chick peas and hearts

hearts of palm, that is... I was checking around my pantry for something to make and since I had not been home in several weeks, I didn't have much fresh, except what was in my garden. I came up with this quick, easy and delicious dish:

Chickpea and Hearts of Palm Salad
1 can whole chickpeas
1 can sliced hearts of palm
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. fresh chives
salt and white pepper to taste

1. Rinse and strain chickpeas and hearts of palm and put in a medium bowl.
2. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, chives, salt and pepper until the oil has emulsified.
3. Pour the dressing over the chick peas and hearts of palm and chill for about an hour.

I like to use the white pepper so that I don't have little black specs all over my salad. The other thing is that if I had some fresh tomatoes, I would have put them in there too, but I used them all in the salad I made yesterday. Other options - artichoke hearts and olives - it would be fun to be creative with this one.

enjoy :)

lentils... superfood?

I was feeling a longing for lentils lately and had some things on hand, so I whipped up this great lentil salad yesterday. I'd take a photo of it, but it didn't last that long ;)

Lentils are basically a superfood from everything I have read. Lots of protein, no fat, great for veg-heads. There are a lot of these recipes out there, so I'll humbly offer mine.

Lentil Salad
1/2 c. green whole lentils (I find the split ones get mushy)
enough water to cover the lentils by 1/2 inch
two garlic cloves, cut in half
bay leaf
1 tsp. curry powder
4 to 6 cherry tomatos
2 tbsp. lemon juice
salt to taste
few dashes of hot sauce

1. Bring water to boil (you can boil the lentils right in the water, but I have read that they are easier to digest if you put them in boiling water). Add lentils, garlic, bay leaf, curry powder.

2. After water begins to boil again, lower heat to simmering and simmer uncovered until all the water has been absorbed. If the lentils are still a little hard, add more water and simmer some more.

3. Remove from heat, salt and add lemon juice, and hot sauce to taste. Let the lentils come to room temperature and add the cherry tomatos.

4. You can either eat immediately, or chill for up to 2 to 3 days.

I usually eat this as my dinner, but it can also be a great side dish.

enjoy
~me

Gridiron Grub Week 5: The Sandwich, Deconstructed

It's still too hot out to keep the oven on for hours and cook up something warm and autumn-like. So, you'll have to bear with me on this one. A few finishing touches turns a boring sandwich into something you would actually call dinner. Here, I break down the sandwich into five parts and show you how to spice up each one with fresh healthy options:

1. The Bread. Throw away that Wonder Bread already. Not only is it ridiculously processed, and full of "partially hydrogenated soybean oil," it doesn't taste nearly as good as fresh bread. Next time you're in the grocery store or neighborhood bakery, take a look at the artisan bread section and pick one that looks appetizing to you. Artisan bread is handcrafted by skilled bakers using water, flour, salt and yeast. Can't beat that - pure and simple. Personally, I like a good ciabatta with the crispy goodness on the outside and a chewy inside with large pores. If you can't find a good artisan bread, pick a nice hearty bread that suits you. A pita or flat bread also works very nicely. Trust me, it will be loads better than that plain old white (or green....) sandwich bread in your pantry. In fact, if you get really creative, it doesn't even need to be bread at all - it could be a big leaf of romaine lettuce.

2. The Condiments. Don't get me wrong, I love mustard but there are many more options out there. For an Italian flare, try pesto or a sun dried tomato paste. For Mediterranean, how about spreading a bit of hummus, olive tapenade, or baba ganouj on the bread. Asian? You can try a wasabi mixture.

3. The Greens. Sure, I could go to a deli and get some nice shredded iceberg lettuce on my sandwich. But that would be right next to the plain old white bread and we're talking about doing sandwiches right! There are many salad greens out there that can add a little zip to your sandwich. I like adding arugula. It has a peppery, slightly bitter taste and adds some zest. It works best paired with a something that will mellow it out such as some avocado slices or a balsamic reduction. Other choices are mesclun greens, field greens, watercress. Try a few and see which ones you like best.

4. The Filling. Grilled portabellas might be my favorite. But then there are other grilled veggies like squash, big chunks of vidalia onions, or a few slices of thinly sliced grilled eggplant. If you're a meat eater, try to stay away from the processed deli meats and steer more toward things like thinly sliced grilled chicken breast or steak. The filling is [at times] literally the meat of this whole project so don't forget to add some seasoning. You can sprinkle with an Italian spice mix and cook in some garlic and basil, or add a Mediterranean flare by adding a little tarragon. You could also take a trip to the east and cook in some soy and tamarind for an Asian taste, or a dash of curry powder or cumin seed to bring out those Indian flavors. Pick your poison.

5. The Extras. This is where it really gets fun. You can put some fire roasted red peppers (you can easily find these in a jar), maybe some pickled jalapenos or cool cucumbers. Instead of fresh tomatoes, try some sun dried tomatoes. If you're going with an Asian taste, maybe some bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. Instead of mayo, some sliced avocados will give a creamy taste to the sandwich without all the "bad" fats.

Let's put this all together now. You're having some folks over and want to have some sandwiches ready. Everyone has their own favorites and things they won't touch. Here are some ideas for a make-your-own sandwich assembly line that you can set up and your friends can make their own:

Breads - pick a variety of breads and have them pre-sliced. There's nothing worse than trying to find the knife, cut the bread and fill up your sandwich when there are 10 hungry guys standing behind you.

Condiments - Put out two or three out in separate bowls, each with it's own spreading knife. These should be lined up right after the bread because it's too hard to spread this on after the sandwich is full.

Greens - I suggest that you pick one or at the most two. Put them in a large bowl next to the bread with some long tongs.

Fillings - About two hours before your guests arrive, grill up some portabellas using a balsamic, garlic and Italian herb seasoning. Cook up your meats using some flavorful spices. Put the goods out, keeping the veggies separate from the meats.

Fixings - Gather a few bowls and line them up like you see in Subway. All the fixings, right there for your guests to pick and choose as they please.

When the time comes, you'll be totally prepared and your guests will be totally impressed.

*healthy foodie*

flavorful rice

This post ties in a few of the previous posts quite nicely - I used my pressure cooker, got rid of some of my rice, and continued my adventures with Indian cuisine. I can't get enough of it actually. I made vegetable biryani using a recipe reprinted from Recipe Delights. If you have been reading for any amount of time, you'll know that I had to make some tweaks to this recipe. Here's what I did:

Vegetable Biryani Recipe (makes about 10-12 servings)
2 c. Basmati rice or other medium grain white rice
3 small red potatoes
2 c. mixed vegetable (I used a frozen vegetable mix w/broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, squash)
1/2 c. french beans
1 c. green peas
1 medium vidalia onion, diced
2 serrano chili, diced
Salt to taste
1 tsp. Red chilli powder
2 tsp. Cinnamon
2 tsp. Caraway seeds
1/2 tsp. clove
1/2 tsp. Black pepper powder
1/2 c. plain fat free yogurt
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
3 tbsp. Dried fruit and nut mix (I mixed cashew pieces, raisins and dates)

Dice and cook the potatoes in a pressure cooker. Set aside.

Wash rice well before cooking. Then take rice with 3-3/4 cup water and a little salt added to it and 2 tbsp of dry fruits. Cook it in pressure cooker (wait for one whistle and then switch off the gas). You can also cook it in a pan or do microwave cooking just the same way as you cook ordinary rice.

Cut all the vegetables, except potatoes, into bite sized pieces and saute in a little bit of olive oil. When done, set aside.

Then fry mustard seeds, green chilli, cinnamon and caraway seeds powder, cloves, black pepper powder for about half minute and then add onions. Fry till the color of onion changes to pink.

Add salt and red chilli powder and stir it properly.

Next add yogurt and stir well.Heat it for about 10 seconds.

Add all the vegetables, including potatoes.

Lastly add the cooked rice and mix well with very light hands so that the rice grain doesn't break. Cook for about 3 minutes.

May be covered and kept in fridge for about 5 days.

I did a few things to refine the recipe to my tastes. First, I just about doubled the amount of vegetables in the recipe. I did this so that I would fill up more on the vegetables than on the rice. I also used plain fat free yogurt instead of full fat yogurt. No need to add extra calories. Last, I used less oil. Especially when you're sauting frozen vegetables, there is usually enough liquid in them so that you don't need to add much, if any, oil. You definitely need to add oil to cook the mustard seeds and chili and onions or else they will stick to the pan and get messy.

This is a great dish with a lot of nutrients and balanced food groups - cinnamon, chili pepper, black pepper, cloves, and mustard seeds show up on the healthiest foods list, as do many of the veggies like squash, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, onions, potatoes, broccoli, raisins, and even the yogurt.

Keep your portion sizes measured and enjoy this fulfilling and satisfying autumn dish.

*healthy foodie*

remember that giant zucchini?

I tried my hand at the thai curry again, this time worked a little better.

Thai Curry Zucchini Recipe (4 servings)
1 giant zucchini (a medium or two small would work too)
2 plum tomatoes
1 small can bamboo shoots
1 can coconut milk
2 tsp. red curry paste
1 red chili
salt and pepper to taste
tbsp. olive oil
cooked white jasmine rice

1. Cut the zucchini into bite size pieces and saute in olive oil until browned.
2. Meanwhile, put the can of lite coconut milk in a sauce pan , add curry and chili until the curry paste is dissolved.
3. Add the bamboo shoots to the zucchini and then the coconut milk mixture.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve over white rice.

*enjoy*
photos soon

*healthy foodie*

thai eggplant curry over coconut rice

I haven't experimented much with cooking Thai cuisine, not because I don't like it. I guess I just never had the right ingredients or the wasn't in the mood. But tonight was the night. I had been thinking about this since I went food shopping yesterday and picked up some eggplant. This is really as simple as braised vegetables over rice. I have broken it into two recipes, both full of healthy goodness.

Thai Eggplant Curry Recipe
1 medium eggplant, cut into rounds and quartered
1/2 vidalia onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 c. crimini mushrooms, cut into thick slices
1 package Thai baked tofu
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 c. lite coconut milk
1 c. water
salt and pepper to taste
few basil leaves

1. Preheat oven to 400. Heat olive oil in dutch oven (or large roasting pan) over medium-high heat. Add onion.

2. While onion is browning, cut up the mushrooms and add them to the pan along with some salt.

3. While the onions and mushrooms are cooking, chop the garlic and then add them to the pan.

4. While the onions, mushrooms and garlic are cooking (see where this is going??), chop up the eggplant and put that in the pan.

5. While the onions, mushrooms, garlic and eggplant are cooking, chop up the tofu and add that to the pan.

6. Let the entire mixture brown for about 5 minutes until nicely browned.

7. Add the coconut milk, water, chili powder and curry and remove pan from heat. Put a cover on your pan or dutch oven and put it in the oven for 25 minutes.

8. Once done, remove from oven, add a few basil leaves and replace cover for 5 minutes.

9. Serve over coconut rice (recipe below).

Coconut Rice Recipe

1 tsp. olive oil
1 c. white or brown rice
1/2 c. lite coconut milk
1 c. water
1/4 c. unsweetened coconut
salt and white pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add rice and saute for about 3 minutes.

2. Add coconut milk, water, coconut, salt and pepper.

3. Cover and bring to a boil.

4. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes until all liquid is absorbed.

5. Let stand 5-minutes. Fluff with fork.

Mushrooms, eggplant, onions, basil all show up on the World's Healthiest Foods list. With this recipe, you'll also get at least 2 servings of vegetables in for the day, well on your way to meeting the recommended daily 3 to 5 servings. Make sure you use the "lite" coconut milk - it has about 40 calories per serving compared with more than 100 for the regular, or double that for the coconut cream. If you make both the eggplant and the rice, you'll need one can of the coconut milk. Also, take it easy on the olive oil to save a few more calories. Especially in the sauteing part. Since the mushrooms and onions release their own juices, you'll only need a little bit of oil - 1 tbsp is generous. One last calorie saving idea - portion the veggies to rice by 2 to 1 (i.e. 2 parts veggies to 1 part rice).

Enjoy!

*k*

couscous

I'm sure that many of you have heard of, seen, and probably even eaten couscous. It's a ground semolina pasta and comes in two varieties - Mediterranean and Israeli. The one on the left is Mediterranean and the one on the right is Israeli. You'll see it in Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, French, and other Mediterranean types of preparations. Aside from the obvious difference in the size of the grain, there doesn't seem to me to be much difference in taste. It essentially takes on the taste of whatever you cook it in.

There are countless recipes for couscous, here's one I made tonight with a touch of Moroccan influence and it's nearly fat free!

Moroccan Couscous Recipe
1 c. Israeli couscous (pearl sized)
2 c. water (or chicken stock or vegetable stock)
1 medium zucchini, cut into wedges
1/2 vidalia onion
1 hot wax pepper, diced
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 saffron strands
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
dash nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. olive oil

1. In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, the 2 cups of water (or stock). Add the saffron, cumin, tumeric and nutmeg. Once the water is boiling, add the couscous and bring to a simmer. Simmer, covered for about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. After the simmering is done, remove from heat and let stand, covered for 5 more minutes.

2. While that is coming to a boil, heat up about 1 tbsp. olive oil in a saute pan. Once the oil is heated (about 3 minutes), add the mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, add the zucchini and onion and saute them until the zucchini is slightly browned and the onion is translucent.

3. Add the zucchini and onion mixture to the couscous. Add, the hot wax pepper, chili powder and salt and pepper to taste.


enjoy!

simply delicioso... simply

Ok, I'll admit in the first 3 minutes of Ingrid Hoffman's show on Food Network, I was not completely enamored. It felt a little contrived, over-written, maybe even slightly over-rehearsed. But a few minutes into the show and I was kind of hooked. She was making an orange glazed chicken, orange granita and a summery quinoa. It all looked so good! I have all the ingredients for the quinoa recipe and have been thinking about making something quinoa for quite some time now.

I'm interested in quinoa because I've read a lot about its health benefits and thought it would be a tasty alternative to couscous. It's an ancient grain native to South America and popular with the early Incan communities. It has lots of amino acids, helpful in the repair of damaged cells and touted for easing migraines and improving cardiovascular health.

I'll let you know how the dish comes out. :)

looking for a hit at your next bbq?

I had a bbq the other day and wanted to make something beforehand that would already be prepared when my guests arrived so that I could spend more time with my guests and less time over the hot grill. Rob kindly cooked all of the meat, over the hot grill, in the sweltering heat, so I definitely owe him one. I had something similar at a bbq a few days before, so this is what I made beforehand and it was more than enough for my 6 guests:

Grilled Vegetables Recipe (served cold)
1 large eggplant, sliced into rounds
1 bunch asparagus
1 large vidalia onion (or 2 small), slided into thick slabs
4 portabella mushrooms, cut into thick slices

Marinade
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Separate veggies into 2 large baking dishes (try to lay them out flat as much as possible, because you'll want the marinade to cover all of them). Pour the marinade over the veggies and make sure they are completely coated. Chill them for at least 1 hr and up to several hours.

Once the veggies are chilled, preheat the grill to medium / high. Place the veggies on the grill and grill them for a few minutes on each side until they have grill marks and appear to be done but not mushy. You may want to put the onion in a grilling basket to avoid any grill casualties.

Once all of the veggies are done, arrange them on a serving plate (I put all the asparagus together, all the eggplant together, and so on). Chill the veggies on the serving plate at least 1 hr. or until ready to serve.

You'll need to do this early in the day so that everything is done by time your guests arrive.

enjoy!
*k*

summer calls for a quick and easy recipe

these summer rolls are great for when you want to make something and eat it right away. They get a little dried out if you keep them for too long. But if you want to make them and keep them in the fridge, covered, for a few hours, they would be ok. The mango dipping sauce that goes along with it is tangy, sweet and a little spicy. It goes great to dress up the fresh veggies.

Let's start with the mango dipping sauce, since it's better if you can chill it a little bit.

Mango Dipping Sauce Recipe

1 medium mango, diced

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped

a few slices of pickled jalapeno (to taste), chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Refridgerate until ready to use and up to 2 days.

Summer Roll Recipe (about 10-15 rolls)

1 cucumber, julilenned

Several leaves of basil (around 10)

Several leaves of mint (around 20)

1 cup of shredded cabbage

1/2 medium red onion, sliced thinly

bowl of water

Package of spring roll skin

1. Arrange all of your ingredients.

2. Take one spring roll skin and place it on a flat working surface. Dip your hand in the bowl of water and gently moisten the spring roll skin on both sides.

3. Start layering your ingredients in the spring roll skin. I place the basil first, then cabbage, onion, cucumber, mint. That way, when you roll it up, you have a nice looking basil leaf showing through.
4. Fold up the bottom, and then fold in the sides, then roll it up. The spring roll skin should be very pliable and should readily stick when you start rolling it.

5. Enjoy with the mango dipping sauce. :)

*k*

life is a just a bowl of cherries

it has been 76 years since Lew Brown and Ray Henderson coined the phrase, and yet it is still iconic. What can be better than a sunny, warm Friday in the middle of the summer, a fresh farmer's market and a bowl of cherries. Well, I guess there's a lot of things that could be better, but just go with this one for me a bit...

Fresh Jersey cherries. If they last until tomorrow, I might just make something with them. :)


All of it just picked at the height of ripeness. I just love this time of year. I whipped up a fantastic dinner with all of this goodness, Tarragon Eggplant and Tofu Stacks. Recipe will follow after my photo essay.

Drawing the moisture out of eggplant helps to keep it from getting mushy later. If you happen to like mushy eggplant, skip this step. But I'm warning you, it will be mushy.

Yup, that's tofu alright. If you were fooled by the photo, just wait until you taste it!

Ahem, I now present you with the finished dish. Let's just say, I would not be able to recreate this in the time allowed on the Iron Chef. Now I'll try and remember the recipe - I just kind of made this up as I went along.

Tarragon Eggplant and Tofu Stacks Recipe (4 to 6 servings)
1 medium eggplant
coarse salt
1 medium egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 c. Italian style breadcrumbs
1/4 c. tarragon (plus some extra for sprinkling)
Canola oil
1 package of extra firm tofu
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup roughly cut vidalia onion
fine salt
paprika (optional)
1 tbsp chopped scallion (optional)
2 c. diced tomatoes (or a can)
shaved peccorino (optional)

1. Cut eggplant lengthwise and lay on a bakers rack or cookie cooling rack. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Coarse salt works best because you can wash it off later. Let the salt wick the moisture out of the eggplant for about an hour (go get a pedicure or something).

2. When you get back from the pedi, wash off all the salt from the eggplant and dry it off with some paper towels.

3. This would be a good time to prep the tofu. If you have an extra hand in the kitchen, they can start this step earlier. Cut the tofu long ways into 1/8" slabs. You should be able to get about 6 slabs.

4. Tofu also has a lot of water in it (duh, it's packed in water). So you probably want to drain it or else it will be mushy. Unless you like mushy tofu along with your mushy eggplant, then you can skip this step. I don't like mushy tofu. Place the slabs (sounds so appetizing) of tofu between layers of paper towels or kitchen towels. Place a heavy object or pot of water on top and let it sit there for a while.

5. Put about 2" of oil in a large skillet. Canola oil works well, Vegetable oil works too. You can even get fancy and mix some olive oil with canola oil. Don't use only olive oil. The smoking point of olive oil is too low to get the oil hot enough to fry this eggplant. Turn the burner on medium to high. While you're at it, you should pre-heat your oven too. 450 degrees.

6. Line the bottom of a baking dish with the tofu. Sprinkle the salt, tarragon, paprika, roughly chopped garlic, scallion, and roughly chopped onion on it. Set aside until the oven reaches 450, at which point you'll put it in the oven.

7. Start the assembly line going. Break the egg in a medium bowl (something big enough to fit the eggplant slices in) and whisk it together with the milk.

8. On a plate, mix the breadcrumbs with the tarragon. The tarragon is going to give this dish a little sweetness that you don't get with the typical Italian herbs like basil or oregano.

9. Dip the eggplant into the egg mixture and coat evenly. Then dip it in the breadcrumbs and coat evenly again. Do this with all of the eggplant and put them on a clean plate (umm, a dirty one would work too, but that's gross).

10. By this time, the oil should be piping hot. To check it, toss a few (emphasis on "few") breadcrumbs into the oil. If it bubbles quickly and rises to the top of the oil, you're in business. If it sinks to the bottom, the oil is not hot enough.

11. Carefully place the eggplant into the oil. Fry it until it is dark brown on both sides. Depending on the size of your skillet, you may only be able to fry one or two of them at a time. If you put too many of them in the oil, the oil will cool off and it won't fry as well. The object here is to fry it pretty quickly so it doesn't just sit in there soaking up all the oil. Should take a total of about 3 minutes per eggplant.

12. If you haven't put the tofu in the oven, you might want to do that now. Keep it in there until it's browned.

13. Continue frying eggplant until it's all done. Once each one is done, place it on a paper towel to wick the oil away.

14. Heat the can of diced tomatoes in the microwave for about a minute.

15. Start assembling the stacks. Place an eggplant slice on the bottom, next a tofu slice, next an eggplant slice and finally top the stack with the diced tomatoes. Shave a little peccorino on top and enjoy.

An alternative to this would be to roll up the tofu in the eggplant, similar to eggplant rollatini except without the cheese.

Wow - that took just about as long to type as it did to make it. I hope it's worth it :)

*k*

easiest dinner ever...

didn't feel like doing much for dinner tonight, so I'm posting this very easy, very tasty dish:

Asian Style Mixed Vegetables Recipe
1 bag of your favorite frozen mixed vegetables package (I choose a sugar snap pea, carrots and mushroom stir fry)
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 tbsp seasame seeds
3 tbsp low salt soy sauce
1 tbsp hot sauce (to taste)
1/2 tbsp olive oil (or sesame oil)

Set oven to broil and put frozen vegetables and garlic on cookie sheet. Grill until golden.

Mix rest of ingredients in a bowl. Add the broiled vegetables. Enjoy.

*k*

new twist on saffron rice

Armed with the first figs of the season, I decided to try a new recipe. I'll be eating this one all week (and I'm not complaining about it!). I "borrowed" the recipe from here. But I made a few modifications (as usual...).

Saffron Rice Pilaf Recipe (10 servings)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 vidalia onion, chopped
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 1/2 cups of water
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
4 fresh California figs, chopped
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup coursely chopped walnuts (large pieces)
3-4 few strands saffron
dash course sea salt

In large heavy bottomed pot, heat the olive oil, add onion and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the rice and saute for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the water, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Stir in the figs, currants, saffron, salt, and walnuts.

Reduce heat to low; cover; and simmer until the rice is tender, stirring occasionally, and has absorbed all the liquid, about 20 to 25 minutes (don't peek!).

Fluff the rice and enjoy.
------------------

It was really tasty actually. I liked the way the flavors came together while it was cooking. I made the few changes I did for several reasons. First, I only make one cup of rice at a time. I generally only cook for myself during the week and the one cup of rice yields more than enough for several lunches and dinners. Remember, one serving is about 1/2 cup of rice, cooked (that's the healthy part of the foodie talking now...). I didn't have any allspice, so I substituted nutmeg. But nutmeg is somewhat potent, so just a pinch will do. As for the walnuts, they have more antioxidents and will provide the Omega-3 fatty acids that pine nuts don't have. Just 14 walnut halves will provide the RDA of Omega-3. This is important for those of us who avoid meat. And lastly, I used just plain water because not only did I not have vegetable broth handy, I thought that the broth would take away from some of the other, already rich flavors of the dish. It also generally has a lot of sodium that I can do without at this point.

Now there is one few thing that I would do differently next time. I would use dried figs. Though the original recipe did not distinguish between fresh and dried, I think the dried would have provided more flavor. And also, if you have read my other post on figs, you will remember that I'm a fig purist. :) At some point, I would also try this with dried dates in place of the figs. They have a great flavor and go wonderfully with rice and nut dishes.

enjoy!

*k*

rainy day dinner

I had a vision of inspiration this afternoon, staring out into the downpour that was Hurricane Barry. Craving Indian (as I always am these days... it's so damn good!), I decided to make an eggplant and tomato curry. It's fabulous, and nearly fat free.

Eggplant and Tomato Curry Recipe (6 servings)
1 medium eggplant
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2-15 oz. cans of diced tomatos
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp chili pepper (more or less heat to taste)
1-14 oz. package of extra firm tofu, diced into 1/2" cubes

Pre-Heat oven to 425 deg. F. Slice eggplant lengthwise, and lightly brush with olive oil. Bake eggplant, cut side down, for 40 minutes.

Cool under cold running water and scoop out pulp into a food processor (or blender). Puree until smooth.

While the eggplant is cooking, in a large, deep pan, saute the onions in a few tablespoons of water until translucent. then add garlic. Cook until the onions begin to turn golden.

Stir in the turmeric, chili pepper and curry, both cans of tomatos, and 1/2 can of water. Reduce until thick.

Add tofu and pureed eggplant and salt and pepper to taste.

Of course, what would a curry be without naan. Alternatively, you can serve this over basmati rice. Rice recipes coming soon :)

Bon Appetit!

*k*