Ethiopian Shabbat Dinner

photo from Healthy Green Kitchen.com

The first time I had Ethiopian was memorable. Mir and I had only been dating for a few weeks and she was taking me on a culinary adventure. We walked into the restaurant some where in lower Manhattan and as we sat down I was immediately less than impressed. It was the middle of summer and the restaurant lacked patrons or air conditioning. I didn't know what the menu items were so I let Mir order and sipped on water while we waited for the food. It came out, a large plate of unidentifiable stewed vegetables, meat and beans. I realized that the server had forgotten to give us silverware and called her over. "Could we get some utensils, please" I said in my sweet-not-so-sweet voice. With the same pseudo sweetness and a slight sneer she replied, "You've clearly never had Ethiopian" and stalked off. Mirs turned a deeper shade of pink and whispered, "You eat with your hands!"

That day in the sticky hot restaurant where Mir and I were the only ones silly enough to eat spicy hot food on a warm summer day I fell in love with Ethiopian food. Tonight, I'm going to attempt to make it. I found this recipe for injera, the sour spongy bread that does double duty as both plate and utensil, and hoped that today would yield "grassy" smelling bubbling yeast. Instead I held gagged violently at the smell and purple-blue mold that was growing on my starter. I did a quick Google search and found this quick injera recipe that I'll be using tonight. I'm subbing out the glutenous flours for teff, which is the traditional flour used, and buckwheat.

I'll be making a tofu Doro Wat, Gomen, Misr Wat and Alecha Wat using recipes from Healthy Green Kitchen,  Navy Blue Kitchen, and my own obsession with making curries. I hope to take another stab at authentic injera in the future. Pictures and recipes to follow.

Shabbat Shalom!

What's For Dinner Tonight?

Raw Wheat Berries That's what.

I'm grumpy and a little drunk.  Here's the scoop.  I decided that I would follow an actual recipe tonight, something I very rarely do.  I own over a dozen cookbooks, but they're more like porn rather than something that I use to cook from.  I decided to take a stab at Heidi Swanson's Risotto-Style Barley tonight.  I remembered that I had barley in my cupboard from when I went a little overboard in the bulk foods section on a trip to The Fairway.  I found the Mason Jar of grains and grinned at the recipe's beautifully airbrushed and well-lit picture-this was going to be good.

As I looked over the ingredients and decided which things I would alter and what would stay I realized that I didn't have barley in my hands, I had wheat berries.  A quick Google search later I learned that wheat berries could, in fact, be substituted for barley and I prepared my dish...

Two hours later, too many glasses of wine, an upset stomach, annoying gas, a divided recipe and wasted veggies later the fucking shit is still cooking.

I did another Google search only to discover that wheat berries, unlike barley is a tough little shit of a grain.  Not only does it require over night soaking, it also requires at least an hour an a half or two hours of cook time.  Since the first search result didn't say I needed to soak these grains overnight here I am, two hours later with no dinner and an upset/gassy tummy from eating three bites of undercooked grains.

The recipe called for two cups of barley which equals over 3 quarts of food!  I've had to divide the thing into two separate pots and I'm sure I'll be up all night with searing stomach pain and exhaustion trying to cook these grains down into something edible.  I will not throw it away, at the advice of a friend it's going to be a stew...

What's For Dinner Tonight?

Spicy Tofu Tacos on Homemade Whole Wheat Tortillas


Day Three of this mission to change the way that I eat to positively improve my health seems to be going okay.  I don't feel particularly different, but I know, based on books and websites, that the foods I'm putting into my body now are far better than say that quarter of a cupcake (and half of a black and white cookie) I ate at a staff meeting today.   

I've been craving Mexican-style food all week and tonight I thought I'd try a twist on tacos minus the seasoned beef, the shredded cheese, and sour cream.  I was pretty sure that anything I cooked would taste like a cheap imitation of the real thing-four tacos later (they were small) I'm patting myself on the back.  These tofu tacos kicked ass!  Tacos are easy, there isn't a "recipe" just fry some tofu with some seasoning (I used salt, pepper, cumin, and chipotle seasoning) add raw veggies and you're done.  I added black beans that I'd simmered with spices and onions and made the tortillas, but store-bought ones are fine as well.  It felt indulgent to have four tacos, but knowing that I'd made everything myself made it taste even better. 

Here's the Homemade Whole Wheat Tortilla recipe I used tonight.  I substituted whole wheat flour for regular and used grapeseed oil instead of vegetable oil.  I also added pepper and garlic powder to the dough for extra flavor.  I don't own a tortilla press and found that the back of a frying pan and a floured cutting board works just fine as long as you remember to flour both of them.  Besides the tofu and beans I filled the warm tortillas with shredded green kale, sliced red peppers, diced tomatoes, and sliced avocados.  I squeezed some lime on the whole thing before eating. 

Recipe Notes:
This Recipe is Vegan and Parve

Some Food Nutrition Notes:
Tomatoes and Red Peppers are great sources of lycopene which is thought to protect against cancer specifically prostate, testicular, and cervical cancer. 
Dark leafy greens like Kale are great sources of lutein which dramatically impacts eye health.  Lutein also has the ability to prevent clogged arteries, combat arthritis, and discourage colon, lung, prostate, and ovarian cancers as well as thickening artery walls.  Let's hear it for Kale!
Thanks to Heidi Swanson and her book Super Natural Cooking for the nutritional information.

What's For Dinner Tonight?

Sauteed Veggies over Cumin-Scented Brown Rice

I'm on a super-tight budget so figuring out how to incorporate healthy veggies and greens into my diet is definitely a bit difficult.  While I love juicing, it seems sort of wasteful to throw away the pulps of the juices every morning.  If anyone has any suggestions for what to do with the pulps, send them my way.  I was thinking soup.

At any rate, being a New Yorker there are many large grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joes with a large selection of organic food, which is what I normally buy.  This week, things are a little different-I shopped in my neighborhood at the Caribbean Market down the block.  I picked up a package of brussel sprouts, beets, kale, spinach, two zucchinis, 7 small onions, green onions and a two pound bag of brown rice for $14!  I was pretty impressed, while it's not organic and I'm trying not to think of the pesticides that are lurking in the veggies, I was able to get some veggies for a very budget-friendly price.  Hopefully it will last me the whole week, if I don't juice everything.

Just a note on my recipes:  I'm happy to share them obviously, but I'm not a professional chef and I very rarely measure things.  I go by smell and taste so the measurements here are an estimate for the most part.  When I've actually measured and ingredient I will notate.

Ingredients

Celery Salt

Pepper

Cumin

Olive Oil

About 6-8 brussel sprouts sliced

1 small zucchini sliced

about 12 green beans cut at about an inch long

1 small onion sliced

2 green onions diced

stems and leaves from one beet (or more depending on the stems and leaves.  Make sure the stems are firm and the leaves aren't wilted)

Brown Rice

Cumin Rice

In a large pot add about a tablespoon or so of  good-quality olive oil and three large pinches of good-quality cumin.   Turn heat on medium-low and stir cumin until it changes color to a deeper brown or until it smells really yummy.

Add 1 1/2 cups of rinsed brown rice to the cumin-scented oil and stir until the rice is coated.  Keep an eye on it and continue to stir for about three minutes or until the rice smells nutty.  Add 2 cups of water, raise heat until it boils.   Turn rice to low setting and cover.  Depending on the rice, cook until al dente.  Fluff and add salt to season.

Veggies

Start with the onions in a large sauce pan with about a tablespoon or so of olive oil.

When the onions are glossy but not yet transparent add the green beans (unless you like them crispier)

When the green beans start to turn bright green but are still crisp to the bite add the brussel sprouts until they turn bright green.  When the brussel sprouts turn bright green add the rest of veggies except for the chopped beet stems and leaves.  Add about two teaspoons or more of cumin and about teaspoon of celery salt and four good twists of the pepper grinder.  Make sure the veggies are coated with the spices and olive oil.  If they start to stick to the pan add water about a table spoon at a time.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes and then add the beet stems and leaves and cook for another 5-7 minutes until all of the veggies are tender.  Taste for doneness and for spices and adjust as you like.

On a small plate or bowl spoon a serving of rice and top with veggies.

Recipe Notes:

This recipe is Vegan and Kosher Parve.

This was more than enough for me as a full meal.  I have rice for the rest of the week and veggies for lunch tomorrow. 

It can also easily serve four as two separate sides.

A Note on the Ingredients Used:
Beets Contain more sucrose than any other vegetable.  According the my favorite vegetable go-to book, The Produce Bible, by Leanne Kitchen (her real name) beets can be stored for 10 days in the refrigerator.

Brussel Sprouts are a great source of vitamin C and also contains fiber, iron, phosphorus, potassium and Vitamin A
According to Super Natural Cooking author, Heidi Swanson one cup of Green Beans contains 122% of the RDA of Vitamin K.  They have twice the iron of spinach, support cardiovasuclar health, protect against colon cancer (ding, ding, ding!) and prvide anti-inflammatory nutrients.
Green Onions are high in vitamins A and C
Zucchini is also full of vitamins and minerals