Peanut Butter Rice

As an awful lot as I experience a simple pot of clean cooked and buttered white rice to go along with my meals, I'm always on the hunt for other quick and smooth ideas for rice. That's why I zoomed in nearly straight away upon this ridiculously easy but splendidly resourceful recipe for peanut butter rice once I these days received a duplicate of A Taste of Tanzania: Modern Swahili Recipes for the West through Miriam Rose Kinunda. Why had I never concept of this before? Just stir in some herbal peanut butter and salt into the rice cooking water, and you've got got a pot of delicately flavorful rice that now not only provides a touch protein on your dinner but additionally pretty well tempers the warmth of a spicy curry in case you take place to be serving one. This easy idea is in my everlasting repertory of rice dishes now. I'm involved to strive it with other nut butters like almond or cashew, however I do discover that the peanut butter has a far extra mentioned taste in an effort to go together with different more potent flavored meals.

I am pretty charmed by way of A Taste of Tanzania and bear in mind myself quite fortunate to have obtained it. This series of "Modern Swahili Recipes for the West" is a gem certainly.

Other rice dishes you're certain to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Brown Rice and Quinoa Cakes with Parmesan

Cracked Black Pepper Rice

Indian Yellow Rice

Mushroom Risotto

On the top of the reading stack: Rawsome Vegan Baking: An Un-Cookbook for Raw, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Beautiful and Sinfully Sweet Cookies, Cakes, Bars & Cupcakes by Emily von Euw

Audio Accompaniment: Erot

French Lentil Tomato and Harissa Stew

Lentils are the correct answer for what I call "mid-week meals" when you need a fast and trouble-loose weekday dinner with out giving up flavor and nutrients. This is mainly real on the ones days after I have not deliberate ahead, because ? Unlike whole beans which require at least several hours of soaking before cooking ? Lentils don't need to be soaked at all or need handiest a couple of hours of soaking to speed up what's already a quick cooking method. They're additionally exceptionally versatile and may be organized or paired with nearly any number of different components and flavors.

I'm especially keen on the Puy or French lentils that maintain their shape while cooked ? Those lovely dark inexperienced and blue speckled little pearls are especially attractive and toothsome in a soup. Their earthy and peppery taste combines superbly with tangy fresh tomatoes and spices, as with this short and smooth thick, nourishing and scrumptious stew made with lentils, tomatoes and harissa, the traditional North African chili, garlic and cumin condiment. It's perfect when you have harissa reachable, whether or not save-offered or selfmade. In fact, I used some leftover inexperienced harissa made with clean jalape?Os in preference to dried pink chilies that I had organized to serve with a few baked chickpea koftas earlier in the week! Delicious, but any type of harissa will make this stew a savory pleasure ? Simply regulate the amount of harissa to suit your alternatives.

Five minutes of education and 20 to 30 minutes of smooth fuss-unfastened cooking time is all that this stew takes from begin to complete. Feel loose to dispense with the fast 2-hour lentil soaking time within the commands if you're in a rush, and just add a further half cup or so of water and allow the lentils cook dinner for an extra 10 minutes. Ordinary inexperienced or brown lentils can be used in case you cannot discover French lentils, even though greater care needs to be taken to make sure that the lentils do no longer turn any extra comfortable than necessary.

More French lentil soup thoughts you will enjoy:

Saffron-Brandied French Lentils

Puy Lentil Soup with Spinach

Puy Lentil and Tomato Soup

Chickpeas with Mixed Vegetables and Berbere Sauce

This simple dish of chickpeas and greens simmered in a highly spiced and fragrant Ethiopian tomato and berbere sauce conveys tremendous layers of flavors and textures, and it is a snap to prepare once the chopping is accomplished. Homemade berbere powder made with a mix of dried chilies and fragrant seeds is a staple in my pantry ? And no surprise, it such an smooth manner to add heat and highly spiced flavors to any bean or vegetable dish like this one.

Try this served over a mattress of fresh cooked and buttered white rice for a delicious aggregate of tastes.

Other chickpea dishes to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Aloo Gobi with Chickpeas - A Twist on a Classic

Chana Palak (Spicy Chickpeas and Spinach)

Chickpea Patties Smothered in Vegetable Gravy

South Indian Chickpea, Cauliflower and Potato Coconut Curry

Berbere (Ethiopian Spice Blend)

Whenever possible, I make my own spice blends. There is just no comparison between store-bought blends and the freshness and vibrancy of ones that you can easily whiz up in your own kitchen. They keep well for months in a well-sealed jar in a dark and dry place. Recently I received a copy of Teff Love: Adventures in Vegan Ethiopian Cooking by Kittee Berns that is all about Ethiopian cooking, with a vegan approach. Berbere is a fairly spicy and wonderfully aromatic spice blend that is central to Ethiopian cuisine — indeed, the foundation of so many Ethiopian dishes — so I made up this colorful spice blend up before even cooking from the book. That will come soon, as I picked up a fresh bag of teff and it has always been one of my favorite grains. Regrettably, I haven't eaten it for sometime now, but armed with this new book and this spice blend, I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes.

Oddly enough, the book did no longer encompass a recipe for the spice combination, so after performing some studies, I got here up with my own model with ingredients that many cooks will already have accessible in their pantry. If now not, if you stay in an urban middle, everything this is blanketed can without difficulty be determined at Indian and Asian grocery shops, or on-line if there isn't somewhere close by to gain the spices.

Other homemade spice blends you're positive to want to encompass to your pantry:

Chaat Masala

Curry Powder

Garam Masala

Sambar Powder

Ethiopian-Style Hummus

Hummus is a pleasure any time of year, however when it's warm outdoor it seems a great deal more frequently due to the fact it is so brief and smooth to make and a pride to experience on the patio on a lazy day. This unique recipe became a chunk exceptional as it has an Ethiopian twist. I made up a selfmade batch of a hot and fragrant spice combo, berbere, this is often the key component in Ethiopian cooking. I don't have a number of enjoy with Ethiopian delicacies, but my historical past in Indian cooking honestly made the introduction less complicated than expected.

Berbere is highly spiced, however now not overly so. It provides a one of a kind blend of chili and fragrant spice flavor to this hummus. But it is no longer simply the berbere that gives this hummus a completely unique taste. Classic hummus is made with tahini similarly to chickpeas, but this version uses toasted ground sunflower seeds floor to a butter in place of tahini. The sunflower seeds provide a amazing rich nutty flavor in the back of the hot and aromatic berbere.

More hummus recipes from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Avocado Chickpea Hummus

Spicy Indian-Style Hummus

Marinated Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus with Olives

Lemony Basil Hummus

Mixed Vegetables in a Basic Ethiopian Kulet Sauce

If I have been to host a night meal with buddies, Ethiopian would possibly simply be my first desire, subsequent to Indian cuisine of direction. What is so clean about both cuisines is that it certainly is a communal dining enjoy. If there sufficient dishes on the desk, absolutely everyone receives to try a number of each.

I've only been to Ethiopian eating places a small wide variety of times, however it's constantly been a unique and pleasurable enjoy. Typically the diners are presented with an array of dishes of their choosing, served over a large spherical of injera bread (a spongey sourdough bread commonly made with teff flour). You scoop up bits of the dishes with parts of the bread and can attempt something suits your fancy.

Having Indian food with buddies is very much enjoyable for much the same reason. Order more dishes and have a flavor of everything, along rice and savory flat breads.

I cooked up this simple dish of mixed veggies simmered in a warm, tangy and fragrant Ethiopian tomato and berbere spice sauce and served it up with a few Ethiopian-style hummus and injera bread.

Notes: Feel unfastened to use any form of combined vegetables available. Just bear in mind to add the greens that prepare dinner faster in a while inside the cooking procedure. You can even upload cooked beans if you want. Kulet is a basic sauce that goes properly with such a lot of one of a kind meals.

Other mixed vegetable dishes to try from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Mixed Vegetable and Avocado Salad with Almond Herbed Flatbreads

Miso Noodle Soup with Mixed Vegetables and Paneer

Indian Mixed Vegetable Soup - Contemporary Style

Chickpea Mixed Vegetable Poriyal

On the pinnacle of the analyzing stack: Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen: Traditional and Creative Recipes for the Home Cook

Spiced Teff Cakes with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

With my latest forays into Ethiopian cooking, I've emerge as involved again in revisiting teff for the first time in lots of years.

Teff has been the staple grain of Ethiopian cooking for thousands of years but is relatively unknown to the rest of the world except through the sourdoughed teff flour flat bread called "injera" that is served in every Ethiopian restaurant. But it is available in larger grocers and in health food stores from brands such as Bob's Red Mill. And its obscurity certainly doesn't hide its unique qualities. So very tiny that its name actually translates as "lost", it has a rich brown color and a much more robust earthy and nutty flavor than any other grain. And it's a nutritional gluten-free powerhouse of protein, calcium, iron and fiber.

Teff has a thick, chewy and gritty polenta-like consistency while cooked up and makes for a exclusive ? And wholesome ? Breakfast porridge. But on the dinner table, its strong flavor makes it less a platform for seasonings and vegetables than other grains and greater of the starring flavor. So teff is a really perfect vehicle for making savory desserts like the sort I like a lot. Combined with Ethiopian spices, chilies, sun-dried tomatoes and a uncooked cashew paste, this thick cooked grain molds into burger-size patties that can be baked or fried for a bold tasting side dish that could just flip out as a substitute to hog the spotlight on your dinner desk.

Other patties and burgers to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Potato Patties Stuffed with Spiced Green Peas (Aloo Matar Tikki)

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Patties with Avocado and Tomato Salsa

Chickpea Patties Smothered in Vegetable Gravy

Nigerian Black-Eyed Pea Patties with Pilipili Sauce

On the top of the studying stack: The Chickpea Flour Cookbook: Healthy Gluten-Free and Grain-Free Recipes to Power Every Meal of the Day

Ethiopian-Style Red Lentil and Okra in a Spicy Tomato Sauce

I have not been posting an awful lot due to the fact I were making recipes which have already been documented on this space. That said, I do have a recipe to present that has been sitting in my draft folder for pretty some time. That's a disgrace, as it is a superb one and no longer difficult to prepare either.

I'm especially concerned with one of a kind cuisines and African food simply stimulates the palate. This Ethiopian-fashion stew is highly spiced and tart but mellowed out with the addition of silky okra, a vegetable I do not use as often as I have to. High in nutrients and antioxidants, the flavor is instead hard to describe, but it does nicely fill out soups and stews and is often enjoyed breaded and fried.

Homemade berbere is a ought to here. It's of blend of chilies and aromatic spices that takes little or no time in any respect to make up and it maintains well in a sealed glass jar for a very good few months.

Green beans can been used in area of the okra is you please.

I served this dish with spiced teff desserts with solar-dried tomatoes but as with all Ethiopian vegetable dishes it might go also move nicely with injera bread, a spongey sourdough bread made with teff flour.

Other African recipes to strive from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Chickpea Patties Smothered in Vegetable Gravy

Mixed Vegetables in a Basic Ethiopian Kulet Sauce

Ethiopian-Style Hummus

Vegetarian Harira (Moroccan Chickpea and Lentil Stew)

Potato Salad with a Harissa-Style Dressing

Potato salads are popular year spherical. This harissa-style potato salad is one so as to especially enchantment to spice lovers. If you already know you may be eating with fellow spice fiends and family over the holidays, or simply want to shake up the potluck or beautify your meals any time of yr, then this salad if just the thing. It fills out any number of dinners, and as it is African in starting place, it does work especially properly whilst served as a part of an African themed meal.

Harissa is a staple condiment that is extensively utilized in North African and Middle Eastern cuisines and sincerely a staple factor in many pantries around the world. As it is simple to make and continues in a well-sealed jar for lots months, I pick the home made variations, such as the only featured right here on Lisa's Kitchen. The major functions of harissa are hot chilies, fragrant spices, sometimes garlic and bell peppers. Olive oil poured over pinnacle of the harissa in a nicely-sealed jar has a reasonably long shelf life.

For this salad, you don't want to have harissa on hand even though due to the fact you're making up simply the proper amount for the salad. If you do occur to have harissa on hand, you may use that as opposed to making up your personal pepper paste, however I located making it up right away for this salad delivered a nice refreshing contact with minimal effort.

This salad may be organized ahead of time and ignored to serve at room temperature. In reality, letting it sit permits the flavors a risk to combo. If you do use your very own harissa, how tons you operate relies upon on warm your harissa is. I could advocate approximately half of tablespoon - you may also need to add some teaspoons of lime juice to the quantity of pre-made harissa you make a decision to apply.

Other potato salads to revel in from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Indian-Style Potato and Pea Salad with Tamarind and Chat Masala

Skillet Potato Salad with Fresh Basil and Cilantro

Herbed Potato and Green Bean Salad with Olives

Creamy Potato Salad with Cashew Dressing and Fresh Basil

Staple Corner: Homemade Harissa Recipe

Harissa is a conventional dried crimson chili based totally sauce in North African cooking, and it is often what offers the nearby vegetable dishes, soups and stews their awesome fieriness. It's extensively utilized as a spicy warm condiment to get dressed eggs, couscous and flatbreads or to whisk into salad dressings. But harissa is extra than simply warmth, regardless of the massive quantity of chilies that pass into it. Harissa has a completely unique flavor all of its own from garlic, cumin and caraway seeds, and on occasion tomatoes as well.

Like most traditional foods, there are infinite variations of harissa made in kitchens all across North Africa, and I even have shared one such version formerly. This one is specific, however, and has a deeper flavor due to the addition of sun-dried tomatoes and some lemon juice for a piece of clean zest to compliment the fragrant and fiery warmness of the chilies. Other non-obligatory upgrades which are often brought are roasted red peppers, saffron, mint, or maybe rose petals.

However you are making harissa, be sparing with it in the beginning until you are used to the heat. This harissa is easy to put together in case you use a blender or food processor instead of the conventional technique of grinding the components with a mortar and pestle. It keeps properly for up to 2 months while stored in a jar with a decent-fitting lid and with olive oil poured over the top.

Other ethnic condiments and spice blends from Lisa's Kitchen:

Homemade Za'atar

Classic Tamarind Chutney

Fresh Coconut Chutney with Tamarind and Cilantro

Basic Fresh Salsa

Mexican Tomato and Jalape?O Salsa

North African Chickpea Soup (Lablabi)

I've always been inquisitive about the tantalizing and robust flavors which can be so one of a kind of Mediterranean cuisines. There is a vibrancy about so some of the dishes that are local to this sizable expanse of land with various traditions and traits. As a vegetarian, I additionally locate there may be a wealth of dishes which might be ideally fitted to a vegetarian food regimen, and ones that are easily adapted to fit such choices.

This Tunisian chickpea soup, referred to as Lablabi, is one such example, and as I enjoy soups no matter the time of year ? And certainly chickpeas, which might be one in every of my favourite legumes ? I notion that I would share this easy-to-prepare soup right here. Lablabi is normally served over small chunks of stale crusty bread, and continually with plenty of toppings, appreciably harissa. Traditionally served for breakfast, in addition to other toppings, a poached or tender cooked egg is added to the new soup in order that the smooth yolk bleeds into the the broth. The egg isn't always essential at all, until you so please, and it's fun anytime of the day.

There is a piece of warmth inside the brothy chickpeas, that are simmered with garlic and spices, however the real kick comes from harissa, that is swirled onto every serving. One of the maximum interesting elements of this dish is that it could be served with distinctive garnishes so that every diner can add what's maximum fascinating to their palates and additionally use greater or less harissa as preferred.

Despite the robust and sturdy flavors gift, it is virtually a fairly mild soup, however serving it up with some crusty bread makes it a entire and fulfilling meal in itself, as do the toppings that enhance every bowl.

Harissa is a Tunisian fiery paste made with hot chilies, garlic, olive oil and seeds and spices which includes cumin, coriander, and caraway. Sometimes sun-dried tomatoes are blanketed as properly. It is simple to make at domestic, however there are plenty of prepared sorts that can without difficulty be purchased at the supermarket. No matter whether you make you own or buy it from an outdoor source, do flavor it before adding it to your dishes so you know what you're coping with. Sometimes only a little is A LOT.

Note: Use 2 (14 ounces) cans of chickpeas in place of the dried chickpeas if you want to bypass the steps of soaking and cooking the chickpeas. Just drain and rinse the canned chickpeas and continue with the second one step.

Other Mediterranean soups to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Vegetarian Harira (Moroccan Chickpea and Lentil Stew)

French Lentil Tomato and Harissa Stew

Lentil Minestrone with Swiss Chard and Arborio Rice

Spicy White Bean and Turnip Soup

Fakes - Greek Lentil Soup

Audio accompaniment: Coil - Going Up

Mixed Vegetables in a Spicy Tomato Ethiopian Kulet Sauce

Much like Indian cooking, the education of Ethiopian lentil and vegetable dishes depends on a blend of each warm and fragrant spices. And like Indian food, the dishes are first-rate served in serving bowls wherein communal diners can each revel in a supporting of the whole thing that is served.

And just as a lot as garam masala may be considered the all-cause spice blend of Indian cooking, berbere is the identical for Ethiopian meals. A precise blend of dried chilies and some of aromatic seeds and spices ground into a powder and sometimes combined with water and oil right into a paste, berbere is the colourful and distinct basis of such a lot of Ethiopian dishes that I preserve home made batches of it reachable as an vital a part of my pantry.

Berbere and tomatoes shape the idea of "kulet", a sauce that is widely used for simmering lentils and veggies ? And meat too, if you're so willing ? In Ethiopian cooking. In this dish, an assortment of fresh veggies are cooked in a hot, tangy and aromatic kulet sauce, supplying me and my guests with an appealing and delicious addition to an Ethiopian-style dinner. In fact, the veggies may additionally were the star of the night.

Note: it's miles possible in recent times to buy respectable save-bought brands of berbere in supermarkets and strong point shops but, as is usual with spice blends, it's far quite smooth and greater pleasant to make your personal at domestic. Best of all, if you make up more than you need on your dish, it keeps well in a sealed glass jar for a great few months.

Other Ethiopian dishes to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Ethiopian-Style Red Lentil and Okra in a Spicy Tomato Sauce

Ethiopian Lentil & Mustard Salad (Azefa)

Chickpeas with Mixed Vegetables and Berbere Sauce

Ethiopian-Style Hummus

Audio Accompaniment: MemoryHouse by Max Richter