Red Cabbage Salad with Peanut Chicken

Red cabbage with its antioxidants and crunch makes a great salad on its own or in combination with crisp lettuce and carrots. Here, Red Cabbage is the main item, topped with peanutty chicken for a filling meal. Prepare the red cabbage salad a day ahead and let it develop flavor before enjoying.

The dressing is what makes this salad interesting for me - easy to remember because it is just a teaspoon of each; and even though it looks like there are a lot of ingredients, it comes together easily. Plus, of course, a well-stocked set of staple condiments and herbs and spices and oils and vinegars come in handy...

Sweet-Spicy Chili Dressing:
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 tsp stone-ground brown mustard
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp blue agave nectar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp crushed dry red chilies (optional)

Combine the dressing ingredients and toss with shredded red cabbage. About half medium red cabbage, approximately about 3 packed cups of shredded cabbage, drenched with the dressing yield from the above makes it perfect for me. As always, use as much or as little dressing as preferred.

Peanut chicken is a favorite salad topper, much like curried chicken or grilled lemon chicken. Simply pan cook a couple of marinated chicken tenders, cut them up, and toss with peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce:
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sambal oelek (less if preferred)

2 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp light low-sodium soy sauce
water as needed to make the sauce to desired consistency

Fenugreek Capers Yogurt Sauce with Baked Turkey Meatballs

Dips and Sauces sometimes make the dish - they add that unique flavor to take an everyday wholesome food from good-and-healthy to mouth-watering-and-exciting .

In my kitchen, I come up with sauces and dips on-the-fly frequently. And many of these sauces and dips come about without much forethought. Which means, I don't get to write down the exact measurements as I am not paying attention to that aspect.

I usually have a pack of Methi leaves (dried fenugreek leaves) handy. It is readily available at most Indian stores. I use it in Rotis and Naan and Pita bread.

This Spicy Fenugreek Capers Yogurt sauce (dip) just happened one day when I was looking to serve the plain old meatballs with something that can double as a dip and dressing. And, since it was quite delicious, I immediately wrote down the things I added, from memory. Short-term memory served me well, I think, as I tried this recipe again a week later and the sauce turned out just as delicious. So here it is...

For the Fenugreek-Capers-Yogurt Sauce:
¼ cup plain thick non-fat Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp Oilive oil
1 Tbsp dried Fenugreek leaves (Methi)
1 Tbsp Capers
1 tsp stone-ground spicy mustard
1 tsp red wine vinegar
4 pickled jalapeño rings
salt to taste

Combine the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth and creamy.

For the Baked Turkey Meatballs:
The almond meal plus flaxseed meal combination is one of the favorites. I had saved some that I had made for the Almond-Flax Encrusted Baked Chicken Nuggets (before use), which I decided to use up for this meatball.

Ingredients
10 to 12 oz lean ground turkey
¼ to 1/3rd cup seasoned almond+flaxseed meal mixture
Cooking spray

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425°F
2. Add the seasoned Almond-Flaxseed meal a little at a time to the ground turkey and knead well; shape into firm balls
3. Place the balls in a roasting pan, spray with some cooking spray, turn the balls over and spray all around
4. Bake in a 425°F oven for about 15 minutes, checking part-way
5. When the internal temperature is close to 170°F remove from the oven and allow to rest
6. Serve warm in a bed of lettuce topped with marinated red onions and peppers, with the Fenugreek Capers Yogurt sauce that doubles as a salad dressing

Baked Eggplant Slices with Mustard Greens Sauce

Be it fried Eggplant Bajji or baked Eggplant Fries; sliced Easy Cheesy Eggplant or Roasted Eggplant Salad; Spicy Sauteed Eggplant or Eggplant in Garlic Sauce; Stuffed Baby Indian Eggplant or Moorish Eggplant Pilaf; Traditionally South Indian Eggplant Rasavangi or Asian Ginger Eggplant Tofu; mushy Smoked Eggplant Pachadi or Ajvar hot relish, this lovely fruit which comes in many commercial varieties is hard to ignore.

For this simple weeknight meal, large globe eggplant is sliced and baked, then topped with a mustard greens tomato sauce, feta and capers, and served hot from the oven.

Mustard Greens Sauce:  Simply sauté onions, garlic and mustard greens, stir in some tomato sauce, add any seasoning, and simmer to desired spreadable sauce consistency, not too runny. This sauce can be prepared ahead of time. It also doubles as a good pasta sauce. Sometimes I use Kale instead of Mustard Greens for the sauce.

1. Slice the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and allow to sit for about 20 minutes on a towel to draw out the bitter juices. Pat dry. 
2. Brush with olive oil on both sides and place in a single layer in a roasting pan. 
3. Bake in a 425°F oven for about 12 minutes till tender but not mushy.
4. Remove from oven, top with sauce, feta and capers and return to oven.
5. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

Long Green Beans with Spicy Nut Meal

Steamed or sautéed green beans are great as-is. But, at times, I like a bit of crunchy texture mingled with the crisp-tender beans. My favorite paruppusili is always welcome, but, this recipe here adds quick texture and boost for a weeknight dish.

And, rather than the usual ubiquitous green beans, I like the long green beans or snake beans that I grew up with. They taste a little different from the regular green beans, and don't really have a strong flavor.

Combine quarter cup of dry roasted unsalted peanuts and almonds, about 4 pickled jalapeno rings and grind them coarsely in  a blender or food processor. Keep handy.

Chop the long green beans into 1 or 2 inch pieces, place in a microwave safe container, add 3 to 4 Tbsp water and a sprinkling of salt, cover and microwave on high for about 6 to 8 minutes till the beans are cooked but firm. Drain as needed.

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan, add the cooked long green beans, sauté,stir in the spicy almond+peanut mixture. Remove from heat. Serve warm or at room temperature. Drizzle with a simple olive oil+lemon juice vinaigrette before serving.

Almond-Flax Encrusted Baked Chicken Nuggets

Instead of the usual breading and shallow frying, this recipe for Chicken Nuggets uses seasoned Almond meal and Flax meal coating on marinated chicken pieces, baked tender and served hot.

We tend to have a small bag of flax meal in the fridge handy, to sprinkle on yogurt or curries to add some fiber. Some raw almonds are also handy for a quick snack. Raw almonds with dried cherries is quite heavenly. Just grind up some raw almonds to make the almond meal. Season with some dried parsley, paprika, salt, or any other favorite seasoning.

Any favorite marinade works. I used soy sauce, Tabasco® hot sauce, a bit of canola oil, Italian seasoning. Marinate overnight if possible, or marinate in the morning and refrigerate it to be cooked for dinner that evening.

This is one of the easiest recipes, ready in 15 minutes or so, and thankfully, one of the dishes that kids absolutely relish. It is quite uplifting to hear, "Can I have more of this, Mama?"

A quick dip I like is equal parts ketchup and Sambal oelek - a nice sweet-hot sauce. Another is some Light Cesar dressing with spicy stone ground brown mustard.

Ingredients
Breading:
Almond meal, flax meal, paprika powder, dried parsley, salt as needed

Chicken nuggets:
Marinate the chicken breast in a favorite marinade overnight; drain and cut into strips  of fairly uniform size

Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425°F
2. Press the chicken pieces in the breading mixture and lay them out in a single layer in a roasting pan, spray some cooking spray if desired
3. Bake at 425°F for about 15 minutes, checking half-way through and turning the pan as needed, till chicken is done
4. Serve warm with favorite dips

Indian Eggplant, Mustard Greens, and White Bean Soup

Eggplant is probably the most-featured fruit (vegetable) in my recipes here - no secret that I love it. Any chance I get to cook them up is welcome - be it traditional Indian recipes with the small and flavorful Indian eggplant, or the spicy Asian recipes, or any new and interesting way that comes about in my kitchen as my mood dictates...

Small Baby Indian eggplant, Calliope, Neon, Ichiban, Kamo, Black Beauty, Italian, White, Green Thai... all varieties of eggplants are much relished - well, some more than others, of course.

Black Turtle, White, Pinto, Red Kidney beans... Chickpeas... these 5 seem to be staple dried beans I stock up on. Periodically, on a weekend, I soak a large batch of them, and pressure cook them. Then, I prefer to freeze them in small portions to thaw and use as needed.

I pressure cook in a couple of batches - one for mushy beans great for refried beans, burgers, and thick soups, one for firmly cooked beans to be added to other dishes like Red Beans & Rice or Bean Salad.

Anyway, a cup of mushy cooked white beans came in handy for thickening this simple soup, and added enough flavor to make this a delicious weeknight meal. Mustard greens wilt when cooked, so add as much as preferred.

Ingredients
About 5 handfuls of chopped Mustard greens
2 Indian small eggplant, sliced into sections
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, sliced
6 to 8 cloves of garlic
1 cup cooked white beans
1 cup petite diced stewed tomatoes
2 cups water/stock
1 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
1 Tbsp oil
salt to taste

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a pot, sauté the onions and eggplant, add the mustard leaves, beans, the spices, and water
2. Cover and simmer on medium-low heat till vegetables are cooked and the soup is to desired thick consistency

Fenugreek, Mint, and Olive Pita Pockets

Dried fenugreek leaves (aka Methi) is a favorite addition to rotis, parathas, naans and other Indian flat breads that I make often. For a recent batch of Pita pockets, I decided to combine my favorite Indian flavors with the traditional Mediterranean olives to make quite a uniquely flavorful bread.

Mint was wild in the garden over summer and fall, which I harvested as best as I could and dried them. So, I have a bag of dried organic mint leaves in the freezer. The dried fenugreek leaves can be found in Indian stores usually. The last few from a large jar of pitted Kalamata olives gave the earthy Mediterranean flavor to the pita bread.

Much like naan, which I make on a cast iron skillet, where I brush one side with water and place this damp side down on a very hot pan, pita puffs up better when spritzed with water and is moist just before placing it in the hot oven.

Depending on how uniformly thick the rolled out pita is and how moist they stay till they get in the oven, this method seems to consistently provide puffed up pitas that make wonderful pita pockets for falafel and other stuffing. Of course, every once in a while, a few stubbornly refuse to puff up and they still turn out soft and delicious anyway.

Ingredients
3¼ cups flour
2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
2 Tbsp olive oil
1¼ cups warm water
1 Tbsp crushed dried mint leaves
2 Tbsp dried crushed/crumbled fenugreek leaves
¼ cup chopped Kalamata olives
2 tsp salt

Preparation

1. In a large enough bowl, add the warm water, sprinkle the yeast, allow to bubble; add the olive oil
2. Sprinkle the salt, dried mint, fenugreek, and chopped olives
3. Add a little flour at a time and mix with a spoon or spatula, till about 3 cups of flour is incorporated and the dough comes together
4. Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead till smooth and elastic, not sticky or tight
5. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size/volume
6. Pre-heat the oven to 475°F at least 30 minutes before baking; leave a baking sheet (or pizza stone if handy) in the oven while pre-heating 
7. Divide the risen dough into about 10 balls and roll each ball to about ¼ inch thick rounds
8. Allow the dough rounds to rest for about 15-20 minutes before placing in the oven for baking
9. Spritz the topside with water and bake the pita breads for about 3 minutes checking to see that they don't brown before they are firm (if so, turn down the oven temperature a bit)
10. Pitas puff up as they bake; carefully remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for a couple of minutes, then cover with a dry cotton cloth to keep it soft

These pitas can be frozen for up to a month if not eating hot off the oven.

Home-made Miso

Recently, as I was turning the jars of home-canned goodies upside down as I periodically do, and was rearranging them bringing older ones forward and sending more recent ones to the back of the shelf, a wonderfully aged batch of home-made Miso presented itself. The label on it confirmed that it is over 2 years old. What a treat! We had forgotten about it.

The recipe is from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz, a book we treasure at home. Home-made Sauerkraut and Baechu Kimchi have become a staple, with D easily making a batch on and off, all thanks to this book.

Just a little bit of this home-made rich deep miso makes a wonderful bowl of miso soup, which along with a generous portion of roasted baby squash made a sumptuous weeknight meal.

Garlic Chicken with Roasted Asparagus

Roasted asparagus is an indulgence for me - I could have a plateful of it for lunch and be satisfied and grateful for a sumptuous meal. And it is so easy to make: trim the woody stems, toss with some olive oil and salt+pepper, lay out in a single layer in a roasting pan, cook in a 425°F oven for about 15 minutes and it is ready!

Garlic chicken breasts are easy to make as well - since I was using a 425°F oven for the asparagus, I baked the chicken breasts in the oven right after. But they can be pan-cooked or grilled. 

Preferably pound the chicken with a mallet to a uniform thickness - I tend to miss this simple step sometimes and end up with a rubbery dry thinner part of the breast while the thicker one is just perfectly done. 

Marinade: soy sauce, minced garlic or garlic powder, vegetable oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, hot sauce (I like Tapatío™ Hot Sauce for this).

Save some marinade to baste while cooking, and to drizzle some over the cooked chicken before serving.

Simply slit the chicken breast and marinate in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Stuff a clove of garlic in each slit and bake in a 425°F oven for about 20 minutes. Check part way and give it a half turn if preferred. Remove when done - when the internal temperature is 165°F in the thickest part. Allow to rest at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before serving.

On an aside, I love the dedication of some of my fellow food bloggers for taking step by step pictures and giving detailed instructions! I don't think I have that patience or dedication. But am happy to share the successes in my kitchen and what gives me joy to cook and present for my family.