Peppers and Onion Panini

Ingredients:
1 green pepper
1 onion
balsamic vinegarette
pepper jack cheese
bread (rolls work great)
couple cloves of fresh garlic (optional)
parmesan cheese to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
oregano to taste
salt if required
mushrooms (optional)


Grill peppers and onions in balsamic vinegarette with some garlic, parmesan, oregano and red pepper. Put filling in a roll with cheese. Grill the panini with some balsamic. You can also add mushrooms to this.

Enchiladas

Servings: approx. 4

Ingredients:

Green, Red, Yellow Peppers about 7 oz. ( a good chance to use left over veggies)
1 medium red onion cut into long pieces

Olive oil

1 large can  of Goya black beans

Mexican Cheese

wheat wraps (do not feel as heavy as regular flour tortillas)

Spring onions (optional)



Sauce:

1 large tomato diced or a can of tomato sauce

3 garlic cloves

1/2 cup of cut cilantro

approx. 1 tsp of concentrate tamarind

1/2 jalapeno cut (depending on how spicy you want add up to 1 jalapeno)

3 tbsp any store bought preferably chocolate chipotle sauce (adds smokey flavor)

Add salt to taste



Preparation:

Three tablespoons of olive oil and sautee peppers, onions and black beans. Blend all ingredients for sauce, keep 1/4 of the sauce on the side to add to top of the enchiladas add the rest to the onion, peppers and beans. Add a few tablespoons to cheese to the mixture as well. Let the sauce simmer for up to 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and let it cool and than spoon the mixture in the wrap with cheese. Add sauce to the top of the enchiladas along with cheese and spring onions if you have some around. Bake in the ove for 10-15 minutes.

Paneer Makhani meets Bhurji

Tonight I wanted to make Paneer Makhani. I realized I did not have milk or cream and I did not have time to step out to the store. Than I decided to make Paneer Bhurji since it does not need the cream/milk. Since I did not have tomatoes on hand, I used tomato sauce instead. I did not have peppers so I used frozen mixed vegetables. I decided to fuse the recipes and I made what I call "Paneer Makhani meets Bhurji". Its wetter than Bhurji but still not saucy like Makhani.

Serving: 5-6 servings

Bhurji...

Ingredients:
olive oil
400 grams of Paneer (crumble using a cheese shredder)
1 medium red onion
1 red chili
1 small green chili
1 tsp of fresh ginger
1 1/2 tbsp of fresh garlic
pinch of asofetida
salt to taste
approz. 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables (substitute for peppers)
1-2 tsp of dhana-jeeru (coriander-cumin powder)
2-3 tsp of garam masala powder
1 tsp of turmeric


Now for the Makhani touch.....

1 can of tomato sauce/puree
2-3 tbsp of butter
pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
pinch of cardmom powder
pinch of sugar

and finally my extra touch ...
2-3 tsp of tandoori barbeque powder

Directions:
Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Add the asofetida, onions, chillis, ginger, garlic, tumeric, dhana-jeeru, turmeric, salt to taste, tandoori barbeque masala and garam masala, . Cook until onions are tender. Add butter and paneer and stir fry for a few minutes so paneer cooks. Add tomato sauce, bay leaves, cardamom powder, pepper and pinch of sugar.Cook for about 5 minutes on med-low. Add vegetables and and cook on low for a couple mins. Eat with paratha's.

Cucumber Family Event - October 30 - November 15

Hello everyone! On behalf of the Cooking and Baking Fetish foodie community I have the pleasure of hosting the Cucumber family event. Fall vegetables include pumpkins, gourds, squash etc. which are all part of the cucumber family. I am looking forward to exciting and creative recipes using these vegetables.

Please restrict recipes to vegetarian. Include C & B cooking event in your blog post and have your post link back to http://cookingandbakingfetish.ning.com/events and http://mowglichic.blogspot.com . Email your name, the name of your entry/dish, link to your blog post, a picture and a short description of your dish.
Email: sheth01@gmail.com

If you do not have blog, feel free to email me the above info for your entry. Thanks!!

Chinese Eggplant in Garlic Sauce

I went to the farm today and picked many vegetables including eggplant. I decided to make a last minute Chinese eggplant in garlic sauce. I have never made eggplant in garlic sauce but its one of my favorite dishes in a Chinese restaurant. I looked up some recipes online to get an idea of the basic ingredients. I found that I did not have many of these ingredients such as hoison sauce, corn starch, oyster sauce etc. I decided to make up my own recipe and it came out really good. Here goes....

Ingredients:
3 small eggplants preferably Japanese eggplants
1 tbsp minced ginger root
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of chili garlic sauce
1/4 cup of water
approx. 2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp of General Tsao's sauce
2 tbsp red vinegar dressing/marinade
1 tbsp of tomato sauce
salt to taste

Heat up sesame oil and add ginger root, garlic, soy sauce and water. Allow this simmer on low while you cut the eggplant into cubes. Add the chili garlic sauce, sugar, General Tsao's sauce, red vinegar marinade, tomato sauce and eggplant. Cook for about 15 minutes or until tender. Add salt to taste. Serve with white rice.

Mesir Wat - Ethiopian red lentil puree

Ethiopian cuisine is very distinct from most African cuisine. It uses many spices that are found in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine. My first Ethiopian restaurant encounter was in New Brunswick, NJ about 3 years ago. The restaurant is called Makedas and it has a great atmosphere with seating on wicker furniture and all the the food is served on a large piece of Injera (bread) on a large plate. The food was great, the bread reminded me of South Indian Dosa and many of the vegetable and lentil dishes taste very familiar. There are so many vegetarian dishes to choose from, Ethiopian cuisine is vegetarian friendly since many Ethiopians fast due to religion and during that time they do not eat meat. I finally picked Mesir Wat, a red lentil dish (masoor dal). I got the basic recipe from whats4eats.com. I made a few modifications. I also used more niter kibbeh sauce than the original recipe asked for. I love the aromas from this spicy butter sauce. I would like to enter to this to the 15th My Legume Love Affair, Susan's event.

Servings: 6

Ingredients:
2 red onions
1 cup of green beans
1 cup of carrots
3-4 garlic cloves
pinch of ginger powder
1 cup of niter kibbeh (click on the link for the recipe)
1 tbsp of Indian chili powder (mild chili powder)
1 tsp turmeric
1 lb of red lentils
2 cans of vegetable stock (4 cups)
salt and pepper to taste

optional: type of bread or rice

Make the niter kibbeh. This spicy butter sauce needs to simmer on low for about an hour. Strain the niter kibbeh into a large pot through a steel colander (a steel tea strainer works well). Using a food processor puree the onions. Add the niter kibbeh, onion puree, turmeric, chili powder, pressed garlic cloves, green beans, carrots and ginger powder. Let this simmer for about 2 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, stir and allow to simmer on low-medium for 5 minutes. Add the red lentils and cook for 30 minutes. Finally, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Injera bread, if you cannot make or do not have access to this bread,v you can eat this with wheat tortilla, Indian bread, pita bread or any type of rice.

Chimichurri sauce - Argentina

I decided to enter this original recipe round-up.


I decided to make chimichurri sauce. This delicious south american marinade/sauce is normally used with meat but is versatile and can be used in vegetarian food as well. To me its Argentina's chutney! I love the original chimichurri recipe with olive oil, parsley, garlic, vinegar and red pepper flakes. I made many modifications and came up with an entirely new, different creamy chimichurri that was a great hit at dinner. I added the chimichurri to portobello marinated in balsamic vinegar. I made this into a panini sandwich.

Servings approx. 4 - should make about 6 sandwiches with sauce left over

Ingredients for sauce:
3/4 buch of parsley
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of red vinegar marinade/dressing
1/2 large shallot
2 pinches of cumin
2 pinches of chili powder
1 pinch of ginger powder
1 tsp of oregano
1 tbsp sugar (to taste if you feel its sweet enough do not add)
1 tso of dried basil
1 cap full of lemon juice
1 small green chili (add more if you like things spicy)
2-3 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp Sabra's tahini hummus
2-3 tbsp tomato sauce
salt to taste

Ingredients for sandwich:
1 package of sliced portobello mushrooms
1 loaf of bread
1 package of pizza blend or italian blend cheese
red pepper flakes

Blend all the sauce ingredients together. It seems like a lot of hodge podge. I kept adding, tasting etc. In the end I think it came out great. Even with the tomato sauce your sauce will retain its green color as shown in the picture. Marinate the portobello mushrooms on a skillet with a light balsamic vinegar, allow the mushrooms to absorb the juices while you are making your sauce. Add approx 2 tbsp of the sauce, 3-4 slices of portobello mushrooms in any kind of bread with some mozzarella cheese and sprinkle on some red pepper flakes. Yum!Cook in a panini maker, skillet or oven.