Reiver found a soup recipe online the other day and we decided to give it a go. It's very simple, but did make a tasty soup. Although I'd be tempted to swap out the turmeric for ras el hanout next time.

While I tried to stick pretty close to the recipe for my first time making it, I did end up making a few small changes. I used whole (skin-on, bone-in) chicken thighs rather than skinless, boneless simply because that's what I had on hand. I used a much smaller quantity of dried herbs instead of the large quantity of fresh because, again, I was working with what was on hand. And I dumped in a bunch of frozen spinach toward the end of cooking, just to give it a vegetable and make it a little more nutritionally complete. I also left out most of the olive oil since I felt that there was sufficient fat from the chicken skin.

Red Lentil Soup with Chicken

Ingredients

• 600g chicken thighs
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced (or 2 Tbsp. garlic paste)
• 2L water
• 1 chicken bouillon cube (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. skinned split brown lentils (red lentils/Egyptian lentils/masoor dal)
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric (and/or ral el hanout for a more complex flavour)
• 1 c. fresh mixed herbs (parsley, dill, mint, etc.)
• 1 c. chopped frozen spinach (optional)
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Pat the chicken dry and season to taste with salt and pepper to taste. (I recommend ~1/2 tsp. of each.)
2. Heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat.
3. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and sear until skin is crisp.
4. Flip the thighs over and sear briefly on the other side.
5. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
6. Add the onions, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until soft and caramelized (~30 minutes).
7. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.
8. Return the chicken to the pot and add the water and bouillon cube (if using).
9. Increase heat and bring to a boil.
10. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through (~15 minutes).
11. Shred the chicken and return it to the pot, discarding the skin and bones.
12. Rinse the lentils and add them to the pot along with the turmeric (and/or ras el hanout, if using).
13. Simmer until the lentils are just tender (~10 minutes).
14. Stir in the herbs and spinach (if using), adjust seasoning to taste, simmer for a minute or two, then remove from heat.
15. Stir the lemon juice into the yogurt and set aside.
16. Serve the soup topped with the lemony yogurt.

Khichdas/khichdras are thick legume-and-grain porridges. This one contains wheat, rice, pigeon peas, and yellow split peas. They also generally contain beef, goat, or both. This one just contains a relatively small amount of beef, but I think that goat would also be excellent in it (either instead or as well).

This was one of those almost "too simple" recipes that made me a little nervous. Because while it contains a lot of legumes and grains, it doesn't have that much in the way of seasonings. It's mostly just cumin. Cumin, ginger, and garlic. And a little cilantro and coriander. But that's not a whole lot to hang your curry on! No asafetida. Not even any turmeric! But, honestly, it was still great! Even with the limited spices. And the beef came out ultra-tender!

While I won't go so far as to say this is a new "favourite", it was very good. It may not be as tasty as some of the other curries in the book, but it has an impressive tastiness-to-effort ratio! And it's also very cheap to make. The most expensive ingredient is the beef. And you only need half a kilo of that. And cheap stewing beef works just fine. So you don't need to spend a lot of money on the meat for it. And, other than that, it's dried legumes, rice, and wheat! All very affordable ingredients. And it makes a huge amount. So it's a great dish for feeding a hungry crowd.

Khichda

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. cracked wheat
• 6 c. water
• 1/2 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toovar dal)
• 1/2 c. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 1/2 c. long-grain rice¹
• 500g stewing beef
• 1/2 c. chile-ginger paste²
• 2 Tbsp. dhania-jeera masala
• 1-2 tsp. black cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds³ (optional)
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/4 c. ghee
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse and drain the wheat thoroughly.
2. Add it to the water and allow to stand at room temperature for 6-8 hours.
3. Add the wheat and its soaking water to a slow cooker or InstantPot.
4. Add the pigeon peas, yellow peas, rice, beef, chile-ginger paste, masala, black cumin (and additional regular cumin, if using), and 1 tsp. of the salt.
5. Either slow cook on "low" for 6-8 hours or pressure cook on "high" for 1 hour. If pressure cooking, allow for a 15-minute natural release. When the khichda is done, the grains should be very soft and the beef extremely tender. The consistency should be similar to congee/jook.
6. Once the porridge is ready, heat the ghee over medium-high heat.
7. Add the cumin and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
8. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, and cook for a minute or two.
9. Add the garlic-y ghee and the remaining 1 tsp. of salt to the khichda and stir to mix.
10. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

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¹ Iyer calls for long-grain white rice specifically. I reasoned that, given how long it cooks for, there's no reason why I couldn't use brown rice instead. So I tossed 1/2 c. of brown basmati into my khichda. It worked great! Would definitely do it that way again in future. ^Back
2 I use chile-ginger paste rarely enough that I don't bother keeping it on hand. For this recipe I just tossed 1/2 c. of store-bought ginger paste into the blender with 6 fresh green finger chilies and gave that a whiz. It did the job and saved me trying to find room for another jar in the fridge. ^Back
3 I find black cumin quite strong and don't like excessive amounts of it. Neither does TF. So when recipes call for blak cumin, I tend to scale it back a bit. For this one, I cut the black cumin back to 1 tsp. and then added an extra tsp. of regular cumin to compensate. ^Back

I'm not sure whether I like this or the PB&J cottage cheese bowl better. They're both very good. I think it probably largely depends on what sort of mood I'm in. If I'm really craving peanut butter, then some chopped pecans aren't going to cut it. On the other hand, if I'm craving something with a bit of crunch, then between the nuts and the crisp apples, this bowl has got me covered!

The original recipe only called for half and apple, but I like it with a whole apple in. I also replaced the walnuts with pecans. I think either would be fine, but I tend to like pecans better in general so that's what I went with here. They're not quite as budget-friendly as walnuts, but you're also not using very many of them, so it's not a huge difference overall.

Apple Pie Cottage Cheese Bowl

Slightly adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese (fat-free for calorie-counters)
• 1 apple, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. chopped pecans
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup (or "no sugar added" syrup)
• pinch (~1/16 tsp.) ground cinnamon

Directions

• Combine all ingredients.
• Stir, mix, enjoy!

I think this is my favourite of the cottage cheese bowl variations so far. I liked the savoury one with the tomatoes and cucumbers, but I liked this one even better. In fact, it's the only one that I've ended up having two days in a row so far!

The peanut butter is fairly calorically dense, but if you pair it with a low-sugar jam, it actually makes a reasonably healthy (and low-Point) breakfast. The original recipe calls for 1/4 c. of rolled oats, but I had a little bit of chocolate granola left, so I had it with that instead and quite liked it. I might try it with plain oats at some point, but I'm really liking the granola with it so far!

PB&J Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowl

Slightly adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese (fat-free to keep the calorie/Points count low)
• 1 Tbsp. jam (preferably a low-sugar or reduced-calorie variety)
• 1 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp. granola

Directions

1. Combine everything in a bowl.
2. Mix, eat, enjoy!

This sourdough cracker recipe is very similar to the one from Bon Appetite that I tried back in 2020. The main difference is that this one uses butter where the other one uses olive oil. It also makes a slightly smaller amount of dough with a slightly higher proportion of fat to everything else. The only other differences are in how you handle the dough. The BA recipe calls for kneading, but only needs to rest for 10 minutes. The KA recipe doesn't require kneading, but does call for resting in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. They both work well. That said, I think I prefer the KA recipe. Although, that preference may be at least partially down to the seasonings the Kidlet's friend picked to go into this batch: za'atar and garlic! Delicious!

Buttery Sourdough Crackers

From King Arthur Baking

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. herbs and/or seasonings of choice
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Directions

1. Combine the sourdough discard, flour, salt, herbs, and butter and mix well. Adjust with a little more flour or water as needed to make a stiff dough.
2. Divide into two equal portions, cover, and chill for 30-60 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and lightly flour a sheet of parchment paper.
4. Place one portion of the dough on the flour parchment paper and roll out very thin (1-2mm thick).
5. Lightly brush the top of the dough sheet with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt.
6. Cut into squares and dock (prick) each square with a fork.
7. Carefully transfer the paper to a baking sheet.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~25 minutes.
9. Repeat the rolling and baking process for the remaining dough.

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Variations

Aside from the garlic and za'atar flavour, these are untested recipes. I'm just writing down things that I sound good so that I can give one of them a try next time.

Garlic and Za'atar Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 1/2 Tbsp. granulated garlic
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. za'atar
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Cumin-Coriander Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Poppyseed Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. poppyseeds
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Balti Masala Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. balti masala
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Rosemary-Black Pepper Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 1 Tbsp. dried rosemary
• 1/2 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. granulated garlic
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Everything Bagel Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 1/2 Tbsp. poppyseeds
• 1/2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried minced garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried minced onion
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Nigella Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. nigella seeds
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Panch Phoron Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. panch phoron
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Spicy Fennel Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 1 Tbsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Tomato-Herb Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 120g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. dried minced onion
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Turmeric Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 1 Tbsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp. ground kashmiri chilies
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 4 Tbsp. coconut oil
• oil, for brushing

Caraway-Rye Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g rye flour (preferably freshly ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

Curry Leaf Crackers

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough discard
• 110g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus a bit extra for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. karuvapillai podi
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• oil, for brushing

I've been continuing to work my way through the cottage cheese breakfast bowl ideas from Budget Bytes. I've don't some of them with yogurt instead of cottage cheese, but I still want to try all the flavours. This is the only savoury option in the list. And it's pretty good. Especially with some furikake on top. It's still, I think, not a favourite for me; it's not something I see myself coming back to over and over again. But it was pretty good (if not amazing) and it was reasonably filling and didn't cost any Points, so it's got that going for it.

Savoury Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowl

Slightly adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese (fat-free for the WW crowd)
• 6 slices cucumber, quartered
• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 hard-boiled egg, quartered
• 1/2 Tbsp. furikake

Directions

1. Top cottage cheese with cucumber, tomatoes, and egg.
2. Garnish with furikake.

This was meant to be yet another cottage cheese breakfast bowl from Budget Bytes, but I decided that I'd rather do it with yogurt again. If doing it with cottage cheese, I think I'd be tempted to add a little lemon zest and/or juice. I think the lemon and bluberry would be a great combo! Or, if you wanted to go another way with it, you could try replacing the bluberries with cherries and maybe adding a little almond extract to the yogurt. Maybe even try replacing the slivered almonds with a little almond butter. I think that would be an excellent mix of flavours.

Blueberry-Almond Breakfast Bowl

Slightly adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. Greek yogurt or cottage cheese (fat-free if you're counting calories)
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract (optional
• 1 Tbsp. no sugar added syrup or 1/2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 c. blueberries (or cherries)
• 2 Tbsp. slivered almonds (or 1 Tbsp. almond butter)
• 1/4 tsp. lemon zest (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the yogurt, vanilla, almond extract (if using), and syrup and mix well.
2. Top with berries, almonds, and lemon zest (if using) and serve.

I've been continuing to experiment with the cottage cheese breakfast bowl recipes on the Budget Bytes blog. Today I tried the "tropical" breakfast bowl. It was alright. Probably not something I'd go out of my way for, but decent. I added a little syrup to it to kick up the sweetness a notch. I think it might be good with some of the tropical fruit blend I have in the freezer. I feel like the mango and dragonfruit might be a nice addition. (Not as budget-friendly as just using plain pineapple, of course, but that's fine for my purposes.)

Tropical Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowl

Adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese (fat-free for the calorie-conscious)
• 1/2 c. pineapple¹ or thawed frozen "tropical fruit blend"²
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened shredded dried coconut³
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. no sugar added syrup, maple syrup, or honey (optional)

Directions

1. Combine everything in a bowl and eat.

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¹ The original recipe called for drained canned pineapple tidbits. I used chopped fresh pineapple because they had some on mark-down at the grocery store. I think either is fine. Use whichever you prefer. ^Back
2 My tropical fruit blend contains pineapple, mango, dragonfruit, and coconut. Feel free to use something similar if you have it available. Or make your own tropical mix. ^Back
3 If your fruit blend already includes coconut, feel free to omit the dried coconut here. You could also try it with sweetened dried coconut (which is what I suspect Beth used). I don't routinely keep that on hand though, so I just went with unsweetened for mine. ^Back

This was meant to be a cottage cheese breakfast bowl but, after giving it some thought, I decided that I would probably like it better as a Greek yogurt breakfast bowl, so I swapped out the cheese for yogurt.

The original recipe called for 1/2 c. of the cottage cheese mixture to be topped with 1 Tbsp. of peanut butter and 1/4 c. of granola. Looking at the 1/2 c. of yogurt sitting in my bowl, I felt like those proportions were a bit off. So I doubled the yogurt, but left the topping quantities the same (although I did add a few strawberries because I thought they'd be nice with it).

The original recipe also called for sweetening the cheese mixture with a small amount of brown sugar. I did this for the first quantity of yogurt, but then didn't want to add any additional sugar when I increased the yogurt, so I opted to switch to a "no sugar added" syrup instead. If you're not counting calories, feel free to go with the sugar. If you are, then you can shave a few by using something like the diet syrup I used or a monk-fruit or stevia-based sweetener.

You could also shave some calories/fat buy replacing the peanut butter with peanut butter powder (defatted peanut flour). You still get the peanut flavour and the protein, but without the oil. However, I find that peanut flour often tends to give smoothies a somewhat gritty texture, so just be aware of that. Also, sometimes I just want to treat enjoy the luxuriousness of real, full-fat, freshly ground, delicious peanut butter. So that's what I went for today.

I've included a couple variants of this recipe below. Make whichever one suits you depending on what your goals are or what you have on hand.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Breakfast Bowl

Adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1-2 tsp. cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3-4 strawberries, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 1/4 c. granola

Directions

1. Add the cocoa, sugar, and vanilla to the yogurt and mix to combine.
2. Top with strawberries, peanut butter, and granola.

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Variations

Lower-Calorie Version

Ingredients

• 1 c. fat-free plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. cocoa powder
• 1-2 Tbsp. no sugar added syrup or a low-calorie sweetener of your choice
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3-4 strawberries, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. peanut butter powder (defatted peanut flour)
• 3 Tbsp. granola

This stir-fry is really meant to be made with Chinese/Tiwanese cabbage, but I didn't have any of that on hand and I did have pretty much the exact right amount of plain green cabbage, so... Green cabbage it is!

Cabbage Stir-Fry

From Woks of Life

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. 绍兴酒 (Shaoxing wine)
• 1 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 170g pork belly¹ or loin or chicken thighs, sliced (optional)
• 2 scallions, cut into 5cm lengths, greens and whites separated
• 5-6 cloves garlic, smashed and halved
• 2-5 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies, deseeded
• 680g cabbage (preferably Chinese/Tiwanese), hand-shredded into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 tsp. 镇江香醋 (Chinese black vinegar)

Directions

1. Combine the wine, soy sauce, sugar, and water and set aside.
2. Heat your wok over high heat until it just starts to smoke.
3. Drizzle in oil and swirl to coat the wok.
4. Add the pork (or other protein) and stir-fry for ~1 minute.
5. Add the white parts of the scallions and cook for ~30 seconds.
6. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic and chilies and stir-fry for another minute or so.
7. Increase heat to high and add the cabbage and the sauce.
8. Stir to combine, then cover and cook for 1-2 minutes.
9. Stir in black vinegar and green parts of scallions.
10. Mix well and serve.

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¹ I didn't have any pork belly, but I did have a few slices of bacon, so I just tossed those in instead. I think this would also be good with some marinated/bacon-flavoured tempeh or smoked tofu. Judy mentions that the protein element can be omitted entirely, but I did enjoy having the bacon in it. Even though I did use significantly less than the 170g called for. ^Back

Refried (or Not) Beans

I would've sworn that I'd already written this recipe up, but I can't find it anywhere on the blog, so I guess I forgot. I got the recipe off of the BudgetByte$ blog. In her version, she doesn't actually fry the beans. She just seasons them, slow cooks them, and then mashes them with a little of the cooking water. I've done it this way before and it works great. I didn't think they'd be as good without the lard, but it worked really well! That said, if you really wanna go for broke, you can make them her way and then also fry them up with some lard and a bit of extra onion. Both ways produce excellent results.

Not Refried Beans

Slightly adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

• 450g dried pinto beans
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 fresh jalapeño¹, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, bruised
• 1-2 tsp. chili powder
• 10-15 grinds black pepper
• 6 c. water
• 2-3 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Combine beans, onion, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, and water in a slow cooker or InstantPot. Do not add any salt yet!
2. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours.
3. Drain beans, reserving 1 c. of the cooking water.
4. Mash beans, adding some of the reserved cooking water to achieve the desired consistency. Make the beans a little wetter than you want them because they will thicken as they cool.
5. Add salt to taste.

Refried Beans

Ingredients

• 450g dried pinto beans
• 2 onions, chopped and divided
• 1 fresh jalapeño¹, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, bruised
• 1-2 tsp. chili powder
• 10-15 grinds black pepper
• 6 c. water
• 1/4 c. lard
• 2-3 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Combine beans, 1 onion, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, and water in a slow cooker or InstantPot. Do not add any salt yet!
2. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours.
3. Drain beans, reserving 1 c. of the cooking water.
4. Melt lard over medium heat. (Preferably in a large cast iron pan.
5. Add remaining onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown.
6. Add beans and reserved cooking water.
7. Mash beans and add salt to taste.
8. Cook until thickened but still slightly wetter than your ideal consistency. Beans will thicken as they cool.

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¹ For milder beans be sure to remove all the seeds and pith before chopping. For spicier beans leave the seeds and pith in. In a pinch you can substitute pickled jalapeño slices for the fresh, but fresh provides better flavour. ^Back

Somewhere between okonomiyaki and an unfolded omelette, this pancake consists largely of beaten eggs and cabbage with a few other things thrown in for colour and flavour.

Aaron's version involves adding a bit of bacon to the batter and then serving the finished pancaked topped with teriyaki sauce, bonito flakes, and mayo. I didn't have any teriyaki sauce on hand and didn't feel like making it. I also didn't have any bonito flakes. Or bacon. I ended up replacing the bacon with tinned tuna, omitting the bonito flakes, and using hoisin in place of the teriyaki. Quite a few changes from the original recipe for sure, but it still came out delicious! Great for a cheap, easy meal or midnight snack. I served it with egg rice balls, but you could have it on its own in a pinch.

Cabbage Pancake

Adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 70-80g shredded/julienned cabbage
• 20-30g drained canned tuna
• 1 large green onion, sliced on bias
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. oil
• teriyaki or hoisin sauce, to serve
• bonito flakes, to serve (optional)
• mayo, to serve

Directions

1. Combine cabbage, tuna, green onion, salt, pepper, and eggs in a bowl and mix well.
2. Heat oil over medium-low heat.
3. Pour cabbage mixture into pan and cook until underside is golden and pancake holds together reasonably well.
4. Flip and cook until other side is golden and pancake is cooked through.
5. Top with teriyaki or hoisin sauce.
6. Top with bonito flakes (if using).
7. Drizzle with mayo.

I've recently rediscovered Budget Bytes. I'd perused a few vegetarian recipes on the blog before, but I hadn't really given it a thorough examination. After going through it in some detail, I now have dozens of recipes bookmarked! I'm pretty excited to try them.

If I'm being completely honest, this recipe didn't excite me all that much. But I had coconut milk that needed to be used up and I had a bunch of bananas in the fridge, so it was something that I knew I could throw together quickly and easily. The resulting oatmeal is tasty. The coconut comes through well and the banana gives it a mellow sweetness without being cloying. The main problem TF and I both had with it is that it's not actually very filling. I'd be tempted to add an extra egg and a scoop of protein powder next time to see if bumping up the protein helps a bit. Serving it topped with yogurt, skyr, Nutella, and/or nut butter would probably also help.

Banana-Coconut Baked Oatmeal

Adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

• 3-4 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/3 c. unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 c. protein powder (chocolate, vanilla, or unflavoured)
• 1 (400mL) can lite coconut milk
• 3 c. rolled oats

Directions

1. Whisk eggs into bananas.
2. Add sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, baking powder, and sea salt and mix well.
3. Whisk in coconut, protein powder, and coconut milk.
4. Stir in oats with a spatula.
5. Pour mixture into a greased 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish.
6. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 30 minutes.

Jook/Congee

I've been in a big breakfast rut lately. The problem is that I like lots of variety but also minimum effort. I'm not a morning person and I'm way too groggy first thing in the morning to actually do much in the way of cooking. This presents something of a problem.

Lately, I've been craving congee -- or jook, depending on where you're from -- for breakfast. I like the idea of something warm and savoury and comforting that isn't eggs. (Nothing against eggs, I just don't normally feel like actually cooking them for breakfast.) I flipped through a few different recipes before settling on what I was going to do for this batch.

My first stop was Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking where I took a look at her recipe for bak jook or "white congee" and suggested accompaniments. This is a simple porridge of short-grain and glutinous white rice and water. All the seasonings and condiments are added at the table. She suggests salted (duck) eggs, fried peanuts, and fried noodles.

Next, I took a look at a short YouTube video featuring a jook with "lots of vegetables". It suggested including green onions, garlic, ginger, jalapeños, chicken, cabbage, snow peas, green beans, soy sauce, and sesame oil in your jook. They also made their version with brown, rather than white rice and topped it with cilantro.

And last, but not least, I had a gander at Budget Byte$ InstantPot jook recipe. They included garlic, ginger, chicken, shiitake mushrooms, and salt in their jook, which used jasmine rice as its base. And for toppings, they went with green onions, cilantro, chopped peanuts, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Those three recipes gave me a pretty good base to work from to create my own custom congee tailored to my tastes. I ended up using short-grain brown rice as the base and using a mix of vegetable broth and water for the liquid component. I followed the suggestion of including some aromatics and mushrooms and added some green vegetables (based on what was on sale at the grocery store) right at the end of cooking. Condiment-wise, I went with fried onions, sesame seeds, fried noodles, light soy sauce, and Laoganma (spicy chili crisp). There would've been fried peanuts as well if I hadn't burned them. And hard-boiled eggs if I hadn't forgotten them.

InstantPot Jook

Adapted from Budget Byte$ (and a couple others)

Ingredients

• 1 c. short-grain brown rice
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2.5cm (1") knob of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 200-250g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 6-8 pieces dried black fungus, crumbled
• 2 c. vegetable broth
• 5 c. water
• 50g pea shoots (or other vegetable of choice)
• 170-200g snow peas (or other vegetable of choice), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2-3 scallions, sliced

Condiments¹ (Optional)

• Laoganma (spicy chili crisp)
• sesame seeds (preferably toasted)
• chopped peanuts
• light soy sauce
• fried onions
• fried noodles
• boiled eggs (hard or soft)
• salted eggs²
• fresh cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Measure rice into InstantPot.
2. Place garlic and ginger on top, along with fresh and dried mushrooms.
3. Add vegetable broth and water.
4. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.
5. Leave on "keep warm" until ready to serve³.
6. About 5-10 minutes before serving, stir in the pea shoots, snow peas, and scallions.
7. Serve with whatever condiments you prefer.

This is an incredibly flexible recipe. Feel free to vary, increase, or reduce the inclusions based on what you find appealing or what's available and/or on sale.
Other inclusions that I think might go well:

• cabbage, shredded
• Brussels sprouts, quartered
• bok choy (especially Shanghai bok choy)
• gai lan
• broccolini
• carrots, grated
• sugar snap peas (mangetouts)
• tofu
• shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)
• dried black mushrooms⁴

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¹ I didn't end up using all of these condiments. This is just a list of suggestions and ideas. Feel free to mix-and-match as you see fit. ^Back
2 You can buy salted duck eggs but Eileen Yin-Fei Lo advises against this. She recommends making your own at home. I haven't tried this yet. I'll do a write-up if when I do. In the meantime, I'm happy with adding plain (unsalted) hard-boiled eggs to my congee. ^Back
3 You can cook your congee the night before and just leave it on "keep warm" overnight. ^Back
4 Not to be confused with "black fungus". Black mushrooms look like pretty typical mushrooms and rehydrate to a chewy texture. Black fungus, meanwhile, is a shelf fungus, if I remember correctly. Its form factor is more of a thin, crinkly sheet, black on top and white/cream on the underside. It rehyrates into slippery sheets that are normally julienned to make thin, jelly-tough, wobbly matchsticks. If I forget to rehydrate my black fungus ahead of time, I just crumble it and mix it into the liquid component of whatever I'm cooking. ^Back

TF and I used to make this quite often when we were students. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's quick. It's also pretty void of nutritional value if you just have the noodles and sauce without added veggies or protein... but that's pretty par for the course for student fare.

Since I no longer really enjoy just eating big bowls of starch, I braised a little bok choy with some garlic and ginger to go with my noodles. If I'd had the energy, I would've also added some baked tofu for protein. It's still not a great meal nutrituion-wise, but it's okay as a quick fix once in a while. Especially if you can use something like whole wheat spaghetti or soba for the noodles. (Not necessarily the traditional choices, but tasty and a little more nourishing than plain noodles).

Dan Dan Mien

Slightly adapted from Goons with Spoons

Ingredients

• noodles
• sesame oil
• 3 parts dark soy sauce
• 3 parts light soy sauce
• 3 parts black vinegar
• 2 parts Laoganma (spicy chili crisp)¹
• 3 parts natural peanut butter (or toasted sesame paste if you have it)
• 1 part brown sugar
• bok choy and/or other veggies (optional)
• meat and/or tofu (optional)
• green onions/scallions (optional)

Directions

1. Cook and drain noodles.
2. Toss with a little sesame oil to prevent sticking.
3. Combine soy sauces, vinegar, Laoganma, peanut butter (or sesame paste), and brown sugar. Mix well.
4. Portion noodles, add any veggies or protein as desired, spoon sauce over.
5. Garnish with chopped scallions (if using).

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¹ Original recipe calls for 3 parts chili oil and 1 part Sichuan peppercorn. I opted to use Laoganma (or, rather, a Laoganma knock-off) instead. ^Back

I needed something quick and easy for dinner and this fit the bill. I was able to toss everything in the InstantPot and set it to cook while I went out to pick up the Kidlet from school. Next time I think I'd add a bay leaf to the pot (and hopefully actually remember to serve it with lemon wedges), but other than that it was pretty good. I know it might be veering away from the "Spanish" theme a bit, but I also think a cinnamon stick would be nice in this.

The original recipe calls for artichoke hearts, but since I didn't have any on hand and TF finds them completely inedible anyway, I swapped them out for Brussels sprouts instead. I think the Brussels sprouts work decently well here, but they ended up overcooked and much softer than I would've liked. Next time I might steam them separately and then just toss them in at the end.

Spanish Rice with Chickpeas

Slightly adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika¹
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried onion
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder²
• black pepper, ~20 grinds
• 1 bay leaf (optional)
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 400mL diced tomatoes
• 1 c. vegetable broth
• 12 Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
• 1/4 c. fresh (flat-leaf) parsley
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Add rice, oil, paprika, cayenne, cumin, oregano, onion, garlic, pepper, and any optional spices to InstantPot or rice cooker and stir to coat.
2. Drain and rinse chickpeas if necessary and add them to the pot.
3. Add tomatoes, broth, and Brussels sprouts.
4. Cover and cook. Use normal cooking cycle for rice cooker and allow to steam for 5-10 minutes after cook cycle ends or 18 minutes on high pressure with a 10 minute natural release for the InstantPot.
5. Fluff rice and sprinkle with parsley.
6. Serve with lemon wedges.

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¹ I actually ended up using some hot paprika I had on hand instead of the smoked paprika. Instead of adding cayenne as well as hot paprika, I just tossed in a little sweet paprika. I think smoked paprika would've been good if I'd had any easily to hand. Next time (since I probably still won't have any smoked paprika) I'd use a mix of hot paprika and ground Kashmiri chilies instead of the sweet paprika. ^Back
2 Next time I think I'd add a clove or two of fresh garlic either instead of or as well as the powder. ^Back

The mushrooms for this were great. My only complaint was that there weren't nearly enough of them! And, although the potatoes smelled delicious, they weren't quite as flavourful as their aroma implied. I mean, they were still tasty, they just didn't quite live up to expectations. Next time I think I'd double the garlic and onion and add a touch more salt. (I'll make these changes to the recipe below.) And, if you happen to have any roasted garlic paste on hand, I wouldn't hesitate to add a generous teaspoon of that either instead of or as well as the garlic powder.

After tasting the potatoes and mushrooms (and seeing all the delicious, delicious mushroom residue in the bottom of the roasting pan) I decided that a pan sauce/gravy would go a long way toward giving this meal a little more oomph. A bit of water, flour, butter, and heat produced a lovely dark and aromatic gravy. I'm excited to try it with the leftovers tonight!

Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms with Kale Mashed Potatoes

Adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

Mushrooms

If you like mushrooms as much as I do, I recommend doubling all these quantities.

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 450-500g cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small red onion, sliced (optional)

Mashed Potatoes

• ~1kg russet (or other starchy) potatoes
• 150-175g black kale¹, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbsp. fresh (or lightly dried) flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. fresh (or lightly dried) basil, chopped²
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder (or 1 tsp. dried chopped onion)
• 1/4 c. Parmesan (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• pepper, to taste

Gravy

• 1 1/2 c. water, divided
• 2 Tbsp. salted butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour (any type)

Directions

Mushrooms

1. Combine olive oil, balsamic, brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and thyme and mix well.
2. Place mushrooms and onion (if using) in roasting pan and toss with balsamic mixture to coat.
3. Roast at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes, stirring and turning halfway through.

Potatoes

1. Cut potatoes into 1" cubes, place in pot and cover with cold water.
2. Bring to a boil and boil until tender. (~7-10 minutes)
3. Drain potatoes, reserving 2 Tbsp. of the water.
4. Add kale to (now empty) pot with the reserved water and olive oil.
5. Cover and cook on medium-high for 3-5 minutes.
6. Remove from pot and set aside.
7. Return potatoes to empty pot and add sour cream, milk, parsley, oregano, basil (if using), garlic powder, onion powder, Parmesan (if using), salt, pepper, and any other desired seasonings.
8. Mash potatoes to desired consistency, making sure to mix everything well.
9. Stir in kale.

Gravy

1. Remove mushrooms (and onions) from roasting pan and set aside.
2. Place roasting pan over medium heat and add 1/2 c. of water and scrape to deglaze the pan and release any stuck on bits.
3. Add butter, continuing to scrape and stir to lift as much as possible from the pan.
4. Sift in 2 Tbsp. of flour.
5. Allow to cook for a minute or so.
6. Stir in remaining cup of water. Keep stirring and mixing to help break up the lumps and clumps that will have likely formed.
7. Continue to cook (and stir) until gravy reaches desired consistency.

Assembly

1. Scoop 1/4 of the potatoes into a bowl.
2. Top with 1/4 of the mushrooms.
3. Pour a little gravy over and enjoy!

I've already noted my doubt about the basil in the footnotes. In thinking about it though, I think I'd like to experiment with adding more herbs and seasonings to these potatoes in general. I think the parsley, oregano, onion, and garlic work well, but there's room for improvement. I think next time I'd like to try adding 1/4 tsp. each of dried rosemary and thyme. And maybe a tsp. or so of fresh tarragon. I think the tarragon would go particularly well if you were including carrots in the mash. If you're having the potatoes on their own, without the mushrooms, I think fresh chives and parsley would be very nice in them. There are lots of different options here. Just a few tweaks could give you something that tastes completely different!

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¹ I only had one small bunch of kale left. I didn't bother weighing it, but I doubt it was anywhere near 150g. I decided to stretch it by mixing it with some chopped cabbage. I ended up using one small bunch of kale + 1/4 of a small head of cabbage. I'm pretty happy with the results. The cabbage works well with the potato. It definitely has a little less presence than the kale, but I actually like the mix of textures and flavours. I think it would be interesting to experiment with mixing other veggies in either instead or as well. I think carrots, sweet potatoes, and rutabagas/swedes would all work pretty well. I could also see creamed corn being a nice inclusion. Maybe even a bit of cauliflower. There are all sorts of options! Use what you have on hand and experiment. ^Back
2 I'm not entirely sold on the inclusion of basil here. It just doesn't feel like it jives with the rest of the dish and basil + potatoes is not a combo I'm used to seeing/tasting. I think maybe next time I'd experiment with adding a little dried rosemary (maybe 1/4-1/2 tsp.) to the potatoes instead. ^Back

Okonomiyaki (Cabbage Pancakes)

I've been in a bit of a recipe rut lately. But, in looking for inspiration on what to do with the head of cabbage languishing in my fridge, I found a great new (to me) blog! Just taking a quick look through the "vegetarian" category has already done a lot to restore my kitchen enthusiasm. I think I may try to Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms and Kale Mashed Potatoes over the weekend. And in the meantime, the okonomiyaki recipe was a nice way to use up some of the cabbage.

When I've made okonomiyaki before they've honestly been mostly pancake with a few veggies mixed into the batter. Tasty, but definitely very different from this incarnation that is 90% cabbage with a little carrot and green onion thrown in for flavour and just barely enough batter to (mostly) hold it all together.

These are fine served on their own with a little soy sauce or sri racha mayo, but if you want to round out the meal a bit, I suggest serving them with sautéed mushrooms and/or sliced SPAM. I actually stumbled across some spicy Szechuan SPAM at the grocery store a few weeks ago, so I busted out a tin of that to complement the vegetably pancakes. Obviously, if you're trying to keep things vegetarian, mushrooms would be the better choice. Cremini mushrooms cooked in a little garlic, dark soy sauce, and miso paste would be lovely as an accompaniment. King oyster mushrooms cooked in a teriyaki sauce or simply fried in butter would also work well. Or perhaps even steamed black mushrooms. You have a lot of options, really.

Okonomiyaki

From Budget Byte$

Ingredients

• 1/2 head of cabbage (~4-5 cups), shredded
• 1-2 carrots, grated
• 3 scallions/green onions, sliced
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
• ~1 c. flour (hard or soft)

Directions

1. Prep all your veggies, combine, and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients, adding flour 1/4 c. at a time. You may not need all the flour. Just keep whisking it in 'til the batter looks like a nice consistency.
3. Add the batter to the veggies and stir to coat and combine well.
4. Spoon a generous dollop of the mixture into a well-oiled pan and press to flatten into a pancake. Cook over medium-low to medium heat (depending on your range).
5. Once the underside is browned to your liking, flip the pancake and cook the other side.
6. Repeat with remaining mixture.
7. Serve with your choice of toppings and accompaniments: more scallions, sesame seeds, soy sauce, sri racha mayo, mushrooms, SPAM, etc.

Zunka (Toasted Chickpea Flour Curry)

This curry is meant to be served with bhaakar, but I also enjoy it on its own. Especially when topped with fried onion. This also makes a great "everything-free" sort of meal. It's vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free. I believe the lack of meat and dairy also make it halal and kosher-friendly (although I'm not as familiar with these diets, so check before you serve if this is important). The only dietary restriction that it doesn't really play nice with is low-FODMAP. The chickpea base means it's not really compatible with a low-FODMAP diet, so that might be a situation where you give it a miss. Other than FODMAP or maybe an onion allergy though, this curry should be fine for pretty much anyone. It's not fancy, but it's quick, easy, tasty, and satisfying. Definitely something worth having in the repertoire.

Zunka

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. Toasted chickpea flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 3 c. water¹
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 (red) onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 4 fresh green Thai chiles, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 c. fried onions (optional)

Directions

1. Combine toasted flour, salt, turmeric, and water. Set aside.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
3. Add the mustard seeds and cover the skillet while they pop.
4. Once mustard seeds have stopped popping (~30 seconds) add the cumin seeds and sizzle for a few seconds.
5. Immediately add the onion and chiles and fry until onion is brown around the edges (~5 minutes).
6. Add the flour mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
7. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with bhaakar (or flatbread of choice). Sprinkle with fried onions if desired.

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¹ Iyer has you add the water to the pan first and then whisk in the dry flour mixture just after the water comes to a simmer, whisking vigorously to avoid lumps. I thought this sounded suspiciously similar to the "common wisdom" method of cooking polenta. So I decided to adapt it to my favourite method of preparing polenta. Which involves adding the dry ingredients to the water while it's still cold and stirring only occasionally. This seemed to work quite well, so I'll be sticking with my method in the future. Feel free to try Iyer's method if that's more appealing though. ^Back

Mexican Rice

It's been a while since I last used my rice cooker cookbook, so I figured I'd flip through it again and see if anything caught my eye.

Most of the recipes in the chapter I was looking at seem to be recommended for a medium (5-6 cup) rice cooker, but they do note that they can be scaled up or down to fit other sizes. I have a 10 cup rice cooker, so I figured I'd just double the recipe to fit the larger pot. (10 cup cookers don't tend to do so well with small quantities of rice. Two "rice cooker cups" is about the the minimum that they can do a good job on.) This worked out well in the sense that the rice cooked up nicely and we got a tasty lunch out of it. However, once all the other ingredients were added, I was left with a huge quantity of "Mexican rice"! I will probably just make half the amount next time and deal with the less-than-perfectly-cooked rice.

Mexican Rice
1 c. long-grain white rice
1 c. stock (chicken, vegetable, pork... whatever you prefer)
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 grinds black pepper
2 Tbsp. capers
1 (15 oz.) tin diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) tin beans (black or pinto work well), drained and rinsed
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
sour cream, for serving
feta, for serving

1. Add rice and stock to the rice cooker and turn it on. (If you have a fancy-pants fuzzy logic rice cooker a regular, quick cook, or mixed cycle should be appropriate here.)
2. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion until it begins to brown. Add the bell pepper and cook until it just begins to soften.
3. Add the onion, bell pepper, black pepper, capers, diced tomatoes, beans, chiles, oregano, and cilantro to the rice cooker. Stir and replace the lid. If the cooking cycle hasn't yet finished allow it to complete.
4. Serve topped with sour cream and feta.

If you have a large rice cooker, the small quantity of rice called for in this recipe may not cook up as nicely as larger volumes usually do. Double the recipe if you're worried about this, but be aware that the finished product will fill your rice cooker! I doubled the quantities called for above and ended up with my 10 cup cooker filled to the brim. I actually only put in half the amount of beans called for because the rice cooker was already so full!

This is how much was left after TF dished his lunch up!

I think this would also be nice with brown rice and/or garnished with lime juice in place of the sour cream. I think I'd also try adding a couple cloves of garlic next time. In fact, I may sauté up a little garlic tomorrow and add it to whatever's left in the pot.

This makes for an extremely easy meal. And quite quick as well if you stick with white rice! Quick, easy, and tasty... what more can you ask for out of a meal? It does fall just short of being a one-pot meal since you have to sauté the onion and peppers (and optional garlic) separately, but there really isn't much to do in the way of clean-up after making this. It's pretty great.