Channa Masala and Vegetable Rice

Here are the recipes for tonight’s dinner. The recipes came from a former co-worker of mine. This is different from standard curries from India. Rozmina is from North Africa.

Channa Masala and Vegetable Rice

1 tablespoon of oil

1 can chickpeas

1 chopped onion

1 chopped tomato

1 tsp of tomato paste (I omit this)

1 tsp of ground garlic

1 tsp of ground ginger

1-2 green chilles (I omit or use a small amt of green chille chutney)

fresh cilantro

I tsp of dried fenugreek or methi leaves

Salt

¼ tsp of turmeric

1 tsp of garam masala

1 tsp of cumin seeds

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottom panned. Add in the cumin seeds and chopped green chilles and fry for a bit.
2. Add ginger and garlic and cook for a minute.
3. Add chopped onions and when the onions are golden brown add in the chopped tomato and tomato paste and the rest of the spices with salt.
4. Let it cook for a while until the oil separates.
5. Add the can of chickpeas and let it cook.
6. Add in one cup of hot water and bring it to a boil.
7. Lower heat and let it cook for a few more minutes.
8. Last, add the coriander leaves and dried methi leaves.

Serve with Naan or rice.

Vegetable Rice

1 cup of rice

1 tsp of cumin seeds

2-3 whole cloves

2 cardamoms

1 cinnamon stick

Whole peppercorns

Salt

1 tsp of oil

1 chopped onion

Handful of spinach

½ cup of frozen peas

1. Heat oil in the pan and add in cumin seeds and all the whole spices until it sputters.
2. Add in chopped onion and let it cook well.
3. Add in the salt and frozen peas and cook for a minute.
4. Add 1 ½ cups of water and bring to a boil.
5. Add the rice and let it cook on high until the rice is ¾ of the way cooked.
6. Add the spinach leaves.
7. Lower heat and cover pan and let it cook
8. The rice will be ready in about 5 minutes.

You can use any vegetable in this rice i.e. carrots, green beans, zucchini, cauliflower, mushrooms, broccoli. You can also add in raisins and almonds.

Update

So things continue to go well. I am mostly meat free however I do find myself opting for quick veggie foods more than I would like – like frozen things I just have to heat up. It could be a result of the heat or it could just be me searching for easy comfort food things and not having enough of a veggie repertoire yet. I anticipate this will change.

My potato soup proved very popular here and I only got 2 servings so I think I will make some more today. Here is the recipe in case anyone is interested:

3 large onions

10 potatos peeled (I used red)

some butter

a litre of light cream or so

Cook the onions in the butter until they are translucent. Add the potatos and enough water to cover them. Boil until the potatos are very soft. If you have too much water, pour some off, add the cream and heat.

That is it, very easy and delicious!

In other news, my IBS seems to have calmed down. Not sure what that is about but I will take it where I can get it!! LOL

things are coming together…

So I have not been cataloguing my meat sins here but I have had a bit here and there over the last couple of days. I have to say that I have not been as enthusiastic about it as I once was. It actually does not seem to taste as good as I think it will. A couple of times it has not been great. The good news is that the cravings seem to be going away as well. I think part of the problem for me is that as soon as I restrict something from my diet that is all I can think about. It is crazy-making. I am also getting some ideas from the new cookbooks I bought. My dish for next week will be eggplant parmesan. I love eggplant!

Last night for dinner I made grilled zucchini pizza with tomatos on a tortilla like base. It worked well except the tortilla went soggy. I had baked it and I think that may have been the problem. So I will broil it next time on something that will allow air to circulate underneat. I also used an Italian cheese blend rather than mozzarella and found that to be too overpowering. I love fresh tomatos on pizza so that part was excellent. I think it would also be good with some cilantro but I couldn’t find any. Maybe I need to grow my own…anyone ever grow cilantro?

My soup from yesterday…

It was pretty basic. I cooked some barley first – about 1/2  a cup or so and when it was done I set it drain in a colander.

1 onion

some olive oil

1/2 pound of okra sliced

1 can of diced tomatoes

2 cups water or vegetable stock

1 cup cooked barley

2 tomatoes (I had them in the fridge)

1 can of chickpeas, drained

Brown the onion in the olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients except the barley. Cook until okra is tender. Add the barley at the end enough to heat it through.

I think it would be good with some cilantro added as well.