Bean and Corn Salsa

I made this! Most of the ingredients in this are available in Delhi, so I was happy to run across this recipe and make a dish that I love (and have made several times before!). Unfortunately I couldn't find either black beans or red bell pepper, but I used some black eyed peas that I had. I "guestimated" a lot of the amounts which seems perfectly OK, and I added a few teaspoons of mustard oil which has a really good flavor for raw salads. And I substituted Indian green chilies for canned.

Again, here's the recipe, from "The Curvy Carrot." Gonna let this baby sit in the fridge and eat it with some tortilla chips tomorrow!

Homemade pasta sauce

I know I've gone full-blown Americana, but tonight I made homemade tomato pasta sauce and it turned out so good! Tomatoes and most veggies are cheap here, so I picked up 1 kg for less than a dollar. And since I'm learning to use a pressure cooker, I figured it would work well for this recipe, and it did! It wasn't necessary, but it really sped things up.

As I heated the pressure cooker (with no lid), I started by chopping up 3 medium/small red onions and sauteing them in olive oil til brown. After a while I added 8 cloves of roughly chopped garlic. I let everything get good and brown (without burning the onions) and then I added about 3/4 kg of roughly chopped tomatoes and about a half cup of water. Then I put the pressure cooker lid on and cooked that for 5 minutes (it could've used a min longer though).

The recipe I based this on was right that you shouldn't start the pasta until everything is in the pressure cooker, because the sauce can wait but pasta can't. And once the pressure cooker was done, I still had a lot of water to boil off of the sauce so that took about 15 minutes, and could take longer on a different stove.

I've already raved about nutrella, and I'm using it in this recipe too. I fried them in a tiny bit of oil and then added them to the sauce, which was reducing. Also to the sauce I added a small can of tomato paste, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, and some italian seasonings/oregano leftover from my pizza deliveries here :) I didn't have to add salt because the tomato paste has plenty of salt in it. Once the sauce reduced, I drained the noodles but added a bit of the pasta water back into the tomato sauce (which had gotten a bit too dry, plus the starchy water makes it awesome).

Aww yisss tomato sauce!

Cooking in India... not as great as you might think

I've been having a somewhat difficult time putting together meals here in India. I quickly tired of making my own Indian food as I never seem to get it quite right (I think I need more salt, step #1!) and it's so cheap to find elsewhere. And I only have a 3-burner gas stove and a limited set of pots and pans; no oven, no microwave, no dishwasher. Finally, although if I visited the more "western" markets I could get some of the specialty (and non-specialty, but just not available here) items, but that's quite a trek to go to a different market, and can be expensive.

I've been experimenting mostly with different pasta dishes, with mixed success. A cold pasta salad with cucumber, tomato, red onions, and feta cheese was good though it would have been better with some vinegar. I like pasta because it's a quick carb to make (I haven't even attempted making roti) and I think it's healthier than white rice. At least, it has more protein. The best pasta dish I've made here so far was quite good, and I want to remember the recipe so here it is!

-Boiled pasta (I used enough for about 3 or 4 servings).
-Started by sautéing 2 medium red onions in olive oil until they started to caramelize.
-Roughly chopped several garlic cloves (I think I used almost half a bulb of garlic!). Added half to the onions, and save half.
-Chopped 1 or 2 red or yellow peppers into slices, added peppers to the pan.
-Added a handful of Nutrela soy chunks. Although they look like dog food, they taste really good if you cook them right! Cooked the Nutrela in the pan with the veggies until it became slightly brown.
-Added the rest of the garlic (adding it later preserves some of the flavor)
-Added salt and also water from the pasta to the dish, as the Nutrela requires water. I just kept adding water and cooking it on a low heat until the Nutrela was rehydrated. The water added also helped make the veggies into more of a sauce, which was quite delicious due mostly to the onions and garlic.
-Mixed the pasta and veggies together, added salt and red pepper flakes for taste.

Cooking is good because it's pretty cheap, and now that I've started exercising I need more protein and calories in my diet. But, I have to confess, there is a Subway 10 minutes from my house and that is pretty much the highlight of my week when I go there.

Indian food

So this post is mostly for my own benefit since I don't have solid recipes for any of these things... but I needed to make a list of what I can make, and writing a blog is so much easier than making a file that will get lost somewhere on my computer.

Here in India I have a simple 3-burner gas stove and very simple cookware: just a knife and cutting board, a few stirring spoons/bamboo spatula, and 1 small pan and 2 pots. Someday I am going to make a mess/burn my self horribly with the small pan, because it is so unstable and the handle gets hot. I would like to invest in more cookware (a kettle, rice cooker, wok, etc.) but I'm only here for 5 more months and I'm travelling for about 1 month, and I'm on a strict budget.

I've also learned that it's much cheaper to cook with domestic ingredients vs. imported ones (mustard oil vs. olive oil and so on), so I'm cooking some Indian food. My breakfast is usually yogurt and muesli or toast and peanut butter with plain tea, lunch is usually at the office or leftovers, but here's what I can make for dinner:

Daal-- red lentils, turmeric, green chili, and tomato, with "tadka" made from fried onion, ginger/garlic paste, dried red chili, and nigella and/or mustard seeds. I bought some coconut milk so I can make coconut daal sometime!

Egg curry-- hard boiled eggs, curry made from fried onion, "masala" spices, ginger/garlic paste, and tomato. Add potatoes and cook with water and the curry mix, then add hard boiled eggs at end.

Chickpea curry-- chickpeas cooked with coriander and cumin powder, ginger/garlic paste, and onions/tomatoes as desired.

I also want to start making some vegetable side-dishes, such as okra and zucchini things. I usually eat rice as my carb, but I'd like to start eating brown rice or roti more. I can't make roti, but I can buy it from a local restaurant.

Finally, I'll probably make a few "western" dishes every once and a while. I have a block of feta cheese waiting to be used...

Roasted sweet potato, bean, and kale salad

This is like the best, most satisfying vegan meal I have ever made! I was so excited that I almost ate all of the roasted kale...

So this is an original recipe, but based on a few others (notably, I got the idea for spicy roasted sweet potatoes from this Smitten Kitchen recipe for butternut squash). I've been trying to eat more healthy (i.e. not so much frozen pizza) so I came up with this idea, and it evolved as I was cooking.

I started by cutting 2 sweet potatoes into large chunks. I tossed them with:

--2 cloves garlic, chopped (use more next time! was good but needs moar delicious garlic!)
--a few tablespoons olive oil
--1-2 tsp smoked sweet paprika powder
--1-2 tsp cumin
--1-2 tsp spicy red pepper powder
--a few chopped sprigs of thyme (not really necessary)
--dash of red pepper flakes
--dash of salt

...and baked the whole thing at 450 for about 30 minutes (until the sweet potatoes are fully cooked). I added a can of washed/drained cannellini beans (or any other bean will do) for the last 10 minutes.

While the sweet potatoes were roasting, I caramelized half of a sliced red onion (could've used a whole one), and washed, dried, and baked some kale chips (for about 6 minutes at 450). I used 1 bunch of kale, although I did eat quite a bit of it while waiting for the sweet potatoes.

Then once everything was done I just mixed it all together. The flavors and textures all worked together really well: the sweet potatoes slightly sweet, spicy, and mouth-meltingly soft; the kale savory and crunchy; and the beans light and hearty at once. I think vegan food makes me feel better, from the core. I will definitely make this again! This dish will taste best warm.

Mediterranean antipasta

Last week for lunches I cooked up a batch of quinoa and roasted some tomatoes (with olive oil and rosemary). I then enjoyed these ingredients with hummus, pita, feta cheese, and olives, depending on what was on-hand.

I tossed the quinoa with a bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt for good measure.

Peach, mint, and tomato salad

This was a happy salad to share with friends at the end of summer. Recipe by Martha Stewart Living. I used heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and I roasted the peaches a bit because they weren't quite ripe and I was in a rush.