Beet Curry
Ingredients (use vegan versions):
* 2 cup yellow lentils
* 8 cup water
* 1 tablespoon turmeric
* 4 large beets cut into large dice
* 1 large onion cut into large dice
* 5 (or more) large cloves garlic, pressed
* 2 tablespoon cumin
* 1 tablespoon coriander
* 5-10 dried red chilies, crushed
* salt to taste
Directions:
Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally to keep the lentils from sticking to the pot, which should be large.
While it simmers, prepare beets, onion, and garlic.
Spray a frying pan lightly with oil spray. Pop 2 T. black mustard seeds over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onions, saute for a minute or so, then add beats and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 min. Add contents of the frying pan to the lentil pot. Also add 2 T. cumin, 1 T. coriander, 5-10 dried red chilies, and salt to taste.
Simmer until the lentils start to disintegrate.
Serve with basmati rice.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Truffles!! (vegan)
Very Easy Vegan Truffles from VeganChef.com
These are absolutely delicious! A friend made them...
1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips
8 oz. tofu cream cheese
3 cup vegan powdered sugar (Wholesome Foods or Florida Crystals brand, powdered sugar from sugar beets, or see Recipe Archive for homemade variations)
1 1/2 t. vanilla
Garnishes: finely ground nuts, cocoa powder, toasted unsweetened shredded coconut
Place the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler, over medium heat, and leave to melt. In a food processor, place the vegan cream cheese, and process for 1 minute or until smooth and creamy. Add half of the powdered sugar and process for 30 seconds. Add the remaining powdered sugar and continue to process the mixture until well blended. Add the melted chocolate chips and vanilla, and process the mixture to evenly distribute the melted chocolate. Transfer the mixture to a glass bowl, cover, and place in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour. Using your hands, shape the chilled mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the garnishes of choice to thoroughly coat them on all sides. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
*Variation: the truffle mixture can be flavored with liqueur, as well. Divide the truffle mixture into thirds and add 1 T. liqueur of choice (such as: almond, hazelnut, coffee, rum, brandy, orange, raspberry, etc.) to each third of the truffle mixture, respectively, and mix well before chilling the truffle mixture. Then shape into balls and roll each type of liqueur-flavored truffles in one of the garnishes to distinguish among the various flavor combinations.
Yield: 5 Dozen
These are absolutely delicious! A friend made them...
1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips
8 oz. tofu cream cheese
3 cup vegan powdered sugar (Wholesome Foods or Florida Crystals brand, powdered sugar from sugar beets, or see Recipe Archive for homemade variations)
1 1/2 t. vanilla
Garnishes: finely ground nuts, cocoa powder, toasted unsweetened shredded coconut
Place the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler, over medium heat, and leave to melt. In a food processor, place the vegan cream cheese, and process for 1 minute or until smooth and creamy. Add half of the powdered sugar and process for 30 seconds. Add the remaining powdered sugar and continue to process the mixture until well blended. Add the melted chocolate chips and vanilla, and process the mixture to evenly distribute the melted chocolate. Transfer the mixture to a glass bowl, cover, and place in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour. Using your hands, shape the chilled mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the garnishes of choice to thoroughly coat them on all sides. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
*Variation: the truffle mixture can be flavored with liqueur, as well. Divide the truffle mixture into thirds and add 1 T. liqueur of choice (such as: almond, hazelnut, coffee, rum, brandy, orange, raspberry, etc.) to each third of the truffle mixture, respectively, and mix well before chilling the truffle mixture. Then shape into balls and roll each type of liqueur-flavored truffles in one of the garnishes to distinguish among the various flavor combinations.
Yield: 5 Dozen
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Vegan Pancakes
A delicious vegan pancake recipe Erin & I just made for breakfast. We added fresh apples and cinnamon which made it even better!
Friday, February 10, 2006
Ital Recipes
Ital is a term used by Rastas, derived from "vital", which means a natural and healthy way of life. One aspect of Ital is the Ital food: because the body is a temple, you should not eat unpure food. Also you must take care of your body, cause it is Jah creation. Body is the Chapel. Ital is generally a vegan diet, even if some Rastas eat fish. Some prohibit salt, some not. In all cases, Ital prohibits pork, preservatives, chemical ingredients. Ingredients have to be the most natural possible.
In Jamaica, Ital cooking is most often inspired from Indian and African cooking. But lot of recipes can be "Italized" if prepared only with vegetables and natural ingredients.
Dishes
Ital omelette
Ingredients:
1/4 cup chickpea flour
3/4 cup water
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 onion
1 or 2 potatoes (depends how hungry you are)
1 broccoli stalk (or other vegetable; You can experiment)
1 tsp olive oil
Directions:
This recipe sounds kind of gross, but you have to make it to appreciate how wonderful it is.
Make a mixture with water and chickpea flour in such a proportion to get an 'egg-like' batter. Start with 1/2 cup of water, add the chickpea flour, stirring constantly, and progressively increase the amount of water and chickpea flour until you get about 1 cup of batter. The amounts I have indicated above are approximate. Season it with salt and pepper. Boil the potatos 'al-dente', then slice.
In a pan, stir-fry the onion (sliced) in 1 TSP. of olive oil. Add the sliced potatos and stir until golden. Add the broccoli florets and pour the batter along the vegetables. Put a lid on top and simmer until the bottom is golden, then turn (a plate can help - if the pan is non-stick it will make the turn a lot easier) and cook the other side.
Serve hot or cold.
Greens, lentils and sweet potato in coconut sauce
Take a big bunch of spinach or callaloo, 1 big sliced onion, garlic and put them in warm vegetal oil about 4 minutes.
Add enough coconut milk, chopped sweet potato and cho-cho, aubergine, carrots, or vegetables of your choice, hot pepper, black pepper according to your taste. cook until done and the sauce thick.
Then, add cooked lentils. keep 5 minutes on the fire. it is ready.
Sesame Glazed Beans (Ras Ansel and Queen Lily contribution)
1/2 lb. Green Beans
1/2 cup water
1/2 red bell pepper julienned
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. saltless sesame oil (dark)
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
slightly cook beans w/red bell pepper then combine all other ingredient and pour (as sauce) over the beans at a simmer, allowing to thicken. When thickened a bit, drizzle with the sesame oil, an top wit seeds (or ganja seed, which are very good for the I nutritionally!)
Enjoy with rice or whatever....
Daikon Pot-Stickers (Ras Ansel and Queen Lily contribution)
Pot Stickers:
3 tbsp. veg oil
2 tsp. mince fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups radish
1 cup carrot, grated
1/3 cup crumbled extra-firm tofu
2 tbsp. soy
20 Wanton (saltless soy) skins
In a large skillet, heat one tbsp of oil. Add ginger and garlic, add the radish and stir at a constant (very important!!!) for two minutes. Then add grated carrot. Stir constant for one minute. Add the tofu and soy. Take skillet off and allow to cool. Lay out wanton skins and place one tbsp. of the filling you've made in the center of each skin. Wet rim of the skins and fold, forming a triangle. Deep fry to the I's likeness (InI prefer a light brown fry), and allow to cool, then enjoy!
Ital Stew (taken from http://www.reggaefestivalguide.com)
Ingredients:
2 C dried beans (any kind)
2 medium Idaho potatoes
1 C diced yellow yams
2 medium sweet potatoes
12 medium okra
2 C fresh corn (cut kernels off cob)
3 medium carrots
3 stalks of scallions
3 cloves fresh garlic
1 small green Scotch bonnet (habanero) pepper
3 C natural coconut milk
1 T soya margarine
7-12 pimento seeds (allspice)
7-12 pimento seeds (allspice)
3 pieces fresh thyme
2 C whole wheat flour
Fresh cilantro (garnish)
Directions:
Soak beans in distilled water overnight to remove the gas. Chop garlic and thyme and dice remaining vegetables. Put beans to boil with scallions, pimento seeds, thyme, garlic, and pepper. Add coconut milk to boil along with beans until fully cooked, then add vegetables to the pot. Knead flour with a little water to make small dumplings (spinners). Add spinners to pot and boil until cooked. When stew starts to thicken, add soya margarine and simmer to flavor. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with brown rice and a salad.
Ital maffé (1 person)
This sauce is inspired from a senegalese dish.
Cut 1 1/2 big onion and heat in vegetal oil until it become transparent and lightly brown, but not burned.
Add one squashed clove garlic, 3 teaspoon of peanut butter, 3 teaspoon of tomato purée and some water to diluate. add pepper, a very little paprika. Add done sweet potato, carots, turnip, yam...
Serve with rice.
You can also add fried tofu in the sauce.
Ital curry (1 person)
Cut one half of a big carot in very little cube (about 5mm) Cut half of a turnip in cubes too.
Slice one big onion and put all in a frying pan with vegetal oil till vegetables are done.
Add one or two smashed clove garlic, curry, pepper, Sliced ginger, some raisins.
Add coconut milk (about 1 1/2 glass) and heat till the sauce become creamy.
Serve with rice and peanuts.
Plantain and coconut sauce
In a friying pan with vegetal oil, put sliced carots, sliced onions, green gourd slices, and garlic, sliced plantain, paprika, and grated coconut. Warm a little then add water, peppers, garam masala or curry. Warm until doneand until the sauce is thick . You can add tofu in it. Serve with rice.
Ital soup (excerpt from the Rasta Cookbook)
A substantial soup that will satisfy the largest of appetites; a true “Ital” feast which requires only fresh fruit juice to complete the meal.
Ingredients:
1 lb (450 g) yam: ½ (225 g) sweet potato
1 lb (450 g) pumpkin: 1 lb (450 g) callaloo
½ small cabbage: ½ lb (225 g) carrots
1 cho cho: 1 green pepper
2 cloves garlic: 2 medium-sized tomatoes
3 spring onions: 2 pts (1100 ml) water
First prepare the vegetables. Peel the yam, sweet potato and pumpkin and cut into large die, removing the seeds from the pumpkin. Carefully wash the callaloo, trimming away any thick stems and chop. Coarsely chop the cabbage having carefully discarded the outer leaves, peel and slice the carrots. Peel the cho cho, cut it lengthways into quarters and remove the heart. Roughly dice the cho cho and green pepper, peel and chop the tomatoes and slice the spring onions. Place the pumpkin and root vegetables in a large saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Add to the pan the callaloo, cabbage, cho cho, pepper and finally the chopped tomatoes and spring onions. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and simmer for twenty minutes more until cooked. Serves 4-6.
Chinese style tofu (1 person)
Cut half of a carot in small matches. Slice 1 big onion.
Slice 2 or 3 medium mushrooms (shitake ones). Slice some Bamboo.
Put in frying pan with some vegetal oil, till all begins to brown lightly, add tofu cubes, soya sauce, pepper.
When hot, serve with rice or chinese pastas.
Crispy Raw Vegetable Summer Rolls (Ras Ansel and Queen Lily contribution)
4 ounces dried rice noodles, softened with water, in 2 inch lengths
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 1/2 shredded cucumber
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
3 tbsp. peanuts (crumbled/crushed well!)
1 tbsp. soy
1 tsp. fresh ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
6-10 rice pancake wrappers (7-8")
In a large bowl, toss together noodles, carrots, cukes, cilantro. In a small bowl, whisk the peanuts, soy, ginger, and garlic until smooth, then add to veg mix and toss. Soften the rice pancake in warm water (double them up!!!), and then wrap the veg mix like a spring roll. Fry until golden in veg oil, then refrigerate and enjoy!
Salads
Asian tofu salad
Ingredients
12 oz lowfat firm tofu
1/3 c red bell peppers; chopped
1/3 c scallions; chopped
1 tb fresh parsley; chopped
-DRESSING
2 cloves garlic
2 ts fresh ginger root; grated
1/2 ts chili paste; or to taste
2 tb soy sauce
2 tb rice vinegar
1 ts dark sesame oil
-Instructions
Crumble the tofu using a wooden spoon or fork. Whisk the dressing ingredients together. Add the dressing and the peppers, onion, and parsley.Mix well. Serve at room temperature or chilled. This salad will keep for 2-3 days.
Serving suggestions: Tusk the salad in a pita with watercress. Or serve it on rice crackers, or with roasted vegetables.
Masala Puri (give thanks to rakesh for this incredible recipe!)
Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes or several small potatoes
Soya yoghurt
Bombay mix - or anything similar
Chilly - hotter the better :-)
1 small onion
Fresh coriander leaves (coriander is best but if not available use dill, parsley, etc)
Tamarind sauce - See below on how to make your own tamarind sauce.
If you can't get tamarind use a combination of mustard (i.e. French
mustard) and tomato ketchup (yuck). Sounds awful, but it works!
Sultanas
1. Dice the potatoes into 1 cm cubes (I usually clean them but leave the skin on)
2. Boil the potatoes, until cooked but not too soft (nice and firm)
3. Put a few tablespoons of soya yoghurt into a large salad bowl
4. Add half the tamarind sauce (or all of the alternative mustard/ketchup mix) and stir well
5. Finely chop the chilly, and add to the salad bowl
6. Coarsely dice the onion, and add to the salad bowl
7. Add the potatoes and sultanas and mix. There should be enough of the yoghurt mix to cover all the ingredients.
8. Just before serving, add copious quantities of the bombay mix, and mix well. If you do this too early the bombay mix will get soggy, which is not a problem, but it is much better if it is crispy.
9. Serve on a plate as part of a meal or put in a bowl as a snack.
10. When serving, pour some of the remaining tamarind sauce on top,
and finish by garnishing with some finely chopped coriander leaves.
Making your own tamarind sauce:
Ingredients:
Tamarind seeds
Coriander powder
Black salt (to taste)
Jeera powder
Paprika powder
Chilly powder
Jaggery (unprocessed sugar). NB I once used molasses, and it was horrible, had to add amchoor powder to rescue the sauce
NB: All of the above ingredients are available at any Indian good shop
1.Boil the tamarind seeds until you get a nice thick sauce
2. Strain off the pulp (NB don't throw the pulp away, as you can reuse it several times - it is very strong)
3. Put the liquid back into the saucepan and keep boiling.
4. Add the other ingredients and keep boiling for 10 mins.
This sweet, sour, chilly sauce will last for about 3 months in the refrigerator. You can use it with many dishes. It's a great way to spice up a reheated meal, i.e. to bring life back to yesterdays left overs.
Lentil salad (1 person)
Prepare a sauce with hot pepper, according to your taste, black pepper, lime juice and vegetal oil. Chop finely 1 shallot, chop 1 tomato, chop some cucumber in little cubes.
Cook 1 part of brown lentils and wait until cold. Blend all ingredients.
Irie salad
Prepare 3 corn cob (maize). Make 1 medium sweet potato boil until done and then cut it in cubes. Slice one big onion, 3 green onions. Chop 2 green apples in little cubes, about 1 cm.
Prepare a sauce with arachid oil, lime juice, pepper.
Blend all the ingredients and sauce into a dish. A litlle curry can also be added.
Carrot salad. Libanese style (1 person)
Grate 1 or 1 1/2 big carrot. Prepare a sauce with the juice of half an orange, pepper, a little cinammon, and a little lime juice. Mix all.
Desserts
Almond honey crisp (submitted by fari@interlog.com)
1 cup of whole almonds
1/4 cup soya margarine
1/3 to 1/2 cup of honey
2 teaspoon unsweetened vanilla extract
Process the almonds in a blender for a few seconds to chop coarsely
In a bowl mix all the ingredience
Preheat owen to 375f
Put in a cake pan and bake till golden brown
Cut into squares while still warm
Sauces
Radish greens sauce (give thanks to Ras Ansel and Queen Lilly)
3 bunches coarsely chopped radish greens (or other if not available)
4 tbsp tomato puree (or other sub), or cider vinegar
2 tsp. thyme
1 cup water
2 tbsp. veg oil
1 tsp. smooth peanut butter
1/4 onion thinly diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tsp. black pepper
dash of crushed habanero
1/4 chopped/crushed red pepper with seeds
1/4 tsp. crushed cardamom
1/4 tsp. allspice
Mix all ingredient together and heat low until greens collapse. Add water if needed (but careful not too much!). Allow to cool after thouroughly heated w/greens readily collapsed, then bottle and refridgerate. Pour over rice, greens, or anything the I desire.
Pepper and tomato sauce
Slice a red pepper and put it in a oven (grill position) until slightly brown. Remove the skin and cut in very little bits (or mix).
Then, warm in a pan with olive oil, hot pepper, sliced onion and tomato puree.
Use with pasta, rice or what you want.
Courgette sauce
Peel a courgette, cut it in little cubes, about 1 cm, and warm in a frying pan with olive oil. Add smashed clove, thyme, basilic, pepper. When done, mix all and add black olives.
Serve with rice or pastas.
Drinks
Enhanced carrot juice
Mix 3/4 litter of carrot juice with the juice of 3 limes. In 1 glass of water, put 2 tsp cinammon and about 1 finger of fresh sliced ginger, according to your taste. Make it boil 10 minutes and mix with carrot and lime juice. Add sugar, and refrigerate.
Infused Kola
The kola nut is a nut used in Africa for energy (and sexual prowess ;). It can be used shewed, but is very bitter. The infusion is much tasty: grate half of a kola, infuse 5 minutes in boiling water. Add sugar or honey. It can also mixed with tea or ginseng. You won't feel tired anymore!
Various
Ital bread
-in a dry pan put sesame seeds, cumin seeds, or the seed of your choice
(hemp, crushed peanuts...) and warm until light brown, so the seeds can
exhale their flavors. when done, reserve.
-Make then a paste using half corn flour and chickpea flour, salt, natural
yeast, water, pepper. you can also add herb such as thyme. add water in
order to have a classical bread paste. add the seeds.
-knead about 15/30 minutes and then leave 2 hours. Knead again and leave 2 hours again
-when ready, oil very lightly a big pan, warm it (my position is 3 on 6).
add the paste a make it plate. add a liitle flour and project a little water
with wet hands. cook aproximately 10 min per face, until brown.
-Note: you can also use this past inna oven like usual bread.
Mandarin Pancakes (submitted by Robert)
3 1/2 flour
1 cup boiling water
1/3 cup cold water
1/2 cup sesame oil
Oil as needed for greasing
Preparation:
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. make a well in the center and add the boiling water, a little at a time, incorporating the flour by stirring it into the water with a wooden spoon or chopsticks.
-Cover bowl and let sit for 5-minutes, then add the cold water, mixing well.
-Turn the flour mixture out and work with your fingers to blend until a dough is formed. Cover with a dampened towel and set aside for 15 minutes.
-Remove dough to a board and knead for 10 to 12 minutes or until smooth.
-Divide dough into 4-equal portions. Roll each part into a rod, then divide each dough rod into 10 equal pieces.
- Grease an area of the kneading board about 10 inches square with oil to prevent sticking. Flatten each piece of dough into a 2-inch round and brush evenly with sesame oil on the surface. Place another round on top, forming a 2-layered round. Roll into a thin pancake about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Grease the board with more oil if needed.
-Roll 2 pancakes, then proceed with the cooking. Continue to roll and cook, 2 pancakes at a time, until all the dough is used up.
Cooking:
- Set a griddle (or heavy skillet) over medium heat. Pan-fry each pancake for 1 minute or unti lthe surface bubbles and brown spots appear on the bottom side. Turn to brown on other side for about another 30 seconds.
- Remove pancake and pull the 2 layers apart while hot. Stack pancakes on a platter and cover with a lightly dampened cloth.
-Finish pan-frying the remaining pancakes.
In Jamaica, Ital cooking is most often inspired from Indian and African cooking. But lot of recipes can be "Italized" if prepared only with vegetables and natural ingredients.
Dishes
Ital omelette
Ingredients:
1/4 cup chickpea flour
3/4 cup water
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 onion
1 or 2 potatoes (depends how hungry you are)
1 broccoli stalk (or other vegetable; You can experiment)
1 tsp olive oil
Directions:
This recipe sounds kind of gross, but you have to make it to appreciate how wonderful it is.
Make a mixture with water and chickpea flour in such a proportion to get an 'egg-like' batter. Start with 1/2 cup of water, add the chickpea flour, stirring constantly, and progressively increase the amount of water and chickpea flour until you get about 1 cup of batter. The amounts I have indicated above are approximate. Season it with salt and pepper. Boil the potatos 'al-dente', then slice.
In a pan, stir-fry the onion (sliced) in 1 TSP. of olive oil. Add the sliced potatos and stir until golden. Add the broccoli florets and pour the batter along the vegetables. Put a lid on top and simmer until the bottom is golden, then turn (a plate can help - if the pan is non-stick it will make the turn a lot easier) and cook the other side.
Serve hot or cold.
Greens, lentils and sweet potato in coconut sauce
Take a big bunch of spinach or callaloo, 1 big sliced onion, garlic and put them in warm vegetal oil about 4 minutes.
Add enough coconut milk, chopped sweet potato and cho-cho, aubergine, carrots, or vegetables of your choice, hot pepper, black pepper according to your taste. cook until done and the sauce thick.
Then, add cooked lentils. keep 5 minutes on the fire. it is ready.
Sesame Glazed Beans (Ras Ansel and Queen Lily contribution)
1/2 lb. Green Beans
1/2 cup water
1/2 red bell pepper julienned
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. saltless sesame oil (dark)
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
slightly cook beans w/red bell pepper then combine all other ingredient and pour (as sauce) over the beans at a simmer, allowing to thicken. When thickened a bit, drizzle with the sesame oil, an top wit seeds (or ganja seed, which are very good for the I nutritionally!)
Enjoy with rice or whatever....
Daikon Pot-Stickers (Ras Ansel and Queen Lily contribution)
Pot Stickers:
3 tbsp. veg oil
2 tsp. mince fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups radish
1 cup carrot, grated
1/3 cup crumbled extra-firm tofu
2 tbsp. soy
20 Wanton (saltless soy) skins
In a large skillet, heat one tbsp of oil. Add ginger and garlic, add the radish and stir at a constant (very important!!!) for two minutes. Then add grated carrot. Stir constant for one minute. Add the tofu and soy. Take skillet off and allow to cool. Lay out wanton skins and place one tbsp. of the filling you've made in the center of each skin. Wet rim of the skins and fold, forming a triangle. Deep fry to the I's likeness (InI prefer a light brown fry), and allow to cool, then enjoy!
Ital Stew (taken from http://www.reggaefestivalguide.com)
Ingredients:
2 C dried beans (any kind)
2 medium Idaho potatoes
1 C diced yellow yams
2 medium sweet potatoes
12 medium okra
2 C fresh corn (cut kernels off cob)
3 medium carrots
3 stalks of scallions
3 cloves fresh garlic
1 small green Scotch bonnet (habanero) pepper
3 C natural coconut milk
1 T soya margarine
7-12 pimento seeds (allspice)
7-12 pimento seeds (allspice)
3 pieces fresh thyme
2 C whole wheat flour
Fresh cilantro (garnish)
Directions:
Soak beans in distilled water overnight to remove the gas. Chop garlic and thyme and dice remaining vegetables. Put beans to boil with scallions, pimento seeds, thyme, garlic, and pepper. Add coconut milk to boil along with beans until fully cooked, then add vegetables to the pot. Knead flour with a little water to make small dumplings (spinners). Add spinners to pot and boil until cooked. When stew starts to thicken, add soya margarine and simmer to flavor. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with brown rice and a salad.
Ital maffé (1 person)
This sauce is inspired from a senegalese dish.
Cut 1 1/2 big onion and heat in vegetal oil until it become transparent and lightly brown, but not burned.
Add one squashed clove garlic, 3 teaspoon of peanut butter, 3 teaspoon of tomato purée and some water to diluate. add pepper, a very little paprika. Add done sweet potato, carots, turnip, yam...
Serve with rice.
You can also add fried tofu in the sauce.
Ital curry (1 person)
Cut one half of a big carot in very little cube (about 5mm) Cut half of a turnip in cubes too.
Slice one big onion and put all in a frying pan with vegetal oil till vegetables are done.
Add one or two smashed clove garlic, curry, pepper, Sliced ginger, some raisins.
Add coconut milk (about 1 1/2 glass) and heat till the sauce become creamy.
Serve with rice and peanuts.
Plantain and coconut sauce
In a friying pan with vegetal oil, put sliced carots, sliced onions, green gourd slices, and garlic, sliced plantain, paprika, and grated coconut. Warm a little then add water, peppers, garam masala or curry. Warm until doneand until the sauce is thick . You can add tofu in it. Serve with rice.
Ital soup (excerpt from the Rasta Cookbook)
A substantial soup that will satisfy the largest of appetites; a true “Ital” feast which requires only fresh fruit juice to complete the meal.
Ingredients:
1 lb (450 g) yam: ½ (225 g) sweet potato
1 lb (450 g) pumpkin: 1 lb (450 g) callaloo
½ small cabbage: ½ lb (225 g) carrots
1 cho cho: 1 green pepper
2 cloves garlic: 2 medium-sized tomatoes
3 spring onions: 2 pts (1100 ml) water
First prepare the vegetables. Peel the yam, sweet potato and pumpkin and cut into large die, removing the seeds from the pumpkin. Carefully wash the callaloo, trimming away any thick stems and chop. Coarsely chop the cabbage having carefully discarded the outer leaves, peel and slice the carrots. Peel the cho cho, cut it lengthways into quarters and remove the heart. Roughly dice the cho cho and green pepper, peel and chop the tomatoes and slice the spring onions. Place the pumpkin and root vegetables in a large saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Add to the pan the callaloo, cabbage, cho cho, pepper and finally the chopped tomatoes and spring onions. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and simmer for twenty minutes more until cooked. Serves 4-6.
Chinese style tofu (1 person)
Cut half of a carot in small matches. Slice 1 big onion.
Slice 2 or 3 medium mushrooms (shitake ones). Slice some Bamboo.
Put in frying pan with some vegetal oil, till all begins to brown lightly, add tofu cubes, soya sauce, pepper.
When hot, serve with rice or chinese pastas.
Crispy Raw Vegetable Summer Rolls (Ras Ansel and Queen Lily contribution)
4 ounces dried rice noodles, softened with water, in 2 inch lengths
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 1/2 shredded cucumber
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
3 tbsp. peanuts (crumbled/crushed well!)
1 tbsp. soy
1 tsp. fresh ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
6-10 rice pancake wrappers (7-8")
In a large bowl, toss together noodles, carrots, cukes, cilantro. In a small bowl, whisk the peanuts, soy, ginger, and garlic until smooth, then add to veg mix and toss. Soften the rice pancake in warm water (double them up!!!), and then wrap the veg mix like a spring roll. Fry until golden in veg oil, then refrigerate and enjoy!
Salads
Asian tofu salad
Ingredients
12 oz lowfat firm tofu
1/3 c red bell peppers; chopped
1/3 c scallions; chopped
1 tb fresh parsley; chopped
-DRESSING
2 cloves garlic
2 ts fresh ginger root; grated
1/2 ts chili paste; or to taste
2 tb soy sauce
2 tb rice vinegar
1 ts dark sesame oil
-Instructions
Crumble the tofu using a wooden spoon or fork. Whisk the dressing ingredients together. Add the dressing and the peppers, onion, and parsley.Mix well. Serve at room temperature or chilled. This salad will keep for 2-3 days.
Serving suggestions: Tusk the salad in a pita with watercress. Or serve it on rice crackers, or with roasted vegetables.
Masala Puri (give thanks to rakesh for this incredible recipe!)
Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes or several small potatoes
Soya yoghurt
Bombay mix - or anything similar
Chilly - hotter the better :-)
1 small onion
Fresh coriander leaves (coriander is best but if not available use dill, parsley, etc)
Tamarind sauce - See below on how to make your own tamarind sauce.
If you can't get tamarind use a combination of mustard (i.e. French
mustard) and tomato ketchup (yuck). Sounds awful, but it works!
Sultanas
1. Dice the potatoes into 1 cm cubes (I usually clean them but leave the skin on)
2. Boil the potatoes, until cooked but not too soft (nice and firm)
3. Put a few tablespoons of soya yoghurt into a large salad bowl
4. Add half the tamarind sauce (or all of the alternative mustard/ketchup mix) and stir well
5. Finely chop the chilly, and add to the salad bowl
6. Coarsely dice the onion, and add to the salad bowl
7. Add the potatoes and sultanas and mix. There should be enough of the yoghurt mix to cover all the ingredients.
8. Just before serving, add copious quantities of the bombay mix, and mix well. If you do this too early the bombay mix will get soggy, which is not a problem, but it is much better if it is crispy.
9. Serve on a plate as part of a meal or put in a bowl as a snack.
10. When serving, pour some of the remaining tamarind sauce on top,
and finish by garnishing with some finely chopped coriander leaves.
Making your own tamarind sauce:
Ingredients:
Tamarind seeds
Coriander powder
Black salt (to taste)
Jeera powder
Paprika powder
Chilly powder
Jaggery (unprocessed sugar). NB I once used molasses, and it was horrible, had to add amchoor powder to rescue the sauce
NB: All of the above ingredients are available at any Indian good shop
1.Boil the tamarind seeds until you get a nice thick sauce
2. Strain off the pulp (NB don't throw the pulp away, as you can reuse it several times - it is very strong)
3. Put the liquid back into the saucepan and keep boiling.
4. Add the other ingredients and keep boiling for 10 mins.
This sweet, sour, chilly sauce will last for about 3 months in the refrigerator. You can use it with many dishes. It's a great way to spice up a reheated meal, i.e. to bring life back to yesterdays left overs.
Lentil salad (1 person)
Prepare a sauce with hot pepper, according to your taste, black pepper, lime juice and vegetal oil. Chop finely 1 shallot, chop 1 tomato, chop some cucumber in little cubes.
Cook 1 part of brown lentils and wait until cold. Blend all ingredients.
Irie salad
Prepare 3 corn cob (maize). Make 1 medium sweet potato boil until done and then cut it in cubes. Slice one big onion, 3 green onions. Chop 2 green apples in little cubes, about 1 cm.
Prepare a sauce with arachid oil, lime juice, pepper.
Blend all the ingredients and sauce into a dish. A litlle curry can also be added.
Carrot salad. Libanese style (1 person)
Grate 1 or 1 1/2 big carrot. Prepare a sauce with the juice of half an orange, pepper, a little cinammon, and a little lime juice. Mix all.
Desserts
Almond honey crisp (submitted by fari@interlog.com)
1 cup of whole almonds
1/4 cup soya margarine
1/3 to 1/2 cup of honey
2 teaspoon unsweetened vanilla extract
Process the almonds in a blender for a few seconds to chop coarsely
In a bowl mix all the ingredience
Preheat owen to 375f
Put in a cake pan and bake till golden brown
Cut into squares while still warm
Sauces
Radish greens sauce (give thanks to Ras Ansel and Queen Lilly)
3 bunches coarsely chopped radish greens (or other if not available)
4 tbsp tomato puree (or other sub), or cider vinegar
2 tsp. thyme
1 cup water
2 tbsp. veg oil
1 tsp. smooth peanut butter
1/4 onion thinly diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tsp. black pepper
dash of crushed habanero
1/4 chopped/crushed red pepper with seeds
1/4 tsp. crushed cardamom
1/4 tsp. allspice
Mix all ingredient together and heat low until greens collapse. Add water if needed (but careful not too much!). Allow to cool after thouroughly heated w/greens readily collapsed, then bottle and refridgerate. Pour over rice, greens, or anything the I desire.
Pepper and tomato sauce
Slice a red pepper and put it in a oven (grill position) until slightly brown. Remove the skin and cut in very little bits (or mix).
Then, warm in a pan with olive oil, hot pepper, sliced onion and tomato puree.
Use with pasta, rice or what you want.
Courgette sauce
Peel a courgette, cut it in little cubes, about 1 cm, and warm in a frying pan with olive oil. Add smashed clove, thyme, basilic, pepper. When done, mix all and add black olives.
Serve with rice or pastas.
Drinks
Enhanced carrot juice
Mix 3/4 litter of carrot juice with the juice of 3 limes. In 1 glass of water, put 2 tsp cinammon and about 1 finger of fresh sliced ginger, according to your taste. Make it boil 10 minutes and mix with carrot and lime juice. Add sugar, and refrigerate.
Infused Kola
The kola nut is a nut used in Africa for energy (and sexual prowess ;). It can be used shewed, but is very bitter. The infusion is much tasty: grate half of a kola, infuse 5 minutes in boiling water. Add sugar or honey. It can also mixed with tea or ginseng. You won't feel tired anymore!
Various
Ital bread
-in a dry pan put sesame seeds, cumin seeds, or the seed of your choice
(hemp, crushed peanuts...) and warm until light brown, so the seeds can
exhale their flavors. when done, reserve.
-Make then a paste using half corn flour and chickpea flour, salt, natural
yeast, water, pepper. you can also add herb such as thyme. add water in
order to have a classical bread paste. add the seeds.
-knead about 15/30 minutes and then leave 2 hours. Knead again and leave 2 hours again
-when ready, oil very lightly a big pan, warm it (my position is 3 on 6).
add the paste a make it plate. add a liitle flour and project a little water
with wet hands. cook aproximately 10 min per face, until brown.
-Note: you can also use this past inna oven like usual bread.
Mandarin Pancakes (submitted by Robert)
3 1/2 flour
1 cup boiling water
1/3 cup cold water
1/2 cup sesame oil
Oil as needed for greasing
Preparation:
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. make a well in the center and add the boiling water, a little at a time, incorporating the flour by stirring it into the water with a wooden spoon or chopsticks.
-Cover bowl and let sit for 5-minutes, then add the cold water, mixing well.
-Turn the flour mixture out and work with your fingers to blend until a dough is formed. Cover with a dampened towel and set aside for 15 minutes.
-Remove dough to a board and knead for 10 to 12 minutes or until smooth.
-Divide dough into 4-equal portions. Roll each part into a rod, then divide each dough rod into 10 equal pieces.
- Grease an area of the kneading board about 10 inches square with oil to prevent sticking. Flatten each piece of dough into a 2-inch round and brush evenly with sesame oil on the surface. Place another round on top, forming a 2-layered round. Roll into a thin pancake about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Grease the board with more oil if needed.
-Roll 2 pancakes, then proceed with the cooking. Continue to roll and cook, 2 pancakes at a time, until all the dough is used up.
Cooking:
- Set a griddle (or heavy skillet) over medium heat. Pan-fry each pancake for 1 minute or unti lthe surface bubbles and brown spots appear on the bottom side. Turn to brown on other side for about another 30 seconds.
- Remove pancake and pull the 2 layers apart while hot. Stack pancakes on a platter and cover with a lightly dampened cloth.
-Finish pan-frying the remaining pancakes.
Slow Cooker Recipe - Basmati Rice Pudding
Slow Cooker Basmati Rice Pudding
from The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson
Judith's author notes: The cardamom in this pudding provides an irresistible Indian flavor. I like to serve it at room temperature, but it also works warm or cold. If you're feeling indulgent, add a little cream.
Works best in a small (3-1/2 quart) slow cooker
Lightly greased slow cooker stoneware
4 cups whole milk or enriched rice milk, 1 L
1/3 cup Demerara or evaporated cane juice sugar, 75 mL
2 teaspoons ground cardamom, 10 mL
3/4 cup brown basmati rice, rinsed, 175 mL
Chopped unsalted pistachio nuts
In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring milk to a boil, stirring often. Add sugar and cardamom. Remove from heat and stir in rice. Transfer to prepared slow cooker stoneware.
Place a tea towel folded in half (so you will have two layers) over top of stoneware to absorb moisture. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours, until rice is tender and pudding is creamy. Transfer to a serving bowl and cool to room temperature. Garnish with pistachios.
Makes 8 servings.
from The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson
Judith's author notes: The cardamom in this pudding provides an irresistible Indian flavor. I like to serve it at room temperature, but it also works warm or cold. If you're feeling indulgent, add a little cream.
Works best in a small (3-1/2 quart) slow cooker
Lightly greased slow cooker stoneware
4 cups whole milk or enriched rice milk, 1 L
1/3 cup Demerara or evaporated cane juice sugar, 75 mL
2 teaspoons ground cardamom, 10 mL
3/4 cup brown basmati rice, rinsed, 175 mL
Chopped unsalted pistachio nuts
In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring milk to a boil, stirring often. Add sugar and cardamom. Remove from heat and stir in rice. Transfer to prepared slow cooker stoneware.
Place a tea towel folded in half (so you will have two layers) over top of stoneware to absorb moisture. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours, until rice is tender and pudding is creamy. Transfer to a serving bowl and cool to room temperature. Garnish with pistachios.
Makes 8 servings.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Flavor Combos to Try
Thai Coconut Lime - A tropical blend of coconut, ginger, lemongrass, red pepper and kaffir lime.
Garlic Herb - A full-bodied mix of garlic, basil, lemon and chives.
Citrus Rosemary - A delicate blend of rosemary and garlic, sweetened with the essence of orange.
Indian Mango Curry - Sweet mango mingles with the exotic spice of cardamom and curry.
Honey Bourbon - The perfect marriage of two classic barbecue flavors.
Mexican Fiesta - A robust mix of smoked chili pepper, coriander, cumin and lime.
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