Wild Rice Stuffed Pepper

In general, I'm not a huge fan of stuffed vegetables - but I find this combination surprisingly satisfying.  The nutty bite of the wild rice grains work well with the sweet pepper and salty halloumi.  Even my meat-loving partner enjoys it (albeit as a side dish to his meat).   It is very easy to prepare and full of flavor.


Wild Rice Stuffed Pepper

1 large pepper (any color)
60g wild rice, long grain rice mix*
1/2 vegetable stock cube made up**
2 slices halloumi cheese
salt & pepper

In a small sauce pan cook wild rice mix with vegetable stock (about 25 mins).  Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350 F.  Meanwhile, lightly grill halloumi cheese slices, then chop finely.  Cut top off the pepper, remove white pithy ribs and seeds from inside.  Line a baking dish with foil then pour about 1/4 '' of boiling water in the foil in the dish.  Mix chopped halloumi with rice, season.  Fill pepper with the mixture.  Put pepper top on, then bake for 30 mins, or until the pepper is tender. 

*The rice I use is an 88% easy cook long grain/12% wild grain rice mix.
**A whole cube I used makes about 500 mL of stock, which is too much for one portion of rice, but this varies by brand.  I generally add a little less liquid than I think will cook the rice, because you can always add more.

Lettuce Wraps

It's been at least six years since I had 'Chang's Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps' at P.F. Changs and yet I still remember how delicious the savory filling wrapped in crisp fresh lettuce cups was - so I thought, I have to try this at home.

Since it has been so long I cannot truly say whether or not this came out exactly the same or not, but the idea was definitely similar.  I like that you can choose how much or little filling and dipping sauce to put on your lettuce wrap.  I also made this easily meat friendly by separately frying a chicken breast fillet, food processing it, then blending it with half the vegetarian mixture.

P.F. Chang's Style Lettuce Wraps
serves 2 as a starter

filling
1 cup water chestnuts
2/3 cup mushrooms
1 small onion - chopped
2 garlic cloves - chopped

2 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

'special sauce'
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tbsps rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp lemon juice
few drops sesame oil
thin sliced chili (optional)
garlic puree (optional)
hot mustard (optional)

1 tbsp oil 

lettuce leaves - washed and separated (I used baby gem but you could use iceberg or any crispy lettuce)

Mix together all ingredients for 'special sauce', refrigerate til ready to eat - you can add chili slices, garlic puree, or hot mustard to amp up the flavor if you like before serving.  Put all vegetable filling ingredients in food processor and pulse until everything is the same size (finely minced).  Mix together filling sauce (soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar).  Heat 1 tbsp oil in frying pan, add vegetable mix and filling sauce and fry together for a few minutes until some moisture has evaporated and it has warmed through.  Put about a tablespoon of mixture into each leaf and dip into sauce as desired.

Vegetarian Scotch Eggs

I've never actually had a Scotch Egg, so when tasting this vegetarian version there wasn't anything to compare it to.  That being said, I can imagine what a hard boiled egg coated in sausage meat then fried tastes like. Visually, this vegetarian version looks virtually the same as a traditional sausage scotch egg (even my partner agrees).  Since it's made with a mix of beans instead of sausage meat it needs to be seasoned/spiced well or it will be really bland.  The construction and cooking are the same though.  In fact, I made three veggie, and one sausage meat version for my partner (which he loved).

Vegetarian Scotch Eggs
makes 4

4 large eggs
1/2 tin chickpeas/garbanzo beans* - drained and rinsed
1/2 tin kidney beans* - drained and rinsed
1/2 tin cannellini beans* - drained and rinsed
1 tbsp coriander/cilantro - coursely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

1 egg - whisked
1 cup bread crumbs
3/4 cup flour

neutral oil for frying

Hardboil eggs to your liking** (I actually boiled mine the day before making these - before I realized I didn't have any kidney beans, but hardboiled eggs will keep in the fridge for a few days, so it's also a great way to use up leftover Easter eggs!). When the eggs are cool - peel (the warmer they are, the harder it will be to peel them).  

In a food processor (or with a hand blender) pulse the beans and coriander together until nearly smooth.  At this point you may need to add some olive oil to make it smoother, but the mixture should be malleable.  Once blended, season to taste (this is important since normally sausage meat is very seasoned, so to match the flavor you may want to add different spices, but definitely salt & pepper!) 

Lay out about a 9 inch square piece of cling film (saran wrap) and flatten 2 tbsp of the bean mixture on it.  In the center of the mixture put the egg, then bring up the sides of the cling film around the egg.  Remove the cling film, then shape the bean mixture around the egg.  Depending on the size of your egg you may need more or less bean mixture to coat it.  You want about 1/4'' to 1/2'' of thickness around the egg.   

Dip the bean coated egg into the flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.  Heat about 2 inches of neutral oil over a medium heat in a medium saucepan.  Because you don't have to cook any sausage meat, it is not as essential that you get the correct heat of the oil, as this stage will mainly be about browning the scotch egg - however, saying that, a lower heat will allow the bean and egg to warm through, making a more pleasant eating experience.  You could also deep fry it, but since I don't like to use lots of oil (and don't have a deep-fryer) I'm not sure what temperature this would be at.  Brown on all sides then put on paper towels to drain.


*Why not use the leftover beans in a chili, soup, stew etc.
**I put my eggs in a sauce pan with enough tepid water to cover.  Bring to simmer, then turn heat off and put lid on - let stand 7 minutes.  Then drain hot water and fill pot with cold water to cool eggs.

Chickpea and Spinach Curry

My first curry experience was only a few years ago.  It was a korma - and I was not impressed.  My next encounter was an incredibly oily dish that frankly made me feel sick.  It took a long time before I realized that it wasn't curries that I didn't like, but creamy curries.  I absolutely love hot curries!  We now regularly order currys and I flit between the vindaloo and phal - that's right - two of the hottest curries available.  I'll admit, I cannot replicate the curryhouse flavor, but every so often I do like to make my own at home. You can buy premixed curry spices or pastes, but if you accumulate the individual ones it's fun to experiment with different ratios yourself.  Apart from the spices, the ingredients are pretty basic, and you can add/substitute pretty much any vegetable you like.  I add slices of grilled chicken to my partners, but you could add any meat.

Chickpea and Spinach Curry
serves 2

1 tsp oil
1 tsp butter
1 onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic - finely minced
2-3 thin chilies - finely chopped (more or less depending on how hot you want it)
1 inch ginger - thinly chopped
1 pepper - chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tsp tomato puree
1 tin chickpeas/garbanzo beans
large handful spinach
chopped coriander/cilantro

Heat oil and butter in pan.  Fry onions for 2-3 minutes until soft.  Add chilies, garlic, ginger, tomato puree and spices then fry 2-3 more minutes.  Add in chopped pepper and reduce heat to low for 5 minutes.  Add chopped tomatoes and chickpeas and simmer gently for 20-30 minutes.  In the last few minutes of cooking stir in the spinach to wilt.  Top with fresh chopped coriander.  Serve with rice, naan bread, poppadoms, onion bhajis, mango chutney, onion salad...

NB: if you're not adverse to creamy curries, or don't like a very spicy curry you can stir in natural yogurt or coconut milk at the end.

Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese

I know, I know...there are so many different recipes for macaroni and cheese out there - but since this is one of our favorite dishes I couldn't help but post it.  The first time I made my own roux (or 'white sauce') I was nervous, but it really isn't difficult!  Apart from burning the butter, you can pretty much save it any stage (and even then you can start again).   Seriously, if you normally have boxed macaroni or use a certain well known easy melting processed cheese because you're too nervous to make your own cheese sauce - don't let yourself be intimidated by fancy French cooking techniques and give it a go.

(Notice my partners meaty addition of pancetta cubes frying in the background!)

Somewhat surprisingly, the addition of broccoli was my partners idea.  It used to be his favorite vegetable (back in the day when he barely ate vegetables) and I think he feels nutritiously virtuous when eating it.  It actually doesn't add loads of flavor, but it is a great way of getting a serving of vegetables in an otherwise unhealthy extremely cheesy meal!

Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli

serves 4

500 g/ 1 lb macaroni

2 tbsp butter

2 to 3 tbsp flour

2 to 3 cups milk

1 tsp cayenne

1 cup broccoli - chopped (I microwaved frozen, but you could steam up some fresh)

3 cups mature cheddar cheese - grated

salt & pepper

Cook macaroni and broccoli accordingly.  When the pasta is about 5 minutes from being done, melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add a couple tablespoons of flour and whisk together.  The butter and flour should come together in a dough like consistency, if it is still too moist add more flour.  Keep whisking this around the pan for about a minute to cook out the raw flour.  Add a couple splashes of milk and whisk in - the mixture will incorporate the milk and become slightly moister than it was.  At this point add in 2 cups of milk and cayenne and whisk together.  Let the sauce warm up (not simmer) and thicken slightly.  If it is too thick at this point - add more milk, not thin enough - heat longer. Finally add in 2 cups of cheese and season to taste, then mix gently until its melted through (because cheese is generally pretty salty I always wait til its mixed into the sauce until adding any seasoning).  Mix in the drained macaroni and chopped broccoli, top with remaining cheese and put under a grill until browned.

Open (Breakfast) Quesadilla

Although I've called this a breakfast quesadilla, you could easily make it for lunch or dinner by omitting the eggs if you wanted.

I love Mexican Tex-Mex food (I say Tex-Mex because I haven't ever had traditional Mexican food, only the Westernized versions).  As previously declared, breakfast dishes are amongst my favorites - so why not combine one of my favorite cusines with my favorite meal of the day?  This meal is easily adapted with whatever you have on hand, and can be made meat-friendly by adding some chopped bacon or sausages, however, I don't think the meat will be missed much in this one because the beans and eggs are high in protein and super-filling.

I know this isn't actually a quesadilla since there's only one tortilla and it's not folded...actually it's more like a giant tostada (although the base isn't crispy like in a tostada).  This meal actually evolved from lunchtime quesadillas so that's why I've continued refer to it as such - but since it's neither here nor there I shall continue calling it an open quesadilla.

Open Breakfast Quesadilla
serves 1-2 (depending on greediness)

1 large tortilla
1/4 cup black beans - drained and rinsed
2 eggs - scrambled to your liking (or you could fry/poach them and put them on top)
1 small tomato - diced
a couple mushrooms - thinly sliced
a few thin slices of peppers
a couple chilies - finely chopped (if you like it spicy)
small handful black olives - sliced
2 spring/green onions - chopped (if you don't have these you could substitute thinly sliced red onion)
small handful grated cheese
small handful coriander/cilantro - roughly chopped
1/2 avocado - chopped

Put tortilla on a baking tray and lightly grill in oven on both sides.  Pile on toppings (apart from the coriander and avocado), finishing with cheese.  Place under grill until cheese is melted.  Top with chopped coriander and avocado.

Baked Soy Beans - Review

I came across these baked soy beans in the store and thought they looked intriguing.  The packet says they are high in fiber and protein and compared with nuts they are much lower in fat - 13g/100g compared with pistachios at 46g/100g. They are covered by a thin papery skin, similar to pistachios, and taste like a cross between a pistachio and a peanut.  They don't have the density or texture of a nut though, and could do with a touch more salt.  Overall, they probably would temporarily fulfill a nut craving and are healthier, but I'd rather have fewer nuts.  (I would be interested to hear if anyone else has tried these, as I hadn't seen anything like them before.)