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Posts Tagged ‘chickpeas’

Baby Back Ribs

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Whole Foods had some really nice baby back ribs on sale the other day, so I really had no choice but to get a slab. I only wish I had a smoker, but even without one ribs can be done with flavor and tenderness.

I started by coating the slab with a spice rub. I used a very basic mix for this slab. I mixed together about 1/8 cup of paprika, 1/8 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of black pepper, 2 tablespoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon each of cayenne, dry mustard, and white pepper. I let the rub sit for about an hour before throwing the slab into a 250 degree oven. I let it go for about 2.5 hours.

Once the meat was cooked through and tender I put it on the grill over about medium heat. I had some BBQ sauce in my fridge that I needed to use so I didn’t make any of my own. I brushed the sauce on both sides of the ribs and let them cook for about 10 minutes per side to get the sauce nice and carmelized.

Besides white rice I stewed some chickpeas. I diced half of an onion, one yellow bell pepper, two tomatoes, and two garlic cloves. I also used one can of chickpeas and two sprigs of rosemary from our herb garden.

In some hot olive oil I sautéed the garlic for about 30 seconds before adding the onion. A few minutes later I added the yellow pepper and the rosemary sprigs. I let that go for about 7 minutes before adding the chickpeas and tomato. I poured in about a quarter cup of water and then seasoned with salt, pepper, a dash of cumin and a dash of paprika. I let the water come to a quick boil then covered the pot, turned the heat to low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Once the chickpeas were fully heated I turned off the heat and squeezed in the juice from a half a lemon. That’s all, ready for consumption.

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Kielbasa

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I stopped by Andy’s Deli the other day, easily one of my favorite grocers in Chicago. While there, I really had no choice but to pick up some of their smoked kielbasa sausages. So friggin good! They have the best kielbasa in town. To serve with grilled kielbasa I made a carrot soup, some white rice, some chickpeas, and no kielbasa would be complete without a dollop of mustard. I used my favorite Boetjes.

For the carrot soup I chopped up three large carrots, half of an onion, 1 celery rib, and 3 cloves of garlic. I sautéed it all in olive oil for about 10 minutes. Then I poured in about 1.75 cups of chicken stock, half a teaspoon of turmeric, half a teaspoon of cumin, half a teaspoon of paprika, and salt. I brought that to a boil, lowered the heat to medium, covered, and let simmer until the veggies were soft (about 15 minutes or so).

After letting the veggies cool down a bit I dumped them all into the blender and pureed it. While it was blending I poured about a half cup of olive oil in to make the soup silkier. I put it all back into the pot, tasted for seasoning, and added pepper. When it came time to serve I simply reheated it.

To make the chickpeas I started by sautéing a quarter of an onion small diced in butter and olive oil with 2 minced garlic cloves. I had a couple of purple potatoes left from the other night so I diced them up and added them. I didn’t stir too much because I wanted the potatoes to get a little crisp. Once they were I added about a quarter cup of chicken stock, salt, and pepper.

Once the stock had reduced by about half I added one can of drained chickpeas. I let that cook for about 10 minutes over medium-low heat. The chickpeas just needed to be heated through.

Once they were I threw a bunch of baby arugula in, turned off the heat, adjusted the seasoning, and let it sit until the kielbasa were cooked.

I threw the kielbasa on the grill. They were smoked so I only needed to char them for texture and to heat them through. Once they were ready dinner was served.

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Quinoa

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 16, 2010| 1 Comment »

I’m on the tail end of a bad cold and Yuki is in the midst of battling one too. In light of that, last night’s Meatless Monday was all about getting healthy. There isn’t much more healthy than quinoa, except for maybe the hemp seed. I also wanted to keep it really simple.

I first sautéed a bunch of chopped green onions in some vegetable oil for a few minutes, then added three chopped garlic cloves. A couple minutes later I tossed in a diced carrot and a diced yellow pepper. I didn’t want the veggies to get soft, just slightly cooked so shortly after they were sweating I added a cup of rinsed red quinoa. When you saute quinoa for a few minutes it brings out some of the nuttiness in its flavor. After that I poured in a cup of vegetable stock, a drained can of chickpeas, a drained can of sweet corn (I can’t wait for corn season!), about a half cup of peas, salt, pepper, garam masala, and a dash of turmeric. I brought that to a simmer and covered over low heat for about 10-15 minutes.

Once everything was cooked and most of the liquid had evaporated I took it off the heat and let it sit for a few more minutes. Then I fluffed the quinoa and served. A salad of green leaf lettuce and tomatoes with a shiitake vinaigrette on the side along with some toasted pita. Our immune systems got a nice boost last night.

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Vegetarian Moussaka

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Alright, another Meatless Monday in the books. Yesterday I made Moussaka for dinner. Traditionally made with lamb, I omitted the meat and made my own version. It was a lengthy process, but the results were delicious!

I sliced an eggplant into about 1/8th inch slices. Then I layered them on a colander and sprinkled some salt all over them. I put a heavy bowl on top and added some weight and let the bitter juices drip out for about a half hour.

While that was going on I simmered about a half cup of green lentils in vegetable stock with a bay leaf for 20 minutes, just before they became tender.

I prepped my other veggies while all of that was going on. One onion sliced, two large portabella caps sliced, two cloves of garlic smashed, two medium potatoes sliced to 1/8th inch, I opened up a 14oz can of chopped tomatoes, and one can of chickpeas.

I rinsed and dried the eggplant slices and drained the lentils. I heated a pot to medium-high and sautéed the onion and garlic in olive oil. During that time I also heated up a large skillet to medium-high. In the skillet I added a little olive oil to coat the surface and added the sliced eggplant in batches until they were all browned, about 3 minutes on each side. Then I did the same with the potato slices adding a little oil as necessary. Once the onions in the pot were soft, about 6 minutes or so, I added the mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they started to give off some of their moisture. Then I added the chopped tomatoes with a couple tablespoons of tomato paste and stirred that in. After that I added the chickpeas and lentils along with a few tablespoons of water and some rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper. I let that simmer for about 10 minutes.

In a baking dish I layered the potato slices to cover the bottom. I removed the herbs from the stew and poured that on top. Then I layered the eggplant slices on top.

Then I beat three eggs with a cup and a quarter of greek yogurt, salt, and pepper. I poured that on top. Finally, I grated a half cup of mozzarella and sprinkled that all over. I threw it in the oven at 350 and baked it for 45 minutes until the top was starting to brown.

I had some buttermilk in my fridge that needed to be used up so I made some biscuits to serve alongside.

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Koshary

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

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Meatless Monday continues. I went back to my days in Egypt for last night’s dinner. In Dahab, as in many parts of Egypt, they eat a dish called Koshary as a quick lunch. It’s usually sold from street vendors as opposed to restaurants. In Dahab, my dive shop was on the far north end of the bay. The Koshary guy, much like Chicago’s ice cream bike guys, came from the north so I always got the freshest Koshary. Besides Koshary, he also sold rice pudding, but I’d usually wait and get that for dessert as it was sweeter.

Koshary is a bowl filled with crazy goodness. Rice on the bottom, spaghetti noodles on top of that, lentils on top of that, all covered with spicy tomato sauce, then topped with chickpeas, and finally garnished with fried onions. All for about 30 cents ( in Egypt, it cost about $2.00 per serving last night).

I didn’t make a pure Koshary though. First thing I did was dice up a medium eggplant and let it sit in a colander with some salt for about a half hour. Then I rinsed it and dried it. This takes away some of the fruit’s bitterness. After that I sauted a chopped onion in some olive oil for about 4 minutes with a few chopped garlic cloves. I ground up about a teaspoon of coriander seeds with my pestle and mortar and added that along with about a teaspoon each of cumin and cinnamon. Then I added the eggplant chunks and let them cook for about 5 more minutes. I dumped in a 28 0z can of chopped tomatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper, then let simmer over a medium heat for about 15 minutes. After that I added a can of chickpeas and let everything simmer for another 15 minutes so that the tomato juices would reduce down to a thicker stew.

While the juices were reducing I friend a thinly sliced onion in extremely hot oil with some sliced garlic. The garlic burns quickly, but as long as you don’t eat it the aroma infuses the onion. You don’t want to burn the onion, but you want a nice crisp texture. Once their cooked set them aside on a small plate.

To serve, instead of throwing everything in a bowl, I put the rice on the side and ladled the stew next to it. I garnished it with the fried onions and some cilantro and had a mixed green salad along side.

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Meatless Monday

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2009| 9 Comments »

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So, we just started with an idea Yuki had a while back which is to not eat meat at least one day of the week. This is a very difficult concept for me to digest seeing as beef is my favorite vegetable followed closely by lamb. However, after going through the Food, Inc. the movie website I started to get on board with the Meatless Monday thing. Last night was the first installment.

Taking a cue from Indian cooking I decided to do a sort of vegetable curry type of thing. I got some cauliflower, chickpeas, carrots, onions, potatoes, and spinach and threw them together.

I first steamed the potatoes for a few minutes before cutting them into cubes so that the cooking time in the pan would be reduced. I threw some garlic and ginger in hot soy oil for a few minutes. The dumped in the onions and carrots. About 5 minutes or so later I added half of the head of cauliflower broken into small florets. A few minutes later went in the potatoes and some salt. Once everything was heated up I added the sauce I made.

The base of the sauce was a cup of plain yogurt. I added some garam masala and mixed it in. I have absolutely no idea how much. I dumped some in, stirred it around, tasted it, dumped in some more. Just add however much you like. Then I added some finely grated lime rind, a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, a pinch of salt, the juice of one lime, and some pepper.

Once the sauce fully coated all of the veggies I threw in some spinach and turned off the heat. I only wanted the spinach to wilt a little. Then I sprinkled on some sesame seeds.

I served it with some white rice and a hard boiled egg. Since an egg was never a living bird it’s fair game for Meatless Monday’s.

I think it will be hard to cook vegetarian, but I’m up for the task. Tonight I have to do something with the other half of cauliflower and the yogurt. I’ll let you know what I come up with.

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Middle Eastern Chicken and Chickpeas

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

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Here’s one of my favorites. It’s healthy, delicious, and cheap.

Season boneless, skinless chicken thighs with olive oil, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. Grill them!

Sautee onions with garlic, zucchini, eggplant, carrots, and a can of chickpeas. Season the veggies with cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper as well. Mix a little soy sauce (about 2-3 tbsp) with some chicken stock (about 1/4 cup) and dump into the veggies to add a little moisture as well as a little more depth to the flavor. If I had some fresh parsley I would have added it once taking the veggies off the heat, but I forgot to pick some up. I did squeeze a little lemon juice in it as well as on top of the chicken once taken off the grill.

Serve with white rice and you’re good to go. If  you want, you can also serve it with a salad. A simple lettuce and tomato salad would do the trick, as would something more Middle Eastern like Tabbouleh.

All in all, this dish costs about $4.50 per person ($4.75 with salad).

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