VEGGIES WITH SPAGHETTI ON TOP ANYONE? :)

Posted by kamalpreetkaur in Dinner, Recipes and tagged with , , ,
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Spaghetti

  • 1/2 packet of wheat spaghetti noodles (or your favorite kind)
  • 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (only need 1/2 of the sauce)
  • 1/2 cup (or more) of vegetarian cheese

Tofu

  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil (use whatever variety you already have)
  • 1 packet of super firm tofu (Wildwood Sproutofu was used in this recipe)
  • 2 pinches dried Italian seasoning
  • 2 pinches dried basil
  • 2 pinches parsley
  • 2 pinches salt (optional)

Veggies

  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 5 asparagus sticks
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 packet of pre-chopped mushrooms
  • 1/2 can of olives
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1/2 packet of spinach
  • 1/2 green bell pepper
  • 1/2 orange bell pepper
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper
  • 1 carrot

* You can add or subtract veggies as you please, but this combo turned out pretty darn good!

Recommended Keertan: Bhai Gurbir Singh – Gur Poore Meri Raakh Layee – There was a time when things were hard and we weren’t always able to stock a fridge full of healthy foods. So, now when I open the refrigerator and I’m able to grab as many ingredients as I wish, this particular shabad (and the tune it has been sung in) touches my heart. It reminds me to thank Guru Sahib Ji for giving us the strength to get through those times and appreciate what we have today.

Instructions:

1) Cut the tofu into cubes
2) On a skillet, add the tablespoon of cooking oil
3) Throw the tofu cubes onto the skillet and let them fry (move them around every once in a while)
4) Grab a pot and fill 3/4 of it with water
5) Insert the pasta noodles into the water and let boil
6) Start cutting the vegetables into bite-size pieces
7) Remove tofu from the skillet and place in a bowl
8) Top the tofu with the herbs and other spices as you please
9) Add the other tablespoon of cooking oil in the skillet and add garlic
•save the tomatoes for last, so don’t add them in the skillet
10) While the vegetables cook, drain the pasta and let it sit for a minute
11) Stir the vegetables and add (or don’t add) herbs
12) Put the pot of noodles back on the stove and add the spaghetti sauce

When you start smelling the different flavors of the veggies, you know they’re almost done. This is when you add the tomatoes and let the veggies cook for a little longer. A few more minutes and the spaghetti sauce will have spread its flavor into the pasta noodles. So, what are you waiting for? Switch the stove buttons to “off” and grab a plate. Dinner (or lunch) is ready to be served!

In the picture: First put a serving of the pasta on the plate, add the cheese, veggies, tofu and then some more pasta on top and voila! Your taste buds will be thanking you for the burst of different flavors. Bon Appétit! :)

Guest blogged by my super amazing bhenjee Kamalpreet Kaur.  Thanks!

Fried Rice with Salt and Pepper Tofu

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What to do with a bunch of leftover rice?  Fry it up for breakfast, of course.  This is a fast, easy, vegan breakfast (or lunch or dinner) that looks and tastes more difficult than it is.  It goes great with a stir fry with a heavy sauce, or with Indo-Chinese dishes like Veg Manchurian or Chilli Paneer.  Hmm, gonna have to get Singh Jee to guest blog one of those, he’s the expert in that field.

Recommended keertan:  Bhai Pritvipal Singh jee (UK), Bay Area Samagam, 2010.

First, fry the tofu:

  • 1/2 block extra or super firm tofu, cut into small cubes.  I really love the super firm stuff from Trader Joe’s, because it’s not packaged in water and it has a much firmer texture.  Plus, it’s cheap.  If you can’t get it, be sure to press as much water out of the tofu as possible with a towel.
  • 2 Tbs corn starch
  • salt
  • pepper
  • garlic powder

Mix the dry ingredients, then toss the tofu to coat.  Fry in a heavy pan in small batches in 1/4 inch of oil.  I use a cast iron frying pan for this.  It’s an indispensable piece of kitchen equipment, and especially good for frying.

Now the rice:

  • one medium onion, sliced into thin strips.
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced.
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrots
  • 1/2 cup green peas
  • 3 cups long grain rice.  leftover from the day before is best, but if you don’t have it, make the rice and stick it in the freezer for an hour so it gets cold and a bit hard.
  • salt and pepper
  • soy sauce (optional)
  • 1 Tbs cooking oil
  • 1 tsp sesame oil

Heat the oil on high in a heavy wok or karahi.  Fry the onions and garlic, stirring constantly, for about a minute.  You don’t want them to get too soft.  Add the carrots and peas, stir fry until warmed through.  Add the rice by the handful, breaking up any clumps with your fingers.  Stir well to mix the ingredients, and add salt and pepper.  Cook the rice until it’s hot, letting it sit for a while between stirring.  If it sticks a little, that’s ok, the crispy bits are extra tasty.  When the rice is hot all the way through, mix in the tofu and turn off the heat.  Drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce to taste (if you like).  Traditionally fried rice doesn’t have soy sauce, but we Americans have gotten used to that flavor, so use it if you want, I won’t tell.

 

Cream Filled Donuts (eggless – of course!)

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Tuesday was Valentine’s Day, so of course, I decided to make something special.  My husband has been begging me to make donuts forever, so I thought I’d surprise him with these beauties.  Heart shaped, filled with custard cream, glazed, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  What could be more romantic than heart shaped donuts?  The donut recipe vegetarian-ized version of a basic yeast donut.  The cream filling is my own invention.  Hey, Singh jee doesn’t like chocolate, so I had to jazz it up somehow.  :)

No keertan today, we’re doing paath instead.  What better shabad to express love than Shabad Hazaare?  Bhai Pritam Singh Anjaan does it with such love…  watch out, you might just cry!

Donuts:

  • 3/4 cup scalded milk
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 4 Tablespoons finely ground flax seed + 6 Tablespoons warm water, mixed well and allowed to sit for 10 minutes
  • oil for deep frying
  • cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Custard filling:

  • 2 tablespoon Bird’s custard powder
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup chilled whipped cream (just beat heavy cream with a whisk until it becomes stiff, don’t buy the canned stuff)

Glaze:

  • 2 cups icing (powdered) sugar.
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • 3 tablespoons sugar

 

First, make the custard, it’ll need to chill in the fridge for a while.  Mix the custard powder and sugar with 1/4 cup of the milk and mix it really well.  It should make a kind of paste.  Heat the other 1 1/4 cup of milk until almost boiling.  Pour the hot milk into the paste, mixing vigorously the whole time to avoid lumps.  Put it back on the stove and heat again until thick (but not boiling).  Remove from the stove and chill.  When it’s cool, mix it with the whipped cream and keep it in the fridge until the donuts are done.

Now for the donuts…  In a medium bowl, stir together the scalded milk, sugar, and salt. Set aside to cool. Stir cinnamon into the flour, and add 2 cups of the mixture to the milk, and beat until well blended.In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water, allowing to sit until a foam forms on top.  Stir into the milk and flour mixture, then mix in the butter and flax seed mixture. Mix in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time as needed to make a soft dough. When dough is firm enough, turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead for 3 to 4 minutes. Place into an oiled bowl, cover and allow dough to rise until doubled in bulk. This should take 30 to 45 minutes.On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shape using a cookie cutter.  Set aside to rise for 30 to 40 minutes, or until light and fluffy looking.Heat one inch of oil in a deep heavy frying pan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Fry donuts a few at a time. Cook on each side until golden brown, then remove to drain on paper towels. Be careful, they get dark quickly.  When they’re cool enough to handle, you need to squeeze the custard into the donut through a small hole in the bottom.  There are two ways to do this.  You can use a pastry bag with a long narrow tip (called a bismarck tip).  These kits cost about $10.  Or, you can do it the cheap way, like I did.  You can purchase a plastic condiment bottle for less than a dollar at Walmart.  Fill it with custard, poke the tip into the bottom of the donut, and squeeze the filling into the donut.  When it starts to come out the hole, you’re done.  To make the glaze, just mix the sugar, milk, and butter together until smooth.  Now dip the donut into the glaze and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Congratulations, you just made donuts!

 

Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes

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I know it’s a bit late in the season, but I’ve been busy.  Between an always entertaining baby girl and a trip to visit the family in India, I’ve been slacking on my blogging duties.  But here we are, back in action.

I live in the best place on earth if you want to eat local food.  Twenty minutes from my house are farm after farm after farm.  One of them has a lovely outdoor shop, filled with the freshest in-season fruits and vegetables.  The growing season here is long, and in November, I was able to procure fifty pounds of heirloom tomatoes.  Yes, that’s right, fifty pounds.  Why on earth would anyone need fifty pounds of tomatoes, you might ask?  Well, first, you’d have to taste these tomatoes.  They’re bursting with flavor, nothing like the watery tasteless things you get from Mexico during the winter.   So I got inspired.  I decided to roast and freeze them, so whenever I needed a delicious tomato dish, I’d have some on hand.

Roasing tomatoes is insanely easy.  Freezing them rather than canning is even easier.

 

There’s no recipe here, it’s just too easy.  First, decide what you’ll store them in.  I used large canning jars, because they’re cheap and I don’t like to store or cook in plastic.  Too many weird chemicals.  So get your containers ready and wash them, really well.  Next wash your tomatoes.  Cut them into somewhat even sized chunks.  Drizzle some olive oil on a baking sheet and place the tomato chunks on it.  You can really pack them in, no need to space them out.  Drizzle a bit more olive oil on top.  You can add a bit of salt, maybe some garlic and herbs if you want.  I roasted mine plain because I use them for so many different dishes- soups, pasta, pizza sauce, tomato paneer…  you can use them for anything, really.  Put the sheets into a 300 degree oven and let them cook until they fall apart, about 2-3 hours.  Check them occasionally, you don’t want them to dry out.  When they’re soft and pulpy and falling to bits, remove from the oven and let them cool a bit.  Load them into your storage containers and cool completely before freezing.  If you use glass, leave about 1/8th of the jar empty at the top because they will expand when they freeze, and you don’t want to break your jar.  There will be a lot of water left over, I kept it in a jar and used it for soups, sauces, and to make a killer tomato rice.

This is a LONG process, so it makes sense you’d need a lot of keertan to keep you going.

Recommended keertan:  Bhai Gurmail Singh jee, various shabads.  Just go to the media player, click “select all”, then “play selected”.   Should keep you busy for a while.  :)

 

 

Spicy Tofu Scramble with Biscuits and Gravy

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I love comfort food.  This hearty breakfast is a vegetarian take on an old standard.  Scrambled tofu with lots of veggies, biscuits from scratch, and country gravy with home made TVP “sausage” crumbles.   I made the “sausage” the night before to use on pizza, and I just knew I had to make gravy with the leftovers.    You have to wake up a bit early to make a breakfast like this, but it’s worth it.

Keertan:   Asa Kee Vaar,  Vancouver Samagam, May 2003

Tofu Scramble

  • 1/2 block extra firm tofu, crumbled into small pieces
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 1-2 Serrano chilies
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • handful of sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup chopped black olives
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric (haldi)
  • 1 tsp cumin powder (jeera)
  • 1/2 tsp medium red chili powder (deghi mirch), or to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 3 Tbs water

Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a heavy skillet and saute onions until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the chilies, bell pepper, olives and mushrooms, one at a time, and cook for two to three minutes.  Add the spices and cook for another two minutes.   Pour the water into the pan and mix well, then immediately add the tofu and stir until the tofu is yellow.  Add more water if it seems too dry.  Sprinkle the cheese on top, cover with a lid and turn the heat off.  Serve when the cheese is well melted.

TVP “Sausage”

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (sauf)
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • salt, to taste
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1 cup TVP (Nutri/Nutrela crumbles)
  • 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Mix together all the ingredients except water, TVP and oil, in a bowl.  Pour the water over the mixture and stir well.  Add the TVP, mix with a fork, and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Give it a good stir, then fry it in olive oil over medium heat until nicely browned.  Add more oil if it gets too dry while cooking.  Use this sausage for pizza, pasta, or whatever you like, but save the leftovers for gravy.

Country Gravy

  • 1/2 cup TVP sausage, recipe above
  • 2 Tbs butter
  • 3 Tbs flour
  • 3 cups milk
  • salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the sausage, cook until it’s warmed through and coated in butter. Sprinkle the flour over the sausage mixture and stir well.  Pour the milk over, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and keep stirring until it reaches the desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.  If it gets too thick after sitting a while, add more milk and adjust the seasonings as needed.

Easy Biscuits

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (maida)
  • 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Put everything except the milk into a food processor and pulse until pea sized lumps form.  Add the milk and pulse until just barely mixed.  Don’t over mix, or your biscuits will be heavy and dense.  Divide the dough into six portions and place on a baking sheet.  You can shape them with your hands if you like, but again, don’t over handle them.  Bake about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve split and covered in gravy.

Vegetarian Seekh Kebabs with Persian Cherry Rice

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I recently stumbled across a recipe for an Iranian rice dish with canned sour cherries.   I didn’t have any canned cherries around (not a big fan of canned food), but the recipe sounded good, so I improvised a bit and used dried cherries instead.  You could also make it with dried cranberries or even raisins (though it would be a bit sweet with the raisins).  It took me a while to figure out what to serve with it.  We usually only eat rice with really soupy curries, but I didn’t want a dish that would hide the lovely flavors of this rice.  So I decided to serve it with a kebab, because hey, it’s Persian.  To keep the dish from being too dry, I made a lovely cucumber mint raita (yogurt salad) to go with it.    It worked out really well.
The cherries and onions and nuts are supposed to stay on the bottom of the pan through cooking, so they form a nice crust which then becomes the top when you invert it onto the plate.  Unfortunately, when I added the boiling water, everything got all mixed together.  So be careful and add the water slowly.  It might help to hold a large spoon just over the rice and pour the water onto that, letting it spill over.  This should deflect it enough that it won’t stir up the rice.

Persian Cherry Rice

  • 3 cups boiling water
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2 Tbsp butter (use margarine for a vegan version)
  • 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups uncooked basmati rice
  • 1 cup dried cherries

Bring the water to boil.  In a large pot melt the butter and add the onions. Cook until the onions start to brown and almost caramelized. This will eventually create the tasty crust on top of the rice.  Mix in the sugar, salt & pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and pistachios. Stir well.  Add the dried cherries and mix well.  Spread everything in the pot into an even layer on the bottom, then cover with rice.   Add boiling water (gently!) and cover. Reduce heat to very low.  Let steam from 30 minutes to 1 hour. It will be ready when the rice fluffs up and gives easily when bitten. The inside of the rice will be more cooked than the top so avoid overcooking. Remove from heat when it’s reached the consistency you like.   Set a large plate big enough to cover the pot over the top of it. Flip both the pot and lid over and slowly lift off the pot.

Vegetarian Seekh Kebab

I decided to go with a veggie seekh kebab, because they’re easy and tasty.  You can basically use whatever veggies you want, just shred or mash and add to the mix.  I make my own ginger and garlic paste in the food processor, add a bit of olive oil to help grind it and it will keep in a jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks.  If you use bamboo skewers, be sure to soak them in water for 30 minutes before cooking, so they don’t catch fire.

  • 1 medium potato, cooked through and mashed
  • 1 carrot (shredded)
  • 1/2 cup mashed peas
  • 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
  • 1 tsp ginger paste
  • 1 Tbs garlic paste
  • 1 Serrano chili, minced
  • 1 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
  • 2 tsp chaat masala
  • 3 Tbs roasted garbanzo bean flour (besan)
  • 1 cup shredded paneer or tofu
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • olive oil for cooking

In a medium skillet, cook ginger and garlic pastes in a bit of olive oil for about a minute.  Add mashed potato, carrot, green peas, and cabbage and stir fry for a few minutes until they get soft.  Add amchur, chaat masala, chili, and roasted besan and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Stir in the paneer.  Add salt and pepper, mix, and remove from the heat.  Let it cool a bit so you don’t burn your fingers.   When it’s not so hot, divide it into 8 equal portions.  Take each portion and press around a skewer in a cylindrical shape.   Heat a bit of oil on a flat heavy pan.  I used a cast iron griddle.  Place the skewers on the pan, leaving enough room for a spatula to aid in turning them.  Cook on moderate heat, rotating skewer time to time so that kebabs cook all the way around.  Cook until golden brown.

 

Cucumber Mint Raita

  • 1 large cucumber, peeled and grated
  • 2 cups plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Mix all the ingredients together and serve cold.

 

 

Singapore Fried Noodles (vegan)

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Singapore Fried Noodles (Sing Chow Mai Fun/星洲炒米粉) is a popular Chinese dish that apparently did not originate in Singapore.  They seem to be named because of the curry powder, giving it an exotic South Asian flavor which is different from average Chinese food.  You can get a version of it in Malaysia, but it doesn’t have the curry powder and is much spicier.  In Penang it has a ketchup and chili based sauce.   Most people say this dish doesn’t exist in Singapore, but Singh Jee says he’s had it from street vendors there, so maybe it’s just hard to find.
Anyway, wherever it’s from, it’s super yummy and makes a great picnic food, because it’s dry and portable and tastes just as good luke-warm as it does hot.

Adapted from this recipe.

Recommended Keertan:  Giani Gurdev Singh jee - 2009 Dushera Samagam (New Delhi)

For noodles:

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon minced ginger
  • shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
  • 12 ounces of fine dry rice vermicelli (yes, you can even make them at home!)
  • 1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
  • 2 Serrano peppers, seeded and sliced thin
  • 1 cup bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups shredded cabbage
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrot
  • 1/2 block extra firm tofu, water pressed out, cut into small cubes.
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce (this can be had from Asian grocery stores, or make your own, or leave it out entirely)

For sauce:

  • 3 tablespoons Madras (hot) curry powder
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon minced ginger
  • 1 cup veggie broth
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce (yes, you can even make THIS at home!)
  • 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

 

Put the rice vermicelli in a large bowl and soak in enough hot water to cover, until the noodles are soft (about 8 to 10 minutes). Drain noodles and set aside.  Start by heating up 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the curry powder, the ginger, and the minced garlic, and saute until fragrant. Add the veggie broth, soy sauce, sugar, and chili flakes. Stir to combine and then cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large wok over high heat. Add in the remaining garlic and ginger, and stir-fry until the garlic starts to become golden. Add in the onion, peppers, sprouts, mushrooms, carrots, and cabbage one at a time. Stir-fry for 3 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften. Set the vegetables aside in a bowl.  Heat the last 2 tablespoons of oil in the wok over high heat.  Add the tofu and saute until golden.  Add in the noodles and the vegetables. Pour on the sauce and add vegetarian oyster sauce.  Mix the ingredients thoroughly to coat all the noodles and incorporate all the vegetables.

 

 

 

Eggless French Toast

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Sometimes you just have to have breakfast for dinner.  I’ve been craving french toast for a while now, but wasn’t sure how to make it.  I didn’t want to make a mess and waste my favorite white batter bread on something if it wasn’t going to be perfect.  I started to do some research and it seems there are about a million different recipes for vegetarian french toast.  I mixed and matched from a couple of them and this is what I came up with.  It’s pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.

Recommended keertan:  Bhai  Avtar Singh and Bhai Gurcharan Singh- Gur Satgur Kaa Jo Akhaae

  • 8 slices of almost stale bread
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 3 Tbs besan (chick pea flour)
  • 2 Tbs Bird’s custard powder (or you can use plain cornstarch)
  • 2 Tbs maple syrup
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • oil or butter for the skillet

This one’s easy, just mix everything together really well.  Add the dry ingredients slowly or it’ll be lumpy. Stir and stir and stir some more.   You need dry bread for this, so let it sit out overnight or use old bread or if you don’t have old bread, you can put it in a 250 degree oven for 8 minutes to dry it out a bit.  Dip the bread in the mixture and fry on an oiled skillet for a minute or two on each side, till it’s nice and brown.  Serve with syrup or powdered sugar or jam, whatever suits your taste.

 

 

 

 

 

Full of Awesome Banana Muffins

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That’s right, these muffins are full of awesome.  And full of other stuff too.  Whatever I had in the pantry, to be precise.  They’re based on my favorite banana bread recipe.  I was reading through the comments and so many of the suggestions sounded great, I used a couple of them, and added my own touch as well.  I added a streusel topping because I love that little bit of sugary crunchy goodness.   The original recipe is for bread, and this recipe can also be baked in a 4×8 loaf pan or an 8″ round pan, if you’d prefer a cake.  I like muffins because they’re exactly one serving size and they’re portable.  We take them as snacks when we’re travelling.
“Full of awesome” is a catchy phrase I picked up from my favorite girl-power blog and entrepreneur- Pigtail Pals – Redefine Girly.   It’s all about how kids so easily choose to be full of awesome, letting their light shine.  And about how we sometimes lose it when we grow up.  And so I’ve decided to take back my awesome, in every little way possible.  As a woman, as a mom, as a cook, as a singhnee.  I’m taking back my awesome, and I’m sharing it with you.

Recommended keertan:  Bhai Ranjit Singh (Jammu)- Delhi Samagam 2009

  • 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 Tbs plain yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (elaichee)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup of all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup roughly chopped nuts (I used cashews here)
For the topping:
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
  • 2 Tbs cold butter, cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).  With a wooden spoon, mix melted butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Mix in the sugar, yogurt, and vanilla.  Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, and cardamom over the mixture and mix in.  Add the flour, stir well, but don’t over mix. Stir in the coconut, raisins, and nuts last.  Spoon the mixture into prepared muffin pan (use paper liners for less mess).  To make the topping, mix all the ingredients in a food processor until it’s crumbly.  Sprinkle on top of the muffin batter.  Bake for 30 minutes. If you’re making bread, bake for one hour. Cake will be about 45 minutes (but keep an eye on it). Cool on a rack.

Curried Cranberry Beans

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There’s a town near where I live that has a yearly “Bean Festival”.  I wandered down there this year and ended up buying 25 pounds of various types of beans.  Yes, 25 pounds.  Beans are a staple in any vegetarian household, so variety is important.  I’m always seeking out new types of beans to try.  I found these organic cranberry beans at the Bean Festival.  Cranberry beans are also called borlotti beans, and are popular in Italian and Spanish cooking.  They’re cream colored with red stripes, or occasionally red with cream stripes.  You can get them dried or sometimes fresh in the pod.   They’re a close relative of pinto beans, but I think they’re more flavorful.   I prepared them in the way rajma (red kidney beans) is usually cooked, and they were delicious.

Recommended keertan:  Bhai Manjit Singh (Glasgow)- 2008 Amritsar Samagam Raensabaee

  •  2 cups dried cranberry beans, soaked overnight
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 Tbs minced ginger
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2-4 diced green Thai chilies
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
  • 1 tsp turmeric (haldi)
  • 1 tsp coriander (daniya)
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 4 Tbs olive oil, divided
I cooked these in a pressure cooker because I was low on time, but you could just as easily cook them in a large pot with a lid.  They’d probably need to simmer for 2-3 hours.
To cook them in a pressure cooker, place the beans with 6-7 cups of water (depending on how watery you like them) and 2 Tbs olive oil in the pressure cooker.   Fit the lid and cook on high until pressure builds up, then reduce to med-low and cook for 10 minutes then remove from heat.  While the pressure is going down in the cooker, heat the remaining olive oil in a large pot.  Throw in the the cumin seeds and cook until they start to splutter.  Add the onions and saute until they become soft, then add the garlic and ginger.  Cook for a couple minutes, then add the tomatoes and green chilies.  Cook until the tomatoes are soft and there’s very little water left.  Add the ground spices and cook for another minute or two.  Now pour the beans and water into the tomato onion mixture and stir well.  You can add more water if it’s too dry, or boil it to reduce if it’s too watery.  It’s all a matter of personal taste.  I like a bit of water with mine.  Serve with basmati rice and raita.  I guess I should put up a raita recipe.   Oh well, maybe tomorrow.