A quick starch to go with the lion's mane turned out good:
1 cup moghrabieh (massive lebanese couscous)
2 cups water
~2 tsp veg bouillon powder
1-2 tsp cumin seeds
~2 tsp mustard oil
1-2 tsp turmeric
1 bay leaf
Put all the ingredients in a pan together, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer until the moghrabieh is tender and all the liquid is absorbed.
The first time I cooked moghrabieh I wasn't sure about the texture / if I had cooked it right. Now I am into it - it is wonderfully stodgy, almost a little bit chewy - perfect filling warmth for cold days, especially when hotted up with cumin, turmeric and mustard oil.
Showing posts with label moghrabieh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moghrabieh. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Colourful, robust winter salads
We ended up eating at / from Whole Foods quite a lot while we were out West. It was S's idea. We arrived in Vegas and had one very uninspired meal with awful service, and then he had the idea of looking for local Whole Foods (apparently his buddy who runs learning-to-play-poker courses there stocks up at Whole Foods before getting going on the poker). We found a huge one in Henderson, and that was us sorted for the next few days.
A recurring Whole Foods salad theme was mixed grains and pulses. Which put me in the mood for more on our return. Here are a couple of variants:
Giant couscous, lentils, rice, cranberries and pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup giant / Israeli couscous, cooked in 1 cup water with 1/4 tsp turmeric for colour
1/2 cup brown and/or wild rice, cooked in 1 cup water
3/4 cup brown lentils, cooked in 1 1/2 cups veg stock with a bay leaf
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
~8 salty black olives, chopped
~2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt+pepper
wholegrain mustard
maple syrup
Mix olive oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup and seasoning in a medium bowl to make the dressing. Add the cooked, cooled couscous, rice and lentils and toss. Add the cranberries, pumpkin seeds, olives and coriander and mix up again. Taste to check seasoning / that there is enough dressing.
Massive couscous (moghrabieh), chickpeas, beetroot and sesame
3/4 cup moghrabieh, cooked in 1 cup water with 1/2 tsp turmeric for colour
1 cup chickpeas, cooked and defrosted
2-3 medium beetroot, boiled until tender, cooled and diced into ~1 cm dice
~2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp black sesame seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
juice of 1/2 lime
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt+pepper
Put the pre-cooked and cooled couscous, chickpeas and chopped beetroot in a bowl, add the seeds and coriander and toss. Then add the dressing ingredients: oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt+pepper, quantities to taste (use plenty), toss and eat.
A recurring Whole Foods salad theme was mixed grains and pulses. Which put me in the mood for more on our return. Here are a couple of variants:
Giant couscous, lentils, rice, cranberries and pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup giant / Israeli couscous, cooked in 1 cup water with 1/4 tsp turmeric for colour
1/2 cup brown and/or wild rice, cooked in 1 cup water
3/4 cup brown lentils, cooked in 1 1/2 cups veg stock with a bay leaf
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
~8 salty black olives, chopped
~2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt+pepper
wholegrain mustard
maple syrup
Mix olive oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup and seasoning in a medium bowl to make the dressing. Add the cooked, cooled couscous, rice and lentils and toss. Add the cranberries, pumpkin seeds, olives and coriander and mix up again. Taste to check seasoning / that there is enough dressing.
Massive couscous (moghrabieh), chickpeas, beetroot and sesame
3/4 cup moghrabieh, cooked in 1 cup water with 1/2 tsp turmeric for colour
1 cup chickpeas, cooked and defrosted
2-3 medium beetroot, boiled until tender, cooled and diced into ~1 cm dice
~2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp black sesame seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
juice of 1/2 lime
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt+pepper
Put the pre-cooked and cooled couscous, chickpeas and chopped beetroot in a bowl, add the seeds and coriander and toss. Then add the dressing ingredients: oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt+pepper, quantities to taste (use plenty), toss and eat.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
More golden food: vegan 'cheese sauce' with moghrabieh
We had a leaving party at the weekend for a colleague who is moving to France. My boss's wife has a tradition of making 'American food' for such events, and this time is was macaroni cheese. S couldn't make it to the party, but I got to thinking yesterday about how he used to love cheese sauce when I made it before I stopped eating cheese, and also how it is a good, warming, comforting thing to eat with cauliflower or chard or similar. So I was thinking about whether a vegan alternative would be remotely viable (a vegan white sauce would be easy enough, but how to make it cheesy?), and consulted ppk - seemed like the obvious place to start. I found this recipe there. The ingredient list looked somewhat weird - sauerkraut?! But actually we have a huge jar of sauerkraut in the fridge that S bought and decided he didn't like. And way better than anything involving fake cheese. So, much though I feared it might turn out disgusting, I thought I'd give the recipe a try.
3/4 cup cashews, soaked (perhaps blanched almonds would be an alternative)
2 cups veg stock, divided
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 cup sauerkraut
1/6 cup plain flour
black pepper
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
To soak the cashews, put them in a bowl and submerge in hot water. Leave for at least an hour, preferably 2 hours or overnight.
Prep whatever you want to eat with the sauce in parallel or in advance: pasta, cauliflower, whatever (I boiled some moghrabieh in the same way as I would pasta).
Put the soaked cashews and 1 cup of the veg stock in the blender and blend until smooth.
Meanwhile, heat a large pan over medium heat, then fry the onions and garlic and a pinch of salt in half a tablespoon of the oil, until onions are softened. Drain the sauerkraut in a sieve, squeezing it in your hands to remove as much of the wetness as possible. Add sauerkraut to the pan just to heat through, a minute or two.
Add the sauerkraut mixture to the cashew mixture in the blender. Blend until smooth.
Wipe out the pan reheat it over a medium heat. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil, along with the flour. It should become a gooey clump. Toast the roux for about 15 minutes, until it smells toasty and turns medium brown. Stir constantly so that it cooks evenly.
Gradually pour in the remaining cup of stock, whisking constantly so that it doesn’t go lumpy. Whisk until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes.
Add the cashew sauerkraut mixture, and whisk until well incorporated. Add the black pepper, nutritional yeast if using, salt and lemon juice. Heat through and stir occasionally, allowing the mixture to thicken.
(If you want to make a baked macaroni cheese, at this point heat oven to 350F and grease an 11 x 13 oven dish with olive oil, then mix the cooked pasta back with the sauce and put it in the oven dish, cover with tin foil and bake for 20 min, remove foil and bake 5 more min... Otherwise just mix the hot sauce with whatever)
It worked amazingly well! The sauce was not completely smooth, neither was it exactly like cheese sauce, but it did have a creamy, comforting texture and consistency, and it tasted really mellow and interesting (the sauerkraut definitely remained secretive). S liked it too (I only told him about the sauerkraut after he'd tried it). Perhaps that sauerkraut will get eaten after all (I'll have to stock up on cashews...). This quantity was plenty for S and I - would prob serve 4 - and the leftovers keep well in a pot in the fridge (unlike non-veg cheese sauce). Other recipes I saw use miso to get that 'matured' taste - perhaps I will try that too (if we ever run out of sauerkraut).
3/4 cup cashews, soaked (perhaps blanched almonds would be an alternative)
2 cups veg stock, divided
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 cup sauerkraut
1/6 cup plain flour
black pepper
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
To soak the cashews, put them in a bowl and submerge in hot water. Leave for at least an hour, preferably 2 hours or overnight.
Prep whatever you want to eat with the sauce in parallel or in advance: pasta, cauliflower, whatever (I boiled some moghrabieh in the same way as I would pasta).
Put the soaked cashews and 1 cup of the veg stock in the blender and blend until smooth.
Meanwhile, heat a large pan over medium heat, then fry the onions and garlic and a pinch of salt in half a tablespoon of the oil, until onions are softened. Drain the sauerkraut in a sieve, squeezing it in your hands to remove as much of the wetness as possible. Add sauerkraut to the pan just to heat through, a minute or two.
Add the sauerkraut mixture to the cashew mixture in the blender. Blend until smooth.
Wipe out the pan reheat it over a medium heat. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil, along with the flour. It should become a gooey clump. Toast the roux for about 15 minutes, until it smells toasty and turns medium brown. Stir constantly so that it cooks evenly.
Gradually pour in the remaining cup of stock, whisking constantly so that it doesn’t go lumpy. Whisk until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes.
Add the cashew sauerkraut mixture, and whisk until well incorporated. Add the black pepper, nutritional yeast if using, salt and lemon juice. Heat through and stir occasionally, allowing the mixture to thicken.
(If you want to make a baked macaroni cheese, at this point heat oven to 350F and grease an 11 x 13 oven dish with olive oil, then mix the cooked pasta back with the sauce and put it in the oven dish, cover with tin foil and bake for 20 min, remove foil and bake 5 more min... Otherwise just mix the hot sauce with whatever)
It worked amazingly well! The sauce was not completely smooth, neither was it exactly like cheese sauce, but it did have a creamy, comforting texture and consistency, and it tasted really mellow and interesting (the sauerkraut definitely remained secretive). S liked it too (I only told him about the sauerkraut after he'd tried it). Perhaps that sauerkraut will get eaten after all (I'll have to stock up on cashews...). This quantity was plenty for S and I - would prob serve 4 - and the leftovers keep well in a pot in the fridge (unlike non-veg cheese sauce). Other recipes I saw use miso to get that 'matured' taste - perhaps I will try that too (if we ever run out of sauerkraut).
Monday, September 17, 2012
Moghrabieh (massive Lebanese couscous)
S is not a fan of normal sized couscous. But, we discovered, he does like the larger one you see marketed as 'Israeli couscous' or 'Giant couscous'. Mograbieh is even bigger than the giant stuff - cooked, the balls are almost big enough to be mistaken for chickpeas (which made me think it would be fun to mix them with chickpeas another time). I found it in the Armenian stores (although I think it is Lebanese), and thought S might like it even more (perhaps because the bigger it gets, the more it is like pasta?). I didn't feel like looking anything up yesterday, so I just cooked it how I thought it wanted to be cooked.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
3/4 tsp sumac
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup moghrabieh
2 cups veg stock
2 tbsp chopped curly parsley
salt+pepper
Heat the oil in a lidded frying pan, add the onion and sweat on a medium heat until well softened. Remove the lid and cook until any liquid is gone and it is starting to brown. Add the chilli, cumin, caraway, sumac and cinnamon and stir-fry for a minute or so until fragrant. Add the moghrabieh and fry for a minute or so more, then add the veg stock, cover and cook until the moghrabieh are about doubled in size and the stock is all absorbed (about 25 min), adding the parsley and seasoning to taste in the last few minutes. Bite one of the balls to make sure it is cooked through - they didn't go completely soft, remaining a bit of stodgy bite. Cover and leave to steam for ten minutes or so when done, as you would with rice.
The texture of the moghrabieh was interesting (stodgy but chewy?) and I wondered if it was a little underdone? But they tasted fine. I liked the spice combination, with the red onion and parsley - it was warm and comforting. Another time I might add (pre-cooked) chickpeas about halfway through the moghrabieh cooking time.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
3/4 tsp sumac
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup moghrabieh
2 cups veg stock
2 tbsp chopped curly parsley
salt+pepper
Heat the oil in a lidded frying pan, add the onion and sweat on a medium heat until well softened. Remove the lid and cook until any liquid is gone and it is starting to brown. Add the chilli, cumin, caraway, sumac and cinnamon and stir-fry for a minute or so until fragrant. Add the moghrabieh and fry for a minute or so more, then add the veg stock, cover and cook until the moghrabieh are about doubled in size and the stock is all absorbed (about 25 min), adding the parsley and seasoning to taste in the last few minutes. Bite one of the balls to make sure it is cooked through - they didn't go completely soft, remaining a bit of stodgy bite. Cover and leave to steam for ten minutes or so when done, as you would with rice.
The texture of the moghrabieh was interesting (stodgy but chewy?) and I wondered if it was a little underdone? But they tasted fine. I liked the spice combination, with the red onion and parsley - it was warm and comforting. Another time I might add (pre-cooked) chickpeas about halfway through the moghrabieh cooking time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)