of those nights when you have popcorn for dinner??  You just don't have the energy or patience for anything more.  That's the kind of week I had last week, and I think this week is going to be just as busy.  Can't complain about that, busy is good, but really....popcorn??  I can do better than that.

I taught a One Pot Dinners cooking class last week and it was a timely reminder of the dishes I've created for those nights when you just want to get a good, healthy dinner in your belly as quickly as possible.  This one meets all the criteria:  it comes together quickly, it tastes fantastic, and it's filled with all the seasonal veggies you can get your hands on.  You can easily add cooked chicken to this, but I'm in a plant-based state of mind, so I've added garbanzo beans and rice to give myself the benefits of a complete protein.  Feel free to add whatever veggie you like; this is my favorite blend because of all of the colors (looks pretty, and we eat with our eyes first, right?).  The more colors you add to your food, the more nutrients you get, as each color is a specific powerhouse of vitamins and minerals.

Some of my most popular cooking classes are the ethnic ones.  The flavors are always deep and well balanced, but most importantly to me, is that some of these other cultures, like Thai and Indian (my two most popular classes) seem to focus more on vegetables, legumes and grains, than on animal proteins.  I dig that!  And I like to share those recipes with as many people as possible.  So here you go....my Veggie Green Curry:

Start out by heating up a little coconut oil in a skillet.  This gives a nice background of flavor, and coconut oil is a type of fat that is quickly converted to energy and not stored in the body as fat, so it actually helps boost your metabolism (I'll take it!).  Once it's melted, add a little Thai Kitchen green curry paste, garlic and ginger, and just let those flavors hang out and get to know each other.  Then add some tamari (it's a wheat free soy sauce, better flavor) and a can (or two, if you like a lot of sauce) of coconut milk.  Use the real thing, not a "light" version.  When we make something low fat or "light", we have to add things to it to replace the fat that was taken out (fat adds flavor; don't be afraid of fat).  Often sugar replaces the fat in lighter versions, and you should be more concerned about your sugar intake than your fat intake.  Sugar is the enemy of good health, people.

Once you get that up to a good simmer, add the beans and veggies.  Just add the veggies that need to be cooked.  A little tip: the smaller you cut them, the quicker they'll cook and the sooner you'll be eating!  In this recipe, I hold off on adding the shredded carrot and the tomatoes, because they don't need any real cooking time.  Cover and simmer until the vegetables are cooked (I like mine still a little crisp, so about 5 or so minutes does it).  Stir in the carrot, tomatoes, and basil and serve over rice.  I like to stir the cooked rice right into the skillet so everything gets a chance to swim in the fragrant sauce for a while.  Viola!  A healthy, delicious meal with little to no effort.....got to love that!  AND only one pot to clean...bonus!!

Veggie  Green Curry                                                                                                                        Serves 4

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 14-oz can coconut milk

2 teaspoons tamari

1 14 oz can garbanzo beans, drained

1 bunch broccoli, cut in small florets

1 red bell pepper, julienne cut

1 cup thin green beans

1 carrot, shredded

1 tomato, chopped

½ cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

2 cups cooked brown rice

·         In a skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add curry paste, garlic and ginger; cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

·         Stir in the coconut milk and tamari. 

·         Add the garbanzo beans, broccoli, bell pepper and green beans, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. 

·         Stir in carrot, tomato and basil.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

·         Serve over rice.