Sudden Obsession with Morocco

Well, the title of this post says it all. For some reason I can't fully explain, I've been fascinated with dishes alleged to be Moroccan in origin. I blame my love affair with couscous. I suppose, Gentle Reader, you could dub couscous the gateway dish that leads you down an arduous but damned delicious path.

Of course, these recipes I've cooked up may have "Morocco" or "Moroccan" in their titles only by some whim of the persons submitting them just to make the dishes seem exotic. Hey, for folks like me who grew up on chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans out of a can and a slice of white sandwich bread, spices that aren't salt and pepper are exotic. Authenticity should, I'm sure, be one of my goals, but it isn't. I'm just looking for tasty spice combinations.

Moroccan Lentil Soup2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t grated fresh ginger
6 C water
1 C red lentils
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans, drained
1 19-oz. can cannellini beans
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 C diced carrots
1/2 C chopped celery
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground cayenne pepper
1/2 t ground cumin
1 t garam masala

1. In large pot saute the onions, garlic and ginger in a little olive oil for about 5 min.
   
2. Add the water, lentils, chickpeas, white kidney beans, diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, garam masala, cardamom, cayenne pepper and cumin.
   
3. Bring the mixture to a boil for a few min. then simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours or longer, until the lentils are soft.
   
4. Puree half the soup in a food processor or blender, and then return the pureed soup to the pot, stir and enjoy.

Yield: 6 servings of unknown size

Nutritional Info
Calories: 273
Fat: 3.1 g
Protein: 16 g
Carbs: 46 g
Fiber: 15.9 g
Na: 185 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
I studied this recipe off and on for about a week before deciding to make it. I read its comments, some of which are not terribly kind, some of which are...revealing of a certain lack of experience with some ethnic cooking techniques and flavor profiles and some are utterly useless in their glowing praise. Noting the number of folks disappointed with the final flavor given what spices go into its preparation, I drew on my own experience with these spices and with certain Indian preparation techniques gleaned from Madhur Jaffrey and others and got to work.

• After heating about 1.5 t of olive oil in my nonstick Dutchie over medium-low heat, I tossed in the onions to saute. Once they began to soften, I added the garlic and ginger and stirred fairly frequently lest these more delicate "foundation" flavors burn.
  
• Once the garlic and ginger became fragrant, I tossed in the celery and onion to become tender, trusting my nose largely to know when they were ready to be spiced.
  
• Garam masala is not a spice you throw in during the initial cooking stages. I can't remember where I read that (probably a nugget of wisdom from Ms. Jaffrey), but it's meant to be added at the end of cooking. If you throw it in too soon, the flavors vanish. For that reason, I added only the cayenne, cumin and cardamom and let them grow fragrant. I'm still not entirely sure the cardamom should go in at this point, if it can be destroyed by prolonged cooking time, but I put it in here rather than at the end since it makes up the bulk of the flavor profile.
  
• As my nostrils filled with heady smells emanating from the Dutchie, I tossed in the lentils (forgetting completely to pick through them) then added the diced tomatoes, juice and all, and then added 4 cups of low-sodium chicken brother plus 2 cups of water, on the advice on some of the comments. I was afraid water alone would wash out the flavors I'd been carefully building.
  
• I almost forgot to toss in the chickpeas, which I'd prepared myself. As always, I prepared too many chickpeas and wound up with a very, very full Dutchie. So full was my Dutchie that I realistically had no room for the can of Great Northern beans I'd planned to throw in. I'd already been a tad reluctant to throw them in, fearful they'd disintegrate during the simmer time needed for the lentil to grow tender, so the overabundance of chickpeas was just the excuse I needed to skip the white beans.
  
• The stew simmered uncovered for just over an hour, I believe. I can't say for sure since I failed to pay close attention to the time. I thought I'd turn the burner down low enough, but I hadn't and counted myself lucky the tad-too-high heat and the potentially-too-long cooking time hadn't rendered my red lentils into mush.
  
• After turning off the heat, I added the garam masala, stirred two or three times very gently and declared the stew done.

Because I'd let the stew simmer a bit too long over heat that was probably a bit too high with too many chickpeas for the liquid content, I wound up with a stew that wasn't terribly juicy. Lacking a lot of juice and being lazy, I skipped the puree step, put some cold, leftover brown rice in a small bowl over which I ladled a portion of unknown size.

My verdict of the result: Yummy! I'm not sure why some folks bitched about the cayenne used being too much. I found it balanced nicely with the amount of "sweet" flavor from the cardamom. I could see potentially adding some turmeric with the initial spice infusion, but that could radically alter the final flavor profile. Plus I don't think turmeric is used as much in Moroccan dishes as it is in Indian ones. A bit of an attempt at authenticity is good, right, Gentle Reader?

More Fun With Chickpeas

Never would I have imagined that we Boeckman-Walker would human residents of Chezbecome consumers of mass quantities of chickpeas. These legumes were unknown foodstuffs to me less than two years ago. Okay, sure, I knew of them, as did the husband, I'm sure, but they were not part of our childhood and early adulthood dietary intake. They're...foreign. And where I grew up, foreign was inaccessible and...bad, according to some folks, morons though they be.

But now chickpeas are a well-loved, familiar sight on our table. Since it's about the legume I can get the husband to eat, I'm always on the lookout for new, tasty chickpea recipes. Thanks to the thoughtful Christmas gift from my sister- and brother-in-law and the culinary wisdom of Madhur Jaffrey, I have another dish to add to the chickapalooza collection.

Easy Chickpea Curry2 C drained weight canned chickpeas (about 1 lb. 3 oz. canned weight)
2 smallish tomatoes (about 8 oz.), chopped
2" piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3-6 fresh hot green chilies, chopped
1 C cilantro tops, chopped
1 T ground coriander
2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground turmeric
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 1/4 t salt
3 T corn, peanut or olive oil
1 medium cinnamon stick
5 whole cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
1 C finely chopped onion
2 medium potatoes (about 9 oz.), peeled and cut into 3/4" dice

1. Drain the chickpeas in a colander.
   
2. Put the tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chilies, cilantro, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne and 1 teaspoon of salt in a blender along with 5-6 tablespoons of water.
   
3. Blend the ingredients until smooth, pushing them down with a rubber scraper when necessary to improve even blending.
   
4. Pour the oil into a wide, lidded, medium-size pan, and set it over medium-high heat.
   
5. When the oil is hot, add the cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaves.
   
6. Ten seconds later, add the onion and potatoes, then stir and fry for 6 min. or until the onion is lightly browned.
   
7. Add the paste from the blender to the pot, then stir for a minute.
   
8. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low and let it cook for 6-7 min., lifting the lid now and then to stir.
   
9. Add the chickpeas, the remaining quarter-teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of water, then stir.
   
10. Bring the curry to a simmer, cover and cook gently over low heat for 20 min., stirring occasionally.

Yield: 4-6 servings of unknown size

Nutritional Info
I can't provide this information, but I'm sure you could figure it out for yourself. This isn't the most sinful dish every prepared, that's for sure.

The Faudie's Futzings
I've made enough curries over the past two years or so to develop a sense of when things are going right and when things are going horribly wrong. I'm sorry to disappoint you, Gentle Reader, but nothing went horribly wrong with this recipe, which comes from Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes From the Indian Spice Trail. I ended up with a nicely thickened, very flavorful curry that's quite satisfying.

But yes, Gentle Reader, I did futz:

• I soaked my own chickpeas--about 2 cups worth. They'd actually been in a container in the 'fridge for about a week, since I'd finished off a big bag of the legumes and then just chilled 'em since the husband had wanted to have some cooked chickpeas on hand to snack on. He never got around to snacking on them, so I put them to use.
  
• I used a can of no-salt-added diced tomatoes. I don't feel horrible using them because (a) fresh tomatoes are kind of expensive; (b) fresh tomatoes are not terribly flavorful and (c) I haven't a bloody clue how to select fresh tomatoes.
  
• Because I used canned diced tomatoes and their juices, I didn't add the water to the blender. The juice from the can was sufficient for making the paste.
  
• I used canned chopped green chilies because I had some on hand--maybe a tablespoon and a half--from another recipe and wanted to use them before they went bad. I'd considered using the diced jalapeño I had in the pantry, but why open a new can when I have leftovers I can use up?
  
• I didn't have nearly a cup of cilantro tops, for I had to pick through the dregs of a bunch of the stuff I'd bought at HEB some weeks back to sort the slime from the...leafy. I really ought to find a better way to store cilantro than rinsing it, patting it dry, chopping off a good bit of the stems and then stashing it in a Gladware box in the nonfreezing portion of the 'fridge.
  
• I didn't use quite the full amount of cayenne called for. The boy has of late taken to complaining about the food I make being too spicy. Does that actually stop him from eating it? Rarely, but he'll bitch about it beforehand or afterwards like a dried up old biddy with nothing to do but bitch and moan. (Oh hell, my son is turning into my late Graga....)

Jaffrey is right to give this recipe the easy moniker because it is ridiculously easy to put together--if you don't mind dealing with the blender. My blender stays in its box on the top shelf of the pantry since it doesn't get much use, certainly not enough to justify giving it dedicated space on the countertop somewhere. I'm not a huge fan of cleaning the thing up because...well, I'm lazy.
I'm sure I could somehow pulverize the ingredients into the masala (for that's what the paste is, a masala) using brute force, some kitchen utensil and a large bowl--but, really, why go to that hassle when you can use the blender and probably clean it up in the time it would take you to even start to get to the paste consistency using brute force?

The potatoes, in my opinion, could be reduced in the recipe, especially since a person's more likely than not to eat the curry atop some rice, but I'm not a big fan of potatoes. The boys, however, seemed to enjoy them, especially the husband. He likes aloo matter but hates the peas that are part of that dish. With this curry, he gets tasty potatoes and a variety of pea he'll actually eat. And any time I can get the husband to eat legumes, I consider that a culinary miracle.

Recipe Revisits

I've somehow found myself with a good number of inexpensive, fresh zucchini and an abundance of dried cranberries, and I can't just let these thing sit around. One ingredient I put to use in a new recipe that's very, very similar to one I made before, and the other ingredient made for a tasty second try at a favorite dish.

Another Zucchini Stew
Waaay back in May, I whipped up a big pot of chicken, chickpea and zucchini stew and recall not being particularly enraptured with the flavors. With that tarnished memory in mind, I searched for some warm, tasty way to prepare the pair of zuccs I had in the 'fridge from Sprouts. Ziryab had a possible solution.

Mderbel qar'a (Algerian Zucchini Stew)2.25 lb. zucchini
2.25 lb. lamb shoulder, deboned and cut into six pieces
3 T butter
3 T peanut oil
1/2 C dried chickpeas, soaked and drained
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 t caraway seeds
1/2 t cinnamon
1 T vinegar
Salt
Pepper

1. Cut the zucchinis in thin slices, saute them in 2 tablespoons each of oil and butter and then drain on paper towels.
   
2. In a heavy pot, melt the remaining butter and oil
   
3. Add the meat to the pot, along with the garlic, spices and a little salt.
   
4. Saute the ingredients for 5 min., then cover them with water.
   
5. Add the chickpeas.
   
6. Cover the pot and cook its contents over low heat.
   
7. Once the meat is cooked, remove it from the pot to a serving dish.
   
8. Drop the zucchini slices into the sauce.
   
9. Add the vinegar to the pot and stir.
   
10. Top the meat in the serving dish with the zucchini and sauce.

Yield: 6 servings of unspecified size

Nutritional Info
Farouk Mardam-Bey's Ziryab: Authentic Arab Cuisine is a wonderful look at dishes from the Middle East, but it's not your run-of-the-mill cookbook. Don't turn its pages look for nutritional info.

The Faudie's Futzings
I've worked once with lamb, and I have no plans to do it again. Therefore, I substituted diced chicken breast for the lamb in this recipe.

And I only used one breast since I sort of planned to halve it--I was the only one partaking of the dish that evening--but I didn't completely halve all the ingredients. For example, I used a full amount of chickpeas called for, along with the full amounts of garlic, caraway seeds and cinnamon. I started out with about half the amount of zucchini I needed for a full batch, and I think I did halve the amount of vinegar, but I can't remember for sure at the present moment. Oh well.

Oh, and don't even think for once, Gentle Reader, that I used peanut oil and butter. I used a wee bit of olive oil for both the zucchini slices and the chicken.

Since I was working with chicken, which cooks a lot faster than lamb, this dish didn't take much time to prepare. That said, I did let the pot of goodness stew on low heat for some time to hopefully ensure the water I added (per step 4) was flavorful, not dull.

Did that stewing time yield a flavorful liquid? I'm not sure if that's what did the trick or if using the full amount of spices accomplished the task, but I can assure you, Gentle Reader, that both the liquid and the meat were resplendent with the sweetness of cinnamon and savoriness of garlic.
This stew was far more satisfying than the one I'd made months ago.

Still Keen on Quinoa
I was never fully satisfied with the quinoa pilaf with cranberries I made at the end of August. The dish was good--there's no disputing that--but it didn't fully capture the flavor of the Whole Paycheck quinoa salad I was attempting to recreate. As I had dried cranberries coming out my ears, I was eager to try again with this dish and see if a second attempt would yield better results.

Before my second attempt, I did a bit more recipe scouting online and contemplated a few recipes I didn't recall seeing before my first outing with quinoa. In my final search for recipe fodder, I discovered one from Whole Paycheck that I think might be the same quinoa salad I purchased at the flagship store. I melded it with one or two others I found, made an offering to the FSM and got to work.

Cranberry Quinoa Salad1 C quinoa
2 C water
4 T honey, divided
1 T lemongrass, minced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 t serrano peppers, seeded and very finely chopped
1 1/2 C whole cranberries
4 T fresh lime juice
1 T finely chopped fresh mint
1 T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 C finely chopped red onion
Salt to taste

1. Rinse the quinoa several times.
   
2. Bring the water and quinoa to a boil, and simmer 20 min. or until all the liquid is absorbed.
   
3. Meanwhile, combine 2 tablespoons of honey with the lemongrass, garlic and peppers in a small bowl.
   
4. When the quinoa is cooked, stir in the honey mixture.
   
5. In a food processor or blender, chop the cranberries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of honey and lime juice, then stir this mixture into the quinoa.
   
6. Add the mint, cilantro, red onion and salt to the quinoa, tossing to combine.
   
7. Chill the salad until ready to serve it.

Yield: 4 servings
Serving size: About 9 oz.

Nutritional Info
Calories: 250
Fat: 2.5 g
Protein: 7 g
Carbs: 52 g
Fiber: 5 g
Na: 300 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
Even though I strongly suspected this recipe is for the salad I'd bought and loved from Whole Paycheck, I futzed with it. I can't help myself, Gentle Reader. Futzing defines who I am.

• I used approximately 2 tablespoons of honey since I was working with dried cranberries and hence didn't need 2 tablespoons for the chopped whole cranberries.
  
• Speaking of dried cranberries, I used two handfuls of 'em. The volume conversion of whole cranberries to dried cranberries is beyond my limited mathematical means. My apologies.
  
• Since I had no lemongrass, mint or parsley and no plans to include cilantro, I chopped half of a medium red onion and one green onion to add bulk to my salad.
  
• I juiced one lime, which probably wasn't the full 4 tablespoons but was probably at least half of it. To add to the citrus fun, I zested a Valencia orange and tossed it in.

It's probably pretty hard to get a sense of the final recipe from my notes, so I'll just give it to you, Gentle Reader. Feel free to play with it and let me know how it comes out.

The Faudie's Tangy Cranberry Quinoa Salad1 C quinoa
2 C water
2 T honey
2 generous handfuls of dried sweetened cranberries
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 of medium red onion, chopped
1/4 C balsamic vinegar
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 T or more orange zest

1. Put the quionoa (rinsing is optional, depending on your quinoa source) and the water in a large saucepan, bring it to a boil, lower the heat, cover and allow to stand until all the moisture is absorbed.
   
2. Juice the lime directly into the cooked quinoa, add the balsamic vinegar, cranberries and onions, and then stir gently to combine and coat the grains, onions and fruit.
   
3. Add the honey and orange zest, then stir gently again to combine.
   
4. Add more honey to achieve the desired level of sweetness.
   
5. Serve warm as a side dish, or chill and serve as a cold salad.

I served my quinoa warm as an accompaniment to balsamic-glazed salmon. (The quinoa-hating boys had red jasmine rice we'd bought at the local Whole Paycheck. They don't know what they're missing out on!) I apologize for not writing about the salmon recipe, but there's not too much to say about it. I was skeptical (as were some reviewers) that balsamic would be a good match with salmon, especially when paired with Dijon, but I was wrong. The glaze was quite tasty, and I saved the leftover for use with plain 'ol chicken breasts some night.

But as for my quinoa recipe, you can undoubtedly see, Gentle Reader, it's ripe for additional futzings and additions. However, I doubt I'll be doing any. The flavor of my tangy cranberry quinoa salad was just right for me, so this Goldilocks is satisfied.

A Big Catch-up Post

The last week of October was an...interesting one for me. A death in the family on Sunday meant I was on the road and out of the state for 36 hours or so in the middle of the week, which really threw off my normal weekly routine. And save your breath, Gentle Reader, and don't make that crack about being inflexible for all that yoga I do.

Anywho, because that last week of October was a small bit of chaos, I didn't get to post about some things as soon as I'd planned. So that means I'm just going to get it all out of the way with one big, ugly, lumpy, lengthy post. Take a deep breath, Gentle Reader, and dive on in!

Cookies!
I stupidly made another batch of those molasses-spice cookies I made for Diwali on the last Sunday of October, the day the chaos really kind of started. In fact, that act set a trend: I kept trying to cram in one more thing into each day's already crammed full schedule. But at the time, making cookies seemed like a brilliant idea.

Molasses-spice Crackles1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t salt
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 C stick margarine, softened
2 T molasses
1 large egg white
1/4 C granulated sugar

1. Combine the flour, soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt in a bowl, stir well then set aside.
   
2. Place the brown sugar, margarine, molasses and egg white in a food processor, then process until blended.
   
3. Add the dry ingredients to the food processor, then process until blended, scraping the sides of the processor bowl once.
   
4. Gently press the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let chill for 2 hours.
   
5. Preheat oven to 375°.
   
6. Shape the dough into 40 balls roughly 3/4" in size.
   
7. Place the sugar in a small bowl, then pour cold water into a second small bowl.
   
8. Dip each dough ball in cold water, shake to remove excess moisture, then roll it in sugar.
   
9. Place each dough ball 3" apart on a baking sheet.
   
10. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 40 cookies

Nutritional Info
Calories: 40
Fat: 1.2 g
Sat fat: 0.2 g
Protein: 0.5 g
Carbs: 6.9 g
Fiber: 0.1 g
Sodium: 62 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
I'll try to be brief with the ingredient substitutions:

• Splenda brown sugar blend for the regular brown sugar
  
• Blue Bonnet Light for the butter
  
• Morton's Lite salt for the regular salt
  
• Three tablespoons of liquid egg white for the egg white from a large shelled egg

Perhaps using food processors for everything was all the rage back in 1996, when Cooking Light published this recipe. And while it's been some time since I used my little three-cup food processor, there was no way in hell I was using it to make cookie dough. Instead, I combined the dry ingredients in a medium-size bowl, creamed the butter and brown sugar and other ingredients in a larger bowl, added the dry ingredients to it and then covered and let the dough chill.

I suspect this second time around, I should have either let the dough chill longer or not tried to make cookies while preparing supper on a fairly warm day because the dough was not as easy to scoop and shape as it was the first time. In fact, with this second batch, more of the dough stuck to my palms as I tried to roll the balls, which I also made a tad larger because I was tired and didn't want to roll out 40 frickin' balls of dough.

Oh, just a tip, Gentle Reader: Consider skipping the water bath. When the boy and I made these cookies the first time, we dipped about half of them in water and found it wasn't really needed for the sugar to stick. The second time around, I didn't even bother setting out a bowl of water. I just rolled the dough into a ball, rolled it in sugar and then set it on the cookie sheet. Badda-bing badda-boom and done.

Here's another tip: If you use dark nonstick cookie sheets, reduce the baking time by two minutes. I found when I baked the cookies on the darkest of my nonstick sheets for the full 10 minutes, the bottoms got darker and crisper than I like. I like chewy cookies. If you like crisper, crunchier cookies, then go for the full 10 minutes.

Whilst Making the Cookies....
I still had to tackle the supper issue. Luckily, I'd already planned what to have. I'd written down the recipe and had it ready in the kitchen. I'd checked the reviews to see what changes I might want to consider and jotted down some notes. Too bad I didn't check that I had enough of the ingredients.

Balsamic Glazed Salmon8 3-oz. fillets salmon, about 3/4" thick
Freshly ground black pepper
3 T olive oil
4 1/2 t cornstarch
1 3/4 C chicken broth
3 T balsamic vinegar
1 T brown sugar
1 T orange juice
1 t grated orange peel
Orange slices for garnish

1. Place the salmon in an 11" x 8" (2-qt.) shallow baking dish.
   
2. Sprinkle the salmon with black pepper and drizzle with oil.
   
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 min. or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
   
4. Stir the cornstarch, broth, vinegar, brown sugar, orange juice and orange peel in a 2-qt. saucepan over high heat to a boil.
   
5. Cook and stir the sauce until it boils and thickens.
   
6. Place the salmon on a serving platter and serve with the sauce. Garnish with the orange slices.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutritional Info
Calories: 196
Fat: 10.2 g
Fiber: 0.6 g
Protein: 18.6 g
Carbs: 6.9 g
Sodium: 247 mg
Cholesterol: 39 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
This recipe comes from the fine kitchens of Cambell's, makers of Swanson's chicken broth products. Imagine a chicken broth maker wanting you to use so much broth! So in addition to halving the amount of chicken broth, here are the other ways I changed this recipe:

• Screw baking the salmon. I made it in a skillet then poured the sauce over it when the fish was just about ready.
  
• I only had two tablespoons of balsalmic vinegar. Sure, I probably could have put in some red wine vinegar and sugar as a substitute, but I was too tired and frazzled to bother.
  
• Screw the cornstarch.
  
• I used Splenda brown sugar replacer instead of regular brown sugar.
  
• Screw the olive oil. I prepped my skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Not exactly great for the pan, but it works.
  
• Screw the orange wedge garnish. I just ate the orange I'd zested.

I was a bit skeptical about this recipe from the outset: I just couldn't imagine balsamic and salmon blending well. I figured the salmon flavor would massively overpower the balsamic vinegar--and in a way, I was right, but only because I didn't have the full amount of vinegar needed.

Would I try again with the full amount of vinegar? Doubtful. Highly doubtful. The sauce was just all right--not a lot of flavor, so ingredients and effort that go in to making the sauce are wasted. What flavor there was reminded me of the sweet orange salmon I've made before, which had flavor power. If I wanted to combine a bit of sweet and some orange to salmon, I'd make that recipe instead of this blandness from Campbell's.

Kash and Carry
The last meal I made before the week really got nutty was a new recipe I found in Fit Austin, the creepier of the two freebie fitness monthlies I pick up, for it's stuffed full of ads for plastic surgeons, laser hair removal providers, boot camp operators, personal trainers, day spas and questionable massage providers (whenever you look like you'd give a client a happy ending for five bucks, you really shouldn't include a photo in your ad). That said, each issue has a recipe from one of the Central Markup nutritionists, and they're usually pretty nutritious recipes. This particular recipe claimed to have "middle eastern flavors," and yes, Gentle Reader, I was highly skeptical of that claim when the editor couldn't be bothered to capitalize Middle East.

Kam Kash2 2/3 C reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1 1/3 C long-grain brown rice
1 large white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
15.5-oz. can garbanzo beans, drained
16 oz. frozen cut spinach, drained
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. 96% lean ground beef
1 t chili powder
Lemon or red wine vinegar to taste

1. Bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a 4-qt. stock pot over high heat.
   
2. Stir in the rice, cover, reduce heat and then simmer for 45-50 min. or until the broth is absorbed.
   
3. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large non-stick skillet.
   
4. Add the ground beef, onion and garlic, then cook on medium until meat is browned.
   
5. Stir in the garbanzo beans, spinach and chili powder, then continue cooking 3-5 more min.
   
6. Cover, reduce heat and keep warm until ready to serve.

Yield: 7 servings (1 cup rice and 1 cup beef-spinach mixture)

Nutritional Info
Calories: 383
Fat: 10 g
Sat. fat: 3 g
Protein: 26 g
Sodium: 334 mg
Carbs: 47g
Fiber: 7 g

The Faudie's Futzings
This one I futzed with a fair bit:

• Screw cooking the rice in the veggie broth. Water is fine and doesn't mess with the wonderfully nutty flavor of the brown rice.
  
• Beef is not what's for dinner at Chez Boeckman-Walker. I used 99% lean ground turkey instead.
  
• I sauteed the onions in maybe a teaspoon of olive oil, then added the garlic and then added the turkey.
  
• Screw canned chickpeas. I prepared my own.
  
• One of this days, I guess I'll have to get around to buying some chili powder. Until then, I'll keep using the ground red chili powder I have.

Kam kash may not look like much when it's finished, but it's really quite tasty. I don't think there's any better pairing than chickpeas and brown rice--nuttiness a go-go right there--and the spinach and turkey bring a softness to the crunchier texture of the dish.

As for those promised "middle eastern flavors," I'd hardly say they were present. Ground red chili powder tends to have a pretty good kick, but such a small amount in such a large dish hardly did anything. That said, I suspect a person could very easily play with her or his favorite spices to bring some authentic flavor to this thing called kam kash.

Okay, Gentle Reader, you made it to the end. Congrats! Now I'm going to go try to sleep and recover from that crazy-ass week.

To Burn Nervous Energy, Visit Morocco

As has happened the previous times I've taken part in a race event, I had a lot of nervous energy leading up to the Run Austin Run half-marathon. It started coming on midway through Thursday then really kicked in Friday. So what's a Faudie to do with a lot of nervous energy?

She retreats to her kitchen and gets busy.

The mindless, straightforward, methodical actions of gathering ingredients, chopping and prepping ingredients, measuring and combining ingredients is all very soothing for this restless soul, Gentle Reader. When I'm especially agitated, I like to channel that excess energy into preparing new recipes. Since the weather leading up to the race was rainy and chilly, preparing some warm, comforting dish or other seemed like an ideal solution to my problem. And coming on the heels of the tasty Ethiopian honey bread and the much earlier African chicken, this recipe seemed tailor-made for a restless, rainy Friday.

Moroccan Vegetable Stew2 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with the side of a knife
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t cayenne
1/4 t ground cinnamon
5 C vegetable or chicken broth
4 carrots (12 oz. total), peeled and cut into 1/2" lengths
2 1/2 C diced peeled eggplant
2 1/2 C sliced zucchini, 1/2" thick
2 C cauliflower florets
1 C diced onion (about 5 oz.)
2 14.5-oz. cans stewed tomatoes
15 oz. garbanzos, drained and rinsed
3/4 C dried currants
1 C chopped toasted almonds
1/2 T kosher salt

1. Pour the olive oil into a small frying pan over medium-low heat.
   
2. Add the garlic and spices and cook, stirring often, until fragrant (1-2 min.), being careful not to scorch the garlic.
   
3. Scrape the mixture into a slow cooker that holds at least 5 quarts.
   
4. Add the broth, carrots, eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower, onion, stewed tomatoes (with juices), garbanzos, currants, almonds and salt into the slow cooker, stirring to combine.
   
5. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high until the vegetables are tender and the flavors are blended (8-9 hrs.).
   
6. Ladle about 3 cups of the stew into a blender.
   
7. Holding the lid down with a towel and taking care to avoid steam, blend the stew until smooth.
   
8. Return the purée to the slow cooker, then stir to blend.

Yield: 12 cups for 6 to 8 servings

Nutritional Info
Calories: 292
Protein: 10 g
Fat: 14 g
Sat fat: 1.4 g
Carbs: 36 g
Fiber: 8 g
Sodium: 741 mg
Cholesterol: 2.3 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
I don't think I've shared this information, but I haven't been able to sell plasma for about a month now because my protein levels are too low. That deficiency is not because I don't eat enough protein. Instead, the issue is a result of my...full schedule of exercise. I work hard, I burn a lot of protein and when I go in for the tests to measure the protein level, I typically have come from a workout. So, well, yeah, I suppose I'm not eating enough protein then.

In the hopes of getting back to selling plasma, I decided to add some meat to this stew, specifically chicken breast meat. With that addition, not only could I introduce some extra protein to the dish but also increase the likelihood that the boys would enjoy the stew. To even further increase the likelihood that the boys would enjoy the stew, I opted not to go out and acquire an eggplant to peel and dice or cauliflower, fresh or frozen, to put into the mix. Ahh well, maybe next time.

While on the topic of veggies, I must say I would have loved to have included zucchini in the stew. But I couldn't. Fresh zuccs are a bit too expensive, I didn't want to use the one bag of frozen stuff Mum gave me for fear the stew turned out to be a bust, which means I would have wasted that last back--plus the boys won't touch the stuff. But given how much I'd already accommodated the human male residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker, I tossed in not one but two bags of chopped yellow squash. Take that, XY carriers!

Here are my other, minor futzes:

• I used minced garlic instead of buying a head to get those whole cloves.
  
• I used raisins instead of currants.
  
• I didn't include any almonds.
  
• The stew wasn't in the slow cooker for eight or nine hours. I think it was in the works maybe four hours. I was concerned initially that the slow cooker would heat the stew hot enough to cook the cubed chicken breast, but it did. And the carrots were just the right tenderness for the husband--not mushy but not too crisp.

Much like the Persian cuisine we've come to love from Alborz, this stew had a bit of heat to it, but that heat was tempered well with the sweetness of the coriander and cinnamon. Those raisins, by the way, absorbed the cinnamon-coriander sweetness after stewing in the slow cooker for four or five hours, just as the golden raisins and dates do when I make Moroccan tagine.

Just a tip, Gentle Reader, if you're concerned about the rather high sodium content of the dish: Use low-sodium broth. This recipe appeared in Sunset, which isn't exactly concerned about the healthful nutrition content of its recipes. Using no-salt-added stewed tomatoes and using maybe half a teaspoon to a full teaspoon of kosher salt, as I did, can also reduce the sodium content.

Soup Needs Crackers
I've noted before, Gentle Reader, that I have this innate need to pair soups and stews with some kind of crisp carb. But what goes good with a Moroccan stew?

Why, Moroccan bread, obviously!

Moroccan Anise Bread3/4 C water
3 T margarine or butter
3 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t anise seeds
2 C bread flour
1 1/2 t yeast

1. Add the ingredients to the bread machine in the order recommended by the machine's manufacturer.
   
2. Select the Sweet or Basic cycle on the machine.
   
3. If available, select the crust color.
   
4. Press Start.

Yield: One 1-pound loaf

Nutritional Info
The recipe's from Donna Rathmell German's Bread Machine Cookbook II. I cannot give what I do not have.

The Faudie's Futzings
Don't you hate it, Gentle Reader, when you get really excited to make something new only to discover you don't have one ingredient? I do. That's why I try to keep stocked in a certain number of ingredients that have become staples for my culinary range of expertise. Anise seeds, though, aren't one of those staples.

Fortunately, I do have a small quantity of star anise, which feature somewhat prominently in rice pilaf recipes (most of which I've yet to make). Thanks to Cook's Thesaurus, I learned one crushed star anise is roughly equivalent to half a teaspoon of crushed anise seed. So out came my mortar and pestle and two star anise--just to be sure I had enough.
And yes, I had more than enough anise, albeit crushed, for the recipe from those two star anise.

Did you notice, Gentle Reader, how much sugar is in this loaf? Three tablespoons is a lot of sugar, and I was this close to substituting honey. But I didn't. And I'm glad because the finished loaf tastes wonderfully like King's Hawaiian bread, which I've loved since I was a kid. The anise and its licorice scent just made the loaf all that more heavenly. Trust me when I tell you I had a helluva time resisting the urge to gobble up what was left of the loaf after supper.

With the growing number of North African dishes I've been making and reading about of late, I've come to realize I just need to save my money so I can take a culinary tour of North Africa, the Middle East and India. Gads, wouldn't that be a truly tasty adventure!

Sweet, Sweet Dal

The night that I made my first real masala, I also tried a new dal dish, also found in Suneeta Vaswani's Complete Book of Indian Cooking. I'm a dal lover, and this book seems chock full of dal recipes. Now if only I could get the boys to eat them along with me, I'd be far more willing to make them more often. However, cooking for one isn't terribly economical, so I must temper my enthusiasm for all things dal.

Bengali Special Dal

1 C channa dal (split yellow peas)
1/2 t turmeric
1 t salt
1 T ghee or butter, divided
1/4 C dried coconut chips
2 dried Indian red chiles
1/2 t cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick, 1" long
3 green cardamom pods, cracked open
3 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 green chile (preferably serrano), cut in half
2 t minced peeled ginger or ginger paste
1 T raisins

1. Clean and pick through the dal for any small stones and grit, then rinse several times in cold water until the water is fairly clear.
   
2. Soak the dal in a saucepan with 3 cups of water for 30 min.
   
3. Bring the dal to a boil over medium-high heat, skimming off any froth.
   
4. Reduce heat to medium, stir in turmeric and boil gently, partially covered, until dal is tender and about half a cup water remains in the pan (35-40 min.).
   
5. Mash a little dal with the back of a spoon.
   
6. Add 1 and a half cups of water to the pan, along with the salt.
   
7. Return the dal to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the dal is very soft (6-8 min.).
   
8. Meanwhile, heat 1 teaspoon of ghee in a skillet over medium heat.
   
9. Add the coconut chips to the skillet, saute until golden (2-3 min.), transfer to a bowl and set aside.
   
10. Heat the remaining ghee in the same skillet over medium heat.
    
11. Add the dried red chiles, cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves and green chile halves, saute until fragrant (1 min.), then pour into the dal.
    
12. Stir in the ginger, raisins and coconut chips into the dal, then cover and simmer until the dal thickens to the consistency of oatmeal (6-8 min.). (If the dal gets too thick, add a little hot water to return it to the desired consistency.)

Nutritional Info
None to provide! This dish is sweet without being teeth-rotting sugary, so just enjoy it and not worry for once about the nutritional content.

The Faudie's Futzings
When it comes to dal dishes, my experience is largely limited to those recipes I've made. Because of that relative lack of experience, I'm often hesitant to go radically changing things up. But I wouldn't be The Faudie if I didn't futz a little!

• I used perhaps a total of two teaspoons of ghee, or maybe just 1 and a half teaspoons total. I find a little ghee goes a long way and don't like the sometimes cloyingly heavy result of using a lot of the stuff.
  
• The serrano chile I used had matured enough on the vine to be red. It was a lovely contrast to the yellow dal.
  
• While I had ginger I could have peeled and minced, I opted to use ginger paste.

One ingredient you might be surprised to learn that I didn't futz with, Gentle Reader, was the coconut chips. I'd never heard of coconut chips until recently, when I encountered a recipe in Gourmet, I believe, that used them and included convoluted instructions for roasting coconut halves in your oven and then chipping away at the insides to make the chips with a particular tool. Umm, no, I'll pass. Or, rather, I'll just stop by Central Market and pick some up from the bulk foods playland.

But let me tell you something about those coconut chips, Gentle Reader: They smelled heavenly toasting in a wee bit of ghee! And the flavor they added to the dal--enlightening!

And that's the wonderful thing about this dal dish, you see. It's sweet without being, well, that kind of sugary sweet so many people in the U.S. are accustomed to. The combination of the cardamom and cinnamon--and the cloves, really--with the coconut imparted that dessert-like flavor many of us are used to, while the cumin and the hint of heat given by the chiles prevented the finished dal from rendering this dish something you'd relegate to the dessert table.

I think Ms. Vaswani's direction to let the dal simmer until it's the consistency of oatmeal is very appropriate because this dish would be a great breakfast item. Warm and filling but still sweet--because let's face it, a good many of us here in the U.S. want some sweetness at breakfast because we grew up on sugary cereals or sweetened pancakes doused in sugary sweet maple (or maple-flavored) syrup or sugary, fatty donuts or sugary sweet pastries or sweetened cornbread or coffeecake or sugary chocolate milk or sugary fruit-flavored yogurt. Gah! It's frightening and sad how sugary breakfast can be, especially for a meal dubbed the most important of the day.

Dal to Die for

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Mum asking me to send her some Indian recipes, for she and a friend were planning to cook some familiar (hopefully) dishes for the birthday celebration they had planned for their parish priest, who hails from southwestern India. Yes, Gentle Reader, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City practices reverse outsourcing (insourcing?) to meet its parish priest needs. The parish in which I grew up has had priests from, if memory serves, Somalia, Taiwan, Vietnam and now India because the archdiocese just doesn't have enough local boys.

Anywho, I first sent Mum here to the blog because, duh, it's a wellspring of Indian recipes I've tried and futzed with and reviewed. I also offered to try to track down some recipes from the priest's region, so into my library of Indian cookbooks I dove. While I did send Mum a half-dozen additional recipes, I identified--well, more like rediscovered--some recipes I couldn't wait to try. I diligently bookmarked them (again) but instead of putting the books back on the shelf, I kept them on the table near the place where I eat breakfast and supper and where my laptop resides when I'm not in the study/Star Wars Rooom working for money.

As you may recall, Gentle Reader, Tuesday nights here at Chez Boeckman-Walker are Pizza Nights. I don't partake fully in Pizza Night, although of late I've been preparing the boys' meal in addition to my own. "My own" often consists of a bowl or two of some veggie-heavy or lentil-heavy concoction I've put together for the very purpose of being available to me on Tuesdays. However, this Tuesday I found myself bereft of leftover chickpea stews, lentil stews or other filling preparations, so I figured, Hey, why not try out one of those recipes I found!

Revisiting Easy Indian Cooking
Thanks to a clearance sale of cookbooks at the local Surly Table, I acquired Suneeta Vaswani's Easy Indian Cooking just about a year ago. Now I thought I'd posted about making the Sindhi chicken curry recipe included in the book, but I can't seem to find the post (and I've discovered that the new layout of the blog lacks a search box, which is a total pain in the arse that I must address soon). That dish was a bit of a disappointment in the flavor department, and I think it deterred me from experimenting further from this particular collection.

As I was browsing recipes for lentil soups and stews, I found one in Vaswani's book that I knew I could make easily and for which I had most of the needed ingredients. And after a busy Tuesday of working and working out, I looked forward to preparing a feast of lentils.

Toor Dal Soup With Vegetables1 C toor dal (yellow lentils)
1 t turmeric
1 C chopped tomato
1 C cubed potato
1 C sliced carrots, 1/4" thick
8 green beans, cut into 1" pieces
1/4 t salt, or to taste
2 T vegetable oil
1 t cumin seeds
1 T chopped garlic
1/2 C chopped onion
1 1/2 C steamed rice
1/3 C cilantro, chopped
Lemon wedges

1. Clean and pick through the dal for any small stones and grit, then rinse several times in cold water until the water is fairly clear.
   
2. Drain and transfer the dal to a large saucepan, add 3 C of water then let the dal soak 10 min.
   
3. Bring the dal to a boil, uncovered, over medium heat, skimming the froth off the surface of the water.
   
4. Cook the dal, partially covered, until they are soft and mushy, about 30 min.
   
5. Puree the dal using a blender, immersion blender or whisk until they have a batter-like consistency.
   
6. Return the dal to the pan, stir in 3 C of water and the turmeric.
   
7. Add the tomato, potato, carrot and green bean pieces, cayenne pepper and salt.
   
8. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
   
9. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer 12-15 min.
   
10. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat, add the cumin seeds then saute until the cumin is fragrant and a shade darker, about 30 sec.
    
11. Add the garlic, saute for 1 min., add the onion and cook until the onion is golden, about 10 min.
    
12. Pour the cumin-garlic-onion mixture into the dal and veggies mixture then let simmer, covered, until the veggies are tender, about 5 min.
    
13. Place 2-3 T of rice in each bowl, then top with soup. Garnish with cilantro and serve with lemon wedges on the side.

Yield: 8

Nutritional Info
Vaswani unfortunately did not include nutritional data for her recipes in Easy Indian Cooking. She does note, however, that the soup is "packed with vitamins," and the dal makes it "high in protein and fiber...."

The Faudie's Futzings
As I mentioned earlier, I had most of the necessary ingredients, as you will read below, Gentle Reader. Given my previous experience with toor dal and my particular hankerings of late, I did futz with the recipe some.

• I had a can of diced tomatoes in the pantry, so I used that instead of buying a fresh tomato and chopping it up. I used the whole can, diced tomatoes, juice and all, because despite my attempts to be watchful, most of the water boiled off the dal during those first 30 minutes and the additional 3 cups added in step 6 didn't seem like enough liquid to make a respectable soup.
  
• I used two smallish red potatoes, keeping the skin on. I'm sure I had more than a cup, but I didn't take the time to measure.
  
• Nor did I take the time to measure how many carrot slices I added. I had two carrots of typical length and a shorter one, and I didn't want to leave one of them lonely in the crisper.
  
• Nor did I take the time to measure how much chopped onion I threw in. I have some small yellow onions in the pantry in my handy onion bag, so I grabbed the smallest one, chopped it up completely and used that. I like onion. So sue me.
  
• In lieu of green beans (I didn't want to buy either a can of them or fresh ones), I chopped up a large green bell pepper and threw it into the pot about 10 minutes into its 12-to-15-minute simmering spell. That way the peppers would still be somewhat crisp and tender, not rubbery and mushy.
  
• I didn't use nearly 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for sauteing the cumin, garlic and onions. Maybe three-fourths of a tablespoon.
  
• I completely forgot the salt. I honestly did. By the time I was at the point to add it, I was also gearing up to make the boys' pizza, so my dal soup didn't have my full attention. My bad. But I didn't find the flavors got muddled together due to its absence.
  
• The cilantro plant on the yoga patio is anemic and probably dying. I also didn't have a great interest in chopping cilantro. No cilantro for me. Maybe if the plant recovers--or I break down and buy a clump at HEB and still have some on hand when I have this dish again.
  
• No lemons. Sorry, I don't get the point.

I made a cup of basmati rice, even though I'm not terribly keen on eating a lot of rice with a dish. Plus the finished soup looked an awful lot like the sambar I love at Madras Pavilion, and I don't sully that with rice of any kind. Unfortunately, my first few bites had more flavor of basmati than of soup, but I think that's because I hadn't adequately mixed the two together in the bowl.

The soup and rice before mixing--and before I added more juice from the pot.

Once I remedied that, I found the soup to be wonderfully flavorful, although I probably will add more cayenne or throw in some sambar powder the next time I make this soup.

That said, if you find yourself hankering for a hearty but not thick-as-gruel vegetable dish that's pretty healthful, I highly recommend this recipe. It's easy to make and well worth the effort.

In Quite a Stew

According to everyone's fine friends at Merriam-Webster:
stew (n): 1: a hot bath; 2a: fish or meat usually with vegetables prepared by stewing; b: a state of heat and congestion.

Well, Gentle Reader, with May's arrival, summer has come to Central Texas, which means high humidity, temperatures in the 90s and, for several weeks, skies choked with smoke and other particulates drifted northward from mass agricultural fires in Central America. The mix is enough to make a person stew--so that's exactly what I did.

Chicken, Chickpea and Zucchini Stew1 t olive oil
1 C chopped onion
1 1/2 t minced fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 C chopped zucchini
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
1/8 t salt
1/2 lb. ground chicken
4 C fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 C dry white wine
3 T tomato paste
1/2 t crushed red pepper
2 15.5-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained
1 bay leaf
3/4 C (3 oz.) grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.
   
2. Add the onion, rosemary and garlic, then sauté 2 min.
   
3. Add the zucchini, black pepper, salt and chicken, then cook 5 min. until the chicken is browned, stirring to crumble.
   
4. Add the broth, wine, tomato paste, crushed red pepper, chickpeas, diced tomatoes and bay leaf.
   
5. Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer 30 min.
   
6. Before serving, discard the bay leaf and sprinkle with cheese.

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 cup of stew and about 1 tablespoon of cheese)

Nutritional Info
Calories: 173
Fat: 4.8 g
Sat fat: 1.7 g
Protein: 11.4 g
Carbs: 21 g
Fiber: 4.7 g
Cholesterol: 19 mg
Sodium: 592 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
I found this recipe from the September 2006 issue of Cooking Light on MyRecipes.com recently while trolling for a zucchini cake recipe. Since the zucchini at HEB are affordable priced and of a quality worthy of purchase, I have a few of the lovely green veggies in my crisper just waiting to be prepared for their appearance sur la table du Chez Boeckman-Walker.

Of course, I prepared this recipe--a stew of all things!--on a day when the highs were in the mid-90s and the humidity percentage seemed to be around the same number. Needless to say, I was stewing in my kitchen right along with the zucchini, chickpeas and everything else. That said, I found the dish to strike just the right note on a hot, swelter Saturday. It's not overly hearty as some stews are wont to be: I mean, if you grew up in "America's heartland" (which seems to shift to whichever geographic part of the continental U.S. fits the bill of the media and the human interest story du jour), stews so often are composed of hunks of chewy beef, chunks of Idaho potato and perhaps some hunks of tomatoes, carrots or some other token vegetable so long as the brew's got beef and potatoes as the main ingredients. And that stew is served on the dark, frigid nights of winter to ward of the chill (that's already warded off by our central heating, microfleece apparel and all those other modern conveniences that make winters just an annoyance to our modern, busy lives instead of something to be endured and survived through preparation and planning and, sometimes, sheer good fortune).

So where was I before I got off track lamenting how people have gotten to be such wusses about winter? Oh yeah! My futzings!

But I really have none to report, Gentle Reader. The heat and humidity of the day and the crud filling my lungs didn't have me in the mood to futz too much, plus this recipe is ridiculously simple. Just a few points of pride to share with you:

• Even though I have two kinds of rosemary growing in pots on the yoga porch, the fresh rosemary I minced came from a small shrub growing as best it can beneath a hedge of...some traditional hedge kind of shrub located along a chain-length fence that encloses a backyard of a house the boy and I pass every day on our way to and from school and that all human residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker passed Saturday morning on our way to the boy's school to vote for Austin's new mayor and a few city council seats.
  
• I used up the last of the zucchini I'd put away in the deep freeze last year. That meant, unfortunately, that two of the required three cups of zucchini were somewhat mushy because zucchini doesn't thaw well.
  
• I quick-soaked my own chickpeas rather than buy canned ones. I just don't get buying canned chickpeas.

A comment about the recipe's instructions: I don't understand why it calls for rinsing the diced tomatoes. Do you have any clue why that should be done, Gentle Reader? Wouldn't that further reduce the tomatoes' flavor? Or should the pieces be rinsed so as to remove any preservatives that might hinder their flavor?

Anywho, I didn't rinse my diced tomatoes, nor did I drain them because I had way too many chickpeas and thus needed more liquid.

Oh, speaking of liquid, here's an observation: One carton, which I think is equivalent of two cans, of chicken broth did not quite meet the required four cups of chicken broth. Perhaps the Central Markup brand of low-sodium chicken broth I use is on the small side, but I could swear it has the same amount as the cartons of Pacific Natural and Swanson chicken broth on the shelves. Luckily I had just a wee bit left in a carton I'd opened earlier for the spicy chicken couscous I made, and that topped off the four cups I needed. Hooray for having enough broth and making some space in the refrigerator!

Final verdict? The boy (predictably) rejected the stew because of the presence of (contamination by) zucchini, but he enjoyed sprinkling a ton of Parmesan atop his serving. The husband also reported enjoying Parmesan atop his serving, and he said the flavor of the cheese (well, the chemicals put into the crumbles of the-FSM-knows-what that are inside that little cannister) really came out despite the pretty well defined flavors of the chickpeas, tomatoes and crushed red peppers, respectively. I don't like cheese that much, so I can't comment.

A Few Good Recipes

Ahh, remember the days when Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore were.... Well, they had a bit more box office draw than they do now, remember? Cruise and Moore are just...creepy (well, creepier) with their respective marriages to significantly younger partners, and Jack is just an even bigger joke than he was when he made A Few Good Men.

Did you too have to suffer through bad impressions of Nicholson delivering that awful "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!" line by over-the-top, hammy wannabe high school thespians, Gentle Reader? Or did I just badly date myself?

Anywho, since I was lazy over the past few weeks and didn't post about some new recipes that are pretty easy and really tasty. Coming up with a catchy title for such a makeup post is, at 6 a.m. on a Friday morning after a long week with a long, busy day ahead, not the easiest thing in the world. I beg your indulgence, Gentle Reader.

The following recipe I nabbed from a copy of Whole Paycheck's The Whole Deal, which comes out monthly, I think. It often has fabulous coupons for the kefir I drink for breakfast, and every now and then I find a recipe I might actually try.

Chickpea and Lentil Bangladesh Stew**This is the name given to the recipe as it appeared in The Whole Deal. On WF's Web site, it's dubbed Slow Cooker Chickpea and Lentil Stew and is scrubbed of the WF product placements.

2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 medium chile peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 t garam masala
1/4 C sesame seeds
2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 C dried red lentils
1 28-oz. can tomato puree
2 C vegetable stock
1/4 C pitted black olives
1/2 C yogurt

Serving size: About 15 ounces

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan, then sauté the onions.
   
2. Add the peppers, garlic, garam masala and sesame seeds and cook until the peppers begin to soften.
   
3. Combine everything except the yogurt in the slow cooker.
   
4. Cook on low 8 to 10 hours.
   
5. Add the yogurt about 15 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Info
Calories: 250
Fat: 10 g
Saturated fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 5 mg
Protein: 11 g
Carbs: 33 (9 g sugar)
Fiber: 8 g
Na: 680 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
This recipe, if you haven't noticed, is really simple and too easy to make. I, however, found ways to make it even easier to prepare.

• Canned chiles are cheaper and conveniently come three to a can (at least the HEB brand does). I didn't bother with gutting them--me likes a little heat.
  
• I used the quick-soak method to prepare my own chickpeas rather than buying canned ones. Sure, that might seem like more work, thus defeating my aim of finding ways to make this recipe even easier to prepare, but I just prefer to measure out my own chickpeas. Guess I'm a bit anal retentive that way. (Nah, really?)
  
• Hold the black olives and the yogurt. I don't like black olives and keep none in my stockpile, and I've yet to find that adding yogurt shortly before serving does nothing for it.

I can really close to making my own tomato puree from the canned whole tomatoes I had in the pantry, but I found a brand that was pretty low in sodium and competitively priced. Plus that saved me from dirtying the food processor, and I wasn't terribly keen on cleaning that puppy up.

The stew goes well with both naan and idlis (if you're lucky enough to have an idli maker and some batter, or you've found a reputable brand of micronuke idlis). When I reheated it yesterday for supper for me, I ate a chapati with it, which worked quite well too. If you don't have access to chapati or naan or idlis, try a flour tortilla. They're quite close to chapati.

By the way, when I reheated the stew last night, I added some more veggie broth (Pacific Natural Foods brand). When I divvied up the stew, for we didn't eat it the day I made it--I don't think I put equal amounts of the liquid into the two containers. That extra broth also helped the chickpeas from drying up and getting nasty while simmering on the stove.

Someone Might Begin to Think I Like Pineapple....
And that person wouldn't be wrong. I do like pineapple. Especially fresh chunks (although the ones I cut for the very first time were a tad overripe). I like chicken a lot, as does the family (that includes the feline members), so imagine our delight upon finding a quick, easy, tasty recipe for sweet and sour chicken.

Sweet and Sour Chicken1 T olive oil
1 T bottled minced garlic
1 t bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1 1/2 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2" pieces
3/4 C chopped onion
1/2 C chopped celery
1/2 C chopped red bell pepper
1 15.25-oz. can pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
1/3 C reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 T dry sherry
1 1/2 T cornstarch
2 t brown sugar
1/4 C dry-roasted chopped cashews

1. Heat the oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
   
2. Add the garlic, ginger, red pepper and chicken, then sauté 5 min. or until the chicken is done.
   
3. Remove the chicken mixture from the pan and set aside.
   
4. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper to the pan, then sauté 4 min. or until crisp-tender.
   
5. Drain the pineapple, reserving half a cup of the juice.
   
6. Add 1 cup of pineapple chunks to the pan, then cook 30 seconds. Reserve the remaining pineapple for another use.
   
7. Combine the reserved half-cup of juice, soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch and sugar in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth.
   
8. Return the chicken mixture to the pan.
   
9. Stir in the juice mixture, bring to boil and cook 1 min.
   
10. Sprinkle with cashews.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Nutritional Info
Calories: 388
Fat: 11.6 g
Sat fat: 2.4 g
Protein: 41.5 g
Carbs: 28.9 g
Fiber: 2.1 g
Cholesterol: 101 mg
Sodium: 858 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
By and large, I followed the recipe. By and large.

I omitted the cashews and the celery. I had raw cashews but didn't want the added fat. I didn't have celery. Because I didn't have celery, I used the green bell pepper I did have. I diced it so it would contrast with the red bell pepper, which I left in long, yummy-licious strips that all the human members of Chez Boeckman-Walker enjoy.

Some of the ingredients I didn't measure, I guiltily admit. I chopped up half an sizeable onion--I loves me them alums! As for the pineapple, I threw in all the chunks since the boy doesn't like taking them to school in his lunch, and the husband no longer puts them on his chicken pizzas on Tuesdays. So why let perfectly good pineapple chunks linger?

Oh yeah, forget the bottled ginger and garlic. I used fresh--even though I do have bottled minced garlic in my refrigerator. I just happened to have some fresh stuff on hand that I'd bought when I'd been unable to find the bottled stuff, and I didn't want it to go to waste. Plus I've found that I really, really enjoy mincing garlic.

My only disappointment with this recipe is that it didn't reheat well. For all the wonderful flavor it had when freshly made, it was nonexistent upon micronuking. The pineapple was so fabulously distinct the first time, but it just was totally missing the second time. Bummer.

I'm Game for Ghaymeh

As I noted in my review of Alborz Persian Restaurant, my discovery of khoresh ghaymeh had me wanting to try it at home. After much digging around and coming across the same recipe over and over and over again, I settled on a recipe that I thought I could...well, I thought I could manage to pull off without royally screwing it up.

The recipe's from a gluten-free food blog aptly titled "For the Love of Food!" I like how the author describes her own cooking process, and I very much appreciate that she included photos. I find it very helpful to know what the finished product should roughly look like.

Khoresh-e-ghaymeh Lapeh (Persian Split Pea Stew)*

*Please note that the first-person voice herein is of the original author, not me, The Faudie.

1 C yellow split peas
1 lb. stew beef, cut into small pieces (mine was about 2 1/4 cup chopped)
3 medium onions, chopped
6 T oil (olive, grapeseed)
5 T tomato paste
1 28-oz. can organic crushed tomatoes with basil (I recommend Muir Glen)
2 t turmeric
3 t cinnamon (less if you don't like it that strong)
2 t sea salt
1 1/2 t black pepper
1 t oregano
3 dried limes

1. Rinse the split peas and set them to cook in 4 cups of water over medium heat in a small pot. The cooking time will honestly depend on the type of peas--it really does make a difference. I think mine cooked in about 15 minutes, but watch it and check after 10, then 5, etc. etc. If they overcook they will turn to mush and will be a sad sight. [I agree! --The Faudie] They should be al dente, or almost soft. Don't add salt or they won't cook! While they're cooking, skim the foam off and discard.
   
2. Boil some hot water. Wash the dried limes and stab a few holes in them. Pour the hot water over the limes in a bowl, and cover to let them soak and soften.
   
3. While the peas are cooking, cook the chopped onions in 3 T of oil in a large stew pot until golden but not overdone. Remove a third of them and place them in the saute pan in which you will cook the meat.
   
4. With the other two-thirds of the chopped onion still in the stew pot, add the can of crushed tomatoes as well as the tomato paste. Stir well.
   
5. Add a teaspoon of turmeric to the sauce. If the tomato paste is unsalted, add some salt.
   
6. Bring the sauce to boil then let it simmer.
   
7. Heat the saute pan with the third of the chopped onions, and add 3 T of oil.
   
8. Add the cinnamon, salt, pepper, oregano and turmeric to the saute pan, then the beef.
   
9. After a minute or two, add the limes (not the water), and cook until the meat is almost thoroughly cooked.
   
10. Add the meat and split peas to the sauce and stir well.
    
11. Turn the heat down to low, cover and let the stew simmer for an hour to two hours. Taste periodically to check if you want to add any more salt, pepper, etc. The stew can get fairly thick depending on a variety of factors. If it's too thick for your taste, you can add some water. I sometimes add some of the water the limes were soaking in for more flavor.

Nutritional Info
Sorry, I have no nutritional info to share for this recipe. Lentils are pretty low in fat and high in protein and fiber, so that's a plus. If you use as much oil as the recipe calls for, you might be looking at a higher fat content--and that's not including the beef.

The Faudie's Futzings
Oh boy, I did a fair amount of futzing with this one, but I think I wound up with something that tasted pretty close to the khoresh ghaymeh I enjoyed at Alborz:

• For starters, I didn't use any beef. I'm not a big fan of red meat, particularly bovine. It's dense. After eating it so sparingly over the last...decade or more, I can feel its weight as it's digested slowly. It makes me feel sluggish and icky, so I try not to eat much of it. Plus I didn't buy any last Friday at HEB as this recipe was sort of something I thought of doing over the weekend that followed. If you ask me, no big loss.
  
• I didn't use a basil-enhanced can of crushed toms. I used plain 'ol crushed tomatoes with the lowest sodium content I could find. And no, I didn't add any additional salt to the sauce as the author suggests. I don't find it necessary to add salt to everything. My family has a history of hypertension, thank you very much, and I don't want to wind up with it too (although if you look at the statistics, almost everyone winds up with hypertension as they get older).
  
• Since I had no beef, I'd planned to use 3 and a quarter cups of toor dal--the equivalent of the cup of split peas the author's original recipe calls for plus the 2 and a quarter cups of chopped beef she wound up with after chopping up her pound of beef. Unfortunately, I didn't have that much toor dal left. Fortunately, I had exactly two cups of the stuff, so that made me happy.
  
• I wasn't able to find dried limes at the two nearby HEBs. Sure, I could have popped in to Gandhi Bazaar, which is near the HEB where I usually do the weekly shopping where I had to run to buy tomato paste, or Shahi Foods, which is near the HEB across from the gym where I did stop after my miserable run in search of dried limes--but I went to neither place. My leg was aching during both trips, and I just didn't feel like making the additional stops. Bad, lazy me.
  
• Since I was unable to procure dried limes, I juiced three fresh limes--and discovered that was too much for my tastes. I was leery of doing that much in the first place but wound up doing it in an attempt to get a bit more liquid into my stew. The stuff was really thick by the time I added the lentils to the sauce.
  
• Because I didn't want my stew so thick, I added--gradually--an entire 32-ounce container of Pacific Foods vegetable broth. Even then, I didn't end up with the very soupy khoresh ghaymeh I'd had at Alborz--and I wasn't going to add the almost-full container of Central Markup-brand low-sodium chicken broth to try to get me there either.
  
• Since I found the lime taste and accompanying acidity not to my liking, I added a half-teaspoon of cinnamon to my stew after I'd added the veggie broth. Doing so made it taste more like the slightly sweeter concoction I'd had at Alborz.

While the author of the original recipe recommends serving the stew with basmati and the dish is served with it on the a la carte menu at Alborz, I didn't make any rice to go with my stew. I was lazy and warmed up a quarter of a teardrop of naan we've had in the 'fridge for a few weeks. If the stew had had more liquid, then I might have made up a quick batch of brown rice--which the recipe's author ate with her stew. My finished stew, though, was lacking for delectable juice to be absorbed by the rice. The sauce, however, was just the right consistency for mopping up with morsels of naan. And I made sure that bit of leftover naan didn't go to waste. Brilliant!