Afghan Nan

This was a simple bread from the Classic Afghan Cookbook. I've adapted the steps and amounts to what I used. This nan is traditionally cooked in a tandoor, like Indian naan, but the flavor is much more like a light pizza dough. The bread has parallel grooves, that give a unique look and texture. The bread is pictured with in our Ashak post.

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
3 grams dry yeast (or half a packet)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

In a bowl, mix the yeast with the water.
Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well and knead for 10 minutes.
Cover the dough and let it rise for one hour.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Liberally grease a baking sheet with the vegetable oil.
With wet hands, spread the dough flat onto the baking sheet. Flatten the dough out so that it is uniform thickness, and covers the entire baking sheet.
With wet fingers, run your fingers down the dough in a straight line, pressing and releasing every inch or so, to form wavy up and down grooves down the length of the dough.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the bread is slightly golden.
This bread is great straight from the oven, or lightly toasted after cooling.

Rainbow Couscous Salad

We haven't photographed anything in a while, but that doesn't mean we haven't been cooking. We brought this very colorful couscous salad to a family barbecue and everyone loved it. We were responsible for bringing a couple vegetarian dishes to a family barbecue last weekend, so we made a great light and creamy cole slaw and this couscous salad that follows. The dish is inpired by a couscous salad I had once at Marvelous Market, a local bakery/cafe chain that's a bit overpriced. We'll be photographing again soon, for now enjoy this light and delicious salad!

1 lb israeli couscous (uncooked)
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup pesto (basil, or whatever pesto you have on hand, no cheese)
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

Bring the vegetable stock and raisins to a boil. Once boiling, add the couscous, and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.
Once the couscous is al dente, stir in the pesto, until well combined.
Lastly, stir in the remaining vegetables.
Enjoy warm or cold.

Serves 8.

Campfire Salsa

Since our Tucson trip last month, I'd been dying to make a salsa using a good molcajete (the traditional Mexican mortar and pestle). What better time to make salsa than on a camping trip? You can roast the tomatoes and peppers over the fire and with a molcajete, clean up is a breeze! Just rinse with water, no soap. When buying a molcajete, be sure to choose one of quality, made from lava. The porous rock absorbs flavors and helps to season future salsas and guacamoles. So here's a very simple recipe for salsa that we used on our camping trip. Of course, you could make salsa without a molcajete, but many claim that this tool is essential to getting the correct slightly chunky texture.

vegetable oil
2 jalapeno peppers (use less or more for your heat preference)
2 cloves garlic
4 plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons, finely chopped white onion
1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped (optional)
salt to taste

special equipment needed:
molcajete

Lightly coat the peppers and tomatoes with the oil.
Roast the serrano and jalapeno peppers, and tomatoes, turning so that all sides char.
Remove the peppers and tomatoes from heat and remove the skin, using a bowl of cold water. If you desire a less spicy salsa, remove the seeds and white pith from the peppers.
Crush the peppers and garlic together in the molcajete.
Add the tomatoes one at a time and mash until the consistency desired is achieved. Lastly add the onion and cilantro. Mash slightly to mix in.
Serve straight from the molcajete.

Makes about 2 cups of salsa.

Prickly Pear Cactus Mojito

As I had mentioned a few weeks ago, Kevin and I went to Tucson and while we were there I brought back a souvenir ingredient to try out. Here it is, we made a southwestern twist on the classic mojito. Instead of simple syrup, we used prickly pear cactus syrup! The syrup gives the drink a wonderful magenta and a mild fruity background. It's a very nice, refreshing combination, you should try it!

1 1/2 tablespoon prickly pear cactus syrup
6 to 8 spearmint leaves
juice of 1 lime (about 2 ounces)
2 ounces rum
1 to 1/2 cups cubed or crushed ice
2 ounces club soda

In a tall glass, place the mint leaves, lime juice and the cactus syrup.
Muddle the leaves for 20 seconds to release the mint oils using either a muddler or a wooden spoon.
Add the rum, and stir.
Fill the glass until 3/4 full with ice.
Top off with the club soda club soda.

Makes 1 mojito.

Potsticker Dumplings

Kevin has had a hankering for dumplings lately. It's so easy to buy vegetarian dumplings frozen from the store or order them in a restaurant, but also very disappointing to find that they usually are filled with flavorless cabbage and disgusting MSG. Well, we've had ENOUGH! We are making our own potsticker dumplings. It's a little time consuming, but well worth it. They will have NO CABBAGE AND NO MSG. Just wonderful flavors and textures that we like, and we're making a ton so that we can freeze it and have plenty for future meals. Plus, you can steam them, pan fry them (like we did here) or deep fry them as crispy wontons. In this recipe, we add enough seasoning to the filling that a dipping sauce is unnecessary, you may adjust for your own palate. An interesting touch I learned from my mother is to include jicama into the mix. Jicama provides a slightly sweet and light crunch that really takes these dumplings to another level. The filling recipe can also be used for eggrolls, steamed buns (banh bao), etc. This is also a great recipe to get kids in the kitchen, I remember my brother and I having fun filling the dumplings and rolling up eggrolls. They're fun to make and fun to eat!

For the filling:
32 ounces firm tofu (drained, crumbled and pressed to remove as much water as possible)
2 medium onions finely diced
1 large carrots, grated
10 ounces of various mushrooms (oyster, enoki, etc), finely chopped
1 medium jicama finely diced
1/4 cup fresh leafy herbs such as wild betel (la lot), thai basil, or cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce or plum sauce
2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce or mushroom sauce
1 tablespoon sriracha sauce or other hot chili sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon grated ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Place the crumbled tofu into a large mixing bowl. Add the onion, carrots, mushrooms, jicama and herbs to the tofu and mix well.
In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, sriracha sauce, and ginger.
Pour the soy sauce over the tofu and mix to distrubute the sauce.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Making the dumplings:
150 potsticker/gyoza/wonton wrappers (about 3 packages)
water
1 filling recipe above

Lay a pot sticker wrapper on a flat surface. Brush edges of the potsticker with the water. Place 1/2 tablespoon of filling in the center of the potsticker. Fold the wrapper over the filling, making sure there are no air bubbles. Press down the edges to seal. Set aside dumpling and continue to use the rest of the wrappers and the rest of the filling.
To freeze the dumplings for future use, arrange the dumplings in one layer on parchment lined baking sheet so that the dumplings are not touching. Place baking sheet in freezer. The dumplings are ready to put in a freezer bag once fully frozen.

Pan frying the dumplings:
vegetable oil
water
dumplings from recipe above

Add about 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in a skillet on medium flame, and shimmy the pan to distribute the oil throughout. Add about 8 dumplings to the hot pan in a single layer.
Cook for two minutes or until nicely browned (takes longer if using frozen dumplings). Turn the dumplings and cook one minute to brown the other side. Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, and immediately cover skillet with lid.
After a minute or two, all the water should be absorbed and cooked away. Remove dumplings to serving plate.
Repeat pan frying for the rest of the dumplings.

Makes about 150 dumplings.

Mint Chocolate Birthday Cake for Kevin!

Last Thursday was Kevin's birthday and he asked me to make him a mint chocolate cake! I was surprised to find that this vegan cake recipe is so incredibly good! The ganache/frosting we used, while not vegan, was the perfect complement. This cake was great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. No pictures this time, we were too busy enjoying Kevin's birthday (and the cake)!

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cold water
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon peppermint extract
1 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) mint-flavored chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with
1 1/2-inch-high sides. (Or take things easy on yourself and use greased parchment paper!)
Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.
Mix 2 cups cold water and sugar in large bowl until sugar dissolves. Mix in oil, vanilla extract, and mint extract. Whisk in dry ingredients. Divide cake batter among prepared pans.
Bake cakes 25-30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans. Cut cakes around edges of pan. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Dal Stuffed Parathas

Take two classic Indian staples and combined them to make something wonderful: Dal stuffed parathas. Parathas can be stuffed with anything, so long as it is a bit mushy but not liquidy. This time we stuff with a spicy toor dal. It makes for a great snack, appetizer, or light entree. The paratha dough is super easy to work with, don't hesitate, stop by your local Asian/Indian market and make this today!

For the Toor Dal:
1 cup Toor Dal (yellow lentils) - you may subsitute other lentils if you like.
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 inch of ginger, peeled
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon garam masala*
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped tomato (canned or fresh)
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and clean the lentils.
In 4 cups of water, bring the lentils and the turmeric to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until the lentils are fully cooked and most of the water is absorbed, and the lentils are very 'mashable'. (Add more water if necessary.) Set aside.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium flame.
Add the onions, garlic, mustard seeds, and ginger. Sautee until the onions are translucent.
Mix in the cumin, coriander, garam masala and hot pepper.
Add the chopped tomato, and cook for 1 minute.
Pour the cooked lentils into the skillet. Cook, stirring until the mixture has a thick mushy consistency, adding water if necessary.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove ginger and discard.

For the paratha dough:
2 cups atta flour
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
water
1/2 cup atta flour for working surfaces
additional oil for pan frying

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the oil and salt.
Add enough water to the mixture to create a firm dough. (Start with 1/2 cup water and add more as necessary.)
Knead until well combined.
Allow the dough to rest under a moist teacloth for 20 minutes.


For the stuffed paratha:
Tear off a piece of dough (about 1/8 of dough) and shape into a ball.
On a floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a thin disc about 8 to 10 inches across.
Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of dal filling into the center.
Fold over one edge of the dough around the stuffing, fold another adjacent edge and pinch together the edges so that they stick.
Continue folding around the filling and pinching until the dough is totally sealed. Gently pat down to make a round fat disc.
With the rolling pin, very gently flatten the disc further, making sure not to tear the dough.
Heat a skillet over medium flame. Place paratha in the skillet seam side down. Drizzle oil in the pan around the paratha and shimmy the pan so that the oil seeps underneath the paratha. Let cook for 1 minute and flip.
Continue cooking and flipping until both sides are evenly browned. Set paratha aside on paper towels.
Repeat above for the rest of the dough.

Makes 8 stuffed paratha.

* Garam masala is a spice blend common to many tasty Indian dishes. Atta flour is a type of whole wheat flour used for many kinds of Indian breads; Both are very affordable and can be found at your local Indian or Asian market (check one out, most areas have at least one). Any brand should be suitable.

Hummus and Pita Chips

My office is very close to a Moby Dick's, a local kabob chain, which serves some pretty fabulous hummus. As my luck would have it, the Washington Post did a feature on the local chain with a quick hummus recipe. While the recipe called for canned chickpeas, we decided to take the long road, and try our hand at soaking the beans ourselves, using the printed recipe as a guide. I must say, using dried beans does make a difference in taste, and is well worth the time to soak and cook. Many cooks use baking soda in their soak water to quicken the soaking time, but according to this site, adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to your soak breaks down B vitamins like thiamin in the final product. These are important things to consider, especially if you are vegetarian. The resulting hummus was so flavorful, and a good amount thicker than the hummus from Moby Dick's. I suspect more olive oil, and using some of the bean cooking water would have helped thin it out, but the hummus was so tasty, we opted to just stick with our thick hummus creation. Instead of plain pitas for dipping, we toasted up some simple garlic pita chips. They are so cheap, tasty, and easy to make, I can't justify spending money on the packaged pita chips.

Hummus

1 lb dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup olive oil
kalamata olive and paprika (optional garnish)

Pick over chickpeas to remove any shriveled or broken ones as well as foreign matter such as dried soil or pebbles, then rinse and drain.
Place chickpeas in a large bowl, and cover with water, enough so that the beans are about 3 inches below the water surface.
Soak chickpeas overnight. Drain and replace water halfway through soak.
Drain chickpeas and place in a large pot. Fill pot with water enough so that the beans are at least 5 inches below the water surface.
Bring the pot to a boil and let boil for a few minutes.
Lower heat and let the beans simmer for about an hour and a half (or until they are soft, and fully hydrated).
With a food processor or immersion blender, pulse the garlic until it is coarsely chopped.
Drain the chickpeas. Add the chickpeas, tahini, salt and lemon juice and process until smooth. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a steady stream until well combined. Add more salt to taste, if desired.
To serve, transfer to a bowl and top with a sprinkle of paprika and the olive, if desired.

Makes a little more than 4 cups of very thick hummus.

Pita Chips

3 large thin pitas (largest, thinnest you can find)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix olive oil, garlic powder and salt in a small bowl.
Brush the olive oil mixture on both sides of a pita. Cut pita into wedges or whatever shape you want your chips to be.
Lay them on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake in oven for about 4 minutes, turn the chips over, and return to the oven for 4 more minutes or until toasted and crunchy, but not burned. (Thinner pitas may take less, thicker pitas may take more)
Repeat with the brushing, cutting, baking with the other 2 pitas.