Vegetarian Mock Tandoori Chicken

I think -- in fact, I know this dish would satisfy vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. It's packed with protein from the soya and bursting with Indian spices and flavors. This is definitely my go-to recipe when I'm trying to feed company that are non-veg and it certainly can be considered party food as this recipe is enough to feed a crowd. If you're not trying to feed a crowd, then just half the recipe below.

I do have to give a disclaimer about the "star" of the show. The mock chicken is Worthington Chick-ettes. They are not readily available at your local grocery store. You can find them sold at Seventh Day Adventist stores in the freezer section, and for most of us that can be tricky. While I was living in Chicago, I found that Apple Valley Foods on Ogden Avenue sells them.  Here's a helpful link for them: http://www.avnf.com/

And here in Texas, I find that I have to order them all the way from Keene, Texas. After making a few phone calls, I was able to order a box of these babies to have them delivered to a local church in Austin for pick-up. They are pricy, costing about $7 a roll.  So a box of 12 rolls would cost you about $85. If you don't live in either Texas or Chicago, I would call around to find a Seventh Day Adventist Book store near you that sells it. Good luck!

And now here's the recipe ....

For marinade:
2 rolls of Worthington Chick-ettes soya protein (frozen) - to thaw, place in refrigerator the day/night before you are going to make this dish
1 small can tomato paste
5-6 cloves garlic, grated + 2 cloves, grated for veggies
1.5 inch piece of ginger, grated for soya + 0.5 inch piece of ginger, grated for veggies
2 tsp red chili (or per taste)
2 tbsp tandoori masala (or per taste)
1/2 tsp garam masala (or per taste)
Salt per taste
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 cup oil
1 cup yogurt
1/4 cup lemon juice

For veggies:
1 big ole onion, sliced lengthwise
3 multicolored bell peppers, sliced lengthwise
8 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced
5-6 small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in half and then sliced thin (no need to peel)
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped for garnish

1. Make the marinade. I marinated for about 4 hours, but the longer the better. In a bowl, add the yogurt and tomato paste and mix together. Then add ginger, garlic, salt, lemon juice and all the powders and beat together. Roughly break the protein roll into uneven medium size pieces into the marinade and combine it all together. Let it sit to marry all of the flavors. It doesn't matter whether you place in fridge or on the countertop.

2. Cook the veggies. In a big wide pan, add 2-3 tbsp of oil. Add cumin seeds and the cinnamon sticks. When the seeds pop, add the potatoes and cook for a few minutes while you chop the mushrooms. After about five minutes of cook time, add the ginger and garlic. Once that's cooked for roughly a minute, add the mushrooms and salt.Mix together and let that cook while you chop the onions. Drop the onions in while you chop the peppers. Finally, add the peppers. I also added more red chili and tandoori in the veggies, just eyeballed it. After all the veggies are cooked, remove them into a bowl.

3. Cook the mock chicken. In the same wide pan, add 2 tbsp more oil and cook the marinated soya on med heat. It will take roughly 20 minutes, but remember to mix five minutes or so. For a charred tandoori effect, raise the heat at the end.

4. Assembly. Once the soya is cooked, add the veggies and mix together. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with lemon wedges as a side dish with sandwiches or with roti.

I hope you like it as much as our family does. Even my kids eat this stuff, and of course, I have to mellow down the heat for them. Enjoy!

School Lunches: Feeding the Little Bellies

This year my first born starts kindergarten. For the past three years she's been attending a half-day preschool (if you can call 2.5 hours a half-day). So this first week has been a total adjustment, waking up at 6:30am to get her ready, lunches packed and be out the door by 7:20. We were late the whole first week! Oh, how I'm reminiscing about those 9am start date mornings! At least then I could catch a few more Z's and had time to pack her lunch then. For all of you working moms, how do you do it?!

I gathered a few tidbits of advice from experienced moms on how to survive these hectic mornings. One is to pack as much of the lunches as you can the night before. Second is to always keep the pantry and fridge stocked with a variety of fruits, vegetables, spreads and breads. Finally, a functional lunch bag with lunch accessories is a must. I probably spent over an hour in the Target lunchbox aisle trying to figure out the perfect lunch bag. They come in all different shapes and sizes now with all sorts of gimmicky characters. Ultimately I settled on the Embark lunchbag. They work for me because uno, they stand upright so there's no spillage. Dos, there's a zipper compartment up top in case you need to separate items. Finally, they're easy to clean. Just wipe them down with a Lysol wipe and let it dry.

The second essential for packing lunches was to buy the containers to go with the lunch bag. I chose this Rubbermaid Lunchblox Sandwich Kit because I could pack a sandwich, yogurt, fruit and vegetable all without it touching one another. An added bonus is that it comes with a blue ice pack to keep the yogurt cool until lunchtime. I've only used them for about a week now and I already love them.

The last essential is a good water bottle. There's no telling how many water bottles I've gone through with the kids. Most of them are just so hard to clean and mold forms in the hard to clean areas. I was super excited when I found these Thermos FUNtainer bottles. They have been super easy to clean so far and I like the added benefit of keeping drinks cold up to 12 hours. I normally put the thermos bottles in the separate zipper compartment of the Embark lunch bag. I have to admit that the water bottle does weigh the lunch bag down. So if it's too heavy for your child to carry, then the water bottle can still be carried separately.

With these essentials, I hope to consistently pack a healthy,well-balanced lunch packed with plenty of protein, grains and wholesome goodness. So follow along with me as I pack a to go meal for the kiddos. I can't guarantee pictures every day, but I will surely try my best. Today's lunch was a pb and jelly wrap, sliced kiwi/apples and a handful of plain Sun Chips. Yay for us! We've survived this first week!

Roasted Eggplant tinged with cinnamon spiced chickpeas

Roasted Eggplant tinged with cinnamon spiced chickpeas

This recipe has always been a family favorite ever since I first laid eyes on it in The New York Times. It's part of Martha Rose Shulman's Recipes for Health series. Not only is it healthy but it is also delicious and super easy to make. It's the simple things in life that bring true happiness and this is simplicity at its best. I deviated from the original recipe by adding shredded mozzarella cheese on half of the dish, party hoping that I could sway the kids into eating it with no fuss. It worked somewhat. They threw up some complaints about eating the eggplant. So to make the dish kid-friendly, I will chop up the eggplant after roasting and add it in as a layer. They loved the chickpeas though! Next time I might experiment by making this in individual serving ramekins. How fun!

3 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 cans chickpeas, drained

1 28-oz can whole or diced tomatoes, crushed into puree

1 whole eggplant, sliced into rounds

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup olive oil

1-2 tsp honey (depends on how sour your tomatoes are)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp crushed pepper flakes

Fresh oregano if you have

Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Heat up about 2 tbsp oil in a pot. Add the crushed garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Then add the tomato puree, salt, honey, cinnamon and Italian seasoning and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and allow to cook covered for about 20 minutes to thicken. Taste and adjust seasoning based on your tastes.

2. Meanwhile, lay down some foil on your baking sheet and spray with nonstick spray. In a single layer lay down the eggplant rounds on the foil. You might need two baking sheets for this. I happened to use one very large round pizza pan and they all fit perfectly in one go. Drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt on both sides.

3. Roast the eggplant slices for about 20 minutes. I flipped them over halfway through. Once roasted, remove from oven and crimple up the sides of foil so that eggplant can steam for a few seconds.

4. Lower the heat of the oven down to 350 degrees F.

5. Prepare your baking dish by spraying with nonstick spray. I used a small rectangular 2 quart Pyrex baking dish. Place all your chickpeas in the dish. Pour about 1 cup of the sauce from Step 2. Layer the eggplant slices on top of the chickpeas. Then pour the remainder of the sauce on the top.Sprinkle feta, goat, mozzarella or whatever cheese you like on top and chopped fresh oregano if you have.

6. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. 

7. Serve hot with garlic bread and a side salad. Enjoy!

Cauli-Corn Pohe

I made this Cauli-Corn Pohe today for a light lunch. It was great. The kids even ate it all up! The one change that I would make would be to add cashews and/or peanuts at the beginning. I love to have that crunch in my pohe. Since we have a slight allergy in the house, I skipped it all together. 

1/4 head of cauliflower, trimmed and diced into small pieces

1 cup frozen corn, defrosted

2 cups thick pohe (beaten rice)

1/2 onion, diced

1 tsp ginger paste

1/2 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp green chili paste

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

Pinch of hing

1-2 tsp salt or per taste

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp coriander powder

Juice of 1 lemon, or 2 tbsp lemon juice 

Few curry leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Lemon wedges for serving

1. Start by heating up oil in a big Dutch oven nonstick pot. When hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds and let them pop. Drop the curry leaves in and close lid. Remove from heat to prevent getting burned. Add the sesame seeds and hing and mix. Add the onions and return pot back on the heat.

2. Let onions cook on medium heat until shiny. Add the ginger, garlic and green chili paste and mix for about a minute. Add the cauliflower and salt next and let it cook.

3. About 5-7 minutes once the cauliflower is a bit soft, add the corn and coriander powder.

4. While the veggies are cooking, soak the pohe for about a minute or two until you see them puff up. You want to be careful not to soak for too long or else they'll get all mushy and will not retain their shape. Drain the water out of the bowl of pohe using a colander.

5. Once again, remove the pot from the heat. I bring the pot next to the kitchen sink. I squeeze out as much water from the pohe as possible and sprinkle the pohe into the pot. Return pot back on heat.

6. Let all of the flavors marry for about 5 minutes. Then add sugar and lemon juice, tasting and adjust seasoning. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with lemon wedges on side.

This dish was surprisingly delicious. The cauliflower was a great substitute for the traditional potatoes. Soybeans, peas and/or carrots would also be a great addition to bump up the nutrition level. After all, potatoes and rice alone aren't all that wholesome! Definitely give this one a try!

My Mother's Tomato Biryani

Tomato Biryani

My mother makes the best tomato biryani. It's one of her specialties, and a dish that we always request she make even years after we've all grown up and moved out. It's the perfect wholesome comfort food. I've never tried to make it before. I just saved it in my recipe archive for some day. Well, some day has come and for this Mother's Day, I decided to try my hand at it. Before I get started, I must note that this recipe always feeds a crowd so try reducing it by half if you're trying to feed a family of four. I, myself, do not mind having leftovers ready to go in the fridge so I made the full batch :)

2 cups Uncle Ben's Original Parboiled Long Grain Rice*
1 small can of tomato paste
4 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed or ground into paste
1 inch piece ginger, ground into paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp red chili powder or to taste
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup multi-colored bell peppers, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
4 celery stalks, cleaned, trimmed and diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1-2 ears of corn on the cob, cut into thirds (optional)
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Garam masala (optional)

1. First, boil the rice, much like you would for pasta. So bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt. Once water comes to a vigorous boil, add the Uncle Ben's rice and let it cook for about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2.  Second, steam the vegetables. I use a two pot steamer for this step. The corn will steam on the bottom, while the veggies steam on the top of the steamer basket. So to the bottom pot the one in which you fill the water, I would add the corn on the cob. To the steaming basket, I add the carrots, celery, peas and corn because those veggies have a longer cooking time. Cover and steam for about 25 minutes.
4. While the veggies are steaming, I prepared the tomato base. Heat oil in Dutch oven on medium heat.. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add onions and saute for a few minutes. Then add the bell peppers and let them sweat a little bit. Add the ginger and garlic paste next along with some salt. I salted in this step (enough for the rice and veggies) so start off with at least a teaspoon. After about a minute, add the tomato paste. Cook the tomato mixture for about 5-7 minutes. Add the red chili and garam masala (if using) in this step as well.
5. Once the veggies are done steaming, add them straight into the tomato mixture. Mix well. Now, add the boiled rice to the pot and mix everything together.Lower the heat, and continue cooking for at least another 10 minutes or so to allow the flavors to come together.
6. We serve our biryani hot, hot with cool cucumber raita and potato salad. Enjoy!

The first note I wanted to make was that my mom specially uses this brand of rice. She's tried other types of rice, like regular long grain and basmati, but none ever comes out as well as the Uncle Ben's! Secondly, the garam masala is optional. My mother's biryani does not have much spice, which is the way we like it. It's very simple, but you can adjust the seasonings to your preference. The biryani turned out really nice, obviously not as good as my Mom's, but I enjoyed it as did the kids. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommys, Aunts and Grandmothers out there. I hope this recipe makes it into your own personal cookbooks for many to enjoy!