Curried Chickpea and Mango Salad Wraps

I love the free magazine that you can pick up in the natural foods section of Loblaws called "Sage".  It always has interesting articles and recipes that inspire me!  This recipe came from January's edition and it is fantastic - quick to assemble, tasty and a great source of protein!!!

CURRIED CHICKPEA AND MANGO SALAD WRAPS

Ingredients:

2 tbsp plain yogurt (I used goat yogurt)

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp rice vinegar

Juice from 1 lime

1 tsp honey

2 1/2 tsp yellow curry powder

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup diced red onion

2 green onions, green and white parts sliced

1 cup diced mango

1-15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 soft tortilla shells

1 cup baby spinach, washed and dried

• In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine: yogurt, mayonnaise, rice vinegar, lime juice, honey, curry powder, cayenne, and salt.
• Add red onions, green onion, mango and chickpeas; stir to combine.
• Split mixture among 4 tortillas and top each with spinach.  Fold in sides and roll up tightly; cut each in half and serve.
• ENJOY!

*If you are planning to pack this for lunch, simply keep the chickpeas in a container with the baby spinach and take along a tortilla separately.  Assemble right before eating to avoid a soggy tortilla!!

**If you don't have chickpeas, this recipe works just as well with diced cooked chicken or firm tofu.

Easy Carrot Salad

Lately I have had an abundance of carrots in my CSA boxes from Cooper's.  While I have been using quite a few in the slow cooker for roast suppers, there were still some hanging around in the crisper.  So I created this salad last night and it was delicious ~ it is a traditional carrot salad with the addition of tomato and cilantro!

EASY CARROT SALAD

Ingredients:

2 medium-sized carrots, peeled and grated

1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used goat yogurt)

1/2 cup sour cream (I just used goat yogurt)

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 tsp salt

Handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

• In a small bowl combine the first seven ingredients (carrots to salt).
• Cover and refrigerate until chilled
• Remove from fridge and garnish with cilantro and pepper just before serving.
• ENJOY!         

Saag Paneer (Indian Spinach with Homemade Cheese)

Saag...

Paneer...

 This is a classic Northern Indian dish that consists of spinach and fresh, unripened cheese made by curdling whole milk to separate the curds from the whey.  You can find it in many stores,
but as with most things, I find homemade best!

SAAG PANEER

Ingredients:

2 bunches spinach, trimmed

2 tbsp vegetable (or coconut) oil

3/4 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp finely grated fresh gingerroot

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (AKA coriander)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground coriander

Pinch cinnamon

3 plum tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped

1/3 cup Balkan-style yogurt

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp garam masala

8 oz paneer, cubed

Saag Paneer!!!

• In a large pot of salted boiling water, blanch spinach until just wilted; drain.  Chill under cold water and drain again.  In a food processor, puree spinach with 1/4 cup water and set aside.
• In a large deep skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat;  cook cumin seeds until slightly darkened (approx. 10 seconds).  Add onion and butter; saute until onion is golden (approx. 8 minutes).  
• Reduce heat to medium; stir in garlic and ginger and saute for 1 minute.  Stir in fresh cilantro, cayenne, turmeric, ground coriander, salt and cinnamon.  Saute, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds before adding tomatoes.  Stir until tomatoes break down (approx. 3 minutes).
• Stir in pureed spinach; cover and cook, stirring occasionally and adding 1 to 2 tbsp water if mixture is getting too dry, until steaming hot (approx. 3 mins).
• Stir in yogurt, lemon juice and garam masala; bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to low and add paneer.  Cover and cook until heated through (approx. 2 minutes)
• Serve and ENJOY!

PANEER RECIPE:

12 cups homogenized milk

1 cup lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

• In a large saucepan, bring milk to a boil; remove from heat.  Add lemon juice; stir until milk curdles and separates into spongy white chunks (curds) and greenish milky water (whey).  Stir in salt.
• Pour into a double cheesecloth-lined stainer set over bowl.  Let stand until most of the liquid has drained off.  Fold cheesecloth over top; weigh down with a plate and full 28oz can.  Refrigerate for 8 hrs or up to 24 hrs.
• Remove cheesecloth and use!

*I substituted goat's milk yogurt - it is thicker and my family who is lactose intolerant can eat it!  I also omitted the butter and used coconut milk for the saag recipe...the paneer recipe I followed to a "T".

Twice Baked Potatoes

For Christmas dinner I made a roast beef dinner with carrots and onions cooked in the slow cooker http://thestimpsonsoupkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/11/slow-cooker-roast-beef-with-carrots.htmlwith the beef, my braised red cabbage http://thestimpsonsoupkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/braised-red-cabbage.html, and these twice baked potatoes.  Traditionally these potatoes are very high in calories and quite rich.  Since neither India nor Greg eat cow's milk products, and nobody needs the extra calories, I lightened them up by using goat yogurt!  The result was delicious and unfortunately I didn't think to take a photo before we devoured them, so I have used a photo that I found online to give you an idea of what they looked like!

TWICE BAKED POTATOES

Ingredients:

 4 large baking potatoes

1 cup plain goat yogurt (or Greek-style yogurt)

1/2 cup milk*

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

8 green onions, thinly sliced

8 rashers of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

• Preheat oven to 450F.  Using a fork, prick the skin on one side of each potato.  Place the potatoes on the top oven rack, and bake for 1 hour.
•  Remove from oven and cut each potato in half, lengthwise.  Using a spoon (I use a grapefruit spoon as it has small serrations along the edge, and makes this job much easier!), scoop out the inside flesh of each potato half, ensuring that you leave a 1 cm border of unscooped potato so the skin doesn't collapse.
• Place the potato flesh into a large mixing bowl and coarsely mash with a potato masher.  Add the green onions, goat yogurt, milk, salt and pepper.  Stir till well combined.
• Stuff each potato skin half with the mashed potato and place on a rimmed baking sheet. 
• Top each potato with the crumbled bacon and grated cheese**, and place back into the oven to bake for another 15 minutes, or until the tops are browned and the cheese melted.
• Serve & ENJOY!

*I replaced regular 2% milk with almond milk.
**Since my Dad is a vegetarian and Greg and India don't eat cow's milk, I left off the bacon and cheese and simply placed them in bowls for people to add to their potato as they wished!

Curried Sweet Potato Cups

This delicious appetizer comes from Women's Day magazine and is perfect if you have leftover mashed sweet potatoes!

CURRY SWEET POTATO CUPS

Ingredients:

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

2 tsp curry powder

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp melted butter

12 wonton wraps

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Melt butter in a small skillet over medium high heat.  Add the onion, bell pepper and curry powder.  Saute for 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.  Remove from heat
• Sir in mashed sweet potatoes and yogurt.
• Brush wonton wrappers with melted butter and press into muffin cups.
• Spoon mixture into the wonton wrappers and bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 15 minutes, or until the wraps are crisp.

Butter Chicken - MY FAVOURITE INDIAN DISH!!!

For me the quintessential Indian dish is butter chicken. You can tell the calibre of the restaurant you are at simply by the sauce - many try to use a cream of tomato base which is always too salty (like prepared soups are) and not a robust fresh tomato taste. I love to make it at home for my family...and the bonus is leftovers can be chopped up and made into sandwiches or put on salad!!!!

This is NOT a low-cal option, but it is the #1 way to get into my good books by preparing it for dinner ... hint, hint !!

BUTTER CHICKEN - Murgh Makhani

Ingredients:

2 cups Balkan-style plain yogurt

6 cloves garlic, minced

1" piece of gingerroot, minced

1 tbsp Garam Masala

1 tbsp each lime juice and medium curry paste

2 tsp each mild paprika, ground cumin and coriander

1/2 tsp salt

8 air-chilled free range chicken breasts

BUTTER SAUCE

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp Garma Masala

2 tsp each mild paprika and medium curry paste

1 can chopped tomatoes

3/4 cup whipping cream

1/3 cold butter, cubed

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

• Line a sieve with cheesecloth; set over a bowl. Add yogurt; drain in refrigerator for 1 hour. Discard liquid; place yogurt in a large bowl and whisk in garlic, ginger, garam masala, lime juice, curry paste, paprika, cumin, coriander and salt.
• Add chicken to bowl (or a large ziploc freezer bag), and turn to coat with yogurt marinade. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
• Place chicken, skin side up, on a rack in a large shallow roasting pan; spoon yogurt mixture over top. Roast in a 400F oven until no longer pink inside - about 45 mins. Transfer to a platter and tent with foil; let stand 10 minutes. Skim fat from pan juices, reserving juices in pan.
• BUTTER SAUCE: Meanwhile in a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion until browned - approx. 10 mins. Add garam masala, paprika, and curry paste; cook, stirring often until fragrant and beginning to stick to the pan - about 5 minutes.
• Add tomatoes and scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pan; mash tomatoes with spoon. Simmer until spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a gap that fills in slowly - about 15 minutes.
• Let cool slightly. In a food processor or blender, puree until smooth *You can make this ahead of time and allow to cool; cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours*
• Pour sauce into a roasting pan; bring to a boil over medium heat, scraping up any brown bits. Add cream and butter, a few pieces at a time, cooking just until each is melted and incorporated. Pour over chicken. Garnish with coriander.
• ENJOY with a cold beer and naan bread!!!

A Great Way To Use Zucchini!!!

One of the CSA members from "Cooper's Farm" sent in this recipe as it is her favourite way to use zucchini - and after friends and family taste testing them, I think they're our favourite too!!

(And you know they have to be easy for a non-baker like me to make these!!!)

ZUCCHINI BROWNIES

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 - 3 cups shredded zucchini

1 egg

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Combine flours, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the shredded zucchini
• In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, sugars, yogurt, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the zucchini mixture.
• Spread evenly in a greased 9" x 13" pan (these are lighter than regular brownies and rise more like a cake so a bigger pan is necessary).
• Sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips (and you can sprinkle nuts on top too if you choose to add these)
• Bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre, comes out clean.
• ENJOY!!