Tag Archives: cilantro

The Food Matters Project: Chickpea Salad with Walnut Chutney

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A week ago today, I got home from a seven-night cruise with my parents and siblings. We had a fantastic week island hopping, visiting St. Thomas, St. Martin and the Bahamas and enjoying the lovely Caribbean in between. I’m working on a longer post about the trip, but suffice it to say that it was lovely enough that I’ve had a bit of a rough time rejoining society this week. Do you ever feel like you need a vacation from your vacation? It feels chilly here in DC after soaking in the tropical sun for a week, and they don’t have chairside drink service in my office, for some reason or another.

st-thomas-cruise-tropical-drink

On a more serious note, a horrific event happened in my hometown of Boston while we were gone. We found out while flipping channels late Monday night after seeing a headline on CNN, and it was a terrifying day and a half before we were on land and able to text our loved ones, and we were so lucky that they were all okay. However, there are many families back home that suffered losses, and my heart goes out to them. As I’ve caught up via social media on all the amazing and heroic stories we missed that week, I have never been prouder of where I come from and the incredibly strong people that make it great.

After two roller-coaster weeks, all I wanted to do this weekend was relax and catch up on sleep. Yesterday, D and I took a leisurely bike ride to Alexandria and today we caught up with a friend at Eastern Market over lunch. I wanted something light and clean to wrap up the weekend, and this week’s Food Matters Project recipe was a perfect fit. Jessica chose Chickpea Salad with Cashew Chutney, which proved a great combination of sweet, salty and spicy.

chickpea-salad

I modified the recipe to use walnuts instead of cashews and added cucumber, which complimented the Indian flavors nicely. I served the salad alongside roasted sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts, but I think it’ll be great cold tomorrow at lunch, too.

Check out what the rest of the Food Matters Project members did here.

The Food Matters Project: Chicken Jook with Lots of Vegetables

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It’s Martin Luther King Day, and Inauguration Day here in Washington, DC. I first moved to DC a couple of months after the last inauguration, so this was my first as a resident. I have to say, the energy in this town was electrifying this weekend. I went for a run yesterday on the Mall and it was packed with tourists and locals soaking in the sights with big smiles.

I had been planning on walking over to check out the festivities today since I live on Capitol Hill, but I scored a last-minute ticket to the up-close area for the ceremony. And I lucked out with timing: twenty-five minutes after leaving my house, I was standing on the lawn outside the Capitol watching the invocation.

Inauguration 2013

The ceremony was beautiful; the musical performances gave me chills. It was amazing to see the crowds waving American flags behind us on the Mall. I was there by myself, but it felt like the complete opposite.

It felt so nice to know while I was out soaking up the atmosphere that dinner was already at home, cooking away. This week’s Food Matters Project recipe was Chicken Jook with Lots of Vegetables, and it’s a great one for the slow cooker. I just made some quick baked egg rolls to go alongside them and dinner was done.

One note: I put the cabbage in with all the vegetables in the beginning, and by the time the dish was done they had basically disintegrated, and the soup was thicker like a porridge. I prefer cabbage in soup a bit crunchy, so I would put it in at the end next time. However, D isn’t a huge fan of the crunchiness to begin with, so he was happy to have them melted in a bit.

chicken-jook-vegetables

Chicken Jook with Lots of Vegetables

1 1/2 tbsp oil
1 bone-in chicken breast
2 cups cabbage, sliced thin
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup broccoli florets
1/2 white onion, minced
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 hot pepper, minced
2 tbsp ginger, minced
1 cup long-grain brown rice
6.5 cups water
2 tbsp soy sauce
sriracha, to taste (optional)
chopped cilantro leaves

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Pat the chicken breast dry and add it to the pan with the hot oil. Cook for about 5-10 minutes on each side, or until it’s golden brown.

Add the vegetables to the slow cooker first, then the garlic, hot pepper, and ginger, then add the rice. Pour the water over the whole mixture, then lay the browned chicken breast on top. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remember, don’t lift the lid until the very end, or you could add more cooking time!

When most of the water has been absorbed by the rice, open the slow cooker and take out the chicken. Cut into it to make sure it’s cooked through (mine fell apart right away) and remove the bones. Shred the meat into chunks, then put the chicken back in the slow cooker. Stir in the soy sauce and sriracha, if you’re using it. Pass the cilantro at the table.

Baked Shrimp and Vegetable Egg Rolls

1 tbsp sesame oil
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
10 cooked shrimp, chopped into small pieces
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced ginger
egg roll wrappers
olive oil, for brushing the egg rolls

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Heat the oil in a skillet. When it’s hot, add the cabbage, carrot, shrimp, soy sauce and ginger. Stir fry for about 5 minutes, then turn off heat and let cool a bit. Meanwhile, spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Lay the egg roll wrapper out in a diamond shape and scoop some filling in a line horizontally between two corners. Roll up the bottom away from you first, then tuck the two side corners in. Brush a bit of water on the top corner to make it stick then roll the wrapper up all the way. Lay the egg roll with the edge down on the tray, then repeat until you run out of filling.

Brush each egg roll with a bit of olive oil, then bake them for about 10 minutes.

Check out the original recipe on Erin’s blog.

The Food Matters Project: Buffalo Chicken White Bean Dip

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Last weekend my friend was sitting on the floor of my apartment, eating popcorn doused with hot sauce, and commented that she considers some things vessels to get hot sauce into her mouth. It got me thinking: If I love hot sauce so much, how else can I creatively insert it into things I’m already making? It routinely ends up in my dinner and on things like popcorn, but were there other ways I was missing that could get more hot sauce into my diet?

{Here’s the part where I should talk about how spicy food helps us eat slower so we eat less, possible health benefits of capsaicin, etc, but I’m not going to even pretend that’s the reason I want to eat more hot sauce. It’s because it’s tasty.}

This week’s Food Matters Project assignment, Pureed White Beans with Tons of Fresh Herbs, seemed like a great opportunity to try my theory. For a football snack, I decided to try a less artery-clogging spin on that cheesy buffalo chicken dip we’ve all had at Superbowl parties (under the guise that we must eat incredibly fatty foods while we watch a bunch of athletes run around). Now, I’m not saying the result will fool a diehard fanatic of the three-pounds-of-cheese variety, but I found it a much more digestible way to get my daily dose of hot sauce. I served the dip warm with homemade corn tortilla chips.

buffalo chicken navy bean dip

Buffalo Chicken White Bean Dip

3 cups cooked navy beans, some liquid reserved
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup cooked and shredded chicken
buffalo hot sauce, to taste (I used Frank’s Red Hot)
salt and pepper, to taste

Puree the navy beans in a food processor, adding liquid as needed until they’re smooth and move easily but aren’t soupy. Stir in the cilantro and chicken, then start seasoning with hot sauce, salt and pepper and taste regularly as you go. Depending on the sauce and your tolerance for heat, the amount you need will vary. I probably ended up using about 2-3 tablespoons. Keep in mind as you add the hot sauce that you might just need a bit more salt to draw out the flavor.

See the original recipe, Pureed White Beans with Tons of Fresh Herbs, on Lexi’s blog, and check out the rest of the recipes inspired by it at the Food Matters Project.

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Acorn Squash Ravioli
The Food Matters Project: Whole Wheat Carrot Gnocchi
The Food Matters Project: Baked Sweet Potato and Corn Cakes with Thai Dipping Sauce
Black and white hummus

The Food Matters Project: Baked Sweet Potato and Corn Cakes with Thai Dipping Sauce

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Lately, the farmers market has been abundant with sweet potatoes. They’re available all year round, but with fall’s flavors focusing so heavily on root vegetables, it seems like they’ve taken center stage along with the apples.

And in addition to the typical red variety, I’ve also found white sweet potatoes and Korean purple sweet potatoes. A friend in Hawaii introduced me to purple sweet potatoes whose flesh and skin were both a deep purple, so I was slightly disappointed to find the flesh is white (but they’re still tasty). I’ve found both the white and purple sweet potatoes have a somewhat firmer texture than the red kind, which tend to get softer when roasted.

white red purple sweet potato

With the glut of sweet potatoes I have in my pantry now, I was glad to see this week’s Food Matters Project recipe would help me use them up. Aura has the original recipe, and I just made a few tweaks: I used both red and white sweet potato and baked cakes instead of frying them as the recipe directed. To make sure they held together in the oven, I added an extra egg to the batter.

See what all the other Food Matters Project members did here, and check out the Pinterest board for more recipes!

sweet-potato-corn-cakes-thai-dipping-sauce

Baked Sweet Potato and Corn Cakes with Thai Dipping Sauce (adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook)

juice of one lime
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tbsp water
2 cups grated sweet potato, all red or a combination of red, white and purple
1 cup corn kernels
4 scallions, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 eggs
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
salt and pepper

1. Combine the lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and water in a small bowl.

2. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands.

3. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Shape pieces of the batter into 1 1/2-inch balls, flatten them slightly, and put them on the cookie sheet with space between them. Work in batches if necessary.

4. Put the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until browned on the bottom. Flip each cake and press it down a bit with the back of the spatula. Put them back in the oven until browned on the other side and set through, another 5 minutes or so.

Serves 3-4.

Related posts:
The Food Matters Project: Quinoa with Braised Beef, Parsnips and Carrots
The Food Matters Project: Raw Butternut Salad with Cranberry Dressing
The Food Matters Project: Collard-Tofu Burgers
The Food Matters Project: Bread and Nut Mayo

The Food Matters Project: Quinoa with Braised Beef, Parsnips and Carrots

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One of the strange things about living in DC is the quickness of fall. In New England, it seems like there’s a leisurely span of time between mid-September, when the days start to get crisp, and Halloween, when you have to wear a jacket over your costume.

In DC, I can run in shorts until late October. Two weeks ago, we had one day with a high of 83 degrees and the rest were in the 70s. The trees were starting to turn colors, but there were plenty still covered with deep green leaves. We had our windows permanently open for fresh air and the fan on in our bedroom at night.

But suddenly, with last week’s arrival of Hurricane Sandy, arctic air blew in. We’re shocked into wearing gloves on the morning bike ride and trying to negotiate our finicky heater to a decent temperature. Tourists are starting to bundle up and my fuzzy socks have come out of hibernation.

And sadly, Sandy’s strong winds blew off the colorful leaves from so many trees. Just as we started seeing the best of the foliage, it was on the ground.

fallen leaves

Luckily, his week’s Food Matters Project recipe was perfect to warm us up. The braised beef smelled incredible as it was cooking, and it made for great comfort food. You can see the original recipe, which called for wheat berries, on Culinary Adventures with Camilla, this week’s host. And the rest of the Food Matters Project members share their takes on it here.

quinoa beef parsnip stew

Quinoa with Braised Beef, Parsnips and Carrots (adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook)

2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces beef, cubed
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1/2 cup red wine
3 1/2 cups water or broth
3/4 cup quinoa
1 bay leaf
pinch of tarragon
pinch of oregano
2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
salt and pepper
3 tbsp chopped cilantro

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the beef cubes. Let them brown on all sides, turning them as needed. This will probably take about 5-10 minutes. Remove the beef from the pot when it’s browned. If there’s more than a few tablespoons of fat in the pot, drain the excess. (I used lean beef, so there wasn’t as much fat.)

2. Turn the heat down to medium, then add the onion and garlic and cook until they start to brown a bit, about 5-10 minutes. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to pick up any browned onion or garlic.

3.  Add the beef back in, along with the bay leaf, spices and water or broth. Also add a healthy dose of salt if you’re using water instead of broth. Bring it to a boil, then turn it down low to simmer. Let it cook for about 20 minutes.

4. Rinse the quinoa well and add it to the pot, along with the parsnips and carrots. If there isn’t enough liquid to cover everything, add some more water along with it. Turn up the heat to get the water to boil again, then, turn back down and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa grains have burst and the parsnips and carrots are tender, but not mushy.

5. Remove the bay leaf, taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. Serve garnished with the chopped cilantro.

Serves 4.

quinoa-beef-parsnip-stew-cilantro

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Raw Butternut Salad with Cranberry Dressing
The Food Matters Project: Collard-Tofu Burgers
The Food Matters Project: Bread and Nut Mayo
The Food Matters Project: Cheese-Nut Balls

Homemade salsa

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I love a good pico de gallo, and I’m often tempted to buy them in the store. But delicious homemade salsa is so easy to make fresh!

salsa

As the last of the summer tomatoes appeared at the farmer’s market, I chopped those up for salsas, but cherry and grape tomatoes also work really well here. You can vary the ingredients as you please, but possibilities are green and red peppers, red or white onion, fresh corn kernels (I usually sauté them a bit), hot pepper, garlic, avocado and cilantro. You could also add in some seasonal fruits if available; pineapple, mango and peaches all work well.

Chop everything up into small pieces (or pulse in a food processor) and stir to combine, then just add olive oil and lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar, plus fresh ground black pepper and plenty of salt. The best part is taste testing and adjusting everything as needed.

What’s your favorite salsa ingredient?

Black and white hummus

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I’ve been having some fun experimenting with different bean bases for hummus lately. (Yes, that’s my idea of fun. Go ahead, tell me I’m weird.) Traditional hummus is made with chickpeas, but the variations are pretty limitless when you switch up the bean.

Black bean hummus takes on south of the border flavors when you add a fistful of chopped cilantro and some chipotle chili powder. Omit the tahini you might use in typical hummus and use olive oil and some of the bean liquid to make it move in the food processor. Be generous with the cilantro if it’s your thing, or lean into the chipotle.

black-bean-hummus

With white beans, I love to use avocado to make it creamy. A bit of cayenne goes a long way here.

white-bean-hummus

The wonderful thing about these is that you can experiment with ingredients as you go until it gets smooth.

A few fledgling tips:

  • Use canned beans or soak and cook them from scratch. Here it’s good to overcook them somewhat so they are soft and mushy, since you’ll be running them through the food processor.
  • Don’t forget salt and pepper.
  • Do lots of taste tests with different dipping vehicles: red or green peppers, carrot sticks, whole grain chips, crackers, bread, pita chips… use your imagination!

The Food Matters Project: Cheese-Nut Balls

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Ah, the cheese ball: mainstay of the holiday party. I’d never actually made one before, so I was glad to try a recipe whose main ingredient wasn’t processed cheese. This had quite a nice texture to it, especially when spread on whole-grain bread.

I ended up using only Gorgonzola cheese and cutting the recipe down a bit, since I wasn’t making a party-sized version. I never would have thought of cayenne and Gorgonzola as a winning combination, but it was so tangy and flavorful!

Cheese-Nut Ball (adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook)

1 cup almonds
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp cayenne
salt and pepper
2 oz Gorgonzola cheese
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Pulse the almonds in a food processor until very finely chopped and almost paste-like. Add the lemon juice, cayenne, Gorgonzola, water, and some salt and pepper and process until creamy and spreadable. Shape it into a ball, roll it in the chopped cilantro, and flatten it into a disk.

See the original post (and lots of other delicious cheesiness!) at Cheese Please and see what the rest of the bloggers did here.

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Whole Cauliflower with Sausage
The Food Matters Project: Apricot Polenta Cake
The Food Matters Project: Quinoa Tabbouleh
The Food Matters Project: Crisp Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken

The Food Matters Project: Quinoa Tabbouleh

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Sara of the beautiful Simply Whole Kitchen chose this week’s Food Matters Project assignment, Quinoa Tabbouleh. It reminded me of a recipe for quinoa tabbouleh I made a few years ago (it’s the image at the top of this page!) but I haven’t had it since. This time, I went beyond the tomatoes and cukes and threw in whatever I had in my fridge — leftover roasted Turkish eggplant from Eastern Market, red pepper, Cherokee tomatoes, white beans. I didn’t have a lemon, so I used a bit of red wine vinegar as a stand-in acidic ingredient and it worked fine. This was a great clean-out-the-fridge recipe and a yummy accompaniment to white fish breaded with cornmeal.

Find the original recipe at Simply Whole Kitchen and see other variations from the FMP members here.

quinoa tabbouleh

Quinoa Tabbouleh, adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 cup water
2 small Cherokee tomatoes (or other good fresh tomatoes)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup roasted eggplant, chopped
handful fresh cilantro, washed, stemmed and chopped
3/4 cup cooked white beans
sprinkle of red wine vinegar
olive oil, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

Bring the water to a boil and add the quinoa. Reduce the heat to low and cover it, cooking for about 10-12 minutes or until it’s fluffy. (If your package directions say otherwise, feel free to follow those.) Use the time while they cook to chop the vegetables. Combine the above ingredients from the quinoa through the white beans in a large bowl, then begin to add the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes bit by bit, tasting as you go until you have a combination you like.

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Crisp Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken
The Food Matters Project: Mixed Grill with Chimichurri
The Food Matters Project: Roast potatoes and chicken with romesco
The Food Matters Project: Raspberry Cabernet Sorbet

The Food Matters Project: Crisp Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken

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This week’s Food Matters Project host is Small Kitchen College, who chose Crisp Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken. I had short-grain brown rice pre-cooked in the freezer so I planned on using that up. Unfortunately, it did not work as planned at all — the defrosted rice didn’t stick together anymore. Back to the drawing board! I made the rice again from scratch, which only takes 45 minutes or so.

But the extra effort was certainly worth it! These crispy rice cakes make a yummy base for stir-fry and add more interest than plain brown rice. I stirred a handful of fresh chopped cilantro into the rice when it finished cooking, so mine became cilantro rice cakes.

cilantro rice cakes with stir fry

Cilantro rice cakes, adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook

1 cup brown rice
2 1/2 cups water
salt
1/2 cup cilantro, washed and chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Bring the water to a boil, then add the rice, lower the heat and cover. Cook them until the grains get very soft and burst, adding water as needed. At the end of their cooking time, stir in the chopped cilantro. Give the rice a vigorous stir and you’ll start to tell when it’s all sticking together that it’s ready to be shaped into cakes.

Fledgling tip: Shape the rice cakes easily by pressing the cilantro rice into a quarter cup measure and tapping the bottom of it so they fall out in the right shape. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat and cook them in batches. Fry them for just a few minutes on each side, until golden brown.

For the stir fry, I used carrots, red and green peppers, hot peppers, onion and broccoli. I cooked them in vegetable oil and garlic until they were cooked down slightly but still crispy, then added some leftover cooked chicken. For the sauce, I used a teaspoon of hoisin and a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, plus a bit of water. It just needed a minute or two of stirring after the sauce was added to coat everything evenly — the whole thing was done in about 10 minutes since I had pre-chopped the vegetables.

See the rest of the bloggers’ takes on this recipe here, and find the original recipe on Small Kitchen College here.

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Mixed Grill with Chimichurri
The Food Matters Project: Roast potatoes and chicken with romesco
The Food Matters Project: Raspberry Cabernet Sorbet