Chili Bean Wrap

A simple chili bean mix , made a few flour tortillas to wrap it up.

Saute some diced green peppers, in this case 1, add some diced onion and saute till translucent. Add some seasonings. Now some boneless pork ribs thin sliced are added in, the pork cooks quickly and then add can of Rotel tomatoes with chili peppers. The seasonings can be your choice, a bit of ground cumin, cumin seeds, dried cilantro, etc. Perhaps some garlic or garlic powder. The red chili beans were cooked in the microwave to hurry them along, in water to cover and then at low power for about 20-30 minutes. As the beans cook, let the tomato mixture simmer and reduce and add liquid like some broth or wine and continue to simmer. When the beans were finished, add to the tomato mixture and simmer to incorporate.

A quick mix of water, bacon fat, salt and flour to a dough, rolled and browned in a hot cast iron skillet for the wraps. A bit of yogurt for topping, nothing fancy. (but a few diced green onions would look nice for the picture and a sprig of cilantro)

Thai spice paste

• 1/2 Teaspoon cumin (ground/seed)
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 2 Teaspoon pepper (triple blend black,white,  Szechuan)
• 2 Teaspoon red pepper (dried hot red pepper)
• 1 Teaspoon lemongrass (diced)
• 2 Tablespoon garlic (minced/granulated)
• 2 Tablespoon ginger (minced/ dried)
• 2 Tablespoon coconut
• 1 Tablespoon sugar (palm or unprocessed)

the above is the basic ingredients , some were (substituted) and the measured amounts can vary.

Basically all ingredients minced by the food processor into a paste.

Stored in a mason jar for use, marinade and seasonings.

DAL, two recipes

Dal, lentils and beans all in the same catagory, recipes abound and as probably you have researched, the more research yeilds that the recipe usually was what the cook has on hand especially as to the spicing of the dish. Here’s one from the Bob’s Red Mill bag of Dal followed by the Milk Street recipe for Turkish Red Lentil Soup.

New Delhi Dal

 

I utilized curry powder in place of the tumeric. Some ground cloves sufficed for the 12 whole cloved required. (have to order some cloves)

Boiling the beans, alot of water! these beans will soak up quite a bit of liquid. This is 1/2 the recipe.

most dal recipes require an addition to be added to the beans once cooked

mash them and then add the oil spice mixture

Basicallly I ate these alone to get a taste for the beans, they would make a good spread for chips or an addition to rice.

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A Turkish Red Lentil Soup with Aleppo Pepper

 Turkish Red Lentil Soup

from 177 milk street.com

Are we ready ? I used the Bob’s Red Mill orange/yellow dal.

the sweating of the onions

Add the garlic for about 30 seconds, to the onions, then add the rest of the ingriedents, minus the water (broth), lentils and rice. cook up for about a minute.

 

……..in go the beans, rice and water

a lively simmer, cook covered about 30 minutes, the rice will break down somewhat adding to the texture, I cooked leaving the beans at the aldenti stage.

I skipped the addition of the Aleppo pepper since I didn’t want to search it out at this time , I added a bit of finely chopped dried pepper that are sitting on the windows sill drying out from green to a shrivled red, some moderate heat in the background.

Even though there is a lot of paprikia, which I though would be overpowering, the balance is delicious and the beans have a pasta like texture. The tomato paste smooths it out. My best use of the dal so far. No mint or lemon wedges served. 

SHRIMP N’ CURRY

Serves on white rice, prepare now.

Actually, the ingredients for  the  curry and the blend of Indian spices varies widely, this is what I used. (had available)

Curry Seasonings:
In a Mortar and pestle add,
1 teaspoon curry power
Dash ground ginger
Dash of cumin seeds
That’s it from the spice cabinet,but some chai tea mix gave me a couple of other items for flavor.

Cardamon pod
Allspice pod
1 clove, dried
Grind and mash the above , add other spices to preference.
The recipe calls for sour cream, substituted the following.
1/2 can evaporated milk, about 6 fluid ounces.
Whisked the milk with lemon juice and vinegar, let stand in the fridge to sour and thicken.
Didn’t really measure the amount of juice and vinegar, it should thicken up a bit.

Soak, if frozen , shrimp in a bowl covered with water, this is made for a single serving so the count depends on how big the shrimps are and your appetite.

Peel and clean the shrimp when thawed, leave the tails on. You can reserve the water to add to the sauce if necessary.

Chop onion and sauté in olive oil / and or butter.

Add the shrimp and cook no more than several minutes till pink and opaque. Remove from the pan and set aside. (You could probably cook the shrimp in the sauce by leaving them in the pan, but I choose to set them aside at this point.)

Add the sour cream sauce to the pan, with the onions

and add the mix of spices from the mortar.

Cook till bubbly and fragrant.

Plate a bed of rice,with the  shrimp.

…….and sauce.

add a dab of hot sauce if you like it spicy, or add hot pepper flakes to the spice mix.

seed combo bread/dough

approximately 1 tablespoon or less of the following seeds

• sesame
• cumin
• caraway
• fennel
• celery
• black sesame
• flax
• dill
• poppy
• chia
• psyllium

 

added to a standard white bread recipe

Dense crumb,  the seeds add variety to regular white loaf.

Less flour and a wetter dough results in a lighter loaf.

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Red onion flatbread

very tasty