This was supposed to be a chickpea and turkey meatball soup. But I got mixed up about what was in the freezer and discovered that while we still had ground beef left, there was no turkey or chicken. So I ended up making it with beef instead. And it was delicious! (Possibly not quite as lean and healthy as it would've been with turkey, but very tasty nonetheless.)

Chickpea and Meatball Soup

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 450g ground turkey or extra lean beef
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. panko breadcrumbs
• 2-3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Soup

• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1L chicken stock
• 1 bunch kale or mustard greens, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat.
2. Combine the mince, garlic, panko, Parmesan, egg, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix well.
3. Using very small amounts of the meat mixture, form tiny meatballs (~1.5cm across).
4. Place the meatballs in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
6. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened and beginning to brown (5-10 minutes).
7. Add the tomato paste and chickpeas and cook for a minute or two.
8. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the chicken stock.
9. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.
10. Purée half the soup and return it to the pot (or use an immersion blender).
11. Add the meatballs and greens and stir to combine.
12. Cook until greens are wilted and everything is heated through (~5 minutes longer).

I was originally planning on doing a turkey sausage and barley stew for dinner the other night, but then I found a whole chicken on sale. I had intended to cut it up and freeze it for later use. But I kind of ran out of time. And decided that rather than thawing out the sausages, making dinner with them, and then breaking down and freezing the chicken, may be it just made more sense to eat the chicken right away and save the sausages for another time. So, I ended up going with this chicken stew, which not only used up the chicken, but also the bell peppers that we had in the fridge going begging.

Spanish Chicken Stew

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 (1.5-2kg) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. butter, olive oil, or schmaltz
• 2-3 red or yellow bell peppers, finely chopped
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small (~400mL) tin diced tomatoes
• 2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. hot paprika
• ~2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 3/4 c. pitted green olives¹
• 3/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted and divided

Directions

1. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper.
2. Heat the fat over medium-high heat.
3. Place the chicken pieces, skin-side-down, in the pot and sear until crispy. Flip and sear briefly on the other side. Transfer to a plate.
4. Pour off all but 1 Tbsp. of fat from the pot.
5. Return to medium heat and add the onion and bell pepper. Cook until softened.
6. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
7. Add the tomato and both kinds of paprika and stir to combine.
8. Nestle the chicken pieces into the sauce, skin-side-up.
9. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through (30-40 minutes).
10. Uncover and add chickpeas, olives, and 1/2 c. of the toasted almonds. Simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Sprinkle with remaining almonds and serve.

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¹ I didn't have enough green olives on hand for this, so I ended up using a mix of green and kalamata. I do think the green olives went with the dish slightly better, but they were both good. ^Back

This was okay, but not amazing. It made a decent side dish to go with our braised chicken. But I did feel like it wasn't as flavourful as I would have liked for a dish full of umami-rich fungus.

I was disappointed to find that the only mushrooms it contained were in the stock. You make a stock with a mix of fresh and dried mushrooms, then strain it and throw away the solids and use only the broth in the rice. I wanted there to be actual mushroom in my mushroom pilaf, so I used some ready-made mushroom stock and then thickly sliced the fresh mushrooms called for in the stock and put them into the pot with the rice instead. Possibly I should have added the dried shiitakes as well!

As far as other changes go... I doubled the broccoli. Both because that's how much broccoli I had and because I wanted it to be more vegetable-y.
I also omitted the chickpeas. Not because I had intended to. But because I misremembered whether or not I had canned chickpeas in the pantry. And, by the time I realized that I was all out, it was too late to cook any from dried. So, I just skipped the legumes for this rendition. If I end up making this again at some point though, I will try to make sure I add them though. I think it would be a nice way to make it a bit more substantial.

And one change that I didn't make, but wish I had: reducing the liquid called for. The recipe calls for 2 1/2 c. of stock, so that's exactly what I used. But I found that my rice came out much too wet. I ended up having to give it an extra 10 minutes in the oven with the lid off just to try to dry it out a bit (and finish cooking the broccoli). Next time I'd try making it with just 2 c. of stock (and reducing the cooking time slightly).

Mushroom and Broccoli Brown Rice Pilaf

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Stock

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 225g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 7g dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 4 c. water

Pilaf

• 2 c. mushroom stock (from above)
• 2 Tbsp. dry sherry or white wine
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 225g cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 1 c. brown basmati rice
• 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme (or 1 tsp. dried)
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1-2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1/2 c. cashews, toasted
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions

Stock

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and cook until browned (10-15 minutes).
3. Add the fresh and dried mushrooms, celery, peppercorns, and water and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for ~40 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and allow to cool for ~1 hour.
6. Strain. Discard solids.
7. Set aside 2 c. of stock for the pilaf. Reserve the rest for another use.

Pilaf

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Stir the sherry/wine into the stock and gently warm the mixture over low heat.
3. Melt the butter over medium heat.
4. Add the onion and cook until softened (4-5 minutes).
5. Add the mushrooms and rice and stir to coat.
6. Add the thyme, salt, pepper, and warm stock and bring to a boil.
7. Cover and transfer to oven. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes.
8. Add broccoli and cashews, cover, and bake until broccoli is tender (10-15 minutes).
9. If your cashews are untoasted, you may spread them out on a small baking sheet and place in the oven for the last 10 minute of baking.
10. Stir in the cashews and pepper flakes and serve.

TF and the Kidlet both seemed to really like these. I thought they were okay, but not amazing on their own. I think they work better added to other things. I had a bunch of them in my soup and that was very good.

Fried Chickpeas

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 (~470g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• corn or peanut oil, for frying
• 3-4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 6 fresh sage leaves¹
• 1/8 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies
• coarse sea salt, ground

Directions

1. After draining and rinsing the chickpeas, dry them off as best you can.²
2. Pour some oil into a wok and heat to ~190°C (375°F).
3. Add the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add ~1/3 of the chickpeas and 2 of the sage leaves and fry for 4-5 minutes.
5. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and repeat with remaining chickpeas and sage in two batches.
6. Sprinkle with ground chilies and season to taste with salt.

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¹ I was all out of fresh sage, so I swapped in 1/2 Tbsp. dried sage instead. ^Back
2 The recipe suggests doing this with paper towels, but, since I was preheating the oven for another recipe anyway, I just opted to spreak the chickpeas out on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven while it was preheating. I found this much easier than trying to mess around with paper towels. ^Back

Our dinner plans got a little mixed up for tonight, so I ended up scrambling to come up with alternative ideas.

I remembered that we had a bag of perogies in the freezer, but the sauerkraut that we normally would've had with them had gone off!

Bex ended up frying up some onions and Beyond Meat with a little baby spinach and we had that with our perogies. However, dinner still felt a little lacking in vegetables. So I made up this soup to supplement the meal.

Chickpea and Roasted Tomato Soup

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 500g tomatoes, halved
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. Kashmiri garam masala¹
• 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/4 tsp. hot paprika
• 4-5 c. cooked chickpeas
• 4 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 Tbsp. sour cream²
• 4 sprigs fried rosemary³

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Place the tomatoes cut-side-up on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil.
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp. of oil over medium heat.
5. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the garam masala and both paprikas and cook for another minute or so.
7. Add the chickpeas and stock.
8. Once the tomatoes are done, add them to the pot as well.
9. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes.
10. Mash or purée about half the soup, stir in the sour cream, amd garnish with the fried rosemary.
11. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

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¹ The original recipe called for 1 tsp. of ground cumin, 1 cinnamon stick, and 1/2 tsp. of sweet paprika. I decided to replace those seasonings with the ones listed above. ^Back
2 We were all out of sour cream, so I was going to use a bit of whipping cream instead. Turns out we were all out of that too, so I just made do without any dairy. I think the extra richness would've been nice, but it was still fine without it. ^Back
3 If you have fresh rosemary on hand, then heat up some oil and either deep or shallow fry it for ~1 minute per side over medium-high heat. I didn't have any fresh rosemary, so I just took some whole leaves that I'd dried myself and added them to the pan along with the onion and garlic. This seemed to work well and provided a nice hit of rosemary flavour in the final dish. ^Back

I had to pull together and emergency back-up dinner in a hurry the other day and ended up landing on this potato salad recipe (after going through about four other foiled dinner plans). It's not the most exciting dinner, but it at least has a bit of protein and some vegetables -- and we actually had all the ingredients on hand! -- so I just rolled with it.

Only after I'd put the potatoes on to boil did I remember that I'd used up all the frozen green beans a couple weeks ago and hadn't restocked yet. I wasn't about to try to pivot to a different dinner plan yet again, so instead I did a quick switcheroo and swapped in some frozen peas for the green beans. Not quite the same, I know, but it still worked very well. Potatoes and peas make a great combo!

Two-Bean Potato Salad

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 125g fresh or frozen green beans, trimmed
• 570g potatoes, quartered
• 1 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh mint
• 4-6 green olives, pitted and chopped
• 1 Tbsp. capers, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. Roman mustard
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. coarse salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions

1. If using fresh green beans: bring a pot of salted water to a boil and blanch them for 2-3 minutes. Then shock in cold water. Save the bean cooking water and use to boil the potatoes.
   If using frozen beans: thaw and set aside.
2. Add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook until tender (~10 minutes).
3. Drain the beans (from their ice bath) and the potatoes (from the pot of boiling water) and place them in a large bowl.
4. Add the chickpeas, onion, parsley, mint, olives, and capers.
5. In a small bowl, whisk the mustard with the vinegar salt and pepper.
6. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking vigorously.
7. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir to combine.
8. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before serving.

I had intended to make a red bean stew for dinner last night, but I forgot to get it started in the morning and, since it takes a minimum of six hours in the slow cooker, not getting it started before noon made it a write-off for yesterday. Instead I had to scramble to come up with an alternative dinner option. There were a few possibilities, but I ultimately went with these chickpea burgers paired with a cucumber salad because I felt our meals had been a bit lacking in vegetables lately. These two recipes also had the benefit of using up a lot of leftover bits of ingredients that were hanging out in the fridge and pantry and needed to be used sooner rather than later. Perfect!

These burgers are nice, with some flavourful seasonings mixed in, but the toppings are really what make them in my opinion. The recipe calls for making a simple paprika mayonnaise and suggests topping them with thinly sliced red onion and lettuce. I had a small jar of quick-pickled red onions in the fridge, so I used those for my burgers and also added some thinly sliced tomatoes along with the lettuce, mayo, and onions. I think dill pickles would have been a great addition, but we'd just used up the last of my mom's homemade pickles and I haven't had a chance to restock yet.

Chickpea and Roasted Red Pepper Burgers

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Paprika Mayonnaise

• 5 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. hot Spanish paprika
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 drops liquid smoke

Burgers

• 1 small potato
• 1 can (~2 c.) chickpeas
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. minced pickled jalapeño
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 5 Tbsp. panko
• 2 Tbsp. minced flat-leaf parsley

Assembly

• 6 burger buns
• lettuce
• 1-2 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced or pickled
• dill pickles, sliced (optional)
• 6 slices Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the mayo, paprika, lemon juice, and liquid smoke. Mix well and set aside.
2. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, cut the potato in quarters, add to the pot, and boil until fork tender (~10 minutes).
3. Meanwhile, finely chop the chickpeas in a food processor¹. Do not purée!
4. Drain the potato and either cut it into small dice and mix it into the chickpeas or mash it in with a potato masher.
5. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
6. Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add the cumin, salt, pepper, and chili powder and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
8. Stir the garlic mixture into the chickpea mixture.
9. Add the roasted red pepper, eggs, panko, and parsley and stir to combine.
10. Form the chickpea mixture into 6 patties.
11. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the remaining oil over medium-low heat.
12. Add three of the patties to the pan and cook until golden brown on both sides, carefully flipping once (~5 minutes per side).
13. Split the burger buns and spread some mayo inside.
14. Add some lettuce and top with a cooked patty and whatever other toppings you want (tomatoes, pickles, etc.).

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¹ I used the "food chop" setting on my blender. That usually does a pretty well at standing in for a food processor. In this case, it got me most of the way there and I just finished the job off with a potato masher. Possibly I could've just gotten out the masher from the get-go and skipped the blender altogether. Might be something to try next time... ^Back

I, once again, found myself needing to come up with revised dinner plans at the last minute and, once again, I turned to a curry recipe to solve this. Shockingly, this curry is not a recipe out of 660 Curries! I was perusing the Dish of the Day cookbook and spotted this recipe and figured it would be a nice way to use up my last sweet potato.

I ended up adjusting the proportions slightly (adding more tomatoes and peas than the original recipe called for), but stayed pretty true to the original. And it turned out surprisingly well! I'm usually a bit wary of making curries from recipe authors other than Iyer, but this one turned out nicely. It wasn't an all-time favourite, but it made for a satisfying dinner. Especially with the addition of some brown rice and a few spicy turmeric pickles!

Chickpea & Sweet Potato Curry

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 fresh Thai or jalapeño chile, seeded and minced
• 1 Tbsp. Madras curry powder
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-cm dice
• 1 can (540mL) chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or ~2 c. cooked chickpeas)
• 1 can (400mL) coconut milk
• 1 c. water
• 1 1/2 c. frozen peas
• 1 small can (~400mL) diced tomatoes

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-low heat.
2. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, and chile and cook until onion is transluscent (5-6 minutes).
3. Add the curry powder and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Stir in the salt and pepper.
5. Immediately add the sweet potato, chickpeas, coconut milk, and water and stir to combine.
6. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until sweet potato is tender (~10 minutes).
8. Add the peas and tomatoes and cook until heated through (~5 minutes).
9. Serve over rice/pulao with hot pickles, chutney, and or cilantro.

This was tasty, but also annoying to make; it needs the zest and juice of a whole lemon plus some lemon juice, and wants you to use a food processor (which we don't have) to prepare the patties. We ended up making do with a potato masher and a blender, and I've revised the instructions somewhat to take into account some lessons learned there, but, likely as a result of this, the "patties" disintegrated in the pan and it ended up being falafel crumble.

Falafel Crumble with Lemon-Tahini Sauce

Healthy Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan (p. 72)

Ingredients

• Sauce
• ⅓ C tahini
• ¼ C lemon juice
• 3 tbsp yoghurt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 (440g) tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed, reserving 1 C of the liquid
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 5 fresh mint leaves, chopped
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 egg
• ½ C panko
• 4 pitas, split to form pockets
• thinly sliced tomatoes and lettuce for serving

Directions

1. Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk vigorously to combine; set aside.
2. Mash chickpeas in a large bowl.
3. Combine the onion, garlic, parsley, mint, lemon juice and zest, spices, and egg in a blender. Blend on low until until smooth. If there is insufficient liquid, add chickpea liquid in small amounts until the blender engages.
4. Combine blender contents and panko with chickpeas, mix well, and shape into 8 patties.
5. Pan-fry over medium heat until golden brown.
6. Serve in pitas with tahini sauce, tomatoes, and lettuce.

Warm Broccoli-Chickpea Salad

Broccoli has been on sale lately, so I've been looking for good ways to work it into the meal plan. I hadn't tried this "garlicky broccoli salad" yet, so I figured now was a good time to give it a try.

You start by making a caesar-esque dressing of Parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mayo, and red pepper flakes. You then toss that with your cooked chickpeas and add in some sautéed onions. The last step is to char the broccoli and let it get nice and dark on the bottom while the top layer steams. That gets tossed with everything else and, voilà, you have your salad.

Photo goes here.

Broccoli-Chickpea Salad

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2021

Ingredients

• 14g¹ Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 c. olive oil, divided
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. (1/2 fat) mayonnaise
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 (445mL) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground, divided
• 680g broccoli, stems cubed and florets cut into bite-sized pieces

Directions

1. Whisk together Parmesan, 2 Tbsp. of the oil, lemon juice, garlic, mayo, and pepper flakes until combined.
2. Stir in chickpeas and set aside.
3. Heat 1/2 Tbsp. of the remaining oil over medium heat.
4. Add onion, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes.
5. Add onion to chickpeas.
6. Add remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp. of oil to the pan.
7. Add broccoli, remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, and remaining 1/2 tsp. pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring once every 5 minutes.
8. Add broccoli to chickpeas and toss to combine.

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¹ More if you're not on a diet. The original recipe called for 28g of Parmesan. It also called for 1/2 c. of oil! (1/4 c. in the dressing, 1 Tbsp. for the onion, and 3 Tbsp. for the broccoli.) ^Back

I'm still experimenting with various "healthy" and low-calorie recipes. I was still hungry after dinner tonight and wanted a treat, but I didn't quite have enough Points left for a slice of apple-cinnamon bread. (And I knew that I wouldn't be satisfied with half a slice.) So I went in search of ideas for something tasty I could make for not too many Points.

I'd seen a few variants of chickpea cookie dough kicking around the Internet, so I figured I'd give one of those a go. The recipe author claimed that the dough tasted "INCREDIBLE" and that you couldn't taste the beans at all. She said that she used to bring chickpea-based cookies and treats into work all the time and no one could ever guess what her "secret ingredient" was.¹

I made this according to the recipe. It was... not good. It was not sweet. It was not peanut butter-y. And it did, in fact, taste of beans.

After adding more sweetener and more peanut butter it was passable. Still not great, but at least okay. I think with some more adjustments it might be possible to make this dough actually good, but it's definitely not there yet. Below are my, as yet untested, suggestions for what to do next time.

Chickpea Cookie Dough

Adapted from Well Plated

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. cooked chickpeas or white kidney beans
• 1 medium banana
• 6 Tbsp. maple syrup (or a "no-sugar added" pancake syrup)
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3/4 c. peanut butter powder² (de-fatted peanut flour)
• 20-25g oat flour
• 65g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Rinse chickpeas (or beans) very well and place them in a blender along with the banana, syrup, vanilla, baking powder, and cinnamon.
2. Purée until smooth.
3. Pour mixture out into a bowl and stir in peanut flour and enough oat flour the make a dough of your preferred consistency.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.

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¹ I would just like to point out, that not being able to guess the secret ingredient does not necessarily mean they were good, just that the ingredients were unexpected. ^Back
2 I may revisit using peanut butter either instead of or as well as the peanut flour, but I'm going to try it this way for now and see how it goes. I'd love to just use all peanut butter, but I don't think I'd have the Points budget for it. ^Back

We made this long enough ago that I remember little about it and cannot find the photos, if, indeed, there are any. I think it was tasty?

Summery Stuffed Peppers

Cook's Country June/July 2016, by Diane Unger (p. 12)

Ingredients

• 120mL olive oil
• 6 large bell peppers
• 1 500mL tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ~1 L baguette, cut into 1cm cubes
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• ¼ + ½ tsp salt, divided
• 8 green onions, sliced
• 60mL chopped fresh parsely
• 60mL chopped fresh basil
• 3 tbsp capers, chopped
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp pepper, ground
• 360mL crumbled goat cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475°F. Use 1 tbsp of oil to grease a large baking pan.
2. Cut off top cm of bell peppers. Reserve. Discard stems and seeds.
3. Place peppers and pepper tops in baking pan, open side down. Brush with 1 tbsp oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Bake until softened and starting to blister, ~20 minutes. Remove and place open side up so they can cool while you work.
5. Season insides with salt and pepper.
6. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
7. Mash chickpeas in a large bowl.
8. Chop bell pepper tops and stir into chickpeas.
9. Heat ¼ C oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
10. Add bread and cook until crispy-golden, ~7 minutes.
11. Push bread aside and add remaining oil, red pepper flakes, and garlic.
12. Cook until fragrant, then mix together bread, garlic, and salt.
13. Stir bread into the chickpea mixture.
14. Stir in green onions, parsley, basil, capers, lemon zest, lemon juice, ½ tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper.
15. Gently fold in goat cheese.
16. Fill peppers with chickpea filling.
17. Bak until filling is 100-120°F internally and browning gently on top, 15-20 minutes.

Chana Rajmah (Chickpeas and Kidney Beans)

An easy legume curry with a thick, spiced, tomato sauce. Iyer suggests that it's good -- if non-traditional -- with cornbread instead of or as well as rice.

Chana Rajmah

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. dried chickpeas
• 1/2 c. dried kidney beans
• 4 1/2 c. water, divided
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. panch phoron
• 1/4 c. fried onion paste
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies¹
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. jaggery
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse the chickpeas and kidney beans and place them in a pressure cooker/InstantPot with 4 c. of water.
2. Pressure cook (high) for 75 minutes followed by a 15-minute natural release.
3. Meanwhile, melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
4. Add the panch phoron and sizzle for 15-20 seconds.
5. Add the onion paste, ginger paste, and garlic paste, reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
6. Add the coriander, salt, Kashmiri chilies, and turmeric and cook for ~1 minute. Be careful not to burn the spices.
7. Add the tomato paste and sugar and cook for another minute.
8. Add the remaining 1/2 c. water and scrape to deglaze the pan.
9. Cook for a minute or two, then set aside until beans are ready.
10. Once beans are cooked, add the sauce to the pressure cooker and stir to combine.
11. Simmer, uncovered, over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
12. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

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Variations

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. dried chickpeas
• 1/2 c. dried kidney beans
• 4 1/2 c. water, divided
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. panch phoron
• 1/4 c. fried onion paste
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies¹
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. jaggery
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

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¹ The original recipe calls for 1 tsp. ground Deggi chilies or 1/2 tsp. ground cayenne + 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika. I didn't have any Deggi chilies, so I decided to swap in and equal amount of ground Kashmiri chilies instead of using the cayenne-paprika substitute. ^Back

I've been trying to work my way through all the khliî recipes in the book while I have a bit of khliî substitute on hand. This one made a very nice, if somewhat thick, soup.

Khliî, Chickpea, and Pasta Soup

Slightly adapted from the Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. dried chickpeas
• 1/4 c. split, peeled, dried fava beans¹
• 8 c. water, divided
• 1/3 c. brown lentils, rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2/3 c. khliî or 1 c. khliî substitute
• 2 Tbsp. fat from khliî or substitute
• 1/2 c. diced tomatoes²
• 1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne or ground Kashmiri chilies
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric³
• 1/2 tsp. ras el hanout
• 1/8 tsp. saffron threads, crushed and mixed w/ 2 Tbsp. hot water
• 2 Tbsp. crumbled dried aged goat cheese⁴
• 280g mhamsa or small Italian pasta (acini di pepe, orzo, bird's tongue, etc.)⁵
• 150g chopped kale⁶ (optional)

Directions

1. Soak the chickpeas and fava beans in separate bowls. Allow to soak for ~12 hours.
2. Drain the fava beans and transfer them to a pot with 3 c. of the water.
3. Bring fava beans to a boil and cook for 30 minutes, skimming as needed.
4. While the fava beans are boiling, soak the lentils for 30 minutes.
5. Drain the chickpeas. (Wolfert recommends peeling them at this point, but I never bother.)
6. Toss the onion with the salt and fat from the khliî and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.⁷
7. Shred the meat and add it to the pot.
8. Add the tomatoes, parsley, chickpeas, drained lentils, pepper, paprika, cayenne, ginger, turmeric, ras el hanout, saffron water, and the remaining 5 c. of water.
9. Reserving the cooking water, drain the fava beans.
10. Add the cooked fava beans and 1 c. of their cooking water to the soup.
11. Add the cheese.
12. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 45 minutes.
13. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and set a steamer over it. Steam the pasta, partially covered, for 10 minutes.⁸
14. Add the kale (if using) and the steamed pasta to the soup and simmer for a few minutes.
15. Serve hot. Goes nicely with a bit of extra cheese on top and buttered toast on the side.

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¹ I didn't have any fava beans on hand and I didn't want to go out and get a bag just for the 1/4 c. that I needed for this recipe, so I just tossed in an extra 1/4 c. of chickpeas instead. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for grated roma tomatoes, but I didn't feel like faffing around with a grater and I had some diced tomatoes in the fridge that needed used anyway, so I just tossed them in. ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for 1/3 of a tsp. of turmeric. Who uses thirds of teaspoons?! I just bumped it up to 1/2 tsp. and called it good. ^Back
4 Wolfert recommends Cypress Grove Midnight Moon. I've never seen that cheese for sale here and I doubt I could order it from the States, so I searched for alternatives. I ended up using a nice goat beemster. I think a high-quality, well-aged goat cheddar could also work. I recommend getting a bit more cheese than you need and sprinkling more onto each portion as you dish up the soup. It's very tasty that way. ^Back
5 I had ~250g of stellette pasta left over from an earlier recipe, so I just tossed that in. I think that was plenty of pasta for this amount of soup. But feel free to experiment with putting in the full amount if you like. ^Back
6 The original recipe doesn't call for any greens, but I really felt like a bit of kale would go nicely with the tomato and legumes. We actually ended up topping our soup with some leftover kale and beans and I think that wonderfully so, in the future, I think I'd be inclined to just add some kale directly to the soup. ^Back
7 Because my khliî substitute ended up shredded rather than sliced, I have found it fairly difficult to separate the fat from the meat. I ended up just using 1 c. + 2 Tbsp. of it for this recipe and putting it all in with the onion. I figured that since the next step was to add the meat anyway, it wouldn't make that much of a difference. ^Back
8 I steamed my pasta for nearly 30 minutes and it still didn't seem cooked yet. Also, it ended up clumping together in the steamer. I don't know if the issue was the style of steamer I had or the shape of the pasta or what, but it was definitely not done after 10 minutes. Or 30, for that matter. I ended up just dumping the partially cooked pasta into the soup and letting it finish cooking in there. Unfortunately doing this caused it to suck up most of the broth. I think it probably would've been better to drop it into the boiling water that I already had going below the steamer. Let it finish cooking in there, then drain it and transfer it to the soup. Oh well... ^Back

I picked up a bunch of cookbooks in a Humble Bundle a while back. I'm not really used to using digital/PDF cookbooks, so it's taken me a while to get around to using them. But I was in a cookbook browsing mood the other day, so I decided to crack one open and take a look.

This recipe is from the Vegetable of the Day Cookbook. It's organized like a calendar with one recipe for each day of the year.

I'm not really interested in trying to cook each recipe on the day it's assigned to in the book. But I do appreciate the collection of varied and somewhat seasonal vegetable recipes.

I thought about trying to start with a November recipe (for maximum seasonality) or trying to find something that looked like it would match thematically with the rest of the dinner. But, in the end, what I really felt like, was just starting at the beginning of the book and working my way though. So that's what I ended up doing!

The January 1^st recipe was for "spicy sautéed kale and chickpeas". I didn't have any tinned chickpeas on hand though and I didn't feel like cooking dried ones from scratch, so I decided to use cannellini beans instead. The creaminess of the beans actually worked quite well with the kale and chili flakes, so I think I will just default to using them for this dish from now on. I'm sure the chickpeas would also be good, but I think I prefer the cannellini beans here.

Spicy Sautéed Kale and Beans

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 450g black kale, coarsely shredded
• 1 (540mL) can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/8-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Warm garlic and oil over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, until softened (~7 minutes).
2. Add ~1/2 of the kale to the pan, cover, and cook for ~2 minutes.
3. Add remaining kale and toss to coat with oil.
4. Cover and cook until tender (~15 minutes).
5. Uncover and stir in beans, pepper flakes, and salt.
6. Increase heat to medium and cook until the beans are heated through (~5 minutes).

Couscous with Seven Vegetables

Wolfert gives a lot of variations for this seven-vegetable couscous. The "default" is the Fes version, but she also offers a Marrakech rendition as well as "mountain-style" and "with lamb's head". I haven't had a chance to try the mountain-style couscous with seven vegetables yet and I'm not planning on making the lamb's head version¹ at all, but I've now tried the other two, so I figured it was time for a write-up!

I am not completely confident that I managed to do the Marrakech version as I was supposed to. The Fes version involves separately cooking pumpkin with raisins and then adding them to the couscous afterward. Since I wasn't using pumpkin in the Marrakech version, I omitted the raisins as well, but I now wonder if I should have included them. (The couscous was still delicious either way. I'm just not sure if what I made was what the author intended.)

It's been a while since I made the Fes version, so I'm mostly going to be transcribing the recipe out of the book for that one without much in the way of additional notes or personal commentary. The Marrakech version is fresh in my mind though, so that one should be a little more fleshed out. As for the mountain-style and lamb's head variants, those I can't offer any insights on at all. But I'll include them anyway in case there is any interest. I can always come back and update this post if and when I get around to making the mountain-style recipe.

Couscous with Seven Vegetables in the Fes Manner

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried chickpeas
• 2-3 cracked lamb shanks
• 4 chicken wings + 2 backs
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. saffron water²
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 (7-8cm) cinnamon sticks (preferably cassia)
• small bundle of cilantro & parsley, tied together
• 4-5 very ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 3.5L water
• 200g carrots, peeled and cut into 5cm sticks
• 200g turnips, peeled and cut into 5cm chunks
• 450g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 450g instant couscous³
• 200g pumpkin, peeled and seeded and cut into chunks
• ~1/4 c. dark raisins
• 200g zucchini, trimmed and quartered
• 1 small cabbage, halved
• 1 Tbsp. ghee (optional)
• red pepper sauce (or harissa and extra broth)

Directions

1. Place the chickpeas in a bowl and add enough water to cover them by several cm. Soak overnight.
2. The next day, drain the chickpeas. Peel if desired⁴.
3. Place the drained chickpeas in a pot and add enough water to cover them by several cm. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
4. Place the lamb, chicken, salt, pepper, saffron water, turmeric, onions, cinnamon sticks, herbs, tomatoes, and half the butter in a very large pot and cook, covered, over low heat for 10 minutes.
5. Add the water⁵ and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and cook, partially covered, for 3 hours. Remove the chicken wings and backs after ~90 minutes of cooking.
7. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
8. Skim and discard fat from the surface of the broth.
9. Cut the meat into chunks. Discard any fat, gristle, or bones. Return the meat to the broth.
10. Bring broth to a boil and add the carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes, and chickpeas. Cook for 30 minutes.
11. Prepare the couscous through to the end of the second steaming (third steaming if using hand-rolled/non-instant couscous).⁶
12. Soak the raisins in water for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
13. Label a bit of the lamb broth into a separate pan and add the pumpkin and raisins to it. Cover, bring to a boil, and cook until the pumpkin is tender. Drain and set aside.
14. Steam the couscous once more (just 10 minutes this time).
15. Add the zucchini and cabbage to the broth and bring back to a boil. Cook until the vegetables are tender.
16. Strain the broth, reserving the meat and vegetables.
17. Correct the seasoning of the strained broth and return to a boil. Cook down to a volume of ~8 cups.
18. Dump the couscous into a serving platter and toss with the remaining 4 Tbsp. of butter.
19. Toss with the ghee (if using).
20. Use a fork and/or a whisk to break up any clumps and ensure the grains are all light and separate.
21. Gradually add up to 1 1/3 c. of the lamb broth to the couscous. (Hand-rolled couscous may be able to take up to 1 2/3 c. of broth.) You may find that you do not need all the broth.
22. Toss the grains again, making sure to break up any lumps. Let stand for 10 minutes.
23. Make a well in the centre of the couscous.
24. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the meat and vegetables to the well.
25. Add the drained raisins and pumpkin on top.
26. Serve with red pepper sauce and any remaining broth.

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Variations

Couscous with Seven Vegetables in the Marrakech Manner

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split fava beans⁷
• 2-3 cracked lamb shanks⁸
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. saffron water
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 (7-8cm) cinnamon sticks (preferably cassia)
• small bundle of cilantro & parsley, tied together
• 4-5 very ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 3.5L water
• 200g carrots, peeled and cut into 5cm sticks
• 450g sweet potatoes⁹, peeled and cut into chunks
• 450g instant couscous
• 1/4 c. raisins (optional)
• 2 bell peppers, cored and sliced
• 200g zucchini, trimmed and quartered
• 1 Tbsp. ghee (optional)
• red pepper sauce (or harissa and extra broth)

You may also optionally include pumpkin, turnips, hot peppers, and/or cabbage.

Mountain-Style Couscous with Meat Confit and Seven Vegetables

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried chickpeas
• 450g lamb neck
• 450g shredded "express" meat confit
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. saffron water²
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 (7-8cm) cinnamon sticks (preferably cassia)
• small bundle of cilantro & parsley, tied together
• 4-5 very ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter + 4 Tbsp. meat confit drippings, divided
• 3.5L water
• 200g carrots, peeled and cut into 5cm sticks
• 200g turnips, peeled and cut into 5cm chunks
• 450g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 450g instant couscous³
• 200g pumpkin, peeled and seeded and cut into chunks
• ~1/4 c. dark raisins
• 200g zucchini, trimmed and quartered
• 1 small cabbage, halved
• 1 Tbsp. ghee (optional)
• red pepper sauce (or harissa and extra broth)

Couscous with Lamb's Head and Seven Vegetables

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried chickpeas
• 2 lambs' heads
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. saffron water²
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 (7-8cm) cinnamon sticks (preferably cassia)
• small bundle of cilantro & parsley, tied together
• 4-5 very ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 3.5L water
• 200g carrots, peeled and cut into 5cm sticks
• 200g turnips, peeled and cut into 5cm chunks
• 450g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 450g instant couscous³
• 200g pumpkin, peeled and seeded and cut into chunks
• ~1/4 c. dark raisins
• 200g zucchini, trimmed and quartered
• 1 small cabbage, halved
• 1 Tbsp. ghee (optional)
• red pepper sauce (or harissa and extra broth)

The lambs' heads will need to be soaked in water, halved, cleaned, and tied together before cooking. Wolfert does not specify how long they need to be soaked for or how to cut or clean them. Perhaps this is something that is normally done by the butcher?
Once the heads have been sorted out, you may proceed with the recipe as outlined above.

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¹ I'm not put off by the lamb's head itself, but I worry about prions... I'd honestly really love to try brains at some point, but I don't think I ever will because it's just not worth the risk. ^Back
2 I don't use saffron water in large enough quantities often enough for it to be worth it for me to keep it on hand in the fridge. I usually just mix it up as I need it. In this case I crushed a scant 1/8 tsp. of saffron threads and poured over 2 Tbsp. of boiling water. ^Back
3 The original recipe was for 680g of couscous, but I got mixed up and only did 450g. That said, I don't think I would've been able to handle more than ~500g in one go anyway, so it was just as well. Even with just 450g, this produced A LOT of couscous. I'd advise against making more than that in one go unless you a) have a very large steamer/couscousiere, b) have a very large platter and c) have a huge number of people to feed! Seriously, we fed 7 people out of this, sent leftovers to two different households, and still have a huge container of couscous sitting in the fridge the next day. Proceed with caution! ^Back
4 I never bother peeling my chickpeas. I don't mind the skins and I find peeling them annoying (despite Wolfert's clever tips). ^Back
5 I could only fit 3L of water into my pot. Given the reduced amount of liquid, I opted to cook my broth fully covered rather than partially covered. This seems to have worked out fine. ^Back
6 Wolfert notes that the dish can be prepared in advance up to this point. Warm everything back up 30-60 minutes before serving and continue with the recipe as directed. ^Back
7 The instructions for this variation said to omit the chickpeas and chicken, but to optionally include fava beans. It was unclear whether fresh or dried fava beans were intended. Looking at the recipe again, I think it was probably meant to be made with fresh fava beans, but I made it with dried, so that's what I've written instructions for here. That said, feel free to leave out the fava beans entirely and substitute some other vegetable instead. ^Back
8 Although the recipe calls for lamb shanks, we were already having a lot of lamb for dinner and we have a lot of beef in the freezer right now, so I opted to use two beef shank steaks in place of the lamb shanks to make the broth. ^Back
9 I was intending to use sweet potatoes for my couscous, but I was unsure of the quality of my remaining sweet potatoes and I had some lovely fresh potatoes out of my parents' garden, so I just used those instead. Different flavour, for sure, but still very nice. ^Back

This dish was supposed to be made with barley grits/couscous, but I didn't have any and I didn't have time to grind my own, so I just used whole wheat couscous instead. The preferred method is, of course, to cook the couscous by steaming it three times and only adding the broth at the end of cooking. This really does make a big difference to the final result and makes the couscous much nicer. But I already had a lot of other things going on in the kitchen, so I skipped the steaming and just cooked the couscous by the instant way. I will write up and link to the steaming instructions (which don't seem to be on the blog yet) in a separate post.

Couscous with Beef and Leafy Greens

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. dried chickpeas¹
• 450g cracked lean beef shanks or short ribs (braising ribs), cut into 2-3cm cubes²
• 1-2 bunches Russian kale, broccoli rabe, or broccolini; rinsed, trimmed, and chopped
• 225g carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
• 225g parsnip, peeled and halved lengthwise
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 450g tomatoes, diced, divided
• 6 c. water
• 450g barley grits or barley couscous³
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 c. milk⁴
• 2 tsp. ghee or oudi

Directions

1. Place the chickpeas in a bowl or pot and pour in enough water to cover them by at least 5cm. Soak overnight.
2. Drain the chickpeas and transfer to a large pot or Dutch oven.
3. Add the beef, carrots, parsnips, and 1/3 of the greens, cover, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.⁵
4. Add the salt, 2 Tbsp. of the oil, onion, spices, and 1/2 of the tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 15 minutes.
5. Add the water and bring to a boil.
6. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until the meat is tender (2-3 hours).
7. Meanwhile, steam your barley grits/couscous.⁶
8. While the barley is cooking, brush the remaining Tbsp. of oil onto the bottom of a large skillet.
9. Spread 1/2 the remaining greens in the skillet.
10. Place the cilantro and parsley on top of the greens, then place the remaining greens on top of the herbs.
11. Cover with a paper towel and a heavy plate followed by a tightly fitting lid.
12. Cook the greens over low heat for 30 minutes.⁷
13. Uncover the greens and add the remaining tomatoes to the pan.
14. Cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, for ~10 minutes. Set aside.
15. Check on the broth and skim any foam or fat off the surface. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
16. Strain the broth and set the meat and vegetables aside.
17. Add the milk to the broth and boil it down to reduce by about half.
18. Stir in the ghee.
19. Moisten the thrice-steamed barley with ~1 1/2 c. of the broth. Use a whisk to smoothout any lumps.
20. Arrange the meat, vegetables, and greens on top of the couscous.
21. Let stand for 10 minutes.
22. Serve with a bowl of the remaining broth on the side.⁸

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¹ I swapped in 1 c. of canned chickpeas for the dried and skipped the soaking step. ^Back
2 I completely missed the part where it said to cut up the beef. This would've made it a lot easier to serve! Oh well, it was still delicious. If you do use beef shanks and cut them up before putting them in, make sure you still include the bones. They add great flavour! ^Back
3 As noted above, I didn't end up making barley grits, so I just used 2 c. of whole wheat couscous instead. (2 c. may or may not be equivalent to 450g of barley. I didn't worry so much about having the same amount, I just cooked what seemed reasonable for the meal.) ^Back
4 Goat's milk would be preferable, but cow or sheep can be substituted if necessary. ^Back
5 The recipe calls for adding the vegetables at this stage, but I would be tempted to experiment with adding them later. They were quite soft by the time the broth was done and I feel that it might've been better to cook the meat and chickpeas alone first and add the veggies part-way through. ^Back
6 As noted above, I skipped all the steaming and just made a batch of instant couscous using the broth at the end. It would certainly be better with properly steamed starches, but sometimes convenience trumps quality. Instant couscous does make this dish more accessible. Especially when you have other things cooking at the same time. ^Back
7 This seemed like way too much cooking to me. The greens were dry and beginning to brown after the half hour. Even though I'd had the pan on the lowest possible setting. Next time I think I'd probably try cooking them for only 15 minutes. ^Back
8 Pouring a little bit of extra broth over the couscous just before you eat it really makes a big difference. I highly recommend both broth and harissa as extra "condiments" with this dish. ^Back

This is a simple chickpea dish. Wolfert explains that this is a poverty dish; something you'd make if you can't afford to buy meat. The name is a humorous reference to that fact.

I rushed this dish a bit. I didn't soak the chickpeas for as long as I should have. And then I failed to add enough water to the pot. And I also failed to keep a close enough eye on it while it was cooking. So the pot boiled dry and I ended up with chickpeas that were too firm and a bit scortched on the bottom. It was still okay, but not one of my favourites. Even without the various self-inflicted problems I introduced, I just found the flavours a little too subtle. And that was after doubling all the spices called for. I'm glad I tried it. But I don't think I'll be revisiting this one.

The Bird that Flew Away

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 c. dried chickpeas
• 1/2 a large red onion, minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/8 tsp. hot paprika
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. ghee

Directions

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of water (they will expand as they soak).
2. The next day, drain and, if desired, peel the chickpeas.
3. Place the chickpeas in a pot with enough water to cover them. Be a little generous here. I didn't put enough water and my pot boiled dry.
4. Bring to a boil and add the onion, parsley, cilantro, paprika, turmeric, salt, pepper, and ghee.
5. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 45-60 minutes. Check on them periodically and add more water as needed. You want them to just absorb all of the water by the time they're done. The finished chickpeas should be very, very tender but not completely broken down.
6. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.

Palak Pakodi Kadhi (Spinach Fritters in Yogurt Sauce)

I decided to flip through the appetizer section of the curry book to look for dinner inspiration this time. We don't tend to make as many of the recipes out of this chapter since a lot of them are fried, fiddly, insubstantial, or some combination of the above. I felt like I could handle a little fiddly frying this week though, so I planned to make one of the beef appetizers and then picked out these spinach fritters to serve with it. (Two fried dishes, I know! But I figured I might as well go for it while I had the hot oil going.)

Palak Pakodi Kadhi

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

Fritters

• 2 c. chickpea flour, sifted
• 250g fresh spinach leaves, rinsed and chopped
• 2 tsp. bishop's weed/ajwain¹
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 3/4 c. water²

Sauce

• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1 c. water
• 1 Tbsp. chickpea flour
• 1 tsp. garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 2-4 fresh green Thai or finger chilies, minced
• 1 Tbsp. ghee or unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds

Directions

Fritters

1. Add enough oil to a wok (or other appropriate vessel) for deep frying and heat to 180°C (350°F).
2. Combine sifted four with chopped spinach, ajwain, salt, cayenne, and turmeric.
3. Pour in water and quickly mix to combine everything and form a thick batter.
4. Use ~1 tsp. of the batter for each fritter. Drop them into the hot oil and cook, turning occasionally, until golden-brown all over.
5. Remove from oil and place on rack or paper towels to drain.

Sauce

1. Meanwhile, combine the yogurt and water and whisk until smooth and homogeneous.
2. Beat in chickpea flour.
3. Fold in garlic paste, salt, turmeric, cilantro, and cilies.
4. Melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
5. Add the cumin seeds to the hot ghee and sizzle for 10-15 seconds.
6. Reduce heat to medium and pour the yogurt mixture into the pot with the cumin and ghee.
7. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened (~15 minutes).

Assembly

1. Place a few fritters on a plate and pour ~1 Tbsp. of sauce over each fritter.
2. If desired, serve with a bit of rice or bread to mop up any extra sauce.
3. Do not pour the sauce over all the fritters at once! (Unless you plan to eat them all very quickly.) The fritters will get soggy if they sit in the sauce for too long, so they should be served immediately.

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¹ Substitute 1 tsp. dried thyme + 1/2 tsp. ground black peppercorns if ajwain is unavailable. ^Back
2 Iyer says to use 1/2 c. water, but I ended up with more of a dough than a batter when I did this. I added an extra 2 Tbsp. or so, but I think a bit more water probably would've been better. Use your judgement. ^Back

Mirchi Waale Kala aur Kabuli Chana (Black and Yellow Chickpeas with Red Chilies)

I forgot that the grocery stores would be closed on Easter Sunday and thus couldn't get the bits I needed to make the chicken and potato curries I had planned. So I had to do a swift search of the curry book for an emergency back-up plan. I ended up setting on a potato-paneer curry and this mixed legume dal.

Mirchi Waale Kala aur Kabuli Chana

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. dried chickpeas
• 1/4 c. dried black chickpeas
• 1/4 c. dried kidney beans
• 1/4 c. whole black lentils (mapte beans/sabud urad)
• 3 1/2 c. water, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 10 whole cloves
• 3-8 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies, stems removed
• 4 green cardamom pods
• 2 (7-8cm) cinnamon sticks, crushed/broken
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse the dried legumes, drain, cover with hot water and let stand for 8-24 hours. For a quick-soak, place in pressure cooker, pressure cook for 1 minute, then let stand for 1 hour.
2. Drain the legumes, add 3 c. of fresh water, and pressure cook for 1 hour, followed by a 15-minute natural release.
3. Meanwhile, add 1/4 c. of the remaining water to a blender along with onion, cloves, chilies, cardamom pods, and crushed cinnamon sticks and purée.
4. Transfer onion paste to a bowl and stir in the ginger paste, garlic paste, and turmeric.
5. Melt ghee over medium heat.
6. Add the onion paste and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
7. Stir in the tomato paste and salt and set aside.
8. Once the legumes are done, open the pressure cooker and add the sauce.
9. Pour the remaining 1/4 c. of water into the pan that the sauce was cooked in to deglaze it and add this liquid to the legumes as well.
10. Simmer the dal over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. For thinner dal, keep it covered while simmering. For thicker dal, simmer it uncovered.
11. Stir in the cream.
12. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.