A picnic and a birthday

I had this in my drafts and happened to read it today. It isn't half bad and it brought back pleasant memories so I thought I would publish.

Gubs turned 12 yesterday. Hard to believe that the baby of the family is growing up. Gubba planned his birthday very elaborately. He wanted a picnic with his cousins and aunt and uncle.
The menu was
Caprese salad
Pita chips with  Hummus, Mutabal, red pepper and cashew dip and tahini sauce
Rice paper rolls with peanut sauce
Pasta salad
Sandwiches
Watermelon

The salad was assembled onsite with tiny Campari tomatoes and marinated fresh mozzarella.

The hummus and mutabal were made from scratch.

The chick peas were soaked and cooked then blended with cumin seeds, ground sesame seeds, garlic,lime juice and salt. Scoop into a shallow bowl; dot with za'attar and aleppo pepper, top with olive oil.

For the Mutabal, roast an eggplant over a gas flame. Char all over. Put in a bowl and cover for 15 mins. Peel off the charred flesh. Start with sesame seeds and half a clove of garlic in the blender. Blend well and lime juice. Add the eggplant and pulse. Serve dirzzled with Olive oil.

The red pepper dip was made with a jar of roasted red peppers, a smidge of garlic, juice of a lime, 1/4 cup of roasted cashews, Aleppo pepper and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Pulse ingredients in a food processor and adjust to taste. Top with Olive oil.

Pasta salad was made with a whole bunch of marinated ingredients: Canned artichoke hearts rinsed and drained. Marinated mushrooms, rinsed and drained. Roasted red and yellow pepppers; drained and some green peas. Dressing was Katy's strawberry vinegar, olive oil, pepper and kashmiri lal mirch.

For the peanut sauce - Zest and juice of a lime, finely minced ginger and garlic,2 tbsps of hoisin sauce, 3 glugs of soy sauce, sambal olek, peanut butter. Add all ingredients upto peanut butter into a 12 oz glass jar and mix. Then add about 2 tbsps peanut butter and microwave for 45 seconds. stir to blend. Taste, add more peanut butter, water, sugar, salt to balance flavors.
For rice paper rolls:
Marinated tofu - Microwave 2 blocks of tofu. Drain the water, Slice horizontally in half and put on the grill. Dab sambal Olek and a little oil and flip when the first side is done. Repeat on other side.

Rice paper rolls made with, julienend carrots, cukes, lettuce, marinated tofu, cooked rice noodles, cilantro and mint.
Technique. Keep a big bowl of water ready that your rice paper will fit into. Dip the rice paper into it and lay it on a cutting board. Immediately begin assembling. Start with lettuce. Herbs, tofu, noodles, carrot and cucumbers in that order. Place on wrap on end near you. Start rolling. Wrap each roll in saran wrap to prevent sticking.

The food was eaten, games were played and a fruit tart with summer berries and a light custard filling was cut and wishes were made.

Weekends, dips and butters

I am woefully behind on Vegan MoFo  posts so hopefully this one in three post will make up for some of that. Every weekend I make dips and spreads that go into lunches  for the week.   It is the perfect relaxation. This week's haul - Spicy Peanut butter, Black bean dip and Pear butter.

Spicy Peanut and Pumpkin seed butter

Yield - about a cup of nut butter

2 cups dry  roasted peanuts

3/4 cups hulled pumpkin seeds (Pepitas)

1/4 cup dry Kashmiri  red chilies

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)

Pulse the nuts and the red chilies together in a food processor. Stop and scrape down sides often.  The nuts will form into a ball. Break down the ball with a spatula and continue pulsing  till you get the desired consistency. Add the olive oil and give it a final pulse.  Alternately you can use a Vitamix like blender .

The resulting nut butter is a luxurious red color with just a mild kick. 

* Kasmiri red chillies can be found in Indian grocery stores. They lend a beautiful red color to food and a subtle heat.

Pear butter (A great way to rescue overripe pears)

Yield - 8 ounces

5 medium  (almost overripe) pears

Juice of half a lime.

1/4 cup of water

2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar

2 pods of cardamom

Squeeze the lime juice into a thick bottomed skillet with straight sides . Peel, core and chop the pears into the skillet. Toss the pears with the lime juice  to prevent browning. Add the water to the skillet and cook on a medium flame.  until the pears break down into mush (about 15 minutes or so). If you are working on other tasks, turn the heat down to low at this point. Stir often and cook until the water has almost evaporated. Add the sugar  and cardamom pods and continue cooking on a low flame. The fruit should t urn to the consistency of a thick jam. This took me close to an hour(with multi-tasking).

Cool slightly and ladle into an 8 ounce jar. Store in the fridge for 3 weeks or in the freezer for  up to 6 months.

Black bean and pepper dip

 1 cup cooked black beans with a few tablespoons of cooking liquid

1 clove of garlic that was cooked with the black beans.

 2 roasted red bell peppers ( or a  TJ jar's worth)

1/2 lime juiced

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne.

1 teaspoon of garlic infused oil

1 teaspoon of olive oil.

This is one seriously good spicy dip - the addition of the garlic infused oil gives it an additional layer.

Add all ingredients except the oils  to a food processor and process until chunky. Add the oils and do one final pulse.  Serve at room temperature with toasted pita wedges and cucumbers.

To cook black beans: Soak black beans  in water for 8 hours or overnight. Drain, cover the black beans with water  an inch over the beans. Add 2 bay leaves and a clove of garlic (unpeeled). Cook in a pressure cooker.

Home cooked black beans really make a  difference here. If you are pressed for time and need to use canned beans - drain and rinse the beans and cook  for 15 minutes with the bay leaf and garlic.

Red pepper spread (saving kitchen disasters)

I set out to make walnut butter. I measured out the walnuts and toasted them. In they went to the mighty processor with some pomegranate seeds and sweet Pasilla chilli powder. 15 minutes of processing later, the butter was bitter. Salt and Olive Oil did nothing to mask the bitterness.
Well it has walnuts, so what is more logical than to turn it into  Muhammara? Only this was not Muhammara,  the walnut butter turned it into something far more creamier and smoother and richer than that.

  I think I am going to boil the walnuts at my next attempt to make walnut butter.

Serve with Pita Chips or crunchy vegetables or use as a sandwich spread. Keeps for 5 days refrigerated in an airtight container.

Makes about 2 cups.

The recipe

1 c walnuts  toasted

1 tsp Pasilla or other sweet chilli powder

2 tsps Pomegranate seeds or Anaar daana

1 clove of Garlic

1 jar of Roasted Red Bell Peppers drained

1/2 tsp Balsamic vinegar

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 tsp of red chilli flakes

Salt to taste

2 - 3 tsps of Olive Oil

Cream the 1st 3 ingredients in the food processor until they turn into a smooth butter. Add a spoon of olive oil. Add the garlic, roasted peppers and pulse. Add the vinegar, lime juice, red chiili flakes. Pulse again. Taste and adjust.

Top with the rest of the olive oil.

Serve with Pita Chips or crunchy vegetables or use as a sandwich spread. Keeps for 5 days refrigerated in an airtight container.

Spicy (pea)nut butter

I am an expert at creating work for myself. The goal was noble- to get my children to eat a Nut Butter  sandwich. Satays are ok, Peanut sauce on noodles is ok, but I was told a PBJ is normal and boring.   So I made it less boring.. Yes I spiced it up. Now...they  will eat nut butter, but only if it is homemade.. I have created monsters.

3 cups dry roasted peanuts (unsalted)

1/2 c toasted sesame seeds

3 dried Poblano chillies

4 - 6 dried ancho chillies

1 tsp  Kashmiri Laal Mirch  ( use a mild paprika, I added this more for the color factor)

1 tsp  canola (or peanut ) oil.

Smidgen of salt (or to taste)

 Put all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse, scrape down the sides and repeat.  Have patience. You have to do this in small pulses. The  nuts will release their oil and start forming a paste. This takes me anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. When you get to the stage where you can't process the nut clump any further, add the oil. Give it a couple more pulses and the butter will smoothen out. Add a smidgen of salt and pulse again. Taste and adjust the salt.

This makes  two 8 ounce jars and will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks ( I haven't tested it beyond that).

We have had it on toast, in a sandwich with some marmalade, as a dip for sliced cucumber and as a spread on rice cakes.

I am now dreaming up of a walnut butter blend.

Peanut butter hummus

I get to listen to All Things Considered on my commute. This episode that featured Nigella Lawson stuck with me for the unusual hummus recipe.  I had chick peas and I had peanut butter and I set out to combine.

You can find the original recipe here

 My version goes something like this.The heat of the Chipotle chilies perfectly balanced the slight sweetness of the peanut butter.

1 can chick peas (drained and rinsed)

3 -4 tbsp peanut butter

1 lime juiced

1 tsp cumin

2 Chipotle chilies in Adobo sauce

salt to taste.

Process  the chikcpeas, peanut butter, cumin  and Chipotle chilies to a fairly smooth paste. Add salt and lime juice to taste.

Spicy black bean Dip

Disclosure: I made this by randomly throwing stuff in the food processor bowl, quantities are approximated by memory.
Without further ado;

Add to your food processor bowl fitted with a S blade

1 15oz can black beans rinsed and drained ( or about 2 cups cooked balck beans)
4 walnut haves
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp cumin powder
*1/4 tsp Kashmiri Laal Mirch ( use paprika)
1/2 tsp Madras Curry Powder
Juice from 1/2 a lime

Pulse till it all comes together. Drizzle in some water if needed  (or vegetable stock) to get a smooth consistency.
Taste and add salt.
Finish with 2 tbsps of EVOO... pulse once more to blend

This got eaten atop bagels, in pita, scooped up with chips and as a sandwich filling.

* Kashmiri mirch lends a subtle flavor and vibrant color. You can find it in Indian grocery stores.

Baba Ghanouj with a twist

It was love at first taste and it happened at the Damascus restaurant in Denver, CO. Smoky eggplant, a small bitter kick from the tahini a hint of garlic and the fruity olive oil.
The recipe is a combination of cuisines - the Baingan Bharta meets the Baba Ghanouj. The Anaheim pepper packs in a lot of flavor without the heat and the tamarind provides the acidity.

1 Eggplant
1/4 onion
1 Anaheim pepper
1/2 tomato
*1/4 c toasted sesame seeds
1/4 tsp cumin powder
**1 tsp tamarind paste
2 garlic cloves peeled
1 tbsp of  Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Roast eggplant under broiler for about 20 minutes on each side.
Place in a covered bowl and allow to steam for another 10 minutes. When it is cool enough to handle, peel the eggplant and chop roughly.
 Saute onion, garlic and pepper with canola oil for about 12 minutes until the onions have turned very soft. Add the tomato and continue cooking until the tomato releases some liquid. Add the tamarind paste to the saute and stir well to combine.Add salt to taste
Add the toasted sesame seeds to the food processor through the feed tube with the motor running. Process until you have a coarse and chunky butter.
Add the eggplant, the sauteed onion mixture and the cumin to the processor bowl and puree to a fairly smooth consistency. Taste and adjust for salt.
Transfer the contents to a serving bowl and finish with the olive oil.
Serve with pita wedges, crackers or use as a sandwich spread.

* Toasted sesame seeds are available in Japanese markets
** Tamarind paste can be found at Indian grocery stores in plastic tubs. I usually buy 'Tamicon" brand which is a concentrated paste.