Inspired Cooking!

Well, maybe its spring, maybe like most of us within the food universe it is this constant yen for doing different things, today's meal was something, that I needed to be different, creative and special. Why - well because I just felt like it!

Anyhow, most of the meal was inspired by other recipes on the web, goodness how did people ever cook prior to the www. Anyhow, what I had with me was some lovely orange roughy and some swiss chard, certainly enough basic components for a good meal. What I needed was something to mix and complete the meal.

To start with the swiss chard, this is what I looked at, what I developed was pretty close,

Sauteed Swiss Chard

Serve 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 shallots thinly slices

1 tomato, diced

3 cups chopped swiss chard

1 tsp seasoning salt

1/4 cup mirin (Japanese rice vinegar)

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the garlic, cook on high and brown.

2. Add the shallots and tomatoe and saute briefly.

3. Add in the chard and cook for 3 minutes.

4. Add in the salt and mirin and cook till the chard is fairly soft.

Next to move onto the fish, I actually dredged this with lime juice, salt and pepper and seared this. I then topped the fish with some lovely chimmichurri sauce that I created from this whole foods recipe. I made some tiny modifications for convienience and practicality, - I used prepared almond meal that toasted up wonderfully and left out the lime juice and reduced the oil by half. Still a pretty rich sauce. Well, I have just started working with fresh oregano, that is my entry for this weeks WHB, that is being host by one of "my food blogger" (just the very few, that I have time to scan on a regular basis, simply because I do not have more time.) - Katie at a thyme for cooking.

Mixed Bean Chilli

I have to tell you, like most mother who juggle the 800 (ok that is an exageration!) but the multiple things that one has to fit in just gets crazier when one has to complete the list with -
800) Cook interesting, flavorful, food that works for both Mommy and Daddy and for the little tykes.

Well, the adapted version of Chilli that I make works pretty well for this and with some really inspired toppings and garnishes makes pretty interesting party food.

To make the process interesting, I use the beans in my pantry, that are a combination of all kinds of Indian beans and lentils - here I have whole dried peas, green chickpeas, black-eyed beans, black beans and small red beans. This time round, I decided to do something that I do not usually do - get some fresh oregano to liven this up!

Mixed Bean Chilli

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients

1 cups of dried mixed beans as described above
2 tbsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 onions coarsely, chopped
6-8 cloves garlic
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
3/4 cup ground chicken or turkey
3 cups canned or freshly chopped tomatoes
1 green chilli
1 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp oregano leaves

For Garnishing

Chopped Scallions
Chopped Green chilies
Chopped Cilantro
Lime Wedges
Tortilla Chips
Grated or Crumbled Cheese
Sour Cream


Method of Preparation

1. Soak the beans overnight and then cook under pressure for 25 minutes with 1 tsp salt. (The beans should be partially cooked.)
2. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat the oil and add the ginger, garlic and onion and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Add the ground meat and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Add the beans and remaining ingredients with 3 cups water, bring to a boil and simmer for 3 hours.
6. Serve over rice or with cornbread and garnish with the scallions, green chillies and cilantro.
7. Place a few tortilla chips and 1 tsp cheese.
8. Microwave for 40 seconds till the cheese is melted add 1 tsp sour cream and enjoy.

Ps. On a note on my favorite bevarage-red wine. I have recently noticed a fun trend amongst CA wine to have funny, homey labeling almost in an attempt to make wine more everyday. Well, I made the chilli for a Friday Night crowd and served it with a wine from the Doghouse Wines. Do not know much about the wine, the "Checkers Cab" in question was a fun down to earth wine that did appropriate justice to this dish.

Green Chickpea and Corn Kadhi

I found these really pretty daity pods at the local store. I had never used these green chickpeas before but wanted to do something with them. After I brought these home, I discovered some very tart yogurt that had been sitting in my fridge for a while.

I am a big fan of Kadhi - that nutrious yougurt based soupy concoction tempered with whole spices and curry leaves thickened with besan or chickpea flour. If you love kadhi as much as I do, you will be convinced that sour yogurt was made for Kadhi not the other way round. Well, I made kadhi mixed in with fresh corn and the results with rice was perfect for a cool day.

Green Chickpea and Corn Kadhi

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1.5 cups very tart yogurt

3 tbsp besan or chickpea flour

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

1/8 tsp asafetida

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 dried red chillies

1-2 green chillies

10 curry leaves

1/2 fresh green chickpeas

1/2 cup fresh corn

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Mix the yogurt, besan and salt with 2 cups water and set aside.

2. Heat the oil and add the ginger, cumin and mustard seeds.

3. When the seeds begin to pop add the red chillies.

4. Add in the green chillies and curry leaves and stir well.

5. Mix in the yogurt mixture, bring to a boil reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Add in the corn and chickpeas and cook for another 15 minutes.

7. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

This entry is sent out to this weeks - WHB that is being hosted by Jay and Bee at Jugalbandi.

This blog if you have not checked it out, is a treat for the senses, the photography is amazing, it makes food seem spiritual.

Ginger Coconut Chicken Curry with Black Pepper

Yesterday, I picked up some lovely fresh young ginger, I wanted to make something that did justice to this rhizome in its amazingly perfect form. This really was just right, in that it was not too young such that the flavors had not yet developed, but it was not dry and stringy either. So I started with a large piece, peeled and grated it...

Then I looked around the refrigerator and pulled out a few ingredients here and there, added to it a few good spices, this is what emergered.

Ginger Coconut Chicken Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 tbsp oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 tbsp finely grated ginger
A few pieces of cloves, cinamon and cardamom
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 lb chicken cut into medium sized pieces
1 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 tbsp coarsely crushed black peppercorns
2 tsp salt
1/2 can coconut milk

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the onion and ginger.
2. Saute for about 5 -7 minutes.
3. Mix in the cloves, cinamon and cardamom, turmeric, chili and the chicken and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes till the chicken in well browned and the oil begins to show.
4. Grind the cilantro and coconut in a food process and mix with the chicken.
5. Add in the salt and peppercorns and cook for 5-7 minutes.
6. Stir in the coconut milk, simmer for 10 minutes and serve with rice.

This recipe goes to Lia at swirling notions, interesting I just update my WHB post with her orange poppy seed recipe.

Thai Green Curry Chicken with Zucchini

I love making Thai Green Curry paste, since it uses my two favorite herbs - Cilantro and Basil. Typically you should be using Holy basil also called Tulsi, but those leaves are much harder to come by, so I end up doing this with a very practical version usually readily available ingredient such as sweet basil and ginger instead of galangal. The results are quite acceptable. It makes for a quick and flavorful curry.



Green Curry Paste



Ingredients


1/3 cup fish sauce
1 lump size palm sugar
10 green chillies
2 tbsp freshly ground coriander
1 2-inch piece ginger or galangal
2 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped cilantro- leaves and stems
1 cup chopped basil
2-3 kafir lime leaves or 1 tsp grated lime zest

Method of Preparation

1. Dissolve the palm sugar in the fish sauce. This takes a little bit of time, so I actually do this first and then prep and chop the remaining ingredients.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients into a food processor.
3. Add in the fish sauce with sugar and process till smooth.

Green chicken curry with zucchini

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup green curry sauce
1/2 lb chicken cut into large chunks (boneless thighs work well for this recipe).
1 can light coconut milk
2 green zuchinis was and cut into a dice to match the chicken


Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the shallots with the green curry sauce and chicken and cook for about 10 minutes.
2. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add in the zucchini and cook for 5-7 more minutes.
4. Serve with white or brown jasmine rice.



Method of Preparation



1. Disolve the sugar in the fish sauce, this takes some time to dissolve so I actually leave this to soak while I prep the remaining ingredients.

2.

WHB - Round-Up WE 1-21-08

Well, everyone has sent quite and interesting collection of recipes, we start with Peter who as sent us this cheese and chilly appetizer recipe. One of my favorite combinations, sounds very interesting. The recipe uses a Greek red chillie pepper and Peter says,

"What makes it unique is that Boukovo is oven dried or better yet, the red chili gets dried over smoky, burning embers. Think smoky red chili flakes."

http://kalofagas.blogspot.com/2008/01/chillies-cheese-snack-moukobo.html



Next we have a lovely winter soup from Anne-Marie of Ambrosia and Nectar. This is celeriac, cabbage and chickpea soup. Anne Marie adds some kale and tops it with a generous dash of parmasan cheese. The interesting flavor here is fennel seeds.

http://divineambrosia.blogspot.com/2008/01/celeriac-chickpea-and-cabbage-soup.html



Gay from A scientist in the kitchen presents us with a wonderful steamed tilapia in banana leaves using the three stapple ingredients of the filipino kitchen - onion, ginger and tomato.

http://ascientistinthekitchen.net/weekend-herb-blogging/stuffed-tilapia-steamed-in-banana-leaves/



Meera from Enjoy Indian Food, presents us with the method of growing your own Wheatgrass and then making wheatgrass juice. Sounds like a lot of fun and healthy too!

http://enjoyindianfood.blogspot.com/2008/01/wheatgrass-juice-superfood.html



Tami from running with tweezers presents a simple and beautiful recipe pairing tomatoes with tarragon. Now, this I have never tried, but given how well tomatoes work with mint, cilantro, basil, .... why am I surprised. Have to add this to my list of must tries.

http://runningwithtweezers.typepad.com/runningwithtweezers/2008/01/the-simple-life.html



Katie from A Thyme for cooking, shares her mothers food philosophy, and trying to ensure my two youngsters get a nutritious balanced upbringing I cannot agree more with "mom's" wisdom and a lovely recipe for sausages and sauerkraut.

http://thyme2.typepad.com/thyme_for_cooking_/2008/01/my-mother-had-z.html



Lalaine from "The Cook mobile" presents an elegant and classic recipe of salmon paired with a cilantro almond pesto, served with crusty bread.

http://thecookmobile.com/roasted-salmon-with-cilantro-pesto/



Kevin from Closet Cooking sends a recipe for wild mushrooms sauted with butter, sherry and lemon, sounds perfect with almost anything.
http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2008/01/wild-mushrooms-sauteed-in-butter-sherry.html



Syrie from Taste Buddies, uses cilantro, mint and parsely to create a wonderful shrimp salad. The shrimp is marinated in Harissa and sumac and then served topped with baked onions and fennel and crumbled sheep cheese. Sounds like a perfect mix of flavors.

http://allthingsnice.typepad.com/tastebuddies/2008/01/moorish-prawn-s.html

Another nourishing soup, a garbanzo, white bean and lamb soup seasoned with rosemary. This one is from the creator of WHB, Kalyn at Kaylyn's kitchen. Sure wish I had a bowl of this soup right now.

http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/01/garbanzo-and-white-bean-soup-recipe.html

Joanna from Green Giraffe Gourmet, sends us a beautiful purple and green creation of Beetroot Gnocchi and Pea Pesto, everything high on the the nutrition index, she warns us about the extra flour needed in this recipe.

http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/2008/01/whb-beetroot-gnocchi-with-pea-pesto.html

Helene from New from my Kitchen, sends me a recipe for Blushing Agaricus, which is a dish consisting of mushrooms, tomatoes and chicken with garlic. A simple and complete meal.

http://neuesausderkueche.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/whb116/

Rosa from Edible Adventures in Paris, sends a smooth and satisfying rice pudding recipe seasoned with saffron and lemon. I was very intrigued by the use of creme fraiche in this recipe since I had always assumed that this would curdle the milk.

http://rosajackson.blogspot.com/2008/01/saffron-rice-pudding.html

Ulrike, from Küchenlatein, sends a very seasonal stew of winter vegetables, fried sausage and parsely.

All of this compiling is now making me very hungry.

http://ostwestwind.twoday.net/stories/4620335/

Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, sends us her cure for the winter chills - Black Peppercorns, which she uses generously in this beef stew.

http://medcookingalaska.blogspot.com/2008/01/recipe-peppery-beef-stew.html

Susan from the well seasoned cook sends us, these very delicate and elegant looking green tea cream puffs, that look like they would be perfect with green or black tea,

Green Tea Cream Puffs

Anna from Morsels and Musings sends us a rice recipe, Arroz con Palmitos, where she pairs rice, cheese and palm hearts in a well-seasoned and satisfying casserole.

http://morselsandmusings.blogspot.com/2008/01/rice-w-palm-hearts.html

Pam from the backyard pizzeria, sends us a well-spiced version of ratatouile, and I agree with her that the movie by the same name is an absolute must-see.

http://backyardpizzeria.blogspot.com/2008/01/rmy-does-ratatouille.html

Haalo, from Cook Anything at least Once, decides to try lemon verbana. A delicate herb that is a must try for lemon lovers. This is combined with cucumber, to make a very delicate light green sorbet, something my daughter would love.

http://cookalmostanything.blogspot.com/2008/01/weekend-herb-blogging-116.html

Jerry from Jerry's thoughts musings and rants, sends us another interesting post on fennel and tells us about one of his Christmas gifts, that you guessed it, was a cookbook.

http://jdeq.typepad.com/jerrys_thoughts_musings_a/2008/01/oven-slow-roast.html

Chris from Melle Cotte, sends us another soup recipe, this one is a split soup, that is cooked using a herb bouquet.

http://melecotte.blogspot.com/2007/12/split-pea-soup.html

Jennifer from Likes to Cook, sends a soup recipe using farro (an ancient wheat variety) and chickpeas. The soup also uses majoram for seasoning which sounds very flavorful and interesting.

Here it is

Wandering Chopsticks, sends in a recipe for yam and shrimp fritters that sounds lovely, would go well with any of these soup recipes.

http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/2008/01/banh-tom-vietnamese-shrimp-and-yam.html

Finally, the last soup recipe, is one using carrots and mint, this is my contribution to this weeks, WHB, thank you everyone for participating.

http://cookingwithrinku.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-think-i-can.html

Ok, so somemore that I missed...

A very interesting recipe for Savory soy pancakes served with a cilantro topping. I actually try something similar with good old fashioned bisquick, but these seem much healthier.

http://cookingfromatoz.blogspot.com/2008/01/soy-pancakes-not-kidding.html

Lia from swirling notions, sends us a recipe for an orange kumquat cake. She replaces quite a bit of butter in the cake with silken tofu. Sounds quite intriguing and healthy too.

http://swirlingnotions.com/2008/01/12/though-shalt-not-covet-thy-neighbors-oranges/

Liz's at "from our kitchen" sends us a recipe for Faux Stowe Crackers with rosemary.

http://etherwork.net/blog/?p=495

So, yes if you do stop by this blog, do check out these additions.

Please visit all these wonderful blogs, to check out the recipes.

I think I can!

Gosh, I have been meaning to get back and blog but it just has been one thing after another. The last week has been awful since I have been down with the flu. It is supposed to be my turn to host WHB, an event I have not even been able to participate in for the past several weeks. Well, I had actually cooked this really lovely smooth textured soup last week, with overtones of cumin and ginger laced with mint. Seeing all the wonderful entries that are filling my mailbox, I finally got inspired to write this up.

Carrot Pumpkin Soup with Ginger and Mint

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp processed ginger chunks (I use trader joes)

2 leeks peeled and thinly sliced

2 lbs carrots peeled and cut into pieces

1 lb fresh pumpkin peeled and cut into pieces

1 parsnip peeled and cut into pieces

3 cups chicken broth

Salt to taste

1/2 cup fresh cream

2-3 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves

Method of Preparation

1. In a pressure cooker, heat the oil and pop the cumin and pepper.

2. Add the ginger and leeks and saute for 15 minutes till very soft.

3. Add in the carrots, pumpkin and parsnip and mix lightly.

4. Mix in the broth and bring to a simmer.

5. Cook under pressure for 20 minutes.

6. Cool and blend into a puree with the cream.

7. Check seasonings.

8. Heat but do not bring to a boil prior to serving and serve garnished with mint.