Fenugreek Leaves, Snap Peas, Purple Carrots, Chickpeas, Freekeh Bowl

Bowls! Bowls! Bowls!

What's not to love about them?

Bibimbap has always been a favorite, as is Donburi minus the raw fish.

The base doesn't have to be rice. Any combination of whole grains works. Not too long ago, bowls were so trendy. I suppose they still are.

In any case, this is a spillover from the previous recipe of  Freekeh, Pearl Millet, Wild Rice Tabbouleh. I had cooked enough of the grains to save some for later while I used some of it for the Tabbouleh. And it is these lefetover Freekeh, Pearl Millet plus Wild Rice that formed the base for this bowl.

Fenugreek is an amazing plant. Tender fenugreek leaves are quite the staple in Indian cuisine. As are the fenugreek seeds, which have interesting properties including being a natural galactagogue, which I diligently indulged in during post-partum days. Dried fenugreek leaves are available in Indian stores and are quite potent, a little goes a long way, and can be added to dressing or soups. The delicate fenugreek leaves from the garden seemed like a good addition to this bowl, sautéed with a pinch of salt and olive oil.

Some snap peas from the garden were handy as well. Before I get to pick them and use them in some interesting way, the older child gobbles them right off the plant. Of course, that was the idea when I planted these peas, to serve as a preferred snack for the kids. But, there was enough left to sauté and add to this bowl.

Some sautéed onions is always a good addition. Plus some julienned purple and yellow carrots. And of course, spiced chickpeas. Simply cook the chickpeas and then sauté in oil with a sprinkling of cayenne pepper and salt.

Bowls are just like a filling salad, so, I prefer to drizzle some dressing. This time, as always, the dressing is a quick mix of some staples in my kitchen: Tahini, Sriracha, Bragg Liquid Aminos, Mirin, Apple Cider Vinegar, Grape Molasses, Red Wine Vinegar, Lemon juice, Ginger. A little of this and a little of that till it feels right.

Topped with some nigella seeds and sesame seeds, this makes a perfect meal to pack for office lunch.

Freekeh, Pearl Millet, Wild Rice Tabbouleh

Freekeh. Young green wheat. Cracked. Toasted. Chaff and straw removed. High fiber. Whole grain. Hearty.

Pearl Millet. High fiber. High Protein. Rich in B vitamins. Whole grain.

Wild Rice. Grass grains. Native to North America. Gorgeous color. Antioxidants. High fiber. Good protein.

Naturally, the three come together often in my kitchen. Not just as a rice substitute, but as a great base for salads and the ever-popular Bowls!

Any combination of fresh shredded/grated veggies would work, of course. This time, I put my trusty Salad Shooter to good use and made a small pile of shredded/grated veggies including celery, kale, flat-leaf parsley, carrots, and red onions. Some chopped dried fruits and toasted nuts went in as well - dates, apricots, cranberries, almonds, walnuts. Some chopped green apples too. Diced cucumbers. A generous block of Feta cheese got crumbled over the salad for that unbeatable texture and flavor.

The dressing is, as always, a fusion of international flavors: Lemon juice, Ethiopian berbere powder, mirin, apple cider vinegar, grape molasses, avocado oil, and a touch of sesame oil for the finish that leads by the nose.

I know, I should have measured and noted it all down properly. Sorry about that. Will try next time. Dressings come about quite fluidly and organically for me: add a little of this, taste and wrinkle nose, add a little of that, taste and nod with faith, a little of something else, taste and call it just-right.

Chayote Squash and Wild Rice with Lentils and Quinoa Soup

Chewy wild rice along with quinoa add texture to this thick stew-like soup, with the lentils adding body, and chayote squash giving it the slightly unorthodox edge.

I grew up eating chayote squash on a regular basis, usually in lentils-based koottu, or as coconut-based molagoottal. I like its pear-like crispness and mild bland flavor that lends itself well to be incorporated into any dish.

Add in favorite herbs from the garden as a bouquet-garni, some garlic, and some cayenne pepper and the stew comes together quite easily.

For a quicker weeknight meal, I pressure cook the wild rice and lentils in vegetable stock. Then, add in the veggies and seasoning, allow to simmer gently, and serve warm.

Kids were unimpressed by the color of the soup, they would have preferred it not so tan and brown, but, they scooped spoonfuls and enjoyed ti anyway.

Yellow Eye Pan-seared with Wild Rice and Blanched Green Beans

The other adult came back from Alaska with a modest catch of pristine fish.

Humongous Halibut was among the catch. As was immaculate Chinook Salmon. Plus lovely Ling Cod. These are the only kinds of fish, caught fresh in unspoilt waters, that we like. Some Yelloweye came home as well and I sure won't turn up my nose on them either, especially when I know the source and the work that went into catching them and bringing them home for us.

The good part is, it was all cleaned and cut and vacuum sealed and frozen, ready for storing and using over the next few months.

And, yes, I had to ask if the fish suffered much, trying to make peace with the handful he brought home, talking to the frozen packets as if they were alive, thanking them for nourishing us.

Although we don't eat much of ocean's bounty, these few above are the best of the best so am glad to have them.

This is a no-fuss pan-seared yelloweye rockfish dish. Quite a mouthful there.

The fish was marinated in ginger-garlic paste. Then pressed on to seasoned coating and pan-seared in my trusty cast iron skillet to seal and brown the sides, then covered a cooked till the insides were done to flaky tenderness.

Wild rice was cooked in the rice cooker with some garden herbs and aromatic spices. Green beans were blanched to crisp-tender perfection.

Some blistered mild chilies are a fantastic accompaniment for the fish, with some lemon slices and sauteed onions.

Wild Rice with Mango, Bell Pepper and Sprouted Beans

Some mango, curry leaves, bell peppers, onions come together for this wild rich dish garnished with sprouted beans and spring onions.

Every once in a while I sprout some beans/lentils and sprinkle a handful on salads, soups etc. Moong beans and brown lentils are the most common ones I sprout.

Sometimes I use the default cheesecloth in colander method, or use the glass jar with screen lid method.

If screen lid is not handy, a piece of mesh cut out from the mesh bag the onions came in works; place it over a Mason™/Kerr™ canning jar, and fit it with a ring lid. If mesh bag is not handy, I get away with a piece of paper towel with perforations.

Simply soak the brown lentils overnight, drain, rinse, drain well; place in a glass jar fitted with screen lid and watch in sprout in 3 or 4 days. Rinse once a day and drain well.




Ingredients
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 medium onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 medium-ripe mango (not too ripe, raw is fine)
a handful of curry leaves (optional)
1 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)
2 Tbsp home-made ras al hanout (more or less)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste
1 Tbsp canola oil

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan, saué the onions, curry leaves, bell peppers with a pinch of salt and spices
2. Add the cooked wild rice, mango, brown sugar, stir well, adjust flavors to taste
3. Stir in lemon juice and garnish with spring onions and sprouted brown lentils before serving

Oats Encrusted Chicken with Wild Rice

Boneless skinless chicken breasts seem easy to cook and they make a lean yet protein-rich meal, plus it happens to be D's favorite. Along with a vegetable side and some sort of carb, this seems like a nice meal option.

Start the wild rice in the rice cooker. Marinate the chicken breast pieces for about 10-15 minutes, while assembling and cooking the side, which in this presentation happens to be cabbage. I like to cut the chicken breasts into 1 inch thick strips so they cook faster. Press into rolled oats, and bake in a 400°F oven for about 20 minutes. All three items are done within 30-40 minutes if cooked in parallel.

This cabbage side is one of the staples in my kitchen: coarsely chop a variety of cabbages (I used Napa, red and green cabbage), some carrots, celery, and maybe onion if preferred. Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a pan, throw in the chopped veggies, cover and allow the cabbage to cook a bit in its own water just for a few minutes so it is crunchy yet not too raw. Off heat sprinkle some allspice or nutmeg, add some salt or low-sodium soy sauce to taste. Stir well before serving.

Drizzle the cooked chicken pieces with a quick vinaigrette for extra moisture and flavor. Here I used my favorite Agave Nectar and Ginger Vinaigrette.

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch thick pieces
seasoning salt
1 Tbsp oil

Marinade:
red wine vinegar, aka miso (or salt), lemon juice, agave nectar

Preparation

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the marinade for about 10-15 minutes, longer if preferred
2. Pre-heat the oven to 400°F; In a shallow bowl mix the oats and seasoning salt; Keep a greased cookie sheet or roasting pan handy
3. Press the chicken pieces into the oats to coat it, and place in the greased roasting pan
4. Bake in a 400°F oven for about 20 minutes; thicker/larger pieces will take longer, of course
5. Check the internal temperature of the largest piece; if it reads about 165°F to 170°F I consider it done
6. Remove from oven, allow to rest for a few minutes, drizzle with sauce or vinaigrette, serve warm with cooked seasoned wild rice and cabbage side

Wild Rice Soup

Wild rice, which is not really a commercial rice variety, is a grain native to North America that grows wild and hence is harder to harvest. But, with the outer husk left on, it has such a rich nutty flavor and texture that I find it incredibly delicious - in stew, or pilaf, and sometimes in soup.

As a short-cut, I prefer to cook the wild rice in rice cooker before adding to the soup. Per measure of wild rice, I use 3 cups of stock or water. I like to start the rice cooker on my way out to work in the morning, so that, when I get back in the evening, I just have to chop up the veggies, get the soup base ready and throw them all together in a pot, allow to simmer till ready, and serve hot.

The soup base is almost like the vegetarian Tom Yum Goong I like to make. But, I add a bunch of seasonal vegetable to the wild rice soup to make it feel like a whole meal, especially for a cold weeknight.


Ingredients:
2 cups cooked wild rice
veggies used here: Brussel sprouts, zucchini, tomatoes, Kabocha squash, leeks, green beans, corn, bell peppers - these are the usual autumn harvest vegetables fresh from the farm.
3 cups stock or water (more or less)
½ can coconut milk - about 1 cup (more, if preferred)
salt to taste
1 Tbsp soybean oil or hazelnut oil or canola oil (Oregon is famous for its hazelnuts)

for the soup base:
1 Tbsp lemongrass powder OR 2 Tbsp finely chopped inner stalks of fresh lemon grass
2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
¼ medium onion, diced (or equivalent shallots, if handy)
2-4 serrano chilies (or any kind whose heat you prefer and can enjoy)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Nam Prik Pow paste or Sambal Oelek (optional)
1 Tbsp soybean oil or canola oil

Preparation

1. Combine the soup base ingredients and grind to a fine paste
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the soup base and sauté a bit till aromatic and rawness fades
3. Add the vegetables, sauté a bit more; then add the wild rice, stock or water, cover and allow to simmer together till vegetables are cooked through but not mushy
4. Stir in the coconut milk, turn down the heat, garnish with spring onions or cilantro if preferred, serve warm

Stuffed purple peppers

Only a few more weeks of Farmer's Saturday Market before they close down for winter... and it was Purple Mania all over again: I had to buy everything purple at the market.

The purple cauliflower went into a yummy salad with pears and raspberry vinaigrette. However, the purple bell peppers were asking to be stuffed and baked. Once cooked, the purple peppers don't retain their bright color, but, taste just as delicious.

Stuffing can be anything you like - say, wild rice stuffing as in my stuffed acorn squash recipe, or eggs with queso panela, corn and beans as in my Tomate Rellenos recipe, or even simple spiced potatoes and peas as for a vegetable samosa recipe.

However, I ended up stuffing these with leftovers. I wasn't in the mood to make special stuffing from scratch, and thankfully, there was enough spicy rice and cholay that needed to be used up anyway, so, this was rather a quick meal to prepare.


Ingredients
2-3 medium purple bell peppers (or red, or yellow, or orange)
Pam™ cooking spray
salt to taste

stuffing:
1 cup cooked rice - leftover rice with your favorite spices and vegetables
½ cup leftover cholay
¼ cup grated cheddar cheese (or any favorite cheese that melts well)
1 medium soy dog, diced
½ cup frozen peas
spring onions chopped (as much as you like)
cilantro, or other herbs for garnish

Preparation

1. Slice the top off the bell peppers, scoop out the seeds and ribs carefully without puncturing the flesh, slice a thin layer off the bottom to make sure the pepper will stand stably and not topple over
2. Heat the oven to 375°F
3. Either in a pan, or in the microwave, par cook the bell peppers: immerse them in salted water completely and boil for a few minutes - the thickness of the flesh and the variety of the pepper will determine how long to do this - basically, in this recipe the peppers are not going to be in the oven for too long (as the stuffing is all pre-cooked), and so, it is nice to make sure the bell pepper is not raw when ready to come out of the oven
4. Remove the bell peppers from water, pat dry, and stuff: a layer of rice at the bottom, a layer of cholay in the middle, and another layer of rice at the top
5. Spray or brush the outside of the pepper with some oil
6. Bake in a 375°F oven for about 15-20 minutes till the skin starts to wrinkle a bit, and gets softer and fork-tender (I usually pinch the top edge a bit to see if it is pliable)
7. Top with some cheese and place it under the broiler briefly till cheese melts
8. Remove from oven, allow to rest a bit
9. Meanwhile, sauté the soy dogs, peas and spring onions with your favorite spices, or just salt, and keep handy to serve on the side and possibly garnish the peppers before serving

Whereas D just picks up the pepper and bites big chunks enjoying all the goodness in each bite, I tend to dissect the thing with my knife and fork and try to take manageable forkfuls in as ladylike a manner as I can :)

stuffed acorn squash

Stuffed vegetables are a wonderful healthy meal. They are fairly quick to put together on a weeknight with some preparation done ahead.

The wild rice stuffing for this can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for about 2-3 days.

Acorn squash seem perfect for stuffing as they are small, have a fairly thin skin, with a mild sweet flesh. And, when baked, the skin gets a slight crispness which makes it delicious. But, sweet bell pepper, or even eggplant are good candidates for stuffing:-)

Procedure is fairly simple: cut the acorn squash in half, scoop out the seeds and fibers, par-cook in microwave or boiling water, scoop out some pulp and mix it in with the stuffing, then, stuff the squash halves, and bake in the oven.

Ingredients
2 small "ripe" yet firm acorn squash, cut in half, seeds and fiber removed
½ cup grated cheddar
2 Tbsp oil

for the stuffing:
2 cups cooked wild rice
½ cup of dried cranberries, raisins, walnuts, cashew (combined)
½ medium onion diced finely
1 jalapeño chopped finely
2 garlic cloves crushed or minced
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp all-spice powder
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt to taste

Preparation

par-cook the clean squash halves in microwave or boiling water till the flesh is just fork-tender but not mushy (takes just a few minutes)

scoop some of the pulp from each squash half carefully, leaving a thin layer of flesh in the squash

heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan and toast the dried cranberries, raisins and nuts, remove from pan, drain, set aside

add another Tbsp oil in the same pan, sauté the onions, garlic and jalapeño; then add the squash pulp scooped out earlier, the cooked wild rice, nutmeg, all-spice, brown sugar, coriander powder, some salt, and stir well; then add the toasted dried cranberries, raisins and nuts, stir till well-incorporated, keep handy for stuffing the acorn squash

pre-heat the oven to 350°F, and keep a baking dish handy

stuff the acorn squash halves with the wild rice stuffing, arrange them in the baking dish and bake for about 5-8 minutes, then, top each acorn squash half with the grated cheese and finish cooking till the cheese melts

Serve warm. Each half can be eaten completely - skin, stuffing, flesh and all!

wild rice stew

Until about a decade ago, I was blissfuly unaware of Wild Rice. I was introduced to it when I lived in Eugene, OR: I found it at The Kiva store which was one of my favorite haunts :)

Wild rice is expensive as it is not abundant and not easy to harvest. I like the chewy texture, color and size of the grains. It works great for making stuffing, usually.

One of my garage sale finds is a 5-qt crock pot we bought for $5! I love to use it as best as I can...

This wild rice stew is a hearty and comforting meal - just a bowl of it fills me up. I like to throw the ingredients in a slow cooker or crock pot late tonight, leave it on low to be ready for dinner tomorrow night.

But, this recipe can be made faster if some preparation can be done ahead of time. Wild rice takes longer to cook: i like to soak wild rice for about an hour or longer before cooking it just like any other long grain rice on stove top, and use about 2 to 3 measures of water per measure of dry rice to get a smooth soft texture. (Sometimes, if i remember, i try to soak the wild rice in the morning, on my way out to work, and then come home in the evening and cook the rice.)

A good wild rice stew takes a bit of time though, that's why i like the slow cooker method when possible:)

Ingredients
1 cup wild rice, soaked for an hour or longer
1 medium potato sliced or diced
6-8 baby carrots chopped (or regular carrots
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2-3 thai chilies or jalapenos, diced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans or chickpeas, rinsed, drained
1 Tbsp canola oil

spice mix:
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp cumin powder
1 Tbsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp all-spice powder
1 tsp oregano powder

water as needed
salt to taste

garnish:
chopped spring onions, chives, cilantro

Preparation

heat oil in a pan, add the onions, garlic, ginger and a pinch of salt, sauté till onions turn a little brown

add the spice mix, sauté till the spices bloom

add the wild rice, with 3 to 4 cups of water, add the vegetables and beans, cover and cook till rice is done

simmer the stew till desired thickness, adjust spices to taste, garnish with chopped spring onions and herbs, serve warm,