Turnip Greens and Black-Eyed Peas flavored with Cumin, Coconut, Chili

Black-eyed peas, much like other legumes of its kind, is full of protein and fiber, with health benefits that make it a friendly food to incorporate. My mom used to make chundal, koottu, even simple dal with it.

The title, Turnip Greens and Black-Eyed Peas flavored with Cumin, Coconut, Chili, says it all, basically. The recipe here uses turnip greens with black-eyed peas, but any other greens, or no greens at all will still work with this cumin-coconut-chili paste.

Serve with simple roti or naan or plain hot basmati rice with home-made flavored ghee. Or, enjoy is as-is.

Ingredients
2 cups fresh chopped turnip greens
2 cups cooked black-eyed peas
½ medium onion, finely diced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic finely minced
water as needed
salt to taste
1 Tbsp canola oil
4 Tbsp lemon juice (more or less)

for the cumin-coconut-chili paste:
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
4 Tbsp dry grated coconut
4 to 6 dry red chilies (fewer, if preferred)

for the tempering:
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal

Preparation

1. Paste: combine the paste ingredients with a little water and blend to a smooth paste, keep handy
2. Heat the oil in a pan, sauté the onions and garlic, add the turnip greens, some water cover and cook till it wilts a bit; then add the cooked black-eyed peas, the paste from the step above, more water if needed, some salt, and simmer till greens are done
3. Tempering: In a small pan, heat the oil, when it is quite hot, add the chana dal and urad dal, allow them to turn golden brown, then add the mustard seeds, let them pop, turn off heat
4. Taste and adjust flavors, stir in the lemon juice, top with the tempering and serve warm

Doro We't: Ethiopian Chicken Stew

Doro We't (or Wat) is an Ethiopian chicken stew that makes a spicy and delicious accompaniment to soft fluffy home-made injeras.

This recipe for Doro Wat is an approximation as I make it with spices that are handy and get close to the taste I relish from the local Ethiopian restaurants. Also, usually chicken is cut into chunks, bone and all, and cooked in this gravy/sauce till done. Since D prefers only chicken breasts, I have used boneless skinless chicken breasts for this recipe.

Here, I serve it with yeshimbra injera, cabbage and potato alicha and some simple selatta.




Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into quarters
1 medium red onion, cut into slices
1 green or red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
salt to taste
1 Tbsp oil

for the spices to simulate berbere flavor:
4 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp red hot chili powder (more if preferred)
½ tsp five spice (or allspice) powder
1 tsp black pepper powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg (less if you don't like the strong flavor)
1/4 tsp fenugreek powder (sold as 'methi powder' in Indian stores- can be omitted if hard to find)
4 black cardamom in pod
1 Tbsp brown sugar

Preparation

1. In a large cast iron skillet, heat some oil, place the chicken breast chunks without crowding, add the onions, bell pepper, sprinkle some salt
2. Add the spices, enough water, cover and allow to simmer undisturbed till chicken is done

Kohlrabi and Zucchini in Creamy Cumin-Yogurt Sauce

We had a home-garden zucchini that needed to be harvested. Zucchini by itself in this yogurt sauce would be good, or Kohlrabi by itself. But, to make enough to save as leftovers for the next day's lunch, I combined the zucchini and kohlrabi to make this simple dish.




Yogurt-based sauces are quite common in Indian cuisine. Typically, yogurt is added at the end so as not to curdle the sauce. I prefer beating the yogurt separately and folding it in off-heat at the end. If the sauce is made a bit thinner, it makes a delicious soup.

Serve with naan or basmati rice.

Ingredients
3-4 small kohlrabi, diced small
1 large zucchini, diced small
1 small yellow onion, diced finely (optional)
1 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
salt to taste
water as needed
1 tsp oil

for the sauce:
3-4 cups plain non-fat yogurt (or Greek yogurt)
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 dry red chilies (less if preferred)
4-6 Tbsp dry unsweetened grated coconut

for the tempering:
1 Tbsp coconut oil or canola oil
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal, split
1 tsp chana dal

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the turmeric, then the vegetables, some salt, stir, then add enough water to immerse the veggies, cover and allow to cook till done but not mushy
2. Sauce: Combine the sauce ingredients, all except the yogurt, and blend to a fine powdery paste; beat the yogurt and keep handy
3. When vegetables are cooked through, drain excess water for a thick sauce; add in the ground paste, stir well; then off heat, fold in the beaten yogurt to make the flavorful yogurt sauce
4. Tempering: heat the oil in a small pan, when hot, add the urad dal and chana dal and allow it to turn golden brown, then, add in the mustard and let it pop, turn off heat; add the tempering as garnish. Stir well before serving

Whole Wheat and Sesame Seed Baked Crackers

Despite all the good foods I make for them, or because of it, the kids seem unnaturally fond of snack time compared to meal times. Be it a measly string cheese, nuts and carrots snack, or a slightly exotic one consisting of home-made muffin and fresh berry smoothie, they sit there on their little chairs, swinging their legs and yakking away, chomping and munching.

Baked goldfish and other "healthy" snack crackers can leave a big hole in my budget, the rate at which they consume them, in spite of my strict rationing. But, more than that, I was quite appalled by the labels - most standard snack crackers list High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as the first or second ingredient. I am not too fond of HFCS in foods for my family.

Some of the vadaams - particularly the rice ones and the tapioca, lime, and chili concoctions - are a great option - especially since I microwave the vadaams rather than deep frying as is traditional. Each variety of these vadaams have their own cooking times and I "sacrifice" a couple first to determine optimal time and power setting on my microwave.

Anyway, now that I am home for summer, I've been making Indian snacks as well as experimenting with some wheat and rice flour crackers - to see if the kids like them as much or better than store-bought ones.

This batch of whole wheat crackers has become a favorite at home. It is easy to make, versatile, can adjust flavors or leave it bland, and it is baked, not fried. as always, it is nice to experiment with small batches to get it to one's taste/liking. I dust some cheese powder right after baking as they seem to like this.

Ingredients
whole wheat flour
sesame seeds
water, as needed
salt to taste
a pinch of brown sugar (optional)
spices (optional): coriander powder, garlic powder, paprika powder
Cooking Spray
Parchment paper, Cookie Sheet, Rolling Pin, Cookie Cutter Shapes (optional)

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, add a little water at a time to form a smooth dough, not much unlike for roti
3. Roll it flat with a rolling pin, to about 1 or 2 millimeter thick and cut out shapes with the cookie cutter, or simply cut squares or rectangles or diamonds with a knife
4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, spray some cooking spray if preferred, and place the cut dough evenly spaced, not touching each other; Spray with cooking spray on top
5. Bake in a 400°F oven for about 8 minutes; cooking time varies with thickness; check doneness; flip them over partway if preferred and finish baking till edges are brown and moderately crisp

Sauteed Radish Greens

We finally harvested all the radish from our home garden. We let some of them flower and go to seed so we can save them for the next crop. Radish flowers we had were simply gorgeous from white to pale lilac to beautiful purple.



Seed saving is a changing/evolving field and there are many publications that provide useful information. But, a fairly comprehensive compendium of sorts that sits on our bookshelf providing valuable insights into basic techniques on saving vegetable seeds is a book called Seed To Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. (Thanks for giving it to us, Mom!)

Anyway, we had a lot of radish greens to use up. The stalks were too woody and mature, but I had plenty of tender leaves to make a simple sautéed radish greens dish that preserves the mildly bitter flavor of the greens while complementing it with a sweet and sour taste that comes together rather well.

I used the onions from our garden - both the white bulb and the green parts - but, red onion or yellow onion would be good. The onions went to flower as well and needed to be used up... which meant most of the stalks got woody and fibrous. C'est la vie.



Ingredients
6 cups of fresh radish greens, washed
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
onions, garlic, ginger, finely chopped - as much as preferred
¼ cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
1 Tbsp smoke paprika powder (optional)
salt to taste
1 Tbsp canola oil
sesame seeds (optional)
½ cup water (more as needed)

Preparation

1. Sauté the onions, garlic and ginger in some oil, then add the greens and sun-dried tomatoes, saué a bit
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook till greens is done to your liking; taste and adjust flavors as desired
3. Serve warm with plain hot basmati rice and home-made flavored ghee, or with naan, or enjoy as-is