Tag Archives: dairy-free

Vegetable Khichuri-Curry or This Thing I Made Up

I first read The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni about eleven years ago. The most vivid and lasting impression was not of a great story (though it is fair) or of any particularly endearing characters, but of the feeling of having feasted on her words. I’m pretty sure this woman loves food. The story, in which the characters travel a vast swath of India, is absolutely saturated with mouth watering descriptions of hot, crispy onion pakoras, creamy mango lassi, dal, sparkling sugared candies, aromatic tea, and on and on. One of the meals that has a starring role is a khichuri, a meal made in poverty that becomes touched with a bit of magic, and has stuck with me (obviously) until now.

Let me stop right here and say I have no experience with Indian food. When I first read the book, I’d never even had the Anglo-Indian version, the generic curry. The Japanese steak house was about as exotic as things got growing up in my household. I’m calling this recipe a khichuri because the base is a mix of rice and lentils and a curry because I’ve whacked in a load of things like coconut milk, tomatoes, and spices, but it really is just this thing I’ve smooshed together.

I started as I would a risotto: oil, aromatics, and rice, and built from there. Again, making zero claims to cultural authenticity in either ingredients or technique. If you are doing an allergy elimination diet similar to mine this recipe is a great option (if you are testing for a nightshade allergy, this is not for you). I feel like this should be almost infinitely adaptable. If you try any different combinations, substitute in different ingredients, let me know in the comments.

Have you ever read a book that left you jonesing for a special food? Another of mine is The Pickwick Papers (Dickens); it always makes me want a picnic with cold chicken and cheese and pickles and things (basically, Feast). What are some of yours?

Vegetable Khichuri-Curry

serves 4-6 depending on how greedy you are

Ingredients

2 tsp coconut oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 small or 1/2 large onion
1 1/4 C rice (we used brown Basmati rice)
3/4 C green lentils, rinsed
1 large tomato, cubed
1 large zucchini (courgette), cubed
1/4 C tomato sauce or puree
2 C vegetable stock
10 oz coconut milk
1-2 C spinach leaves
1 Tbs curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne (you’ll be surprised how far it goes!)
salt
parsley, chopped
1/2 lemon

Directions

In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat oil, garlic and onion until fragrant and onion is releasing some moisture.
Turn on hood fan. . .seriously. Add spices and a generous sprinkle (1/4 tsp or thereabouts) of salt. Cook off until onions have softened and spices are toasted.
Add rice, and stir to incorporate with spiced onion/garlic mix.
Add zucchini and tomato, and another 1/4 tsp of salt, and stir, scraping up as many of the good bits stuck to the bottom of the pan as you can.
Add veg. stock, coconut milk, and tomato paste, and give it a good stir. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, add lemon juice, lentils, and spinach. Cook for a final 15-20 minutes. Taste for seasoning, adding salt (or other things) as you see fit)
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Stone Fruit Crumble

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The other night we finally had our first dinner guests. Some very good friends of ours graciously accepted our invitation despite it meaning that they had to drag their children out at night into our quite blatantly not child-proofed home. We had a blast! We still don’t have proper dining chairs or a baby gate for the stairs, or rug pads to make more easily (and safely) runnable areas, all of our furniture seems to have sharp corners and none of our floors are level–great combo–, but they overlooked all our deficiencies. Their children are fantastic and we always have a good time with them; it was a wonderful way to christen this home!

So, the grub: I made bbq using my dad’s secret recipe (which includes no measurements), sauce from Jason’s dad’s recipe, cabbage-kale coleslaw from. . .well, my brain, and corn with lime wedges and sea salt. Not so funny story- cooked properly a pork butt takes hours to cook, I mean, hours and hours. Well, roughly three quarters of the way through we must have had a brief power failure without my noticing it; by the time I found out the oven had cooled! So, add an extra 6 hours cooking time to the hours already gone by!! Lesson to take away- check on your oven even if it is not time to open your oven :). Amazingly, the Q still came out just fine.

For dessert we had what I think of as a “say goodbye to summer” crumble. Stone fruit season, for me, is the time when I begin transitioning from summer with all its sweet, hot languor to autumn, brisk, radiant, and a wee bit magical.

I used this dish as an opportunity to try a new-to-me ingredient: coconut sugar. I’ve been hearing good things about it for some time now, and thought I’d have a go. I really liked the results. It gave a rich, caramel-like flavor without the excess liquid you would get from maple syrup. This crumble is not only gluten-free, but dairy-free and vegan as well.

What is your favorite end of summer dish? Or are any of you in complete denial that the seasons are changing, holding on to every last minute of sunshine? If so, what is your favorite summertime dessert? Tell me about it in the comments; I’d love some good ideas!

P.S. Left over crumble makes a fantastic breakfast!

Ingredients

9×13 baking dish
blender or food processor
zester or grater
approx. 10 stone fruits (I used a mixture of plums, pluots, and nectarines)
2 Tbs. corn starch
1 Tbs. water
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 1/4 cup blond coconut sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (or make it all coconut. . .or honey or maple or just plain cane)
2 cups g.f. whole rolled oats
2 cups mixed nuts and seeds ( I used almonds, walnuts, pecans, hemp and flax because that is what I have on hand)
3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Wash and dry fruits. Cut into 1 inch chunks and place directly in baking dish. Combine corn starch and water in small bowl until smooth; pour this mixture over the fruit. Add lemon juice and zest, and 3/4 c. coconut sugar. Mix to thoroughly coat fruit.

(Note: if you like your topping very chunky you can skip processing the oats. I find that this helps to make the topping slightly more cohesive (and a nicer texture to me).)

In food processor combine oats, all remaining sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Pulse until a very rough meal forms. You don’t want to break the oats down completely, just rough them up a bit. Remove mix to large bowl. If using almonds in your nut mix, pulse those all by themselves until broken up into chunks (almonds are harder than many other nuts and if you try to process, say, almonds and pecans together, the pecans will turn to dust before the almonds are properly chunky). Add almond chunks to large bowl. Pulse remaining nuts and add to bowl. Stir to combine, pour coconut oil over the lot, and then mix until all ingredients are thoroughly coated.

Spread topping out evenly over fruit. Bake in oven for approx. 50 minutes. The crumble should be beautifully brown with gorgeous juices bubbling round the edges. Cool for at least 45 minutes to and hour before eating so that it may “set”.

Soup of the Day: Summertime Black Bean Soup

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I don’t know about you, but growing up in the south soup was not a summer food. At least not in my house. We ate cold food whenever possible, and my mother did her best to forget that we owned a stove (not a judgment, just the facts: she is the best mother in the world and she will be the first to tell you that she gets “hurmpy”– hot grumpy). Given that background, I was surprised to find on our recent trip to Mexico that soup was served every day. Yes, in Mexico, during their hottest season, delicious, delectable soups were offered every evening: beet soup, lentil, vegetable, chickpea, onion. . .they were varied and, despite the heat, perfect.

Well, I suppose Jason took a liking to the idea; in spite of the 90 degree plus weather here in Virginia he has requested soup a few times since we came home. The one I’m going to share with you today we eat as a full meal, rather than a soup course, but I imagine you could make it fit beautifully into a larger menu.

This recipe is inspired by a long time favorite from the Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon, Cuban Black Bean Soup Santa Fe. If you are on the lookout for a fantastic and healthy cookbook that you will turn to again and again, I highly recommend this one. Beyond that, I suppose both our recent trip and the beautiful, abundant produce available at the market just now are responsible for the evolution of this soup. Doing the Allergy Elimination Diet? This soup is a great option for you. Enjoy. (Please forgive the rotten pictures; I just can’t seem to work the camera properly these days :S ).

Summertime Black Bean Soup with Roasted Corn and Avocado Salsa

makes 5 -6 main course servings

Soup Ingredients:

2 cups dried black beans, rinsed, picked over, and soaked in water to cover

2 bay leaves

2 Tbs cumin seeds

1 large jalapeno, chopped with seeds

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large white onion, medium dice

2 green bell peppers, medium dice

6 cloves garlic, sliced or uniformly chopped

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

Soak beans overnight in enough water to cover (four cups is a good starting number). In large pot or slow cooker, combine beans with soaking water, cumin seeds, jalapeno, bay leaves and 1 tsp of salt. Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and bring to a simmer, cooking, partially covered, until beans are tender, roughly 2 hours.

In a large skillet add olive oil and garlic and turn to medium heat. When garlic becomes fragrant, add diced peppers and onion. Season with salt and pepper (start with no more than half a tsp of salt. . .you can always add more, but you can’t take away). The goal here is to sweat the vegetables, not brown them, so keep the heat gentle as you sautee then until softened.

When the beans are tender and the vegetables are softened, using an immersion blender or food processor, blend half the beans (being sure to include the two bay leaves) and 1/4 to 1/3 of the vegetables together until thick and smooth. Add this and the vegetable mixture to the remaining beans in your large pot. Stir thoroughly to combine and taste for seasoning. Simmer for another 20 minutes. Serve garnished with roasted corn and avocado salsa.

Roasted Corn and Avocado Salsa

Ingredients:

2 ears of corn

2 ripe avocados

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

lemon or lime

1/8 tsp. chipotle chili powder

Directions:

Set oven to broil. Line baking sheet with foil. Remove husks from corn; cut avocados in half and remove seed. Rub corn and avocado lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil, turning as needed until uniformly charred. Avocados will finish before corn. When cool enough to touch cut corn from cob, remove avocado from skin and cube. Combine corn, avocado, cilantro, chipotle chili powder and the juice of 1 lemon or lime.

Black Rice Jewel Box Salad

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For a whole host of reasons, we are not having a Christmas tree in our condo this year. First, thanks to Hurricane Sandy, we only have half a floor. Second, we are making a long visit home to the land of cotton blossoms for the holidays. Third, there is a distinct possibility that I am allergic to them (usually that would not be a factor for consideration, but this year, as my doctor put it yesterday, I’m already behind the eight ball!). Finally, all of our Christmas decorations are in storage, as we eagerly anticipated the possibility of having sold our condo by now. By the way, yes, the whole losing our floor bit really put a damper on our plans to get this place on the market in a hurry. On the plus side, we know we will be passing on a mold-free, beautifully re-floored and re-doored apartment to the eventual owners, and that is a nice, cozy feeling!

Because we don’t have any holiday decorations up, my soul has been longing for some traditional seasonal color and sparkle. Say hello to Christmas on a plate!

Aren’t the colors gorgeous? We had a bit of black rice left over in the pantry from the last time we made Broiled Salmon with Spicy Greens and Black Rice, and green beans that didn’t all make it into this fabulous dish. Tiny clementine segments and small diced red onion are fantastic, but the star on top is the pomegranate seeds. Breaking into the luscious, glimmering interior of a pomegranate is an aesthetically satisfying experience for me. You can see why some scholars believe the fruit in the garden that tempted Adam and Eve was not an apple, but this glorious jewel box of an hundred rubies.

A light vinaigrette to pull all the flavors together, and your salad is complete. We had ours with garlic crusted lamb chops; how would you serve it? Do you have a food that sings “Happy Holidays” to your soul? Leave a note in the comments below, and tell me all about it!

This recipe is great for those on the Allergy Elimination Diet. IF you are testing for citrus (i.e. have eliminated citrus from your diet) be sure to substitute another fruit or veg. for the clementine slices! Fresh carrot slices would give the same beautiful color and a fantastic crunch to boot! This salad opens itself to a world of easy substitution; play around and make it your own.

Black Rice Jewel Box Salad

serves 4-6 as a side

Salad

2 cups of cooked rice, cooled slightly

1/4 of a small red onion, small dice

2 clementines (or carrots), segmented (or slices)

handful of fresh green beans, sliced on the diagonal

pomegranate seeds

Vinaigrette

1 Tbs sherry or red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp maple syrup

2 1/2 Tbs olive oil

Assemble salad. Place vinegar and salt in mason jar or bowl, and agitate until salt has dissolved. Add mustard and maple, and shake or whisk to combine. Now add oil, and shake it like a piggy bank!

Allergy Elimination Diet Baked Apples