Embelly White Chili

We had stopped by our favorite locally focused grocery store, Urban Acres, and bought some sweet potatoes. What we did not expect was what kind of sweet potato. Apparently the Japanese Sweet Potato is a white, creamy potato that is very sweet. It has a smooth texture and tasted amazing in a vegetarian curry dish I made.

While looking for more recipes to use sweet potatoes in, my wife follows a good vegetarian blog. Emily Levenson's blog has a post with the most amazing scones that just happen to be vegan. We wanted to try another recipe, this time a vegan soup.

For the Embelly White Chili recipe and other great cooking adventures checkout Emily Levenson's food blog.

Vegetable Korma

If you haven't noticed, I've been on a bit of a vegetarian/vegan kick lately. My wife Stephanie decided to give it an extra boost for my birthday by getting me "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It's a brilliant book.

Here is one of the recipes from the book. It's called 2nd Avenue Vegetable Korma and was an interpretation from one of the author's favorite restaurants in New York City - Madras. Sounds like I have a new restaurant to checkout when I head back to New York in late March.

Lentil and Cauliflower Curry Stacks

The flavors in this dish make up for its lack of beauty in presentation. The yellow curry with cinnamon really brings the dish to life.
If you don’t want to use Pappadums (a crisp Indian flatbread), you can also use the lentil mixture to fill a piecrust with for a vegetarian Indian Pie. Or you could make pastry stuff turnovers with the mixture too.

Lastly, if you want to make this dish Vegan, substitute the butter with a product like Earth's Balance.

Lentil and Cauliflower Curry Stacks
Serves 4

2 Tbl butter (or Earths Balance for a vegan version)
1 medium onion, sliced thin in to quarter moons
1 1/2 Tbls yellow curry paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 cremini mushrooms, thinly chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups dried brown or green lentils
1 (13 oz) can chopped tomatoes
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 head of fresh cauliflower, cut into small florets
oil for deep-frying
8 small Pappadums

Heat butter in a large pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 2-3 minutes. Add the curry paste, garlic and mushrooms cooking all for 2 minutes until mushrooms are soft.

Add the vegetable stock, tomatoes, lentils and cinnamon and mix well. Bring to a boil and cook for 40 minutes until lentils become tender. Add the cauliflower in the last 10 minutes and cover. If the curry is too wet after 40 minutes, cook longer uncovered until most of the liquid is evaporated. Remove cinnamon sticks.

About 5 minutes before the lentil mixture is done, heat oil in a saucepan on medium-high. Drop Pappadums, one at a time, into oil. They will quickly puff up so act quick and flip using tongs to straighten out the Pappadum. Each one takes about 4 seconds on each side. Remove and pat both sides with a paper towel.

Assemble by putting one Pappadum on a plate and spoon lentil mixture into it. Place another Pappadum on top and add some more lentil mixture. Serve.

Lentil and Rice with Garlicky Kale

We are trying to add more vegetarian dishes to our weekly dinner menu. I'm finding a lot of rice and lentil dishes are a great way to do something other than the typical vegetarian pasta dish for a reluctant vegetarian.

Here is a recipe I modified quite a bit from an article in Men's Journal magazine. I go pretty light on salt and pepper while cooking. If you like a more robust flavor, add salt and pepper at the dinner table. This dish isn't particularly flavorful but it does have a good mix of flavors for a rice and lentil dish.

Lentil and Rice with Garlicky Kale
Serves 6

2 cups dried lentil
2 cups of cooked rice
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 leek, white and light-green parts only,
split lengthwise and cleaned
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch kale, stems removed, chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp red-wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

In a large pot place lentils, carrot, onion, leak, bay leaf and dried thyme then cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Drain water.

While the lentil mixture is cooking, pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a nonstick fry pan and add garlic heating at medium temperature and let the garlic cook for about 2 minutes, do not burn. Add kale and salt and pepper cooking it for about 5 minutes until slightly wilted.

Add kale to drained lentil mixture. Add cooked rice, red pepper flakes, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, red-wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Heat mixture at medium low heat for about 3-5 minutes for flavors to gel.

Remove from heat and serve as a vegetarian main dish or as a side dish.

Deb's Chicken Pot Pie

Facebook is a great resource for talking food with friends and family. Fortunately, I have a good network of fellow home cooks. One such friend is Deb Tighe who kept talking about a chicken pot pie she was making over and over again. She was in a bit of a food rut, but thank god because if it wasn't for her rut and Facebook status posts about it I would've never made this delicious pot pie.

Most pot pies I have had are a bit over done in the ingredients department, they are often over flavored. Other recipes are a bit too simple and well bland. This recipe has a very nice balance of flavor letting you enjoy every ingredient.

I did make a few minor tweaks to Deb's original recipe (my changes are in the recipe here.) I added a small amount of Thyme and Oregano and also pre-boiled the potatoes so they would be fully cooked.

Enjoy and thanks again to Deb for an excellent recipe!

Deb’s Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 8 (2 pies)

1 10 oz. package frozen mixed vegetables
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. chopped onions
1 potato, peeled and diced into small cubes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp dried Thyme
1/4 tsp dried Oregano
1 3/4 c. chicken broth
2/3 c. milk
3 c. chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 pie crusts (9 in.)

Boil potatoes in hot water for about 8 minutes to soften. In a large skillet, melt butter and add onions, potato, flour, salt, thyme, oregano and pepper. Stir and cook until bubbly, remove from heat. Stir in chicken broth and milk. Stir constantly and heat to boiling. Boil one minute while stirring. Stir in veggies and shredded chicken.

Prepare bottom pie crust and pour chicken mixture into crust. Add top crust and crimp edges or pie. Prick top of crust. Bake at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes. Cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Chicken pot pies can also be frozen before baking for use later. When ready to use, thaw in refrigerator and bake as directed above.