Mujaddara

 We discovered Mjadarah when living close to Neomonde, a Lebanese deli on the short list of what I miss most about Raleigh, NC. I lived there for over 20 years, lots of memories, but I miss Neomonde. Sigh.

So I tried to recreate this most wonderful of their dishes ... and it turns out that it isn't that hard. Lentils, rice, caramelized onions. My version is different, probably not traditional (typical recipes call for more rice than lentils) but often, it is every bit as good, maybe better. This tastes like I always wished home would taste.  Comfort food.

Ingredients:
4-6 large white onions (or yellow)
no garlic, that's right no garlic
1 cup brown rice (I use especially like the asian mixed rice shown below
1 cup green lentils (or brown, if you can't find green)
1 cinnamon stick
roasted cumin seeds
veggie bouillon (optional)
black pepper

First quarter the onions and slice crosswise into thin strips. Saute in a generous amount of olive oil unless you are on a diet. Stir cook for at least 30 minutes until the onion is caramelized to a nice dark brown.  The  olive oil is very tasty is I think more is better than less. If you are on a diet, this will be so delicious that you will not need the extra oil.

Feel free to stir the onions as often as you like. Sometimes I cover them, sometimes not.  They smell wonderful.

While the onions are cooking, rinse the rice. I always rinse rice 3 times so the grains separate nicely when cooked. Add water to cover and simmer. Unfortunately, I never measure the water. I cover the rice in enough water to have a little over 0.5 inches above the rice. I measure against a known point on my finger from the bottom of the pot I cook the rice in. Not helpful, I know. Cover the pot and turn the rice on high until it starts boiling, then lower to a simmer.

Stir the onions.

While the rice and onions are cooking, pick through the lentils, discarding the bad ones, keeping our eye peeled for the occasional pebble. I've only seen a couple over several years, but you don't want anyone to accidentally crunch down on one. Wash the lentils, cover and simmer in 2.5 cups of water with the cinnamon stick.

Stir the onions.

Occasionally test the lentils and turn off when the lentils are soft enough to eat, but before they get mushy (about 30 minutes). Some lentils get mushy quickly, but the green ones are not so delicate. Towards the end of cooking, optionally add bouillon. Bouillon is suggested, but totally optional.This dish has plenty of flavor without.

Stir the onions and add generous grind of roasted cumin seeds.

The mixed brown rice I use takes about 30 min to cook, but most brown rice takes 45 minutes. When the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the water turn it off.

Stir the onions.

When everything is done, mix together in the cast iron pan with the onions. Add a generous grind of black pepper. If you didn't use bouillon,  add salt to taste. Let it rest for a while if you aren't hungry. I'm usually hungry, or I wouldn't have started cooking. It will be even better tomorrow.

Feel free to improvise. I've added mushrooms & ginger,  fire roasted tomatoes, more or less rice & lentils, different spices. I've cooked it all in one dish when feeling lazy (caramelize onions then add rice, lentils & water & cook). It is always tasty.

If this is for company, make LOTS of onions and only mix in half. Use the rest as a decorative topping. This is traditional, but it seems to miss the point of distribution the wonderful onions through out the dish.

Kale and Potato Soup with Red Chili

This recipe came from The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison. A wonderful book that all veggie lovers should own. The recipes in this book are from the Greens Restaurant when it was in it's hey-day. We usually make a double recipe.

The Stock
The ingredients of this soup supply plenty of flavor, so use water to prepare a simple stock using the stems of the kale.

The Soup
1 bunch kale
3 Tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 medium red or yellow onion, diced into ½ inch squares
6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 small dried red chili, seeded and chopped, or ½ teaspoon chili flakes
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
4 medium red potatoes (about 1 pound), scrubbed and diced into ½ inch cubes
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast (optional)
7 cups water or stock
Pepper
Creme fraiche or sour cream (optional)

Update: Replaced onion with 2 thinly sliced leeks, sweated down in 2Tbs butter - reduced olive oil to 2 Tbs; replaced kale with collards. added 1/2 cube bouillon. Oh my, this was the BEST!

Using a sharp knife or kitchen shears cut the ruffled kale leaves off their stems, which are very tough and take a long time to cook. Cut the leaves into pieces roughly 2 inches square, wash them well, and set them aside.

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot, add the onion, garlic, chili, bay leaf, and salt, and cook over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes and the yeast, if using, plus a cup of the water or stock. Stir together, cover, and cook slowly for 5 minutes.

Add the kale, cover, and steam until it is wilted, stirring occasionally. Pour in the rest of the water or stock, bring to a boil, and then simmer slowly, covered, until the potatoes are quite soft, 30 to 40 minutes.

Use the back of a wooden spoon to break up the potatoes by pressing them against the sides of the pot, or puree a cup or two of the soup in a blender and return it to the pot. This will make a unifying background for the other elements.

Taste the soup for salt and add a generous grinding of black pepper. If possible, let the soup sit for an hour or so before serving to allow the flavors to further develop. If desired add a spoonful of creme fraiche or sour cream. Serves 4 - 6.

Fried Plantains

Slice and fry in enough peanut oil to immerse the bottom edge. We used setting 4 on the electric stove.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

This recipe came from a friend of a friend. I'm not sure of the original source, but this seem less doughy than most pancakes to me. Low carb, high fat, easy to make, everyone likes them. I made 1 dozen 4 inch pancakes from this recipe, 67 cal per serving. 

Original recipe:
1 cup creamed cottage cheese (about 1/2 pound)
4 eggs
5-6 level tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted but not browned

pinch of salt

Modified recipe:
1 cup creamed cottage cheese (8 oz)

2 eggs

1/2 banana

5 Tbs flour (1/3 cp)

scant 1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tablespoons butter, melted but not browned

pinch of salt

water to thin

Using a spatula, rub the cottage cheese through a fine sieve set over a small mixing bowl. Beat the eggs with a fork or whisk only long enough to combine them, and stir them little by little into the cheese. When they are completely absorbed, beat in the flour, a tablespoon at a time, then stir in the melted butter and salt. If the mixture appears too fluid - it should hold its shape briefly in a spoon - stir in a little more flour, a teaspoon at a time, until the batter reaches the proper consistency.

Or you can just dump everything into a blender :).

Lightly oil the bottom of a heavy 10 - 12 inch skillet, and place it over high heat. When a drop of cold water flicked
across it splutters and evaporates instantly, drop in the cheese mixture, a large tablespoon at the time, leaving about an inch between pancakes, they will spread out.  Our cast iron skillet equilibrates at the lowest setting after a very long warm up period.

Lightly brown the pancakes for about 2 minutes on each side.

Serve at once for breakfast or cool and refrigerate or freeze for a meal later in the week. You can add a sweet topping, but I like them plain.

Fish Tacos Friday

This is more of a weekly habit than a recipe, but it has become de rigueur during the time we have been living in SFO. This is actually my brother's recipe, but he doesn't blog, so I will be the recorder.

Fish Taco Fridays (FTF) is what we have done for many Fridays. It is often, but not always served with margaritas which deserve a dedicated post.

1 lb fish (often salmon from Trader Joe's, but can be any firm tasty fish)
6 Primavera tortillas

Prepare and arrange condiments

Condiments:

• diced garlic & onions
• shredded cabbage
• cilantro leaves
• 1-2 jalapenos, cut in long thing strips
• diced tomatos (optional, if in season)
• radishes (optional, if in season)
• salsa of your choice

Bread fish lightly with fine cornmeal & spices (roasted cumin, chili, ...)
Fry fish in peanut oil, set aside

Fry tortillas in butter

Assemble and consume with margaritas (or beverage of your choice).

Salmon Patties

Blame it on the rare hot weather, the abundance of tomatoes & fresh vegetables or just plain homesickness, but I've been doing more Southern cooking lately.

Tonight will be Salmon Patties as I remember them from my childhood - almost. Actually, I can't stand anything from my childhood without substantial modification. Except tomatoes and peaches.

I used the Whole Foods brand of salmon, but I think any reasonable brand or type would do. I mixed the 2 types because I couldn't decide. There is no significance in this strange behavior.

• 1 14.75 oz can of Pink Salmon with liquid
• 1 7.5 oz can of Red Sockeye Salmon with liquid
• 2 eggs
• 1 box Ak-Mak crackers (20 crackers)
• seasoning to taste - one time I used:
• 1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
• a generous grind of black pepper
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• a dash of ground cayenne
• 1 Tbs El Yucatan Chipotle Sauce (smoky, a little hot  & sweet

Crush the crackers as fine as you care to, mix with other ingredients and feel free to experiment. Smash up and mix well to get the lumps out. Use more or less crackers, or add water, milk or other liquid if needed. No salt is needed, the salmon and crackers have enough already.

Shape into patties - I used a 1/3 cup portion per patty. Press in hot skillet to about 1/2 inch thick.

Fry in light oil (peanut, safflower, ...) in medium heat until browned on both sides. This should not be rushed. Give the eggs time to get cooked under not too hot heat.

Pepper Vinegar

Recently,my brother reminded me of the pepper vinegar that was a staple in my house when I was growing up. At some point, my dad started growing the peppers and making his own. I hadn't seen either the prepared vinegar or even the peppers for some time. Not a trendy item in the city, I guess.

About 3 weeks ago, we found beautiful bunches of pepper plants that looked very much like the peppers in the vinegar bottle - or at least that's what I remembered them looking like.

We only bought one bunch, which was way too few to fill the nice bottle I wanted to use, so when I saw more this week, we bought three bunches. It takes quite a few bunches to fill a jar with peppers. Too bad you can't eat the leaves - or can you?

To make your own pepper vinegar, just get a jar full of nice clean peppers, add white vinegar to cover and wait 3 weeks. This is a staple for turnip, collard or mustard greens in the South. You can replace the vinegar several times when the vinegar starts to be used up.

I heated the vinegar before pouring over the peppers and keep my pepper vinegar in the fridge. I also added peppercorns - probably less than 2 tsp to this jar.

Tofu Carrot Miso Dressing

I found this recipe on the internet and snagged it. I did not add the salt and used red miso (with mackerel dashi - yum!) instead of yellow. It was tasty.

This recipe makes 1 1/2 cups - I made a double batch. If we can't eat it all, I'll bring it to work and share.

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/2 cup silken tofu

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons red miso (soybean paste)

2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 teaspoon honey

1 garlic clove, crushed

Bitter Melon & Beet Greens

Let me state up front that most people will not like this. I would never offer this dish to anyone that has not already tried bitter melon because it is, well, bitter. Some people think bitter melon is an acquired taste, but I loved it the first time I tried it. I think young people do not like it, although my 3 year old granddaughter ate grilled bitter melon at a cookout. Granted, I had told her that 'you will not like this' and she may have been proving a point.


We picked up 2 bunches of baby beets with their greens and one bunch of bitter melon greens at the Noe Valley farmer's market last weekend. $ per bunch - what a deal.

We made a fine meal that afternoon with the beets, greens and a baked potato. I think potatoes go very well with bitter melon. We are making the same dish again this weekend - minus the baby beets. The beets were about twice the size this week, so we are reserving them for another meal.

First separate the little baby beets from the greens. I parboiled the beets and left the skins on since they were tiny.

Then cut up the beet green stems into 1.5 inch lengths and stir fry them with a little oil and LOT of garlic and ginger. I some of added the beet juice from boiling the beets and let it reduce a bit while the stems cooked.

The little beets were cut into halves or quarters, depending on the size and the beet greens were chopped into a manageable size. At the same time remove the bitter melon leaves from the primary stem. Do not keep the little tendrils, although they are pretty, they will never become tender enough to eat.



After the beets stems were mostly tender, add the beet greens and cook for a few minutes. You can season with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, pepper and whatever you think would work. We added a bit of red wine in the batch today. Might work. Cover and steam.

Sweet Coconut Rice

This recipe came from a newsletter by yoga instructor Darshana Weill. We tried it for a Sunday breakfast and really enjoyed it. It is perfect for those cold, dreary weekend mornings when you really don't want to hurry out.

• 1 cup sweet brown rice
• ½ cup barley (or millet, oat groats or other crunchy grain
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 ½ cups water (1 cup if using light coconut milk)
  

Rinse the rice (and possibly other grain). Place all ingredients in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer, cover and let cook for 55 minutes.



We sometimes add raisins & nuts at the end. Darshana suggested trying spices; mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, turmeric, curry, cumin (about 1 tsp of each), or a Bengal spice teabag. We haven't tried that yet.