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

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!

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

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.*

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 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.

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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.