Showing posts with label Cayenne pepper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cayenne pepper. Show all posts

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Crocktober: Vegan Sweet Potato and Pinto Bean Chili

After an unexpectedly long shift at my retail job this evening, I'm feeling a little short on poetic banter, but that doesn't mean that this recipe isn't a good one. The spice factor is totally up to you, but personally I'm a bit heavy-handed with them, so my three teaspoons of chili powder were probably more like "heaping teaspoons." Do whatever makes you happy.
Ingredients:
1 cup dry pinto beans (2 1/2 cups prepared)
1 large sweet potato or yam, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-ish cubed 
1 cup water
1/2 onion, chopped
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with jalapenos
2 tsp orange or tangerine zest
3 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
Pinch ground allspice (optional)
Fresh cilantro leaves, torn, for serving 
Salt and pepper, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp seasoned salt)
Cooking spray

Directions:
1. If you're using dry beans, sort, rinse, and soak them in the refrigerator overnight (or for up to 24 hours) in plenty of water. Change the water at least twice in this time. If you are using canned or pre-cooked beans, just skip this step and rinse them well just before you add them to the crock.
2. Combine everything but the cilantro in a sprayed crock, and cook on low for 7-9 hours or high for 4-5. Serve with some fresh cilantro on top.

Easy peasy. I don't have a zester (or a grater, for that matter) so I used a vegetable peeler to peel off just the outer skin of my tangerine (no white stuff!) and minced it, which I think worked just fine.
 The only significant thing I would change about this is to alter the bean-to-potato ratio by adding another sweet potato. In my 2 qt machine another sweet potato wouldn't have fit, but in a larger crock it would. As a technical thing, I might add the sweet potatoes a couple of hours into the cooking time, in the future. Even with dry beans that had been soaking for about 20 hours, the sweet potato was done well before the beans were. I also think this would be yummy with butternut squash instead of the sweet potato.

If you're not bound to the "vegan" thing, this would be yummy with some grated cheese on top.

Quote of the Day: Said Aristotle unto Plato, "Have another sweet potato?,"Said Plato unto Aristotle, "Thank you, I prefer the bottle." ~ Owen Wister (1860-1938), American novelist

Monday, August 29, 2011

Curried Lentil & Tofu Cakes

Given my love for both lentils and cake-shaped things, I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise that eventually I would try to make a cake-shaped thing out of lentils. I had also been wanting to make something with soft tofu, which until now I had never tried, so I tried combining the two. These cakes turned out very tasty, and with the addition or substitution of your favorite spices and herbs, the flavor is totally flexible.

By my system, this recipe made seven cakes, or about two dinner servings.

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked lentils
1/2 cup soft tofu
1/2 large onion, diced
3ish medium mushrooms, diced
1 small carrot, grated
1 clove garlic, diced
3/4 tsp curry powder
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Directions:
1. In a medium frying pan, heat about 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat and saute mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add carrot, onion and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.
2. Add lentils, tofu, and spices and/or herbs. Season with salt and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes, or until mixture holds together in clumps, stirring regularly smooshing out tofu as needed. Let cool.
3. Once the lentil mixture is cool enough to handle, form into small patties, packing together well.
4. In the frying pan, heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil and cook patties for 5 minutes per side.
In truth, I used 1 cup of tofu, and not the 1/2 cup I've listed in the recipe. The flavor of these was great, but since I had a 50% break-apart rate while frying, the texture of the cakes definitely needed to be improved, which could probably be achieved by cutting the tofu back to 1/2 cup to let the clumpyness (for lack of a better term) of the lentils take hold. Still, they were quite tasty when pan-fried to a golden brown, and the crumbly rejects will be delicious with some scrambled eggs for lunch tomorrow.

Quote of the Day: Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger, but a heart as soft as tofu. ~ Chinese Proverb

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Crock Pot Southwestern Three-Bean Stew with Delicious Toppings

It's been said a million times before, but I'll say it again for good measure: Slow cookers are are a busy person's best friend. With a teeny bit of planning and an idea or two, you can have dinner hot and ready for you when you come in the door at night. Though the charming Stephanie O'Dea (better known as the Crock Pot Lady of Crockpot 365) has found a way to cook nearly anything you can think of in her slow cookers, and I do love her recipes, I still think there are a few things that are especially good when cooked all day long, and both beans and stews are on this list.
This stew has pinto beans, chickpeas and 2 types of lentils, but black beans, navy beans, black eyed peas or almost any other bean would also be delicious.
This seems like a ton of ingredients, but if you keep yourself stocked in spices, the odds are pretty good that you will have just about everything on hand. Also keep in mind that you can buy "bean soup mixes" of assorted beans, so my measurements on the bean front might be totally irrelevant. All the better (and easier) for you! So this is totally open to adaptation. I also ended up adding some red pepper flakes at the very end because I was afraid of throwing in too much cayenne earlier in the day. And there's always Sriracha!

For this recipe you will need a 2 or 3 qt crock pot, and some understanding of how it cooks. Some machines will need slightly more or less liquid for a similar effect based on temperature and the fit of the lid, but I would say as long as you've used yours a few times, you should have a good sense of this. This recipe seems to make about 3 servings.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup dry chickpeas
1/4 cup dry pinto beans
1/4 cup brown lentils
1/4 cup red lentils
1 medium red potato, cubed-ish
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp taco seasoning, or 1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt, seasoned or regular
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1 envelope Saizon seasoning, cilantro and anchiote, made by Goya
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 jalapeno, diced and seeded
1 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth (subject to the behavior of your machine)
Cheese for topping (optional, but I used Monterrey jack)
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Fresh cilantro, to taste, torn
Tortilla chips (optional)

Directions:
1. The Day Before: Rinse, and soak beans in refrigerator, allowing plenty of room for them to expand (about 30% more space) and covering with at least two inches of water. Soak for 12-24 hours, changing the water at least twice in this period.
2. Place beans, spices, jalapeno, potato, garlic, and water or broth in the crock pot, and cook on "low" for about 9 hours. 
3. When beans are tender, serve and top with green onion, cheese and cilantro. Bonus points if you also serve tortilla chips for scooping.


The whole point of the crock pot is that you don't have to be home to check on it, but if you are, checking once in the afternoon will give you a better sense of how long it will really take. You can bump it up to "high" for a brief period if you need to, since most machines estimate that 1 hour on high is about equivalent to 2 1/2 hours on low. Handy! Though I don't recommend cooking it on "high" the whole time, since everything will get a bit mushy.

My verdict on this is "Good," but to me not great, since I think it could have used a bit more spice, but this is easily remedied. Use your favorite spices or try new ones, but if you ask me, the cheese and cilantro are crucial. Try this soup with some sliced avocado on top. Yum!

Quote of the Day: Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top. ~ Edward Abbey

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Chipotle Tempeh & Black Bean Burritos

In the wonderful world of meatless cooking, tempeh has the firmest, "meatiest" texture of everything I've tried so far. In Indonesia, It's traditionally been made of soy, but these days you can also find a multi grain version, which also sounds interesting and is perhaps a food for another post on another day. But if you're not familiar with it, like I wasn't, soy or grain, it will look pretty weird (brick-like) to you. Tofu and tempeh are both made from soy, but tempeh is far higher in protein (a beefy 22 g per serving!) as well as fiber and other good stuff. I think it would also be delicious when grilled or in a stir fry, so I'm excited to have discovered another do-anything-you-want-with-it ingredient. With more deceptive seasonings, I think you could serve these and nobody would know that there wasn't any meat involved.
 I crumbled my tempeh and marinated it in some spicy chipotle dressing that I had on hand. You could use something similar, like a store-bought dressing or just some oil, vinegar and spices, but I certainly recommend whipping up a batch of your own. If you're anything like me, once you do, you'll be putting it on everything under the sun. With all the toppings, this recipe makes about 4-6 servings:

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 12 oz. package tempeh, crumbled (I used the brand Lightlife)
1 1/5 cups fully cooked black beans or 1 15 oz. can, rinsed and drained
1 13 1/2 oz. can tomatoes with green chilies or 2-3 plum tomatoes, diced and seeded, tossed with salt and pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder if you want (clearly this is the slapdash version that yours truly used)
If using fresh tomatoes instead of canned: 1/2 cup vegetable stock or broth
about 1/4 cup chipotle dressing
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
multi-grain tortillas
Salt and pepper 
Olive oil
Your favorite toppings: Salsa, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce, etc
(I used guacamole, taco cheese, and the tomato salsa mixture above)

Directions:
1. Toss your crumbled tempeh into a ziplock baggie with the chipotle dressing, or your oil-vinegar-spices marinade. Shake it up and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or as long as all day. (It soaks it all up, it's amazing).
2. In a saucepan, prepare your brown rice according to the package directions.
3. In a large frying pan, heat about 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, and cook the onion for about 5 minutes, or until transparent. Add garlic and cook for about 1 more minute, then add spices and salt.
4. Add tempeh and cook for about another 5 minutes, until it's lightly browned. Add black beans and canned tomatoes, if using, and let cook together for about 15 minutes. If you are using a fresh tomato mixture like I did, use it like a fresh salsa topping rather than cooking it with the beans, and instead add the vegetable broth at this time.
5. Spoon some brown rice into a tortilla, add the tempeh mixture and your toppings, and enjoy!
Assembly Phase 1
Phase 2: Fully assembled & super messy in the most delicious way
 These were definitely, definitely delicious, and I think that the chipotle marinade made a big impact on the final outcome. I didn't have any fresh cilantro on hand, but the cilantro in that dressing still came through. I was afraid they might be missing something without the canned tomato, but to my taste, I think this is even more tasty (and definitely more fresh-tasting) than the canned-version would have been. And don't get me wrong, I love tofu, but tempeh is much more "absorbent" when it comes to soaking up flavors. Combined with its substantial texture... What more could you want?

[And if you can find a decent quote about tempeh, I shall eat my hat.]

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Veggie Week: Quinoa & Corn Chowder from Savvy Vegetarian

It didn't reach 90 degrees today, so I celebrated by making soup.

I'm a big fan of quinoa in general, but especially when cooking vegetarian, there aren't too many other foods that are as nutritionally dense or as versatile. And since I've often been told that it is great in soups, and there was a large bag of frozen corn in my apartment that needed to be used, I went in search of something that used both. Success! Though I didn't follow the recipe from Savvy Vegetarian to the letter (I substituted 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper for the jalapeno that I forgot to pick up), it was certainly the backbone of my attempt.

This didn't come out with quite the spice factor that I was expecting, despite the rich flavor from all the spices it involves (ginger, coriander, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, cayenne) but this is undoubtedly because of my jalapeno substitution. If you're looking for a milder soup, that's a good way to go. Still, the flavors were balanced and delicious, and a little cilantro on top brought it all together. Edit: My spice-meter isn't very sensitive, so judge the heat for yourself!
A sprinkling of cilantro makes all the difference
 I think what makes quinoa so yummy in soups in general - and this one in particular - is the texture it provides. It has the body and satisfying starchyness of rice but with the tiniest amount of "pop" when you bite through the case. This probably sounds weird if you've never tried quinoa before, but please don't let my word choice deter you. You can do just about anything with it, it's nearly impossible to mess up, and it is nutritious.


This would be so, so delicious using leftover grilled corn, or the frozen "roasted" variety.

Quote of the Day: A man of knowledge, like a rich soil, feeds/ If not a world of corn, a world of weeds. ~ Benjamin Franklin

EDIT: It's even better the next day!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Quinoa Garden Burgers

Despite our omnivorousness, Brady and I are always interested in vegetarian (and sometimes even vegan) food options. Even if you love chicken and beef, a little variety is nice, right? For us, eating meat only 3-4 days per week is part of our small-time effort to be more Earthdwellers. So when we started trying meat-free burgers made with veggie protein and the like, I started to think, why can't I make these? I can make these, right? I'm making these.

Well, I was half right. I made them. They were tasty, but they were not what I would call a "burger." More like quinoa falafel. They were fragile, and too soft to be eaten in a bun. I think I had all the right ingredients happening, but perhaps in the wrong ratios. Also, the addition of black or pinto beans would do a great deal to improve their solidity. I was going for the "vegan" thing with these, so I used ground flax instead of egg as a binding ingredient. With about 1/2 cup of beans and an egg or two, these would be a much more solid patty. Hindsight is 20-20.


I used quinoa as a base because of its protein, fiber, and  hearty texture. I happened to have a little pearled barley hanging around from some more wintry recipes, which I decided to add, but I think you could use all quinoa, increase the barley ratio, or use a mixture of quinoa and brown rice.

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked quinoa 
3 1/2 tablespoons ground flax
1/2 onion 
2 cloves garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 - 1 chipotle chili canned in adobo sauce (optional)
4 oz fresh, clean mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup - 3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
small handful cilantro, torn
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Directions:
1. In a food processor, combine the garlic, salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, the onion, cayenne, ground flax, cilantro, and chipotle chili if you're using one. Combine well.
2. Add bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms. Process until veggies are chopped - not liquefied.
3. Dump the contents of the food processor out into a large bowl, and mix in the quinoa. Sprinkle in breadcrumbs until the mixture is just solid enough to form into patties. Mix well, and form into patties.
4. Cook garden burger patties in a grill pan for 8-10 minutes each side over medium heat, or cook them in a George Foreman Grill for about 8-10 minutes total. Serve on a bun or in a pita with veggies or a yogurt sauce.

I served these on burger buns with a super simple tzatziki sauce and steamed green beans on the side. Besides eggs lurking in the buns, and the tzatziki (which is easily swapped out for lettuce and tomato, or an animal-free topping like salsa) this is a vegan meal.

In the end, these weren't what I was going for, but if you made them as mini-patties and served them in a pita, they would be just as delightfully delicious as the dish I had imagined.

Quote of the Day: CBS has no problem with airing commercial after commercial advocating the consumption of fried chicken, pork sausage and fast-food burgers, even though eating these products are making Americans fat, sick and boring in bed. ~ Lisa Lange

NOTE: I have to say, since Lisa Lange is a well-known figure and the VP of PETA, I do not support or advocate for PETA in any way. I believe there is a relatively humane and compassionate way to enjoy reasonable amounts of meat in our diets, and I am a really big fan of animals in general. This quote is funny and poignant, but I do not support the guilt, exaggeration, and fear-mongering perpetrated by PETA. Of course, we all have our own feelings on the topic and must do our own research and make the decisions that are best for us and our families.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Curried Quinoa

I know, me and my grain-centric recipes.
But in my defense, quinoa is not properly a grain at all.

And also I love curry. And after great success with The Crockpot Lady's curried chickpeas, I feel I can do no wrong in the curry department. She is quite right: It will make you want to run around the house yelling "Who's the crock potting queen?!" which will quickly become annoying to the people around you.

This is not a crock pot recipe, but I am sure it has the potential.

Fair warning: This will seem like a lot of ingredients. It kind of is. But keep in mind that the spices in this dish can be altered to fit your preferences. Don't care for coriander? No problemo! It adds a lot to this recipe, but if you hate it, just use more curry powder, garlic, and cilantro to keep the flavors strong. I also suspect that there is a lot of flexibility for what veggies you can use. You could skip the chile altogether and just use bell peppers and spices, if you wanted to.

Since I have had a few run-ins with hotter-than-expected hot peppers, I thought I was being fairly conservative by using half the pepper, finely chopped, with literally THREE SEEDS added to the pot, also chopped. It was pleasantly hot, and perfect for our tastes, but definitely judge this for yourself.

This recipe (the first on the page) turned out to be a pretty good "starter" recipe for me. Because I made a lot of changes - mostly additions - here is my version:

Ingredients:
1 c. quinoa
1.5 tbsp. vegetable oil
.5 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, smashed
.75 of a red bell pepper, small chopped
1-2 tsp. fresh grated ginger root
2-3 tsp. dried cilantro (if using fresh, add desired amount before serving)
.5 fresh green chile, finely chopped
1 heaping tsp. coriander
.5 tsp. curry powder
.25 tsp. ground cinnamon
.25 tsp cayenne pepper
1.75 cups water
.5 c. fresh or frozen peas

Directions:
1. Rinse quinoa with cold water. Use a fine mesh filter or coffee filter.

Quinoa is coated with a natural substance called saponin that protects the grain by repelling insects and birds. Rinsing the quinoa is important to avoid a raw or bitter taste.

2. Place oil, diced onions and garlic in a heavy saucepan. Saute the onions on medium high heat for four to five minutes.

3. Add the ginger root, chile, quinoa, and red pepper. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.

4. Stir in the coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, cilantro and seasoned salt. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.

5. Add the water and bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Stir in peas. Cover and cook for four or five minutes or until peas are tender and all the water is absorbed.

7. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Even in person, this dish is much more than meets the eye.
We really enjoyed this dish, and considering that it was easy enough for me to put it together at 9 pm after class, I consider it nearly foolproof.

Quote of the Day: "We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine-gun."  ~ George Orwell

Friday, April 22, 2011

Crock Pot Falafel from Crockpot 365

I have Stephanie O'Dea, better known in some circles as The Crockpot Lady, to thank for many of my favorite go-to recipes. Between her adventurous cooking and frank reporting, her blog is pretty great.

And in my opinion, one of her best - and most surprising - recipes is falafel that you cook in your crock pot.*
 _________________________________________
 Stephanie's Recipe:
Ingredients
1 15oz can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
- 1/2 onion, chopped
-1 T dried parsley
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 egg
- 1 t kosher salt
- 1/4 t black pepper
- 2 t ground cumin
- 1 t ground coriander
- 1/4 t cayenne pepper
- juice from 1 lemon 
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs 
- 2 T olive oil (for the bottom of your crock)
Directions
Drain garbanzo beans. Dump them into a mixing bowl and smash them with a fork. Set aside.

Get out your blender or food processor. Blend together all of the spices, the onion, the garlic, the egg, and the lemon juice.

Pour on top of your smashed garbanzo beans. Use your fork to mix together, and add the breadcrumbs slowly until the mixture is wet and sticky but can be formed into balls nicely. I needed 3/4 of a cup of breadcrumbs.

Pour 2 T of olive oil into the bottom of your crock pot stoneware insert.

Form squished golf-ball sized patties of falafel. Dip each side into the olive oil and then nestle into your crockpot. It's okay if they overlap or are on top of each other.

Cook on high for 2-5 hours. You will know that the falafels are done when they turn brownish-golden. You can flip them halfway through the cooking time if you feel like it, but they will brown on top even without flipping.
 _________________________________________
My "mise." Silly little lemon juice container not pictured, because I feel kind of lame about it.

See? EASY. And honestly, out of sheer laziness I sent my chickpeas for a spin in my food processor until chopped instead of mashing them. I still do recommend mixing the ingredients in the order she describes, though. (I just dumped the chickpeas out after chopping and added them back in later). I use a Ninja Master Prep and apart from a somewhat annoying-to-clean lid design, I'm a big fan.
This is one recipe that I follow without messing around with it. Which is a pretty big compliment.

And by "not messing around," I mean that I only changed the following:
- I always cook with dry beans, so I cooked my chickpeas the day before. (Wonderfully, chickpeas don't need to be soaked). The equivalent of a 15 oz can is just under 2 cups of cooked chickpeas. Dry beans are MUCH cheaper by volume, and I hugely prefer soaking and cooking them to wondering exactly what goop my beans are canned in, and why they taste like nickels.

- I used 2 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of a fresh lemon, just because that's what I had on hand.

- Instead of the half onion, I used a bit of white and a bit of red onion, and instead of Kosher salt I used regular, for the same reason as the lemon juice substitution.

Happy little falafels cooking in my 2-quart crock pot.
I served them in wheat pitas with lettuce, tomato, and a quick tzatziki I made with fat free plain yogurt, a little lemon juice, dried dill, and salt and pepper.

Truthfully, I've never had "real" falafel - that is, the deep-fried kind. But, Brady insists that these taste just the same, except obviously not the fried part. Even better!


* If you want to get particular, "CrockPot" is a particular brand of the general appliance variety known as the "slow cooker." I grew up calling them all crock pots, so that's what you get. But whatever you call them, they are magical and fantastic, and definitely NOT just for soup.