Lentils and Basmati Rice with Caramelized Onions and Spiced Pita

My new iPhone finally arrived in the mail. Can you believe the camera on it? I love how many different uses the iPhone has and the camera might be my favorite part on the new one. The camera has facial recognition technology on it which is nothing new but I loved how it kept finding faces in the rice. Do you see a man’s face to the left of the center onion ring? I didn’t see it at first until I realized my phone was trying to tag him as a person. The phone is almost too smart.

This Middle Eastern dish is often called Mujadarah which is a fancy way of saying “rice, lentils and onion.” I adapted this dish from Veganomicon, the excellent cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The one downfall of this cookbook is the lack of pictures. When I first made this dish, I thought, “No wonder there are no pictures… This looks like kitty litter.” With a little garnish, this dish ends up looking as delicious as it tastes.

Ingredients for rice, lentils and onion:

• 3 large red onions, peeled and sliced into thin rings
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup long-grain basmati rice (brown or white), rinsed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed
• Basil leaves for garnish

Directions for rice, lentils and onion:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lay the onion rings flat and separated in a large roasting pan. Toss in olive oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes until translucent and slightly burnt.

3. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add rice, cinnamon, allspice, and cumin. Return to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Uncover and gently stir in the lentils. Bring to a boil again then lower heat, cover and simmer. Cook until all water is absorbed. For me, this takes 12-15 minutes. Allow the dish to cool for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork.

5. Fold in the caramelized onions, garnish with basil leaves and serve with pita bread.

Ingredients for spiced pita:

• 4 whole wheat pitas
• 4 Tbsp olive oil for brushing
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Directions for spiced pita:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice the pita bread into 1/8ths like a pizza.

3. Combine olive oil with the seasonings. Brush the mixture onto the insides of each pita crisp.

4. Spread the pita crisps out on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

Serves 4-6

Slightly adapted from: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Vegan Potluck: Bruschetta

I attended a vegan potluck last week for the movie Peaceable Kingdom. Going to a potluck where I know I can eat everything served is always amazing so I try not to pass these events up. However, trying to figure out what to bring is always another matter. Normally when I cook vegan food for other people, those “other people” are omnivores. So, I know that if I forget to drain the tofu before cooking it, no one will even notice. But when you’re cooking tofu for other vegans, it’s like, “dammit, now I have to rinse it, drain it, marinate it, bread it, season it, braise it, and poach it.” And somehow make it taste delicious.

So I made bruschetta instead of tofu. Attendees are encouraged to bring a list of ingredients because vegans love reading ingredient lists even if it’s just a bottle of water. You never know when Aquafina might add chicken stock to their purified drinking water. I normally don’t even read the ingredient lists that others include with their dishes. As long as it’s vegan, who cares what’s in it? Gluten-free people care. But I’m not quite one of them.

P.S. The movie Peaceable Kingdom was good. On a scale of graphic imagery from zero graphic images to Earthlings, it was right in the middle. A few bits were difficult to watch but overall I enjoyed the stories from the movie. We had a great discussion after the movie that lasted almost an hour. There were 15-20 vegetarians who stayed till 10:30 on a Friday night talking as a group about everything from abused elephants in the circus to Whole Foods’ meat section. Nerdy, yes, but this is what life after college is like, I guess.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf vegan French bread
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic seasoning
• 15 grape tomatoes
• 1/2 Tbsp balsamic
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice French bread 1/ 2 inch thick and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle on garlic seasoning.

3. Toast bread in oven 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

4. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl.

5. Remove toasted bread from oven and spoon tomato mixture on to each slice.

Creamy Red Pepper Hummus

When my friend Lauren and I lived together last year, we dedicated our lives to perfecting hummus. And to work, and friends, and stuff, but mainly hummus. We ate it often and eventually decided to start making it at home. It was a fabulous idea. We could make it taste better at a cheaper cost and without wasteful packaging. Win. Win. Win. With just a food processor and ingredients that we typically had on hand anyway (had to purchase the tahini!), we were able to make hummus whenever we ran out. And we ran out often. After each delicious batch we licked our fingers clean. Meanwhile our other roommates (the two who never helped with rent) licked each others’ ears. To each their own.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/3 c tahini
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 tsp parsley
• paprika for garnish

Directions:

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.

2. Add the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic, oil, and pepper to a food processor. Process until smooth.

3. Garnish with chopped parsley and a sprinkle of paprika.

Tofu Lettuce Wraps

I went to Bloomington last weekend for Easter and made lettuce wraps with my mom.  Eating Chinese food and celebrating Easter just seems to go hand in hand for most people, right? They tasted delicious and turned out very close to PF Chang’s lettuce wraps. I have since found a couple other recipes for the wraps that are supposedly exactly like the real thing. However, this is super easy to make and it fixes the cravings.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 Tbsp ginger
• 1/2 block of tofu, cut into small cubes
• 2 cups mirepoix-style veggie mix (diced carrots, white onion, celery)
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 cup chopped water chestnuts
• 3 Tbsp teriyaki sauce (Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki sauce is highly recommended)
• 1 tsp veggie bouillon
• 3 heads Boston lettuce
• 1 lime for garnish

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pan over high heat.

2. Combine garlic, tofu, mirepoix mix, green onions, garlic, and water chestnuts in the pan. Cook about 5-7 minutes.

3. Add the teriyaki sauce and veggie bouillon.

4. Separate the leaves of the Boston lettuce.

5. Fill each leaf with the mixture.

Serves 3

Black Bean Tortillas

I started my new job today. I am still with the same company but in a new position. I used to drive 20 minutes everyday to work. Now I just take the elevator down. At lunch, I take the elevator back up. It is a vast improvement. Thanks to daylight savings and the short commute home, I was even able to squeeze in a 7 mile run this evening. Tomorrow I plan on walking to the grocery store and making something fun with the food I buy. Basically I am saving gas money and saving time and I can’t complain.

I made these tortillas for the bf on Sunday night and he loved them. The fact that I threw an entire serrano pepper in the mix definitely helped (he loves spicy food – and so do I!). If you hate spicy food, definitely leave the serrano out. I love serrano pepper because it adds a ton of spice and costs practically nothing. They are so little and light that they barely weigh anything on the produce scale.

This recipe is very loosely based on the recipe from Vegetarian Times’ cookbook Everything Vegan. They refer to these as Oaxacan Clayudas, which is probably the coolest name ever. The clayudas are like pizza but I’ve turned them into a quesadilla-type meal because who doesn’t love quesadillas?

Ingredients for black bean filling:

• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2  serrano pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 can black beans
• 3 whole wheat tortillas

Ingredients for cilantro-salsa topping:

• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1/4 cup corn kernals cooked
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 avocado, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 serrano pepper, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat oil in saucepan over medium-heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic, serrano pepper and cumin and cook for 1 more minute. Remove mixture from stove and add it to a blender. Add black beans, brown sugar and 3 Tbs water. Blend until smooth.

2. Spread mixture onto one side of each tortilla. Fold the tortillas in half and place them on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

3. Combine ingredients for the cilantro salsa.

4. Cut the tortillas into triangles. Top each triangle with the salsa. Serve immediately.

Adapted from: Vegetarian Times’ cookbook, Everything Vegan

Vegetarian Times Everything Vegan