One of the many great restaurants in Atlanta is Cafe Istanbul, serving fantastic vegetarian Turkish food. I really enjoyed this dish there and decided to make it at home so I don’t need to fly across the world each time the craving hits me 🙂 It is delicious, abundantly nutritious, and quick to prepare.
Serves 2/Total Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
14 oz can of chickpeas, drained or 8 1/2 oz of cooked chickpeas
150 g of spinach, chopped
2 tbsp of fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds, jeera (We indians love our jeera but remember its not an Indian dish!
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp of coriander-cumin powder, dhana-jeera
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1/4 tsp of salt, or to taste
1 tsp oil
2/3 cup basmati rice, boiled
Yoghurt Accompaniment:
1/2 cup greek yoghurt (plain would work as well); 1/2 cucumber, grated; salt and pepper to taste, mint paste or fresh (optional)
1. Heat oil in pan. Temper the oil with cumin seeds for 20 seconds, then add garlic and onions. Saute for 5 minutes on a medium heat until onions are yellow/brownish.
2. Add the chickpeas, coriander-cumin powder, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Stir and warm through for a few minutes.
3. Now add chopped spinach and parsley and simmer with lid closed on low heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Prepare rice by placing rice in big pot of salted boiling water. Drain after 8-10 minutes. Rice is ready.
5. Prepare yoghurt accompaniment by mixing all the ingredients.
6. Serve the dish with rice and yoghurt!
What do you think? How did yours turn out? For the Atlantans, does it live up to the restaurant standards? What would you change?
June 8, 2011 | Categories: Mains | Tags: Chickpeas, easy, Mediterranean | Leave a comment
I am not a really big fan of sweet potatoes but I decided to try some recipes that used sweet potatoes and lets say, these sweet potato cakes won me over. I found this recipe in one of my mother-in-law’s numerous unopened vegetarian cookbooks (now I officially call all of them my own :)). It’s really straight forward to prepare. I do love these quick and easy recipes and its even a great dinner party starter! You can have most of the preparation done ahead of time. The only thing is that you will have to do the shallow frying when you are ready to serve for best results. I think you might even get away with cooking one side of the cake and cook the other side when ready to serve if you want to maximize spending time with your guests when entertaining.
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
This recipe serves 4:
For Sauce:
2 tsp veg oil ; 1 garlic clove; 1.5 tsp ginger; 3 tomatoes peeled &chopped; 2 tbsp dark soy sauce; 1/2 tbsp lime juice; 2 tbsp coriander
1. Heat oil, stir fry garlic and ginger for 1 min. add tomatoes and stir fry for two mins.
2. Remove from heat and add in soy sauce, lime juice and coriander. Set aside, sauce is done.
Cakes:
1 lb sweet potatoes; 3-4 garlic cloves crushed; 2 green chilies chopped; Handuful chopped coriander; 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce; Plain flour for shaping; Seasame seeds for sprinkling; mixed greens (optional)
1. Peel the sweet potatoes and grate it.
2. Make a paste of garlic, chili, and cilantro in a blender. Add in soy sauce and mix it in the grated potatoes.
3. Divide mixtures in roughly 10-12 parts.
4. Dip the portions into flour and pat them flat round shape.
5. Heat very shallow layer of oil in a pan and very lightly fry over med heat. Sprinkle sesame seeds and turn once.
6. Sprinkle some more sesame seeds ( I love sesame seeds, you can’t have too many :)) and serve hot with sauce!
7. Optional: you can serve your cakes on mixed greens dressed with just a hint of olive oil, balsamic, and black pepper.
What great sweet potato recipes do you have? I want to fall in love with all vegetables and with sweet potatoes, I haven’t quite got there yet. 🙂
May 26, 2011 | Categories: Starters | Tags: easy, Sweet Potatoes | Leave a comment
VegDelights 