Southern Style Rice and Beans

This colorful dish is perfect for potlucks and dinner parties, because the carnivores treat it as a nice side dish, while us veggies know that with rice, beans and vegetables, this actually works as a satisfying entree.  It's just as delicious at room temperature as it is warm, and you can make it more or less spicy based on your preferences. The recipe is from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook.

Southern Style Rice and Beans

Ingredients (for 4 entree portions): 

- 1 cup white rice, uncooked
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 small tomatoes, diced
- 1 chili or jalapeno pepper, de-seeded and finely chopped (if you don't like heat, you can leave this out. If you like more heat, leave some or all of the seeds and ribs in the pepper)
- 1 can kidney beans, rinsed
-  Salt and pepper
- Seasoning: you can either use about 1 tsp of a prepared cajun-spice mix, or you can mix together any or all of the following spices and season to your taste: garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, dried oregano, dried thyme.
- Fresh basil, chopped, to garnish (optional)

Preparation: 

1. Cook the rice according to instructions either in a rice cooker or in a pot with water, until just tender. When it's cooked, place in a large serving bowl or dish.

2. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large pan. Cook the bell peppers and onion for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften (but they shouldn't get really soft), stirring occasionally.

3. Add the tomatoes and chili pepper and keep cooking for another 2 minutes. Add the kidney beans and keep cooking just to heat the beans.

4. Add the vegetables to the rice and mix well. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cajun spice/spice mix.  Garnish with fresh basil if desired.
 

Sweet Potato, Red Lentil and Spinach Curry

This is a rich and filling dish, which still doesn't feel too "wintery", perhaps because of the vibrant orange colors. The lentils offer protein and the sweet potatoes are the starch, so this dish makes a complete meal by itself.

The original recipe is from Al-Haschulchan's vegetarian cookbook, but I felt the flavors needed a bit of adjusting.

Sweet Potato, Red Lentil and Spinach Curry

Ingredients (for 4 portions): 

- 1 cup red lentils
- about 4 small sweet potatoes (this adds up to about 700 grams), sliced into thin disks or small chunks.
- 1 tbsp canola oil
-  1 onion, sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 3 heaped tsp Thai red curry paste (make sure you use a vegetarian/vegan kind)
- 1 tbsp grainy mustard
- 1 can coconut milk (I used light)
- 1 large package (about 300 grams) baby spinach leaves
- handful of chopped cilantro (optional)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- juice from 1 lemon
 - salt and chili powder, to taste

Preparation: 

1. Bring water to a boil in a medium pot. Add the red lentils and a little bit of salt, and cook for about 10 minutes, until the lentils soften but still keep their shape. Drain.

2. Cook the sweet potato slices in water for 20 minutes or bake in an oven at 180 C/350F until softened.

3. Heat the oil in a wok or large pan. Stir fry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is golden.

4. Add the curry paste and mustard and stir until the curry begins to soften, then add the lentils, sweet potatoes and the coconut milk. Stir until the curry powder is fully melted into the sauce and it all looks like cohesive dish.

5. Correct seasoning: taste the dish and see whether it is to your liking. I found it helpful to add the brown sugar and a few good squeezes of lemon juice, as well as quite a bit of salt and chili powder. However, you may prefer the dish less seasoned.

6. Add the spinach and cilantro and continue heating until the spinach wilts into the dish, stirring. Serve warm.

Baked Ricotta Dumplings on French Lentils

This is another one from The Flexitarian Table and it came out really really well. The dumplings were savory and filling, and the lentils added a great hearty flavor to the dish.

You can make the lentils and the dumpling mixture in advance (keeping them in the fridge) and then just bake them together, so it can actually really well for guests etc.

The original recipe adds carrots and celery to the mixture and I've left it in the version I'm typing up here, but I actually left them out when I made the recipe. It's up to you. I also left out the nutmeg, because I find it has quite a dominant flavor and I don't always like it. Again, I leave it to your discretion.

Note that the lentils need to be soaked for at least 2 hours before cooking in this recipe, so take that into account! 

Baked Ricotta Dumplings on French Lentils

Ingredients (for 2-3 servings): 

- A few tablespoons of olive oil 

- 1 medium onion, finely diced 

- 1/2 large celery stalk, finely chopped

-  1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

- 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

 - 1 tsp finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

- 1 cup of lentils (This recipe would work best on small french lentils. I used Roland's green lentils, but it would also work well with black lentils. Regular green lentils will also work, but I wouldn't try it with red).

- 3 sprigs of thyme

- 1 bay leaf

- a few leaves of fresh sage (optional) 

- about 2 cups of water

- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

- 1 tsp salt 

- Black pepper to taste

For the dumplings: 

- 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (made by processing 2-3 slices of bread in a food processor) 

- 2/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese

- 1 large egg

- 1 large egg yolk 

- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

- Freshly grated nutmeg

- 1/4 tsp salt

- black pepper to taste

- 2 tbsp olive oil 

- chopped bell pepper as garnish (optional) 

Preparation: 

1. Soak the lentils for at least 2 hours or overnight. 

2. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened. Add the celery, carrots, garlic and ginger, and stir for another 2 minutes. 

3. Stir in the lentils, thyme, sage, bay leaves and water . Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 25 minutes. As you cook, check the dish occasionally to make sure there is enough water. At the end you want the lentils to have just a little bit of extra water, but not a lot. When the lentils are cooked, discard the bay leaves and thyme. 

4. Season the lentils with lemon juice, salt and some black pepper. Check seasoning and adjust as necessary. Put the lentils in a small oven safe dish (1.5 quart).Preheat oven to 375F/180 C. 

5. Make the dumplings: in a bowl combine the breadcrumbs, ricotta, egg, egg yolk and parmesan. Mixwell. Season with nutmeg, salt and black pepper, to taste. Carefully form the ricotta mixture into six large dumplings (this may actually be easier if you let the mixture rest in the fridge for a bit). 

6. Place the dumplings in the baking dish with the lentils. Drizzle olive oil over the top. Bake until the dumplings are lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Serve warm. If you want, put some chopped bell pepper over the top after cooking, for garnish.

Black Bean and Corn Chili

A few days ago we drove past a lovely country farm stand, and they had some great fresh corn. I'd never cooked fresh corn before, except straight on the cob, so I decided to look for a few recipes, and came across this one.  I modified it a bit to fit my tastes, and the result was a hearty vegetable chili with great flavor and texture, which was perfect served on rice.

I made it just before I had to leave town for a few days, so I froze the leftovers. When I got back it was late and I needed a quick dinner, so I defrosted and heated the chili in the microwave and wrapped it up in a tortilla with a bit of melted cheddar for a quick burrito. It was delicious, and the chili didn't seem to suffer at all from being frozen.

Black Bean and Corn Chili 

Ingredients (for a large pot of chili, about 6-8 servings): 

- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, whatever color you liked, diced.
- 1 hot pepper (Serrano or jalapeno or something similar) , finely diced. You can deseed it if you don't like heat, or leave some of the seeds for a bigger kick.
- 6 medium tomatoes, preferable ripe red ones, diced.
- Fresh kernels from 2 corn cobs (or about 1 cup of kernels frozen or from a can)
- Seasoning: black pepper, cumin, chili powder, salt
- 2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained.
- 1.5 cups vegetable stock or water with bullion seasoning
- grated cheese to serve (optional)

Preparation: 

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add all of the vegetables (except the beans) and saute until the onion is softened and becomes somewhat translucent.

2. Season with the various seasonings. The original recipe calls for 1 tsp of the black pepper and cumin and 1 tbsp of the chili powder, but you can modify this according to your tastes.

3. Add the beans and the vegetable stock, and bring to a boil. Then take 1.5 cup of the chili and put it in a food processor or blender and puree it (if you only have a stick blender, you can also just slightly puree the chili, but still leave it chunky). Add the pureed chili back into the pot and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Check seasoning. If wanted, top with grated cheese.

You can serve this by itself as a thick soup/stew, or over rice as a chili. You can also serve it over nachos or inside a burrito.

Chickpea and spinach salad

A friend gave me a link to this recipe from the blog Joy the Baker. It looked like everything a good vegetarian recipe should be: flavorful, hearty, colorful and fresh. I didn't have some of the ingredients and don't particularly care for others, so here's my somewhat modified version. 
 

Chickpea and Spinach Salad 

Ingredients (for a large salad): 

- 2  (15 oz, 425 gram) cans of chickpeas or an equivalent quantity of prepared chickpeas. (The exact quantity is not that important, but you want to have a large amount of chickpeas)

- 1/4 red onion, finely diced 

- 1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno pepper or other hot pepper, finely diced (if you don't like heat, deseed it) 

- Juice from 1/2 lemon 

- 1/3 cup almonds or cashews, browned on a hot pan or roasted in the oven 

- 1 large ripe tomato, diced 

- 2-3 large handfuls of fresh spinach or baby spinach leaves 

For the dressing: 

 - 2 cloves of garlic, minced 

- 1/2 tsp sea salt 

- 1 tsp honey (or agave or silan for a vegan version) 

- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 1/4 cup of olive oil 

- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes 

- salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation: 

Make the dressing: 

1. In a medium bowl mash the garlic and salt together with a fork to create a paste. 

2. Add the honey, vinegar and pepper flakes and combine with the fork. Slowly add the olive oil while whisking with the fork, to create an emulsified sauce (it will turn slightly "milky" and less clear). 

Set aside. 

Make the Salad: 

1. In a large bowl combine all of the salad ingredients except the spinach. 

2. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. Taste and season with salt/pepper as needed. 

3. Just before serving, add the spinach leaves and mix well. 

Note:

The salad can be kept in the fridge for a day or two, but the spinach will begin to be somewhat wilted very soon after "meeting" the sauce. It will still taste good,  but won't look as fresh and crisp. So if you want to serve this to guests, only add the spinach at the last minute.  

Rice with chickpeas and crispy potatoes

When it comes out perfectly, this recipe yields a layer of thin, crispy potatoes, topped by a delicious mixture of rice, chickpeas and onions. But even if the potatoes don't come out perfectly crispy, this recipe is still great. Serve it with some salad on the side and you have a complete meal.

It's really best to make this recipe with dried chickpeas that you cook at home, but canned will also do in a pinch. 

Rice with Chickpeas and Crispy Potatoes

Ingredients (for 4-6 portions): 

- 1 large potato, sliced into thin slices

- 1-2 tbsp of canola oil 

- 1 large onion, finely chopped

- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced 

- 1-2 tsp olive oil 

- 1-2 cups of cooked chickpeas (or canned) 

- 2 cups of rice 

- 4 cups of water 

- salt and pepper

Preparation: 

1) Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and fry the onion and garlic until they are lightly golden.  Set aside.

2) Put the canola oil in a medium pot (one that has a lid) and layer the bottom of the pot with the potato slices. Don't worry if the potatoes overlap. Place the pot on a medium-high heat and cook until the potatoes begin to crisp up around the edges. 

3) Add the rice, fried onions and garlic and the chickpeas to the pot and very gently stir them (you want the chickpeas to be interspersed within the rice, but not to move the potatoes at the bottom of the pan). Add the water, season with salt and pepper, and cover. 

4) Lower the heat to medium low, and cook until the rice is completely cooked and all the water has been absorbed, about 20-30 minutes. Then continue cooking a while longer, until the rice that is touching the side of the pan begins to be golden and a bit crispy. Be careful not to burn the dish! 

5) Remove from heat.  Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary. When serving, make sure that each diner gets some of the potatoes from the bottom of the pan as well as a mixture of rice, onions and chickpeas.

Basics: Preparing Chickpeas

Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) are really great for a lot of things, but preparing dried chickpeas for use takes a long time. I always make a large quantity of chickpeas and then freeze them in small batches, which I defrost as needed.

I just prepared some last week so there will probably be a few chickpea recipes here in the near future. You can use canned chickpeas in these recipes, but dried beans taste much much better than canned, so it's worthwhile doing this.

Preparation: 

Take 1-2 pounds (0.5-1 kilos) of chickpeas (smaller chickpeas are better, if you can get them) and put them in a large bowl with plenty of water and about 1 tsp of baking soda (the latter is optional). Soak them overnight in the water, but make sure they are covered in plenty of water before you go to bed.
Drain the chickpeas and wash them. Then place them in a large pot and cover with plenty of water.

Bring to a boil. You will likely get little "clouds" of foam. Clear them out of the way using a slotted spoon. Lower the heat and cook on a simmer for about 1.5 - 2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water as necessary, until the chickpeas are quite soft and the water is a muddy color. Salt the chickpeas and taste to make sure they are seasoned. Turn off the heat and allow the chickpeas to cool in the leftover water.

When the chickpeas are cooled, place between 1-2 cups of cooked chickpeas into each container (freezer safe plastic containers are good), and put the containers in the freezer.

When you want to use the chickpeas, simply take out a container and defrost it.

Mejadra - rice and lentils

Mejadra is, as far as I'm concerned, the ultimate vegetarian food. The combination of rice and lentils offers a complete protein, and this dish is filling, delicious and quick to make. Whenever I feel like a hearty veggie meal and can't think what to make, a large bowl of mejadra and a bit of salad on the side do the job.

At its very simplest, all you need to do is cook lentils, cook rice, and mix them together with some seasoning and perhaps a bit of fried onion. This slightly (but only slightly!) more complicated version is based on the one in The Book of New Israeli Food.

When making the mejadra you see in the picture, I used Laurell Hill's "lentil medley", just because I wanted a little variation in my lentils. However, normally I use plain brown (green)lentils, and I've also made it in the past with black or puy lentils. I wouldn't make it with red lentils, though, because they tend to go mushy really fast.

Mejadra

Ingredients (for 6-8 portions): 

- 1 cup of  brown/green lentils (or other lentils you like, but not red)

- 2 cups of white rice (you can also make it with brown, but it will probably need more cooking)

- olive oil for frying

- 2 medium onions, chopped 

- 1 tbsp ground cumin 

- salt and pepper 

To garnish (optional): 

- 2-3 onions, cut into thin rings

- 2 tbsp olive oil, for frying 

- Sour cream or yogurt

Preparation: 

1. In a small pot put the lentils and plenty of water, and cook for about 30 minute, or until the lentils are softened, but still have a little bit of a bite to them.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the onion garnish: heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and add the thinly sliced onion rings. Fry over medium heat until the onions are very brown and crispy, but don't let them burn. This may take some patience. When the onion is ready, set it aside.

3. In a large saucepan with a lid, heat a tbsp or two of olive oil, and add the chopped onions (from the main recipe, not the garnish). Fry until the onion is lightly golden. Add the lentils into the saucepan, season with cumin, salt and pepper, then add the rice and stir well.

4. Add 3 cups of boiling water to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, lower the heat, and cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. This took about 10 minutes for me, but may take longer, so test it frequently. Turn off the heat. Fluff the rice with a fork or spoon, then cover the saucepan again and let sit, with the heat off, for another 5-10 minutes.

5. To serve, pile the mejadra on a plate, garnish with a large pile of the fried onion rings and if you want, top with a dollop of sour cream, Greek yogurt or regular yogurt.

Lentil and Corn Shepherd's Pie

Lately I've really been into lentils. Lentils are great because unlike other legumes they don't require long soaking in water or a long cooking time. You can just pop them in a pot with water and in about 20-30 minutes, they're ready.

In this recipe, lentils are used an alternative to ground beef, in a somewhat unconventional version of the British classic. I based my recipe roughly on this one.

Make sure you season this well, because both potatoes and lentils can be a bit bland when under-seasoned.

Lentil and Corn Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients (for 4 portions): 

- 1 cup of uncooked brown/green lentils (by this I just mean regular lentils - but not red ones)
- 2-3 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks (2 if you don't like a lot of mash, 3 if you do)
-1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely diced
- 2 tbsp corn starch or flour
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- about 300 grams (10 oz) of frozen or canned corn kernels
- A few tablespoons of milk (or milk alternative)
- Two handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
- seasoning: salt, pepper, chili powder, or whatever seasoning you prefer.

Preparation: 

1. Put the lentils and enough water to cover them plus a bit extra in a small pot. Season with salt and cook on medium-low heat, until the lentils are tender but not mushy (they can still have a bit of a bite to them). In the meantime also put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with plenty of water, season with salt, and cook until the potatoes are soft enough to mash. The potatoes will probably need to cook about until you finish the rest of the recipe. The lentils will take a little less.

2. When the lentils are ready, drain them if there is any excess water (if not, just leave them be). In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and then cook the onion and garlic until they are softened, about 2 minutes. Add the cornstarch and stir to coat the onions. Add the broth, the lentils and the corn. Season well so that the mixture is to your taste. Spoon the mixture into an oven-safe glass or ceramic pan, medium sized (9X14 inches is good, but any other decent size will work). Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.

3. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot or place them in a bowl. Using a wooden spoon, a fork or a handheld blender, mash the potatoes into a mash with slightly chunky consistency. Stir in the milk until the mash is slightly looser and creamier. You can also stir in the cheese if you are using it.

4. Spoon large spoonfuls of the mashed potatoes directly on top of the lentil mixture and spread it around so that the lentils are covered. However, leave a few small holes to allow steam to escape during baking. Place the pie in the oven for about 45 minutes. If you want the potatoes to be a bit crispier and golden-brown, you can put the pie under a broiler for another minute or two at the end.



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Red lentil and rice croquettes

I recently got my hands on this great new Israeli vegetarian cookbook: Al Haschulchan's Vegetarian Kitchen (it's in Hebrew, sorry readers). A lot of veggie cookbooks are a bit repetitive, offering the same tired pasta and risotto dishes, or relaying too heavily on tofu. This book is great, because it balances recipes that use tofu or meat replacements like TVP and meatless ground beef, with recipes that just use great, tasty vegetarian ingredients to make a delicious and balanced dish.

These croquettes (or patties, or whatever you want to call them) are a perfect example of the latter. The combination of rice and lentils means that they are an entire meal in and of themselves. The original recipe calls for grated carrots and zucchini rather than the yam, but I had neither at home, so yam it was. And two small tips about this one: first, apparently the croquettes can be baked until crispy (in a 200 C/400 F oven) instead of fried; also, these are surprisingly delicious cold out of the fridge, so you can make them for dinner one night, and eat the leftovers for lunch the next day!

Now, on to the recipe (ok, the picture isn't great. I'm still working on figuring out how to photograph food well. But I promise they are delicious, and that I will try to improve):

Red Lentil and Rice Croquettes

 

Ingredients (for about 20 croquettes):
* 1/2 cup  uncooked white rice (or about 1.5 cups of cooked rice. If you have leftover rice, that's perfect).
* 1/2 cup  uncooked red lentils
* 1 small onion, finely diced
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 1 smallish yam, grated (or, if you want to follow the original: 1 grated carrot and 1 grated courgette or zucchini, the latter drained).
* I added: a handful each of fresh parsley and fresh mint, very finely chopped. 
* 3 eggs
* 2 tbsp breadcrumbs (I used Aleia's Italian gluten free breadcrumbs, because that's what I had. Obviously regular breadcrumbs will also do just fine if you don't need the recipe to be GF).
*  Salt and pepper to taste (I also added some chili powder)
* 3 tbsp canola, for frying.


Preparation: 
1. Cook the rice and the lentils in two separate pots for about 15 minutes. Drain.

2. Fry the onion in the olive oil until it is browned.

3. In a bowl, combine the rice, lentils and fried onion with the yam (or vegetables), eggs, breadcrumbs, herbs and seasoning and mix or knead together.

4. Heat the canola oil in a large non-stick pan, make patties in your preferred size, and fry the patties about 2-3 minutes on each side until they are browned and crispy. When they are ready, place them on a plate lined with kitchen towel. Serve immediately or reheat in a heated oven (or, as I said, eat cold).

Enjoy!