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May 13, 2010
 

Recipe for veggies and cous-cous

Since moving to Montreal 3 weeks ago, I have been cooking about twice a day. Based on my experiments, I have come up with a recipe for a delicious and nutritious meal that is both cheap and easy to prepare. Here it is.

Equipment:

  • kettle (for boiling water, which can be done in a pot or microwave if you don't have a kettle)
  • skillet and spatula
  • pot
  • wooden spoon
  • cutting board
  • chef's knife
  • spice/coffee grinder (optional)

Raw materials:

  • 1/2 cup cous-cous
  • vegetable oil (e.g. olive, sunflower, canola, sesame)
  • 2 carrots
  • a handful of chives or 4-5 leeks
  • 10-12 fingers okra
  • 6-8 mushrooms
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • a few pitted black olives. [green may work but I haven't tried them]

Powdered spices (best made fresh in a grinder):

  • cumin
  • cilantro
  • turmeric
  • red chilli (go easy on this)
  • fenugreek
  • black pepper

Method:

  1. Grind the spices if you have whole spices and a grinder.
  2. Wash the veggies.
  3. Pour some oil into the skillet and put it on a low flame.
  4. Slice the carrots and add to pan.
  5. Chop the chives/leeks into itty bitty pieces and add to pan.
  6. Slice the okra and add to pan.
  7. Add half the spices to pan and stir.
  8. Chop mushrooms into quarters, add to pan and stir again.
  9. Cover pan with lid.
  10. Add a cup of water to the kettle and begin heating.
  11. Check your email and return when the kettle screams.
  12. Mix cous-cous with 1/2 cup boiling water, salt and remainder of spices in pot.
  13. Stir with wooden spoon and cover with plate.
  14. Turn flame off under skillet and stir contents.
  15. You have time for one more quick email check but don't forget about the food!
  16. When cous-cous seems to have absorbed all the water, ad a tablespoon of oil and fluff with fork.
  17. Add contents of skillet to pot and stir.
  18. Garnish with olives and serve. Serves one person with my appetite so probably good for two regular people.
  19. Don't forget to wash your dishes!

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November 15, 2009
 

Chilli and egg fried rice with raita

My roommate Tina recently bought me a bunch of red chillies and chopped up all the random veggies we had in the fridge so today I used them to cook myself a nice lunch and thought I'd share.

Ingredients:
  • a red chilli;
  • brown rice;
  • whatever veggies you happen to have lying around (e.g. carrots, onions, peppers, celery, etc.);
  • an egg (or two);
  • spices (fenugreek, cumin, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, pepper, sea-salt)
  • yoghurt.

Instructions
  1. Stick the rice into a rice-cooker with 3X as much water by volume and turn it on.
  2. Remove the seeds from the chilli and chop it into itty-bitty pieces.
  3. Pour some vegetable oil (olive or canola works nicely) into a wok (or frying-pan) and begin heating it on a medium-intensity flame.
  4. Toss the chilli fragments into the pan.
  5. Chop the veggies into wee cubes and add them to the pan as well.
  6. Grind the spices (except the salt) up into a fine powder.
  7. Wait until the veggies look mostly cooked.
  8. Add the spices to the pan and stir well.
  9. Reduce heat to very low and wait for the rice to be done.
  10. Add the rice to the pan with the salt and egg(s) then stir well.
  11. Turn stove off and serve with yoghurt on top.

The chillies end up being very spicy but this is easily countermanded by the secret of Indian cooking: you can eat an unbelievable amount of spices if they're drenched in yoghurt.

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September 19, 2009
 

Recipe for stuffed bell peppers

Ingredients:
Red, orange and yellow bell peppers
Pre-cooked wheat berries
pre-cooked canned beans
an onion
half a bulb of garlic
a couple of beaten eggs
shredded cheese
pistachios
walnuts or pecans
currants
tomato paste
sea salt
black pepper
oregano
basil
cayenne pepper

 Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Chop the onion and garlic into small pieces that you then sauté.
Mix them with the wheat berries, beans and eggs in a saucepan with half a cup of water and cook on medium heat while stirring until the water has almost entirely evaporated.
Turn of heat, add in everything but the cheese and tomato paste and stir until homogeneous.
Core the bell peppers, purge them of seeds and slice them in half.
Fill them with the mixture from the saucepan, followed by cheese and tomato paste.
Place on glass pan and leave in oven for 30 mins before serving.

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January 12, 2009
 

Boiled rice with steamed and fried vegetables and nuts

Not a very creative name but it tastes amazing. This dish was inspired by a rice-maker with a steamer on top. Here's how I make it.

Put 4 parts of rice for every 5 parts water into the rice-maker and turn it on. Slice the brussels sprouts in half and place them into the steamer. Cut out the stem of the chard then cut it into pieces and add it to the steamer. Place the steamer atop the rice-cooker so that the steam from the boiling rice will cook the sprouts and chard.

While the rice is cooking, throw some chilli flakes into a deep pan (or wok) along with some olive oil and heat on low. Slice and chop the leeks and bok-choy before throwing them into the pan. Grind some fenugreek in a coffee grinder, along with some black pepper and cumin. Toss that into the pan. Turn up the heat and pull the leaves of the parsley. Also grate a few garlic cloves and add to the pan. When the leeks and bok-chow are almost done cooking, toss in some crushed walnuts. You can add some pine-nuts or pistas as well. Wait a bit and then turn off the heat before tossing the parsley into the pan.

Mix the contents of all cooking vessels before eating. Here's a list of the ingredients:

  • rice
  • brussels sprouts
  • swiss chard
  • leeks
  • bok-choy
  • fenugreek
  • garlic
  • parsley
  • cumin
  • peppercorns
  • walnuts
  • pine-nuts or pistachios

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