Falafel Salad

This is a deconstructed falafel sandwich. It is a lot easier to eat and very satisfying even for dinner.

Ingredients:

Ready made falafel or dry mix that can be prepared via fry/bake.
Pita bread/Pita chips

Serves: 4

Salad:
1 large cucumber
2 tomato
2-3 carrots
2 bags of mixed greens 

Sauce:
1 1/4 cup of plain yogurt
1 1/2 garlic cloves
1/2 tbsp dried parsley (optional)
1/2 tbsp of tahini
1 can of chick peas
salt to taste
1 tbsp of olive oil

For the sauce blend the ingredients together, add some water for a consistency similar to salad dressing. You can buy ready made falafel from the freezer section or the dry mix that you add water to and fry/bake. The pita bread can be toasted or warmed. You can also use pita chips to give the crouton effect. Finally, I like to add some chinese chili garlic sauce for an added kick.

An interesting twist to marinara sauce

The other day I was following a recipe for a carrot/red pepper soup from The Vegetarian Times magazine. I had some soup left over the next day and decided to use it with tomato sauce and some extra ingredients to make an interesting sauce to eat with fried zucchini. I think the sauce came out really well. I didn't duplicate it today but I added similar ingredients.

Ingredients:
1 carrot
1/2 red pepper
1/4 red onion
1 garlic clove
1 bay leaf
pinch curry powder
red pepper flakes 1/2 tsp (add more to make it spicy)
dried or fresh basil (1 tbsp of dried basil)
oregano (1/2 tbsp of dried oregano)
salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
can of tomato sauce

Boil the carrots, pepper and onion till the carrot pieces are tender. Drain most of the water but leave about half a cup remaining. Add this mixture to the blender along with 1 garlic clove and tomato sauce. After blending add the sauce to a pot with olive oil and a bay leaf. Let the sauce cook on low-med, add a pinch of curry powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil and salt. Finally, add some parmesan cheese.

Update

I wanted to apologize for the long hiatus. I am getting Married in a week so I have not had time to add any new posts. I hope to start posting by the beg of Jan.

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!!