Okra and Jackfruit Curry

I believe I've make it pretty darn clear how much I love Everest  in St. Paul for their amazing Nepalese/Tibetan food, especially the okra and the jackfruit dishes.  And since my trip to Dragon Star resulted in a can of jackfruit and some gorgeous okra, it decided to try my hand at combining my two favorite restaurant dishes into one, at home.  

If you haven't used jackfruit before, don't be scared.  It's a fruit, but lends itself very well to savory dishes because of its meaty texture.  And the flavor is pretty much nonexistent.  Be sure you pick up the variety canned in brine, though, not heavy syrup.  That would not be good.  

Now jackfruit has these little bean/seed things inside of it and those are perfectly fine to eat.  But they kind of creep me out, so I remove them.  They look like what I imagine ovaries look like.  Do you agree?

Now for the okra- I think the best way to convert okra haters to okra lovers is through lots and lots of oil.  This recipe doesn't call for deep-frying, but it does use more oil than I usually would both to get a semi-crispy texture in the okra and to carry the flavor from all the spices.  

This all comes together with tons of spices and some home canned tomatoes.  It was really easy and by the time the basmati rice was done cooking, so were the veggies.  

Don't... don't you want this?

Jackfruit and Okra Curry 
I served this up with a cumin papadum and some mango pickle.  Fantastic!

2-3 Tbsp. canola oil
1 onion, diced
1/2 lb. of okra, trimmed and cut into large chunks
1 can jackfruit in brine, drained and cut into chunks
2 tsp. whole coriander, crushed lightly
1 tsp. cumin seed
3/4 tsp. ground fenugreek
3/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1/8 tsp. asafoetida
1/2 tsp. amchur
2 cups canned whole tomatoes
Salt to taste
Crushed red chilies to taste
Fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until oil ripples.  Add the onion and okra.  Stir frequently and cook (watch out for spattering oil!) until onions are translucent and everything is lightly browned.  Add jackfruit and spices and continue to cook until fragrant (don't let those spices burn!).  Add the tomatoes and lower heat to low.  Simmer until the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce-like consistency and okra is tender.  Add salt and chiles to taste.  I think this tastes great with plenty of salt and chilies in it, but it's very flavorful even without.  Serve with rice and garnish with a healthy handful of fresh cilantro.

This is the closest I've ever come to replicated the amazing flavors of Everest.  But their's is still better.

Back in Black

Usually my weekend meal-planning system saves me time and money.  Other times my weekend meal planning is a total failure.  This week, for example, I prepared a huge batch of black chickpea curry and brown rice with soy yogurt raita.

On Monday night Mike had already started cooking dinner when I got home and he didn't remember that the curry was what I planned to serve. I can't complain, though, because he's an awesome partner who cooks dinner for the family all the time.  So we ate pasta with broccoli and cauliflower in a lemony-tahini sauce.

Then on Tuesday the kids and I visited Mike's mom and went out for Chipotle.  Not what I planned, but delicious and the kids were thrilled.

It is now Wednesday night and I'm cooking up some pasta with mushrooms and spinach even though I still have about 8 cups curry and nearly as much brown rice in the fridge.  I've eaten it for 2 days in a row at lunch and I just can't eat it for both lunch and dinner in the same day.  Looks like this curry will need to get frozen or something!

Even though I'm not ready to ONLY eat this curry for the next 5 days, it is really good.  I scored the black chickpeas (made by Timeless Foods) at Linden Hills Co-op.  I used this recipe (Bengal Gram Curry) except used more chickpeas than the recipe suggested.  I used the whole package.  I wouldn't recommend that.

Make Ahead Meals- Curry and Mexi-Bake

As my pantry items dwindle, it's becoming even more important that usual to make meals and ingredients ahead of time.  Mike ended up buying some rice last week because he had to make dinner quickly for the kids on Friday- I can't really blame him.  He didn't really sign up for this pantry challenge.  I pretty much just imposed it on him.  But we agreed that if there are pre-cooked grains and beans ready to use, he won't be tempted to shop.

This week's theme is boring pantry ingredients made interesting with spices and home-canned fun ingredients. I've planned a curry and a Mexican themed casserole.

I found a 1/2 box of Alter Eco brand Fair Trade Ruby Rice in my pantry today.  I thought I was out of rice about a week ago, but found this, some arborio rice and some sushi rice in little bags.  Since I also had some more lacinato kale frozen out in the garden, some canned jackfruit and a couple potatoes, it seemed like I could throw those all together to make a curry.  Everest makes an amazing jackfruit curry that I've ordered the past 3 times I have gone there, so if mine is half as good as that one, I'll be happy!  The spices I used are: cumin seed, mustard seed, fennel seed, turmeric, garam masala, salt.  For the sauce I used some dehydrated coconut milk, a jar of home-canned tomatoes and a jar of home-canned harissa.  So far it smells good...

The casserole consists of a layer of polenta (the last of it!), a layer of mashed pinto beans and a layer of home-canned tomatillo salsa mixed with an extra can of tomatillos.  The beans are seasoned with garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, epazote and Mexican oregano.  And salt.  Can't forget the salt.

I'm starting to wish for some oil now.  I have a smidge of coconut oil and a bottle of sesame oil left.  No more canola oil, olive oil, local sunflower oil or grapeseed oil. Wonder what popcorn will be like popped in sesame oil???

We also just ran out of nutritional yeast and are almost out of regular sea salt.  I have plenty of Hawaiian pink salt and other fancy salts to use, though.  I might have to break down and buy salt and oil in order to use up the rest of my beans and grains, though!  Since I've made it 2 weeks, now I'm wondering if I can do 3 weeks.  But I might go crazy before then because I just used the last of the cumin.

I'll take some pictures of these dinners plated, because the photos of them packed away in their Pyrex containers are less than appealing.

Strawberries and Curry

I'm really loving all these strawberries. I hauled in 1.5 pounds of berries on Thursday night.

I tried 2 new recipes with the berries: One was a success and one was not. We'll start with the success.

This is my super good Lavender Strawberry Frozen Yogurt.

I wanted to use the lavender from the garden with the strawberries and I'm a bit sunburned today, so I'm craving cold things. Making some frozen yogurt is the perfect solution! Sadly the lavender from the garden wasn't plentiful enough to flavor the dessert alone. A teensy-tinesy drop of essential oil does the trick just fine.

1/2 can light coconut milk

2 cups ripe strawberries

2 cups plain soy yogurt

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

1 Tbsp. tequila or vodka

1-2 drops lavender essential oil

Chill the can of coconut milk so that the cream rises to the top. Scoop out 1/2 of the can, including the cream. Add to food processor with the berries, yogurt, sugar, tequila and oil. Process until cream is a smooth consistency. Chill and then add to an ice cream maker according to the machine's directions.

I also tried an unsuccessful recipe...it just looks successful.

Unbaked strawberry pizza

Baked strawberry pizza

I wanted to make a lightly sweetened gluten-free strawberry tart/pizza. It turned out gummy, bland and weird. But I won't be discouraged- I'm going to revise and try again!

Tonight I cooked some basmati rice and a nice curry.

Simple Cabbage and Chickpea Curry

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1/2 onion, sliced

2 cups red cabbage, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced in bitesized pieces

2 cups chickpeas, cooked

2 Tbsp. mild curry paste (Patak's)

1 tsp. salt

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup peach chutney or jam

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onions and cook until transparent. Add cabbage, red pepper, and chickpeas. Stir curry paste and salt into the can of tomatoes until dissolved. Add to the vegetables. Then add peach chutney and stir to combine. Put a lid on the pan. Simmer until cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes.

Best Raita

1/2 cup plain soy yogurt

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup minced cilantro

2 Tbsp. minced fresh mint

2 minced jalapenos

1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice

Stir everything together and dollop generously on top of spicy food!

Birthday Week

I haven't posted this week, but it's not because I haven't been cooking. Here are some of the highlights:

Coconut Curry Tofu. On Sunday I taught a class on cooking leafy green vegetables and had 3/4 of a can of coconut milk and 1/2 can of diced tomatoes left over. So I mixed them together with some ginger, garlic, lime juice and red pepper flakes and marinated tofu in it overnight. The next day I baked the tofu until crispy, added the marinade to steamed potatoes, carrots, kale, and onions, and served it all over brown rice. I was so impressed that the kids liked this one. It was really rich from the coconut milk and very filling.
This is out of order, but these are the rockin' good pancakes we had on Saturday after our maple syrup tapping adventure. After seeing all that sap, we really needed some pancakes!
I baked these cupcakes for the Cupcake Hero contest. The cupcake batter contains brown rice crisp cereal and the topping is basically the marshmallowy goo that would hold together a rice crispy treat. I call them Rice Crispy TreatCakes. They're gluten-free, too! I used RiceMellow cream for the marshmallows.

And last but not least: My birthday cake.
I didn't decide what flavor I was making until half-way through my birthday. I was thinking about an Italian Cream Cake, but wanted some chocolate somewhere in the cake. Then I saw an apricot almond cake recipe that looked good. So this is kind of a combination of all three ideas.
Vanilla cake with chocolate-cream cheese filling, apricot jam filling, and vanilla-coconut cream cheese frosting.

It was everything I wanted in a birthday cake. And don't feel sorry for me because I baked my own birthday cake- Getting to bake the cake was like a birthday present.

Seitan Stew, Curry Squash with Zucchini Pancakes, and Orange Scones

I must have seen a Dinty Moore commercial or something, because I was craving stew for several days before I got to make this Seitan Stew with Chanterelle Mushrooms. I made seitan with "beefy" type seasonings (miso, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and onion) and flattened it out on a baking sheet and baked for 30 minutes at 350F. I've been using this method for all my seitan lately. It turns out crispy and browned on the outside and still tender on the inside. Someday I'll post a real recipe. Then I made a stew with the seitan, carrots, potatoes, and onion. Thick and hearty!
I had no idea what I was making for dinner tonight until it just happened.

Curried Squash, Chickpeas, and kale
5 heirloom tomatoes, chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained
2 cups mashed butternut squash (or pumpkin or anything like that)
1 cup chopped kale or greens of any sort
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

Fry up the onion in the oil and when almost transluscent, add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, throw in everything else and simmer about 15 minutes or longer, depending on if you remembered to start the brown rice yet.





The zucchini pancakes are from James Peterson's book called "Vegetables". They absorbed too much oil, I thought, but had good flavor with tons of garlic and sage.

***Do not rest freshly fried foods on recycled paper napkins if you don't have any paper towels. They are paper thin and will stick to your food. Trust me. You're better off just eating the extra oil or ruining a cuptowel.

Orange Glazed Scones from Vegan with a Vengeance are my favorite scones ever. I "accidentally" made too much glaze and had to eat it with a spoon.