Meals Made Easy #11 - Black Rice with Edemame, Avocado, Radishes, Pomegranate, Mushrooms & Lettuce

Coming back from a week away on vacation I had no idea what was in my fridge other than some avocados I knew I forgot. I needed something nutritious and delicious for lunch today. Scouring the fridge/freezer and cupboards I began to pull stuff out: black rice, avocado, some forgotten radishes, a pomegranate, dried mushrooms, frozen edemame, spinach flour tortilla, colby cheese, red wine vinegar, sesame oil, salt & pepper.

I first started the rice that takes 30 minutes to cook and by far the longest thing in the process, then getting to work on the rest.

I boiled some water to re-hydrate the mushrooms  Thawing some already shelled edemame & a frozen spinach tortilla, I seeded the pomegranate, chopped up some radishes & lettuce and sliced the avocado. Once the rice was done I set it in a bowl to cool. I re-hydrated my mushrooms for about 20 minutes and then chopped & cooked them in sunflower oil & ground flax for about 7-10 minutes until the smelled and tasted delicious.

While the mushrooms were cooking I added the edemame, avocado, radishes, pomegranate seeds, red wine vinegar & sesame oil to the black rice, mixing thoroughly. Once the mushrooms were cooked I put them aside and put the tortilla in the pan over medium low heat turning it every few minutes so it would harden up and cook uniformly. For the last couple minutes I added thinly sliced cheese and covered it to quickly melt.

Once the tortilla was done I added the shredded lettuce, mushrooms and black rice mixture over the top. The results: it was simple, took 30 minutes and tastes fantastic. The best part is I have left over rice mixture and mushrooms!

Ingredients:
.5 c black rice
1 c frozen edemame
8 small radishes
1 avocado
1 flour tortilla
few thin slices of cheese
small bunch of lettuce
small handful of pomegranate seeds
handful of dried mushrooms (I had hen of the woods)
dash or two of red wine vinegar
small dash of sesame oil (it's potent!)
salt & pepper to taste

Meals Made Easy #10 - Curried Lentils and Spinach

Being Spring is taking a long time to really set in with warm temperatures and flora rebirth I am still finding great solace in comfort foods. Lentils have been a high priority lately. I rarely cook with meat at home so am constantly looking for high protein foods to keep the body happy. I got the base recipe from The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet and added a few of my own additions, of course.

This dish is high in protein, flavor and ridiculously easy. I like to eat it with paratha and while it isn't a low cal bread option it is mighty delicious.

Ingredients:
3.5-4c broth or water
1c dried lentils (red, green or both)
2-3 stalks of celery, leaves included, chopped
1-2 carrots, chopped
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
.25c chopped onion
1 tblsp curry powder (bought or homemade)
1 package frozen spinach
salt & pepper to taste

Rinse your lentils and pick out any bad dudes.

Add the broth, lentils, garlic, onion and curry powder in a suitable saucepan, bring to a boil and then simmer for 25-35 minutes until lentils are tender. Drain the spinach a smidge and add to the lentil - heat through, roughly 5-10 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper.

It doesn't photograph super well, it is spinach and brown/red legumes after all.

Easy Curry Powder

Curry powder is the shit. It is delicious, can be made as mild or as spicy as you like and is a fantastic addition to many dishes. Use as much or as little as you'd like. Mine is sort of a hybrid take on the standard. Curry is the best thing ever. Like everything I post it is to taste (I'm not a baker, OK?).

Ingredients:
1 tblsp cumin
1 tblsp tumeric
.5 tblsp ground ginger powder
.5 tblsp coriander
.25 tblsp nutmeg
3+ ground dried chilis

Mix together. Pretty easy, eh?

Meals Made Easy #9 - Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer - likely my favorite Indian dish. I love its spicy flavor, the delicious paneer cheese chunks and wonderful base of spinach. It is a dish that has always intimidated me to make, Trader Joe's version PALES in comparison to the real thing; luckily my friend Sai came to the rescue shortly before moving to the West Coast. Sai came over to teach me the ways of the Palak Paneer and then took me shopping at Pooja Grocers. Needless to say, I am all set to now cook with the appropriate spices and decided to try Palak Paneer on my own. I went off my notes from our session and I must say while it's not as delicious as the first go around it is pretty damn tasty. Note: all the spices are approximate and to taste.
Another note: This food does not photograph that well.

2 bags frozen spinach (can use fresh but I was feeling lazy)
1 block of paneer
2.5 tblsp Kasoori Methi (crushed fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tblsp cumin (seeds but powder will do)
.5 tblsp tumeric
4 dried chilis
1.5 c onion
5 cloves garlic - minced
2 roma tomatoes (or .5-1 cup of crushed canned tomatoes - also optional)
3ish tblsp of oil (sunflower or olive)

salt
chili powder


Heat 1/4 inch of water to boiling; over medium low heat blanch spinach for a few minutes. Add half of garlic, some salt and fenugreek leaves and cook for 10-20 minutes, looking for leaves to become dark green and flavors to meld. Blend if desired and set aside.

Cut paneer into cubes and set aside.

Heat oil. chilis, fenugreek seeds, onion, tumeric and rest of garlic over low heat. Key: keep adding salt as cooking to help with flavor and absorb moisture. Cook down for 10-20 minutes. Add to spinach, add a bit more fenugreek leaves and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and cook down for 10 minutes (less if canned). Add paneer (can be raw paneer, no need to bake/fry) and cook down for another 10 minutes or so. Add some salt and chili power (if not spicy enough). Cook to taste.

That's it. Super easy. Eat it with Naan or Paratha and it is simply delightful.

spinach melding & cooking down

onions with spices

final product in all its prettiness