Ethiopian Lentils and Crepes

This week, I solved two of my long-standing culinary dilemmas. First, what to put in dinner crepes besides sauteed veggies and cheese, and second, how to enjoy Ethiopian food at home without the traditional flatbread injera, which is so central to Ethiopian cuisine. When the problems are posed together like that, the answer is simple of course: serve Ethiopian dishes in crepes!

I tried it this week and it was delicious! The crepes stood in beautifully for injera and the lentils made a scrumptious filling for dinner crepes. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making crepes, this particular lentil dish is also really good with couscous or even served on rolls like sloppy joes.

Savoury Crepes
Makes 16 crepes, Serves 8

3 eggs (ener-G egg replacer also works well here)
1½ cups soymilk or milk
2 Tablespoons oil
1½ cups whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt

1. Using an electric mixer or blender, mix the eggs (or egg replacer) and milk until frothy.
2. Add the flour and salt and mix to combine well.
3. Let chill for at least 1½ hour before using.
4. After chilling, lightly grease a medium pan and heat over medium-high heat.
5. When the pan is heated, pour in about ½ cup of batter and tilt the pan until the batter covers the bottom.
6. Cook until the edges are solid and the crepe begins to bubble, about 1 minute.
7. Flip and cook the other side about 30 seconds. Set aside and repeat, greasing the pan between every three crepes or so.

Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Red Lentil Puree)
Makes 8 Servings

¼ cup olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger or ½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne powder
½ lb. red lentils
3 cups water

1. Heat the oil in a large pot (the lentils will expand quite a bit; you need a bigger pot than you might think). Add onions and garlic and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add spices and stir to coat the onions. Saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3. Add the water and bring to a boil. When it is boiling, add the lentils and stir to prevent sticking. Simmer for 30 – 40 minutes, or until lentils are tender and mushy and the water is absorbed.
4. If desired, you can puree the mixture (an immersion blender works especially well for this).
5. Place about ½ cup of lentil mixture in each crepe just before eating and roll them up. Serve topped with yogurt and hot sauce, if desired.

Creamy BBQ Pasta

The weather has turned cold around here, and autumn is upon us in all of its chilly, rainy glory. So it’s comfort food for us, the kind that warms you up and makes you happy to be watching the rain fall outside.

This pasta is creamy, tasty comfort food at its best and (thanks to the yogurt, which cuts down on the cheese and eliminates the need for cream) it’s also not terribly unhealthy. The BBQ sauce and peppers provide a little taste of summer to a dish that we will be eating all winter long.

Creamy BBQ Pasta
Makes 2 Large Servings

1 cup dry whole wheat pasta, a short variety like penne or macaroni
3 cups water
½ teaspoon oil
1 cup bell pepper chopped (about 1 medium pepper)
½ cup cooked pinto beans (canned beans work fine)
½ cup corn kernels
1 clove garlic
½ cup plain yogurt
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 Tablespoon prepared BBQ Sauce (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. In a medium pot, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add pasta and stir a few times to prevent sticking. Boil about 8 minutes or until pasta is the consistency you like. Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small frying pan. Add the peppers and saute on medium heat until they are softened and the edges are just starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, mix the cooked pasta, peppers, corn, beans, garlic, yogurt, cilantro, and BBQ sauce. Mix well.
4. Stir in the cheese, and serve immediately.

Parmesan-Tarragon Crusted Tofu

This recipe is one of my favourites for simple, healthy comfort food. It’s based on my mom’s recipe for “breadcrumb chicken,” which my whole family loves. When I asked her for the recipe so that I could make a vegetarian version, I couldn’t believe how simple it was!

The tofu comes out a little bit drier than chicken, so I like to marinate it before breading and I usually serve this dish with some kind of sauce. In fact, one of the things I like best about the recipe is that it can be made really sophisticated with one sauce (say, a romesco sauce or even a good-quality pasta sauce) or really low-key and fun with a something else (we use honey mustard dressing to bring out the potential “vegetarian chicken fingers” flavour of the dish). If you are serving this to kids (or fun-loving adults), you can cut the tofu with cookie cutters before breading to make it into fun shapes – like stars or hearts or even dinosaurs.

Parmesan-Tarragon Crusted Tofu
Serves 4 – 6

1 lb. firm or extra-firm tofu
2 cups vegetable broth or water
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon dried tarragon, crumbled
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Cut tofu into 16  pieces. (I usually cut the whole block lengthwise to make the slices thinner. Then I cut each of those blocks in half, and use diagonal cuts to make each of the halves into 4 triangles. If you use cookie cutters, you may not get as many pieces out of a single block of tofu, but the fun is still worth it).
2. Mix broth (or water) and soy sauce in a resealable container and add tofu. Add more water to cover if necessary. Marinate for 2 hours, or overnight (whatever you have time for).
3. After the tofu has marinated, preheat the oven to 425F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet and set it aside.
4. Mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan, tarragon, and pepper in a shallow bowl.
5. Drain the tofu. Drag each piece through the breadcrumb mixture, making sure it is well coated on all sides.
6. Place breaded tofu on the cookie sheet, and bake for 10 minutes on each side (or until it is golden-brown).
7. Serve with desired sauce. (We usually eat this dish with a green salad and sweet potato fries or mashed potatoes).

Tacos: Rice, Beans, and Greens

These tacos represent a coming together of some of our favorite side dish recipes. The flavours in each (garlic in the spinach, cumin in the rice, rich dark beer in the beans) come together for a satisfying, complex mouthful of taco goodness.

That being said, this recipe can look a little intimidating given all of its various elements. Each of the recipes are quite easy, and I’ve included instructions for timing everything so that it takes the least effort and all comes together at the same time. If you are short on time or energy, though, you can use store-bought prepared beans (I especially like Trader Joe’s canned “Cuban Black Beans” but any brand of baked beans should work if you can’t get those). You’ll need about 2 cans.

This recipe can be easily doubled and is great for a fun, laid-back dinner party. Have your guests make their own tacos from the ingredients you’ve prepared. The different elements keep well in the fridge for about a week. Just keep them in separate containers and put tacos together whenever you want them.

Tacos: Rice, Beans, and Greens

10 small flour tortilla shells or taco shells
1 recipe cumin garlic rice (below)
1 recipe beer-stewed beans (below)
1 recipe garlic greens (below)
1 cup salsa, store-bought or homemade
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (optional)
1 cup cheddar or monterey jack cheese, shredded (optional)
1 avocado, sliced (optional)
hot sauce to taste (optional)

1. Put the rice on first, because it takes the longest and doesn’t need supervision.
2. Next, work on the beans. They are better the longer they simmer. When they are done (if you aren’t), just turn the heat off and put a lid on the pot.
3. Do the spinach last, because it doesn’t take long and it shouldn’t be over-cooked.
4. Gather the rest of the ingredients, and put together your tacos as you eat. Enjoy!

Cumin-Garlic Rice
1 cup uncooked brown rice
2¼ cup water (or follow instructions on your rice cooker)
2 tsp. cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced

1. Put all ingredients in rice cooker and cook according to manufacturer directions for 1 cup of brown rice. If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can find instructions for cooking brown rice in a pot here.

Beer-Stewed Beans
(Adapted from Vegetarian 5 Ingredient Gourmet by Nava Atlas)

4 cups pinto beans or black beans or kidney beans (cooked or canned)
1 cup tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup beer (preferably a dark beer)
½ cup vegetable broth
½ cup cilantro, minced

1. Place all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Garlic Greens
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. olive oil
10 oz. fresh spinach or other greens (collards, kale, chard, bok choy, etc.)
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar or red wine vinegar or white wine

1. In a large pot or wok, heat oil and add garlic, sauteeing until fragrant (about 2 minutes).
2. Add spinach and vinegar or wine, and cook until spinach is bright green, and has reduced to about a quarter of its original size (about 5 minutes).

Garlic Grape Gazpacho

I didn’t mean for this to be a blog recipe; I really didn’t. I had every intention to just follow the recipe in my new issue of Vegetarian Times for a quick, easy (and oven-less!) dinner. Despite my intentions, though, I revised the recipe pretty heavily as I went along – substituting more grapes when my cucumber proved too small, and adding blended arugula to the soup itself. I also amped up the garlic, switched out the almond milk for coconut milk, and well… generally created a new recipe in the process.

I’m sure that the original recipe was excellent, too, but since we enjoyed this revision so much, I thought I ought to share it with you. It was super-simple to whip up and it made a perfect, refreshing (but filling) summer meal. And did I mention that I didn’t have to turn on the oven, or even a burner?

Garlic Grape Gazpacho
Serves 4 – 6

2 cups sliced almonds, divided
1 large cucumber, sliced (about 2 cups)
2 cups green seedless grapes (plus ½ cup for garnish)
½ cup onion, chopped
1 cup baby arugula (plus 2 cups for garnish)
2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup coconut milk
1 Tablespoon sherry
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon olive oil (plus 1 Tablespoon for garnish)

1. Place almonds in toaster oven and toast 10 minutes at 350F, or until lightly browned. Don’t let them get too dark, because they will continue to cook  a bit, even after you take them off the heat. Set aside to cool. If you don’t have a toaster oven, you can toast nuts in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat until lightly browned.
2. In a blender or food processor (or using a hand blender), combine 1 cup of almonds, with the cucumber, grapes, onion, garlic, arugula, coconut milk, sherry, vinegar, and oil. Blend until smooth.
3. Serve immediately, or chill 2-3 hours to let the soup get cold.
4. Garnish each bowl with a small handful of arugula, 4 halved grapes, 2 Tablespoons of toasted almonds, ½ teaspoon of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve with thick slices of crusty bread, if desired.

Blueberry-Cheddar Fritters

Sometimes the best inspiration for new recipes comes not from a wealth of ingredients, but from a dearth of them. Such was the case when, as I tried to use up my perishables at the end of the week, I found myself with a ton of blueberries, a block of organic cheddar, and not much else.

I searched the web for blueberry cheddar recipes, and found this amazing concoction at Omnomicon (it’s worth clicking just to see the gorgeous picture) and I would have followed it faithfully, but I could not. The original recipe calls for making two batches of pancakes – one blueberry and one cheddar – but I didn’t have enough baking powder or flour for that. I did, however, have more than enough cheese and berries, so they went together into a single batch of pancakes that ended up being absolutely delicious.

Not quite pancakes, not quite fritters, this recipe brought diverse flavours together even better than I’d hoped. The savoury flavours of the cheddar and olive oil stand out while the sugar and vanilla add a subtle depth, and the blueberries add a refreshing burst of sweetness. All that, and they’re just as easy to make as regular pancakes. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Blueberry-Cheddar Fritters
Serves 4 – 6

1½ cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
1½ cups water (or soymilk, if you have it)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
¾ fresh blueberries

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and flax seeds until well combined.
2. Add water, olive oil and vanilla and stir until just mixed. Note: The olive oil adds a lovely, savoury flavour to the fritters but if you would rather use a lighter tasting oil (like corn or canola or safflower), that would work too.
3. Fold in the cheese and the blueberries, but don’t overmix.
4. Lightly oil a skillet or frying pan, and heat over medium-high heat. Add batter ¼ cup at a time for best results.
5. Cook until the edges of each fritter are solid, and the middles begin to bubble (about 3 minutes).
6. Flip and cook 2 – 3 minutes on the other side, or until golden brown.
7. Repeat with remaining batter and serve immediately.
8. You can also freeze these for later in any freezer-safe container. Thaw them in a pan or toaster oven, but don’t refreeze ones that have already been thawed. This can be dangerous when dairy is involved.

Eggplant Pesto Pizza

It may surprise some of you to learn that I had never heard of eggplant as a pizza topping until a few years ago, when Sean and I visited Rome. It was there that I first experienced what the smoky flavour of a thinly sliced, roasted eggplant can do for a pizza – and I was impressed.

It wasn’t until we moved to New Haven, though, that I really fell in love with eggplant on pizza. Here, the eggplant is breaded and fried and often (at least in our circles) combined with the piquant bite of pickled cherry peppers.

For this recipe, I combined the flavours that we remember from Rome with the combinations that we’ve come to know in New Haven. I roasted the eggplant, both for health’s sake and because this method really allows the smoky flavour of the eggplant to shine through. That flavour is complimented here by the piquant peppers and the creamy goat cheese, while the mellow, melty mozza ties the whole thing together.

Eggplant Pesto Pizza

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 prepared whole-wheat pizza crust
1 small eggplant (about 10 ounces)
olive oil cooking spray or a spray bottle of olive oil
½ cup pepperoncini, cherry peppers, or other pickled peppers, sliced
½ cup soft goat cheese, crumbled
½ teaspoon freshly grated black pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

1. Place all basil, oil, and water in a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
2. Using a sharp knife or a mandoline, slice the eggplant as thinly as possible, leaving the skin on. Place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet and spray lightly with oil. (Putting oil in any clean run-of-the-mill spray bottle works well and it’s cheaper than cooking spray).
3. Preheat oven to 350F. Place eggplant in oven while it’s preheating.
4. Meanwhile, slice the peppers, shred the mozzarella, and crumble the goat cheese. Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface.
5. When the oven has preheated, remove the eggplant. Place the pizza dough on the cookie sheet. Spread with pesto, and layer eggplant on top, grating pepper over the eggplant. Sprinkle with goat cheese, peppers, and mozzarella.
6. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until mozzarella has melted and crust is browned.

Goat Cheese, Avocado & Onion Burgers

I just don’t really like meat, and as far as I can remember I never really have. So for a long time, my approach to burgers has been to smother them in as many condiments as I can lay my hands on. That’s an approach that has stuck even as I’ve found veggie burgers that I really like, but these days I like to smother my burgers in combinations of veggies, cheeses, and sauces that make them more sophisticated  than the burgers of my youth.

This particular burger came out of a need to use up many of the included ingredients, including salsa, goat cheese, and avocado. Lucky for us, those are three ingredients that balance each other well! The creamy, mellow avocado balances the sharper flavours of the goat cheese and salsa, while the sauteed onions add another level of flavour that gives the burgers a real depth. All in all, these burgers were a huge success! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Goat Cheese, Avocado & Onion Burgers
Makes 4 Burgers

4 whole wheat hamburger buns
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine (optional)
4 premade veggie burgers (we used Morningstar’s Tomato-Basil Burgers)
1 medium red onion, sliced into rings
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 avocado, sliced
½ cup soft goat cheese, crumbled
½ cup salsa, store-bought or homemade
½ cup pickle slices or sliced pickled hot peppers

1. Cook the veggie burgers according to the package directions. (We heated them in a large frying pan on low heat, cooking 5 minutes on each side).
2. Toast the hamburger buns, spreading with butter first if desired. (This is optional, but it makes the buns moist, rich, and just a little bit crispy). If you use butter, toast the buns in a toaster oven, an oven, or on the grill. The butter could be dangerous in a conventional toaster, and at the very least, it may ruin your toaster.
3. Slice the onion into thin rings. Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium-high heat, and sautee the onions until just beginning to brown, stirring constantly (about 10 minutes).
4. Spread mustard on the toasted buns.
5. When the burgers and onions are done, place the burgers on sliced rolls. Top each burger with ¼ of the onions, ¼ of the avocado, and 2 tablespoons each of goat cheese, salsa, and pickles (or pickled peppers).

Avocado and Fried Tofu Sandwich

When I was twelve years old, my family moved back to Edmonton after a brief hiatus and my parents’ friends came over to help us get settled. I’m sure that they moved furniture, and helped unpack and so forth, but what I remember are the sandwiches.

They brought ice cream pails full of different sandwiches for us to eat until we had unpacked our kitchen implements and stocked up on groceries. At first, I dug into the old stand-bys like PB&J, but then I discovered the avocado and bacon and I never turned back. The salty, crispy bacon mixed with the creamy avocado in what I can only describe as a culinary revelation. This recipe is my vegetarian version, which I think is just as good. Better even, because you can pile on the fried tofu (which can be made entirely without oil if you have a good non-stick pan) in amounts that would be inadvisable (at best) with bacon.

If you don’t want to make all four sandwiches at once, you can still prepare all of the tofu ahead of time and then store it for later. Cut up as much of the avocado as you want, and then spread lemon juice over the rest and wrap it tightly in tin foil or plastic wrap. Leave the remaining avocado in its skin with the pit to help preserve its freshness, and it should keep in the fridge for a day or two. Don’t worry if the surface has turned a little bit brown, as long as the rest of the avocado is still green underneath. If you are making these sandwiches to eat later, toss the avocado in a little lemon juice before spreading it on the sandwich. These keep for a few hours, but not much longer.

Avocado and Fried Tofu Sandwich
Makes 4 Sandwiches

8 slices of multigrain bread
1 ripe avocado
½ teaspoon salt or to taste, preferably coarse or kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper or to taste, preferably freshly ground
1 lb. tofu, cut into slices

Smoky Tofu Marinade
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can of chipotles
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup hoisin sauce (or additional soy sauce)
½ cup water
1 teaspoon black pepper, preferably freshly ground

1. Combine marinade ingredients in a blender and pulse to combine.
2. Place sliced tofu in a long, shallow food storage container or a large resealable bag.
3. Pour marinade over the tofu and add additional water to cover if necessary.
4. Marinate overnight.
5. Remove tofu from marinade and heat it in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat until it is browned on both sides.
6. Meanwhile, toast the bread. When it is finished toasting, spread ¼ of the avocado on each of four slices of the bread. Top with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Place ¼ of the tofu over the avocado, and top with an unadorned slice of bread. Enjoy!

Healthier Falafel

Sorry I’ve been away so long. It’s been a crazy few months around here, but I’m back now and I have a delicious falafel recipe ready and waiting for you.

So, I’ve been making falafel at home for years – or rather attempting it. Until now, the texture had never been quite right and I couldn’t figure out how to make a satisfyingly crispy falafel without deep frying. Those days are over. Today, I managed baked falafel that was perfectly crispy, soft on the inside and bursting with flavor, and I knew that I had to share my newly discovered tricks with you.

The first trick is to use a food processor, not a blender. Blenders tend to require a lot of liquid in order to blend the falafel, and this can lead to falafel that lacks texture and falls apart when you try to shape it. A food processor, on the other hand, chops the dry ingredients finely with very little liquid, leaving you with nicely textured falafel that is easy to work with.

The second trick is heat. The falafel is baked at a moderate heat for 10 minutes, to make sure it’s cooked through. Then, the heat is turned up to make the outsides crispy and brown. Just make sure you watch the oven closely while you’re cooking or you may end up with charred falafel instead.

We like to eat falafel stuffed into a pita with some combination of lettuce, red onion, tomato, cucumber and maybe even hummus or tahini, just like the falafel that’s served by street vendors everywhere. It’s also great as a side dish, with a grain salad (like this or this) and a green vegetable, as pictured below. However you serve it, it’s a delicious meal rich in protein and fibre, and it makes great leftovers. Enjoy!

Healthier Falafel
Makes 24 small falafels

2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas (or a 19oz. can of chickpeas, drained)
½ cup onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. turmeric
½ tsp. cumin
¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. water
1½ tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup flour (for a gluten free version, use chickpea flour)
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a food processor, blend the chickpeas, onion, garlic, turmeric, cumin, and parsley until the chickpeas are finely chopped, the texture of coarse bread crumbs.
3. Add the water, lemon juice and oil and pulse a few more seconds, until well mixed.
4. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and mix with flour, adding 1 Tbsp. at a time until the mixture sticks together.
5. Form mixture into small balls, wetting your hands periodically to keep it from sticking to you. Press the balls  into patties and place on a cookie sheet.
6. Bake 10 minutes, and then turn the oven up to 450F. Bake 10 more minutes on each side, until nicely browned.