Moroccan Couscous Salad with Saffron and Cinnamon

I tend to shy away from couscous. I blame a college friend who turned her nose up it saying, "Couscous? Sounds too much like goose poop." Ever since, whenever I see couscous that memory comes to mind (and perhaps will for you now, too. You're welcome. [Wow, this post is certainly off to a questionable start]). All joking aside, couscous has just never been very exciting to me.

Enter: Israeli couscous.

The standard itty bitty couscous may have never excited me, but I just discovered that his big brother Israeli couscous does! It is not just me, I served this salad at a picnic and received many positive comments and requests for the recipe. Confirmed crowd pleaser! Trust me and give your favorite summer pasta salad a makeover with Israeli couscous, or better yet, try this salad.

This recipe is inspired by a store-bought version that my dad served at his Memorial Day picnic. The combination of textures and flavors is just right. Light citrus and a touch of sweetness, tied together with the warm flavors of cumin, saffron, and cinnamon. The flavors are even better the second day, so I encourage you to make this a day ahead. The plump beads of couscous hold up very well overnight, something that I wouldn't expect as much from the itty bitty variety.


Moroccan Couscous Salad with Saffron and Cinnamon
Serves 10-12 as a side dish

2 cups Israeli couscous
3-1/3 cups vegetable stock or water
1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp saffron threads
15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced 1/4" thick (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup roasted red pepper, chopped in 1" pieces
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/3 cup Italian parsley, chopped fine

Dressing:
6 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp agave
3/4 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper

Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 3 minutes. Add dry couscous and toast for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in vegetable stock and saffron and turn up heat to bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cover. Cook until all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and set aside to cool.

Prepare mix-ins and whisk together dressing ingredients. Wait until the couscous has cooled, and then gently toss with the toppings and dressing until well incorporated. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, and fully chill before serving. For best results chill overnight to allow the flavors to meld--in which case keep the almonds separate to prevent them from softening. The salad may also benefit from an additional tablespoon of lemon juice and olive oil in the morning, as most of the dressing will be absorbed into the couscous overnight. Test first to see if this is necessary.

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Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway to win a copy of Vegan Desserts! A random number generator selected lucky number 59. Congrats to Carrie of Moves 'N Munchies! Email me your address and I'll get your book out to you right away.

Spaghetti Squash with Green Pea Pesto and Beans

Spring is here.. apparently. That is, if you go by the calendar. There have been some teaser days spent mostly outdoors, along with a few healthy thunderstorms. However, I am not measuring the change of seasons by this criteria -- the evidence that I seek is the vegetables! Oh, how I long to fill my produce bin with hearty stalks of asparagus, glorious globe artichokes, and the rare treat of fresh green peas. Any day now I will have my way. In the meantime I am cooking up the last of the winter squash and playing make believe with this green pea pesto of the frozen pea variety. I must say, dinners like this make the wait not so bad!


Spaghetti Squash with Green Pea Pesto and Beans
(Serves 4)

1 large spaghetti squash (3-4 lbs)

1 15 oz can cannellini beans (or chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 shallot, diced (or 1/2 cup red onion, diced)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
salt to taste

Pesto:
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 tbsp olive oil (or water for lower fat)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 small clove of garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

Squash: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray. Halve the squash and scoop out and discard the seeds. Rub or spray the insides with a small amount of oil and place halves cut side down on the baking sheet. Roast for 60-90 minutes, until cooked through and starting to lightly brown at the edges. Set aside to cool. (I did this a day ahead).

Pesto: Combine all pesto ingredients in a food processor and process for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as necessary. A few minutes before serving transfer to a small pot and warm gently over med-low heat.

Beans: Coat a skillet with cooking spray and saute shallots over medium heat until softened, 3-4 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano, and about a tablespoon of water (to prevent sticking) and continue to saute for 2 minutes. Stir in beans and tomatoes and saute gently until hot, about 3 minutes. Season with salt.

Assembly: Use a fork to scrape out the spaghetti squash into strands. If necessary, reheat the squash in the microwave or on the stove top in a skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Divide up the squash into four servings. Top with desired amount of sauce (I found 1/4 cup each to be adequate) and divide up the beans among the four plates. Garnish with a few peas and fresh basil leaves if desired. Serve hot.

Vegan MoFo #18: Road Trip Snacks and Chickpea "Eggy" Salad

In about an hour I will be packing up my car with my stuff, my boyfriend, and my brother and heading down to Knoxville, Tennessee for a Smoky Mountain Thanksgiving! Lots of family time, country music, and Dollywood await us. I am not looking forward to this 10 hour drive, but I will have my two favorite guys to keep me entertained and some of my favorite vegan snacks to keep me satisfied.

Vegan Road Trip Snacks

My snacks for the road include pretzel slims with hummus, pistachios, bananas, and snapea crisps. I also brought some almond milk to use all weekend, and some instant oatmeal and vegan muffins for breakfast options. Those muffins are a new find at Trader Joe's, they had about 5-6 vegan muffin flavors to choose from (who knew??). I chose the Cranberry Orange Bran Muffins, which are organic, agave sweetened, and low-fat.

Garein Savory Stuffed Turk'y

You may have also noticed the Garein Savory Stuffed Turk'y in the midst. These are for Steve and I to eat for our main course at Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandparents' house. Not pictured is the Southern Comfort Caramel Apple Pie that I am also bringing. This pie was such a hit at my Thanksgiving dinner party that I decided to make it again to share with my family.

Chickpea "Eggy" Salad

Leading up to this trip, I have been subsiding mostly on leftovers (poor me!). However, I was able to transform some of the leftovers into something totally new. When I made the Tofu Deviled "Eggy" Bites I ended up with a lot of leftover "yolk", which I knew would be perfect for some vegan egg salad later. Usually vegan egg salad utilizes crumbled tofu for the meat of it, but I was out. Instead, I pulsed some chickpeas in the food processor until they were roughly chopped to achieve the chopped hard boiled egg texture. I stirred in the sauce and adjusted the seasoning with a little more black salt, sea salt, pepper, and chives and I was in business! Very, very egg salad-like, which is an old favorite. I like that the sauce has only a little bit of vegan mayo and is mostly pureed white beans, which is much healthier than the mayo-heavy egg salad recipes. As much as I enjoyed this with chickpeas, I'd like to try it with tofu next time, but only because with the beany sauce this is beans on beans. Nothing wrong with that, but definitely something to go easy on.

I hope to do some blogging from Tennessee, but I may not. Either way, I will be posting at least two more times this month to reach by goal of 20 total posts for Vegan MoFo. Can you believe it's almost over kids? *sob*  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will catch up with you soon!

Creamy Garbanzo-ball and Wild Rice Soup

  

I recently picked up some black short grain rice without any big plans on what I would use it for. The first thing that came to mind was coming up with a vegan friendly creamy chicken and wild rice soup. This sounded tasty and I was up to the challenge. 

I worked out all of the vegetables and also what the creamy dairy-free broth would be composed of, so the only thing left to figure was the chicken substitute. Chicken flavored bean balls would be fun, yes? Ah, yes, and I knew that garbanzo beans would be up to the task. 

The end result was creamy, hearty, and exactly what I was going for. My only complaint is that when I stirred the rice into the pot of gorgeous creamy white soup it discolored the broth a little bit. Of course this did not make the soup less delicious, it just made it a teeny bit less pretty for its closeup.

 

Creamy Garbanzo-ball and Wild Rice Soup

Serves 4

2 cups cooked short grain black rice (or wild rice, or blend of choice)

3 carrots, chopped

3 ribs of celery, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup of frozen peas

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tbsp dried parsley

2 bay leaves

5 cups water

2-1/2 not chick'n bouillon cubes

1 cup rice milk

1 cup firm silken tofu (1/2 package)(or more for a thicker soup)

3 tbsp chickpea flour

Garbanzo-balls

1 15 oz. can chickpeas

1/2 not chick'n bouillon cube

1/2 tbsp tahini

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tbsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried thyme

3 tbsp water

1/2 cup chickpea flour

Spray soup pot with olive oil cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add onions and saute for about 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add a couple of tablespoons of water if onions start to stick. Stir in garlic and saute for another minute before mixing in carrots, celery, thyme, parsley, and bay leaves. Continue to saute, stirring often for 5 minutes. Add water and bouillon cubes and stir until bouillon dissolves completely. Turn up heat to bring to boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Meanwhile start the garbanzo-balls.

Combine all ingredients except the chickpea flour in food processor and puree. Add in flour gradually and pulse until fully incorporated. The flour should dry out the mixture a little bit, but it should still be moist. The mixture should be easy to roll into balls, and shouldn't be overly sticky and moist. Spray a large non-stick skillet and heat over medium heat. Grab a heaping tablespoon of the bean mixture and roll into a ball and add into the skillet as you go. The mixture should make about 20 balls. Roll the garbanzo-balls around in the pan every 2 minutes or so, to brown all sides. You just want these to lightly brown and crisp up on the outside, but watch carefully to not darken them too much as this will dry them out. 

The garbanzo-balls should be done in 10-15 minutes, and by this time the veggies in the soup pot should be tender and ready to go. Remove the bay leaves and mix in the frozen peas. Puree rice milk, tofu, and chickpea flour in your blender and then stir into the soup pot. Lastly stir in your garbanzo-balls and rice and bring to temperature. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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I am submitting this soup to the March No Croutons Required blogging event, in which the theme is soups and salads featuring chickpeas. Vote for your favorite soup or salad starting March 20.

Don't forget to enter my Primal Strips giveaway, open until the end of the day this Friday, March 5!

Matar Paneer and Aloo Tikki

After my first major success in cooking authentic tasting Indian food at home, I had in mind to show off my new skills to my boyfriend. Oh, how very rude of me, you haven't been introduced, have you? This is Steve, my most wonderful boyfriend. Everyone say, "Hi Steve!" He pretty much rules, and I am certain that you would love him.

Steve shares my love of Indian food so I was very excited to cook up something special for him. We both love all things paneer, so I thought it would be most fun and tasty to conquer a paneer dish. I returned to Lisa's Kitchen for inspiration since her Chana Masala was such a hit, and I was pleased to find many paneer recipes in her archives. With a big bag of frozen peas already in my freezer the Matar Paneer was the obvious choice. I put Steve to work measuring spices into small bowls so they would be ready for me when I needed them. He seemed to really enjoy the process of watching it all come together. We were super happy with the end result, and I definitely plan to make this dish again.

To make this an extra special feast I made Aloo Tikki as an appetizer, Indian spiced fried potato patties. I don't have any experience making fried things at home, because I shy away from recipes that involve submerging food in oil. We did not have the highest expectations for these, but were very pleasantly surprised in the end. I love it when that happens! I want to continue with my habit of not submerging my food in oil, but it will be hard not to indulge in this recipe from time to time. This would be great with some tamarind chutney on top, but we did not have any this time.

Matar Paneer

(from Lisa's Kitchen)

a few tablespoons of oil or butter, or a mixture of both
1 1/2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 hot green chillies or jalapenos, finely minced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 inch piece of ginger, grated or finely minced
1 generous teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons of water
2 cups of tomatoes, finely chopped
1 - 2 teaspoons of sea salt
2 cups of paneer cheese, cubed
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas, defrosted
1/2 - 1 cup of yogurt
2 teaspoons of garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - I could not find this, so I omitted
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley or coriander, chopped

In a mortar and pestle, make a paste of the garlic, ginger, cayenne, coriander, paprika, turmeric and water. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. When hot, add the cumin and black mustard seeds and stir and fry until the mustard seeds turn gray and begin to pop. Now add the onion and cook until it is translucent, stirring frequently. Add the chillies, stir and then add the ginger, garlic spice paste. Stir and fry for a minute.

Add the tomatoes and salt to the pot, increase the heat slightly and cook for about 5 - 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened. Reduce the heat, and add the peas, paneer, yogurt, garam masala, kasoori methi and parsley. Stir to combine and gently cook for another 5 minutes.

Serves 4.

Aloo Tikki

(adapted from VegNews)

2 russet potatoes, peeled, chopped, and boiled (apprx 1.5 - 2 cups)

3/4 cup cooked chickpeas

1 green chile, seeded and minced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tbsp ginger, grated

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp fine grain sea salt

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup canola oil, for frying

In a large bowl, mash potato and chickpeas (the chickpeas will remain a bit chunky which is fine). Add chile, cilantro, ginger, lemon juice, salt, pepper, coriander, cumin, flour, and cornstarch and mix well. Use your hands to shape the mixture into small, tight patties.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add the patties and cook until both sides are golden brown, turning once. Serve hot.

Chana Masala

When dining out, you can usually count on my vote going to Thai or Indian food. Let's face it, American cuisine is largely not veggie friendly (or at very least mostly uninspiring), with menus often yielding only a couple of choices. So for heat-freak vegetarians like myself, veggie packed Indian and Thai curries reign supreme.

I've dabbled at home with Thai cooking with some success, but for some reason I have been reserved about cooking Indian curries. It might have (or definitely) had something to do with the inevitable long list of spices that comes with each recipe, most of which were not already in my pantry.

Well, since joining the food blogging community my pantry has changed quite a bit. This was thanks to being inspired by simpler dishes with a shorter list of spices to get me started, and also thanks to discovering a great international grocer down the road with an amazing supply of inexpensive spices. Over the last few months each time I went shopping I'd pick out one or two more spices to add to my collection, and now I am pretty well stocked.

I've had my eye on Lisa's Chana Masala for ages now, it just kept popping up everywhere! I've made this twice now in the past two weeks and my reservations about preparing Indian curries at home are quickly dissolving. If you are like I used to be, let me encourage you to start working on your pantry so that you can have Indian yummies at home, it is so very worth it!

Oh, and this is what happens when I photograph food on my bedroom floor next to my big window. Evie just wants to be near the action all the time. I do apologize if you don't find kitties and kitty paws as cute as I do, don't let that detract from this delicious dish!

Chana Masala
(from Lisa's Kitchen)

1 1/4 cups of dried chickpeas
2 - 3 tablespoons of ghee or a mixture of butter and oil (or to make vegan, just use oil)
1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
5 green or black cardamom pods
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves

1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1/2 - 1 tablespoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne
1 teaspoon of turmeric

2 - 4 finely chopped hot red and green chilies
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 - 2 inch piece of ginger, grated or finely chopped

2 medium-large tomatoes, finely diced
juice from one small lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon of garam masala

Soak the chickpeas overnight in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 - 2 hours or until the chickpeas are buttersoft. Drain well and set aside. (I did this a day ahead)

Heat the butter and oil in a large pot. When hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, and bay leaves. Stir and fry until the mustard seeds begin to pop and the cumin seeds begin to brown.

Throw in the onions, and stir and fry until they begin to brown. Add the ground coriander, ground cumin, cayenne and turmeric to the pan and stir until the onions are well coated with the spices - about 1 minute. Then, add the fresh chilies, garlic and ginger. Stir and fry for a few minutes.

Next, add the tomatoes, half of the lemon juice and cook to thicken, about 10 minutes. Put the chickpeas into the tomato mixture, add the salt, some black pepper, half of the parsley, the remaining lemon juice and the garam masala. Cook for about 10 minutes to blend the flavors, adding a bit of water if necessary. The chickpeas should be fairly dry.

Remove the bay leaves if you are using whole ones, and the cinnamon stick. Stir in the remaining parsley and serve hot.