Quinoa Flour Muffins with Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese

Savory short breads are one in all my favourite ways to fill out a meal, especially the mild sort of food I generally want to put together. The "brief" part is specially appealing, but the texture of a biscuit, muffin or flatbread additionally makes a fulfilling comparison to the alternative additives of the meal, while the flavors may be easily assembled in any aggregate that enhances the opposite ingredients being served. And of route the leftovers are tremendous to have round for breakfasts or snacks.

These gluten-loose quinoa flour desserts integrate some of my favored components: cornmeal, roasted crimson peppers and goat cheese. Easy-to-make, they're a gentle and moist but slightly dense savory muffin with a little chewy crunch from the cornmeal ? First rate to serve with soups or salads, but these desserts shine on their own too.

Note: solar-dried tomatoes can be substituted for the roasted pink peppers with fantastic fulfillment, and a handful of pitted and chopped black olives can be brought if favored.

More savory cakes perfect for filling out a meal:

Quick and Easy Cornbread Muffins

Poppy Seed Muffins

Cracked Black Pepper Cheddar Muffins

Savory Dill Ricotta Muffins

Refried Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

It will no longer probably come as a marvel to my readers that I adore highly spiced dishes from many cuisines around the sector. Though Indian creations and variations on conventional dishes from India are my ardour, I want to explore the arena from my humble kitchen. There is no requirement that my experiments and offerings *ought to* be spicy, however I always discover myself gravitating in the direction of the spice cupboard and the new chilies.

I became my points of interest towards Mexican cooking for considered one of my most current cooking periods. Refried beans have usually been a favorite of mine. I even have made numerous versions through the years, consisting of my traditional version, with or without corn, refried beans with pumpkin, and while the craving hits I regularly provide you with yet some other variant. Certainly not the most conventional version of this traditional dish, however I have perfected the method over time to healthy my palate. This time I actually have blanketed solar-dried tomatoes. Yes, ordinary readers have probable observed that I use solar-dried tomatoes A LOT. Such an vital staple element in my kitchen. They upload more flare on your food without overpowering the other elements in case you are sparing with the quantity that you encompass.

Certainly wonderful from Indian delicacies, Mexican food is certainly extra similar than you would possibly suppose. For example, maximum Mexican dishes are hot and highly spiced and encompass plenty of warm chilies. The depth of taste and complexity of the dishes which might be though organized with relative ease, additionally make those as an alternative wonderful areas a great in shape for fusion style cooking. As in India, tomatoes are widely used and beans and rice are a common function of the meal. A rough equivalent to Indian flatbreads are tortillas. Quesadillas are normally filled with a variety of beans and veggies that I bear in mind to be a Mexican model of an Indian paratha. The spicing and choice of flours and substances definitely vary, however I wager in case you revel in Indian cuisine, you already experience or will revel in offerings from Latin America.

Consider serving these refried beans rolled up in a flour or corn tortilla, topped with a few bitter cream and hot sauce in conjunction with a mattress of rice for a complete and pleasurable vegetarian meal. Even your carnivorous friends and family might be overjoyed and asking for seconds.

More Mexican dishes you're positive to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Huevos Rancheros Con Frijoles

Tomato Corn Chowder

Guacamole

Stuffed Eggplant Poriyal

It was once that eggplant become some thing I not often taken into consideration cooking with, but now that I have commenced, there may be no stopping me. Even my own family contributors who concept of eggplant as gentle and bland are willing to strive my creations. Since I began gambling around extra, I actually have pretty a great deal stuck with broiling or baking this flexible vegetable, but this time I desired something spicy and went in advance with stuffing small eggplants with a highly spiced dry paste of coconut, cashews and lentils and simmering them in a tangy and fragrant tempering sauce. Certainly the maximum eye-catching way I even have organized and loved eggplant but, and it's miles just best for dinner served with a steaming warm mattress of buttered rice.

I adapted this recipe from one of my very favorite vegetarian cookbooks, Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan. If I could retain only a few of the books from my extensive collection, surely this would be one of them. Though I have cooked from this book on many occasions, each time I pick it up and glance through the beautiful illustrations, I am tempted again and again to keep exploring the authentic south Indian delights offered up. If you want to know about sambars, rasams, poriyals and kootus, beautiful rice dishes, aromatic spice blends that are an essential element of Indian cooking and just don't me started on the snack and appetizer section, this is the book you surely must have. The desserts and sweets are also too tempting, even for this savory girl.

More eggplant recipes you are positive to enjoy from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Baked Gingered Chickpea Stew with Eggplant and Spinach

Eggplant Quinoa Bites with Pesto

Eggplant and Tomato Caponata

Chickpeas with White and Wild Rice, Cranberries and Spices

Yotam Ottolenghi's first two cookbooks — Ottolenghi and Plenty — occupy treasured spaces on my cookbook shelves as much as for the distinctive and accessible recipes as for the stunning photographs that illustrate them. With this year's release of a new cookbook, this was the easiest present to buy for myself.

Jerusalem: A Cookbook is a culinary journey back to the food of this London restauranteur's and his head chef Sami Tamimi's home city. Ottolenghi and Tamimi share dishes and stories about food from the many cultures that inhabit this ancient and astonishingly diverse city, all with their characteristic love of good ingredients and wonderful flavors — it's actually a pleasure to read even if you don't make anything from it. But as with the previous two books, the recipes in Jerusalem are all straightforward and typically elegant in their simplicity, letting just a few fresh ingredients combine with a handful of seasonings to create spectacular dishes.

This simple warm chickpea salad with white and wild rice, dried cranberries and spices is just such an example of a simple mingling of ingredients into something that is greater than the sum of its parts, but without losing the unique contributions of flavors that each ingredient has to offer. Adapted from Jerusalem , it's easy to make, absolutely delicious, and a perfect light meal for any time of year and certainly a shining addition to your festive table.

Other recipes you may enjoy:

Ottolenghi's Chickpea Sauté with Greek Yogurt

Chickpea, Olive and Feta Cheese Salad

Wild Rice and Asparagus Salad

On the top of the reading stack: "Simply Satisfying" by Jeanne Lemlin

Audio Accompaniment: Sima Deep - Make Me Flow

Indian-Style Black-Eyed Peas with Roasted Squash

This alternatively quick and smooth curry is a super manner to take gain of wintry weather squash and a terrific excuse to turn on the oven to warm up. There is a healthy dose of vitamins in this dish and plenty of spice to help therapy ailments that's surely vital this month as the colds which might be going around are maximum chronic certainly.

Roasting the squash no longer only adds a few warmth on your kitchen but additionally brings out the herbal sweetness of this valuable vegetable. More so than years past, I were exploring and playing various kinds of squash. I am nonetheless amazed how filling it's far, particularly when paired with beans and grains.

Serve with rice and savory Indian flatbreads or, as I did, cooked quinoa for a now not so traditional pairing but genuinely your frame will thanks either manner. Lots of goodness in the meal and that is simply what this time of 12 months requires. Also a terrific choice on your excursion tables as properly. I am especially smitten with the combination and quantity of spices on this dish, however of direction, feel unfastened to modify thus to suit your palate.

More squash recipes from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Indian-Spiced Squash, Pear and Adzuki Bean Soup with Lightly Braised Mixed Mushrooms

Roasted Butternut Squash and Herbed Cannellini and Artichokes with Fennel and Parsley Salad

Red Bean and Squash Soup

Indian-Style Roasted Squash Curry

Santa's Panforte

This nut and dried fruit chunky, sweet and chewy treat I assure you is highly addictive. The little bites will keep at room temperature for up to three months if wrapped well in plastic wrap and up to a year if kept in the fridge I am told by Zel Allen, the author of Vegan for the Holidays , from which book this recipe is adapted. This means you could get a jump start on your Christmas baking and I foolishly thought that if I made up a batch back in September, I would have some left over for Christmas. Uh, no. They didn't last for even a month, especially as I had friends and family around to enjoy them too. Darn, I'll just have to make them again.

Though a great holiday treat, I assume you must have them reachable all year around for a fast and surely as a substitute wholesome snack. When site visitors drop with the aid of, you may not must fuss and hassle, however just serve up some squares of this heavenly bark.

I also pretty advise Ms. Allen's ebook for creative and particular answers for vacation food that are sure to please absolutely everyone. It often can be difficult to give you special meals at vacation time that us pesky vegetarians and vegans will enjoy in order to also please the carnivores at the table too, but this e book, that I even have written about before, no longer only makes it smooth but especially fun.

More ideas for excursion treats from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Walnut Nanaimo Bars

Chocolate Cocoa Brownies with Dried Cranberries and Chickpea Flour

Chocolate Nut Butter No Bake Fudge

Rum Balls

On the top of the reading stack: Simply Satisfying by Jeanne Lemlin

Indian Tomato Chutney with Spices

As I had been playing a healthy dose of savory Indian pancakes of overdue, there's constantly a very good deliver of chutneys and sauces available inside the residence. This cooked tomato includes vinegar, so it'll maintain for quite some time within the fridge in a well sealed container. Fragrant, highly spiced, and correct for the thoughts and body, this chutney need to truely be considered a staple ? It's far a super multi-layered condiment as a way to enhance and supplement any Indian savory food.

More Indian sauces and chutneys you're positive to enjoy from Lisa's Indian Vegetarian Kitchen:

Tamarind Chutney

Toasted Fresh Coconut Chutney with Tomatoes

Gingered Tomato Sauce

Hot Green Chili Sauce