Kale and Black Bean Enchiladas with Green Sauce

I'm not gonna lie - this recipe takes a little bit of time and effort. However, it's worth every minute, AND you can make a big tray of these enchiladas and enjoy them throughout the week. They're packed with good-for-you kale, and the creamy cilantro-scallion-coriander-cumin sauce is so good that I had to stop myself from eating it with a spoon! Adapted from epicurious.

Sauce

• 1/2 16-ounce package frozen chopped kale, available at Whole Foods. You could also use fresh kale for this - just wash and chop it into small pieces first. Alternately, you can easily sub in other green ingredients, like spinach.
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
•  2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 green onions, minced (I included the white parts)
• About 2-3 tablespoons sliced jalapenos from a jar. (Can be upped or decreased based on your spice preferences)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Enchiladas

• 12 6-inch corn tortillas
• 1/2 16-ounce package of frozen kale or spinach (again, it's fine to use fresh - just wash and chop first)
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 green onion, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander

• 1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt, or extra milk

For sauce:
Warm the frozen kale or spinach until it's just melted, but not hot. (I usually dump it in a pan with a little water, heat it for a few minutes, then drain it well. If you're using fresh, you can use the same method - just stir it around in a pan with a little bit of water over medium heat until it wilts). Set aside. Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add flour and stir mixture 2 minutes; do not brown. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in half the kale/spinach, the 1/2 cup cilantro, 2 green onions, chilies, cumin, coriander and red pepper. Puree in batches in processor until almost smooth. (If it's a little dry, you can add more milk at this stage). Season with salt and pepper. 

For enchiladas:
Combine the rest of the kale or spinach with the black beans, cheddar, and the rest of the cilantro, green onion, cumin, and coriander. Warm the tortillas so they're a little more flexible (I stuck mine in the microwave). Place a few spoonfuls of the filling (about 1/4 cup) in the middle of each tortilla, then roll it up. Place seam side down in large glass baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Stir sour cream into sauce, and pour over enchiladas. Bake until cheese melts and enchiladas are heated through, about 25 minutes.

Guest Post: Bonnie's Sweet Potato Faux-Rizo Stew

Drool.

Hello fellow lovers of vegetarian food! Since Lisa and Laurel are busy doing other things, I've snuck in to give you all a fabulous guest post. You've seen my recipes on here before, but this time I've fully commandeered the rig. So let's get to it.

This recipe is one of my Grammy's favorites, albeit I tweaked it a bit to fit my particular taste profile, which is spicier and more robust. I call it faux-rizo sweet potato stew. I hope you like it!

Ingredients:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped or pressed
1 tsp ground ginger (original recipe calls for fresh. I also used more.)
1 1/2 C sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 bell peppers (I used red and yellow), chopped
1 tsp garam masala (I used more)
Cayenne or your favorite powdered heat, to taste
1/2 C vegetable broth
1 can black beans, drained
1 package soy chorizo (I used tofurky's just to try it, but trader joe's is just as good and much cheaper)
Salt and pepper
Tortillas
Lime for garnish, as you like

Method:
In a soup pot or large skillet you can cover, saute onion, garlic, ginger, and bell peppers in oil for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add sweet potatoes, garam masala, and cayenne and mix well. Add veggie broth, then cover and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Add beans and soyrizo and cook another 5 minutes until heated through. Add salt and pepper and adjust other seasonings to your liking. Serve immediately with hot tortillas, garnished with lime. Enjoy!

Chana Masala (Chickpea curry)

A delicious, fragrant, spicy chickpea stew. Yes, this recipe has a long list of ingredients (mostly spices), but it's very easy and comes together in about 30 minutes. This is great right out of the pan, but gets even better the next day as leftovers after the flavors have had time to meld. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com), which, by the way, is a fantastic recipe site.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon ground coriander
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 cups tomatoes, chopped small or 1 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes, chopped small
2/3 cup water (you can also substitute juices from the tomatoes or liquid from the canned or cooked chickpeas for extra flavor)
4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
lemon juice, optional

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, paprika and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spices for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Add the liquid you're using and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt. You can finish with a squeeze of lemon juice if you like, though I didn't and it was still delicious!

Aloo Gobhi (Potato and Cauliflower Curry)

After many failed attempts to make North Indian food, this one finally turned out brilliantly! This is courtesy of the blog "Sanjha Chulha" ("Common Oven"), at http://sanjhachulha.blogspot.com - with a few adjustments.

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces, making 2 cups of cauliflower florets
2 tbs vegetable/canola oil
1 large onion, cut into small pieces
2 garlic cloves, chopped into small pieces
potatoes, chopped into small pieces - about 2 or so cups total (I used about 8 small red ones)
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garam masala (I love MTR brand)
cayenne pepper, to taste
1 tbs butter
1 tbs peeled and finely grated ginger


1. Wash the cauliflower by swishing it around in a bowl full of cold salted water. This adds a little bit of salt before you begin frying.
2. Heat the oil in frying pan and add the onion, garlic and potatoes and fry untill the color of onions is deep yellow and its translucent (approx. 10 min.)
3. Add the cauliflower and fry till the onions are now brown (approx. 3-4 min.)
4. Add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and garam masala, stir and fry. (approx. 5 min)
5. Mix well.
6. Add the butter and mix, add 6-7 tbs cold water and simmer. (approx. 5-10 min. but it depends, so keep checking till the potatoes are done. if they're taking a while, cover the pan and let it hang out for a few minutes).
7. Stir in the ginger and cook for a minute or two.
8. Serve with rice or roti (flatbread - the naan you can buy at trader joe's is pretty tasty!)

Grilled Tofu with Spicy Peanut-Soy-Ginger Sauce

This has been my go-to recipe for grilled tofu this spring/summer. It's super easy and extremely flexible - I think I've prepared it differently each time I've made it based on what I've had on hand! Adjust and alter to your hearts content...I'm convinced you really can't go wrong with this combination of flavors.

1 block tofu, drained and sliced into 1/2" thick grillable-sized slices
peanut butter
hot water
juice from half a lime
soy sauce
garlic, minced
grated fresh ginger or powdered ginger
cayenne pepper or hot sauce
black pepper
fresh cilantro, chopped


Pat your sliced tofu dry with a clean dish towel to get out any remaining water, drizzle with just a touch of soy sauce, and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together several spoonfuls of peanut butter (I prefer crunchy!) with a tablespoon or two of hot water until the peanut butter kind of dissolves and gets nice and saucy. It's better to start with just a bit of hot water and add more as needed to get the desired consistency. Add to this: the juice from half a lime, several tablespoons of soy sauce, as much minced garlic as you can stand, about a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger or a couple of pinches of the powdered variety, several dashes or pinches of hot sauce or cayenne, a couple grinds of fresh black pepper, and a nice handful of chopped fresh cilantro. Mix well.

Taste and adjust to your preferences! Like things spicy? Add more heat. Prefer it a bit saltier? Add a couple shakes of soy sauce. Want to repel vampires? Up the garlic content. You get the picture.

Get your grill going, oil it up a bit, and spread out your tofu slices. Grill until you have nice grill lines on the bottom side and then flip. Now, brush on a good layer of the sauce on the tops of the tofu slices. When the bottoms are all perfectly grilled, remove tofu from the grill and flip it over onto a plate so the non-saucy side is up. Brush (or pour!) on plenty of the sauce. I like to save a little bit of the sauce so that as I serve the tofu I can drizzle more on each plate to let it mingle with whatever veggies or salad I am serving. Yum.

West African Groundnut Stew . . . via Moosewood

Another recipe that totally intrigued me and will have to make when I have time to cook again. This one is also from Doctorandmama, who swiped it from Moosewood.

2 cups chopped onions
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cayenne or other ground dried chiles
1 teaspoon pressed garlic cloves
2 cups chopped cabbage
3 cups cubed sweet potatoes (1-inch cubes)
3 cups tomato juice
1 cup apple or apricot juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
2 chopped tomatoes
1 ½-2 cups chopped okra
½ cup natural peanut butter



1. Sauté the onions in the oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent.
2. Stir in the cayenne and garlic and sauté for a couple more minutes.
3. Add the cabbage and sweet potatoes and sauté, covered for a few minutes.
4. Mix in the juices, salt, ginger, cilantro, and tomatoes.
5. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender.
6. Add the okra and simmer for 5 minutes more.
7. Stir in the peanut butter, and simmer gently until ready to serve, stirring frequently. Add more juice or water if the stew is too thick.
8. Serve over rice, and wash it down with ginger beer.

Spicy Jamaican Jerk Tempeh

This was adapted from the International Vegetarian Union (ivu.org), which adapted it from Vegetarian Times . . . yes, a long list of adaptations, from which has come a sweet, spicy, and delicious dish. Matt describes it as "Christmas-y" thanks to the lovely combination of allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon :). The list of ingredients is long, but it comes together very quickly with the help of a blender!

3 large cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup minced fresh ginger
1/3 cup sliced scallions (I used both white and green parts)
1/2 tsp cayenne (less if you don't want it to be quite so spicy)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp allspice
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbs lemon juice
3/4 cup fruit juice - I used a juice that was a combination of apple, orange, and pineapple. You could also use apricot, peach, or mango juice.
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 8 oz packages tempeh, cut into triangles

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare marinade by dumping all ingredients (except tempeh) into a blender. Press "on." Now you're done! (Alternately, if you don't have a blender, you could just whisk all the ingredients together).

Brush a pan with olive oil; place the tempeh inside (it doesn't necessarily have to be in one layer). Pour the marinade over the tempeh and turn to coat. Bake for about 30 minutes, until browned and bubbly. Yum!

Spicy (or not) Yogurt Dip

Another swipe from Epicurious.com, with tweaks :). I made this to go with the Zucchini Pancakes (below), and the pairing turned out amazingly. Would also be great as a dip for veggies/crackers/bread.

2 green cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 cup loosely packed fresh sprigs cilantro
2 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 (3-inch) fresh serrano chile, including seeds, chopped -- this can be omitted if you don't like spicy things :)
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt

Lightly crush cardamom pods with your thumb, then remove seeds, discarding husks. Toast cardamom and peppercorns in a dry small heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant and a shade darker, then cool. Grind spice mixture to a powder in grinder or mortar and pestle. Purée cilantro with spice mixture, garlic, chile, 2 tablespoons water, and 1 tablespoon oil in a blender until smooth. Stir purée into yogurt and season with salt.

Moroccan-inspired Chickpea Stew with Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash, and Kale

This giant pot of stew will feed a small army...or you'll have leftovers for a week!

1 small butternut squash
2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
3 TBSP olive oil
2 medium-sized onions, chopped
5 or 6 cloves garlic, minced
2 inch chunk garlic root, peeled and minced
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dill
2 cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 can whole tomatoes in juice, chopped
1 medium-sized head of kale, stalks removed and chopped

Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Place face down in a lightly oiled glass pan and bake at 400 degrees for about half an hour, or until tender. Remove from oven, carefully trim skin off, and chop into 1/2 inch chunks. Meanwhile, place chopped sweet potatoes in a pot with a steamer basket and steam for about 20 minutes.

Heat 3 TBSP olive oil in a large pot over medium flame. Add onions and saute until translucent, about five minutes. Add garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, tumeric, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne, and saute another two or three minutes. Add steamed sweet potatoes, roasted squash chunks, dill, chick peas, chopped tomatoes with their juice, and about a cup of cold water. Cover and let simmer over medium heat until the stew thickens and all flavors meld, about 20 minutes. While stew is simmering, steam the chopped kale for about five minutes until bright green. Mix steamed kale into stew. Taste and adjust seasonings.

This stew is delicious served over brown rice with chopped raisins. Top it all off with a spoonful of yogurt!

Sujatha’s Karivepaku Podi (Curry Leaf Powder)

A tasty and spicy way to jazz up some plain rice! You should be able to find curry leaves at your friendly neighborhood Indian grocery.

My coworker Sujatha gave me this recipe using grams as a measurement . . . so it might take some playing around to get the right proportions.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
125 grams urad dal
10 – 12 dried red chilis
35 grams dhaniya (coriander seeds)
10 grams jeera (cumin seeds)
45 grams sesame seeds
Leaves from 12-15 stems of curry leaves
6-7 pieces of garlic
Salt to taste
20 grams dried tamarind

Head oil in a pan for 2 minutes; add ural dal and fry until it’s light brown. Add chilis, coriander, cumin, coriander, sesame, curry leaf and fry till it’s a light brown color. Make sure you don’t use too much oil here; you want the mixture to be fairly dry. Toss the garlic and tamarind in towards the end.

Dump all the ingredients in the food processor; add salt and grind. You want it to be a powder, but Sujatha tells me that if you let it get TOO fine, then it’ll get bitter. Stir it into rice, and eat with curry, raita, and other yummy Indian things.

Hyderabadi-style omelettes

I've only eaten this made with egg, onion, and spices, but I bet it would also be seriously tasty with some chopped tomato and red pepper tossed in. Could potentially be served with aloo gadda (potato fry) for a spicy brunch :)

2 eggs
2 tbs chopped onions
1tsp ginger-garlic paste
½ tsp chili powder, or to taste
1 tsp meat masala
¼ tsp turmeric
Pinch of salt
about 2 tbs fresh cilantro, chopped
Splash of milk

Sauté onions in oil till translucent. While they're cooking, whisk all other ingredients together in a small bowl. Add to pan and cook as you would an omelette, or scrambled eggs.

Spicy Moroccan Kale and Chickpea Stew

A lovely, spicy autumnal stew! We served it at our debate watching party this past week and it was certainly a hit. This makes one ENORMOUS pot of chickpeas. Seriously, you'll be eating it all week. Or you can just do what we did: gather all your friends and force them to eat seconds, thirds, etc... Enjoy!

1 lb dry chickpeas
10 C water and/or vegetable broth
2 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 potatoes, chopped
2-3 carrots, diced
28 oz can whole tomatoes in sauce, chopped
1 large bunch kale, stems removed and chopped
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
2-3 bay leaves
5 or more shakes hot sauce
salt and pepper

Overnight, soak dry chickpeas in enough water to cover by several inches. Drain and rinse well. In a large pot, combine soaked beans with 10 cups water and or vegetable broth (I used half water, half broth left over from boiling veggies the previous day!). Salt well and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and allow to simmer partially covered for 45 minutes to an hour.

Meanwhile, in a skillet saute heat the olive oil and saute the onions until translucent and fragrant. Add garlic and saute one minute more. Add potatoes and carrots and continue cooking another five minutes. When beans are ready, stir vegetables into the beans along with chopped tomatoes and sauce, kale, all spices, bay leaves, as many shakes of hot sauce as you can like, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir well. Taste and adjust spices as needed. Allow all to simmer at least 30 minutes so flavors can meld.

Serve over brown rice or couscous. Perhaps with a side of roasted root veggies. Mmmmmm!

Cabbage Curry- South Indian style

Welcome Cabbage (wannabe) lovers,
Here is a favorite recipe of mine with cabbage made the traditional South Indian way.

1 cabbage (shredded as thinly as possible)
Handful unsweetened shredded coconut
Salt

For Seasoning,
2-3 TBSP canola/ corn oil,
1/2 TBSP mustard seeds,
1/4 TBSP cumin seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida powder,
2 Indian or Thai green chilli, finely diced (can de-seed them if you are avoiding spice)
Curry leaves (2-4 nos)

A one-stop-shop for all these ingredients will be your local Indian grocery store.

Preparation:
Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds.
Add the above seasoning ingredients in the order mentioned and fry for a minute. Then add the shredded cabbage, some unsweetened shredded coconut (which you can get at the baking aisle), salt (according to taste) and cook for 10 minutes (take care to not stir too much while cooking to avoid making it mushy).
Sprinkle some chopped cilantro leaves and voila! You have some absolutely delicious cabbage.
Can be had with tortillas, rice, or just plain yogurt.

Spicy Coconut Pumpkin Soup

This soup is subtle (or not so subtle if you load up on the chili!) and wonderful with the coconut, cilantro, lemon combination. Perfect for this time of year - and if you've never cooked with a whole pumpkin before (I hadn't) this is a great place to start. I highly recommend that you split the pumpkin into halves or quarters, prick the inside all over with a fork, and stick it in the oven at 450 degrees for 30-45 minutes to soften before you try to peel it and chop it up. Roasting also brings out the wonderful pumpkin flavor. And, make sure you roast those seeds, too! Here's a little trick for detangling the seeds: when you pull them out of the pumpkin, dump them in a bowl of water and sqeeze them around with your hands for a while. The seeds will float and the goo will sink!



2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tsp brown sugar
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small pumpkin, skinned and chopped into 1-inch chunks
2-3 cups vegetable broth
1 14-oz can coconut milk
1 TBSP chili powder
1-2 TBSP lemon rind, grated
4-5 shakes soy sauce
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
yogurt, cilantro, lemon peel, for garnish

In a large pot, heat oil and gently cook onion with brown sugar and garlic over low heat until softened (8-10 minutes). Add chopped pumpkin, vegetable broth, coconut milk, chili powder, lemon rind and soy sauce. Season with freshly ground pepper. Simmer for about 25 minutes until tender. Remove and puree until smooth. Just before serving, adjust seasoning to taste. Mix in chopped cilantro. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a dollop of yogurt and sprinkled cilantro and lemon rind.

Miso-Ginger Salad Dressing

This dressing is technically supposed to go over eggplant, but I liked it better over mixed greens. Serious yummy. Also, a general miso recommendation, based on recent experience; don't buy the floofy expensive organic miso you find in health-food stores . . . it might be organic, but it's not as good as the stuff you get in Chinatown. (I will never make that mistake again!)

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon miso
1 tablespoon chopped basil (I used fresh, which was really good, but I bet it would be fine dried)
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Whisk first 6 ingredients in bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in the vegetable oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Masala Salsa

This recipe was invented by me and my roommates (one is South Indian and the other is half Cuban). I was very uncertain about how the flavors would mix, but it ended up being seriously tasty. We didn't measure anything, so everything is approximate.

1 onion, diced
2 or 3 tomatoes, diced
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn kernels (preferably fresh, but frozen is fine)
cumin to taste
2 chili peppers, sliced in half and seeded
coriander to taste
garam masala to taste
fresh cilantro, chopped

Saute onions in butter or vegetable oil until translucent. Add tomatoes, black beans, and corn, and simmer for several minutes. Add spices to taste. Remove from heat, let cool for a little while, and stir in cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips or bread.