Mole Poblano Enchiladas
I slightly reinvented my mole recipe using hand ground chocolate and cocoa nibs. I usually make the enchiladas with a winter squash, but I wanted to experiment with fillings. I used a simple Oaxacan cheese filling with green chilies and fresh onions and “smoked” seitan (turkey is traditional).
Ingredients
3 packs chicken style seitan, drained and pressed dry
1 qt. no-chicken broth
½ t liquid smoke
1 t crushed red peppers
1 t salt
½ t ground pepper
3 dried ancho chilies
3 dried pasilla chilies
2 dried mulatos chilies (or more anchos)
2 dried guajillo chilies
1 dried chipotle
1 t coriander seeds
½ t black peppercorns
½ t anise seed
¼ t cumin seed
4 cloves
1 (1”) piece cinnamon stick (or ½ t ground)
1 bay leaf
3 T slivered almonds
2 T sesame seeds
2 corn tortillas, torn into 1 inch pieces
1 medium white onion, quartered
5 cloves garlic, peeled
3 medium ripe red tomatoes
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup yellow raisins
1 ½ T vegetable oil
2 cups vegetable stock
2 ½ T ground unsweetened chocolate
1 t unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T cocoa nibs
1 T honey (or to taste)
2 t red wine vinegar (or to taste)
salt
1 can green chilies, chopped
½ white onion, minced
1 T canola oil
32 corn tortillas
16 oz Oaxacan baking cheese, shredded
1 qt vegetable broth
Directions
Combine first six ingredients and refrigerate overnight.
For the mole:
Soak the dried peppers in hot water. You may need to weigh them down with a bowl or plate to keep them submerged. Leave them in the water until you are ready to add them into the sauce. Toast spices until fragrant, then grind to a fine powder. Toast separately the sesame seeds, almonds, and tortilla pieces. Roast the tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a comal or cast iron pan until there are back spots. Add roasted veggies, ground spices, and toasted nuts and tortilla pieces into a blender with the raisins and cilantro. Blend to a fine sauce. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok and fry the sauce, gradually adding the vegetable stock. Once all the vegetable stock has been added, mix in the chocolate, cocoa powder, and cocoa nibs. Then add honey, vinegar, and salt to taste. Set mole aside.
For the filling:
Sauté the onion in the canola oil until translucent. Add green chilies and drained seitan. Stir until combined.
To build the enchiladas:
Heat vegetable broth in a wide shallow sauce pan till steaming. Keep stove temperature at a level that will keep the broth hot, but not let it boil. This may involve periodically removing it from the heat. Spoon some of the mole mixture into the bottom of a baking dish so that there is a thin coating of the sauce on the bottom of the dish. Dunk a tortilla into the hot broth just long enough to make it pliable, then remove onto clean surface. Spoon 2-3 T of the seitan mixture, add a bit of cheese, roll, and place stuffed tortilla seam down in the mole coated baking dish. Repeat this process until the baking dish is full. Spoon additional mole over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle a little more cheese on top of the smothered enchiladas. Repeat entire process with second baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes in a 350° oven. Sprinkle with a little more cilantro before serving. Serves 12.
Lentejas Oaxaqueñas
This is a traditional lentil dish that combines the spices typical to the Southern part of Mexico, clove and allspice, with fresh tropical fruits of the Mexican coast, pineapple and plantain.
Ingredients
1 lb. lentils
8 cups water
10 large cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 medium white onion, peeled and chopped
1 T vegetable oil
2 yellow plantains, peeled and chopped
2-3 thick slices fresh pineapple, chopped
2-3 roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 t ground cloves
1 t ground allspice
salt to taste
Directions
Place the lentils in a large pot with the water, half the garlic and half the onion. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Season with salt to taste. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and sauté the remaining onions and garlic until the onion begins to soften. Add the plantains, pineapple and tomatoes and continue to cook until the plantains soften. Add the spices, lentils, and some of their cooking liquid. Continue cooking until the mixture thickens, adding more cooking liquid as necessary. Serve in bowls, garnished with fried slices of plantain if desired. Serves 8-10.
Ensalada de Jicama Toronjada
This is a colorful jicama salad with grapefruit, orange, marinated onions, spinach, and spices. Provides a lively counter to the earthy flavors in the enchiladas.
Ingredients
1 red onion, thinly sliced into crescents
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t salt
2 grapefruit, sliced and peeled (membranes removed)
3 navel oranges, peeled (membranes removed)
2 cups jicama, cut into sticks (3 by 1/2 inches)
1 medium fennel bulb cut into match sticks
2/3 cup cilantro, chopped
salt, to taste
2 red jalapeno chile, seeded and diced
cayenne pepper
6 cups mixed salad greens
2 T white wine vinegar
4 T orange juice
3 T lime juice
4 T fresh cilantro chopped
1 t black pepper corns toasted and ground to a powder
1 dried ancho chilies toasted and ground to a powder
3 T olive oil
Directions
Combine first 7 ingredients, marinate overnight. Toss grapefruit slices, orange slices, onion slices and jicama, sprinkle with cilantro and jalapeno and season with salt and cayenne. Cover and refrigerate the salad for about 2 hours.
Make dressing by mixing white wine vinegar, orange juice, lime juice, and cilantro. Toast pepper and ancho chili in a cast iron pan until fragrant and chili is crisp, then grind into a powder using a coffee/spice grinder. Add spices to acid mixture. Whisk in oil.
Serve salad cold on a bed of mixed greens that have been tossed with 1/2 of dressing. Drizzle the rest of the dressing over top of the salad or serve on the side.
Platinos Fritos (AKA Amarillos)
This is simply plantains fried in butter and spices. It is commonly served along with meat and fish dishes in Mexico and S. America, or as a dessert. I'm very fond of it as a breakfast dish and it makes a nice sweet accessory to the spices in this meal.
Ingredients
¼ cup brown sugar
½ t cayenne pepper
½ t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t chili powder
¼ t ground clove
6 completely black plantains
½ cup butter or vegan margarine
Directions
Mix sugar and spices together in a bowl, set aside. Melt butter in a non-stick pan or a comal. Once butter is sizzling, add plantains. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture over top of the plantains. Once the are golden brown on the bottom side, flip them over and sprinkle the other half of the spice mixutre over them. Cook till golden on both sides. Drain on paper towel before serving.
This is one of my husband's signature dishes. It is a recipe that he has been perfecting for a couple of years now. We make it every couple of months at home, and has comforted me through many a long night of studying. Asking him to put numbers to this recipe was little difficult, so hopefully the translation is close to his perfect balance of rich, creamy, and spicy. This curry cooks up very fast, so it is important to have all of the ingredients prepared and laid out before you begin to cook. You can make it more or less spicy by increasing or reducing the red curry paste.
Ingredients:
1 16oz pack tofu
4 T canola oil
1 T peanut oil
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. fresh green beans, rinsed and snapped.
2 t ginger, minced
½ cup Thai basil, coarsely chopped
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup vegetable broth
2 T red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
2-3 T brown sugar
Directions:
Slice the tofu into think strips. Heat 2 T canola oil and pan fry the tofu until light golden and firm, set aside. Meanwhile heat remaining oil in large wok to medium high and sauté onions and half of garlic till onions are translucent with some slight browning. Add green beans, ginger, and remaining garlic and cook until beans are bright green. Add basil and toss, then add soy sauce, broth, and half the coconut milk. Mix in the curry paste and sugar and toss till both are dissolved. Add the tofu and toss. Gradually add remaining coconut milk until it reaches the desired consistency. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
Serves 6
Tom Yum Soup
Tom Yum is a simple lemongrass soup usually served with chicken, shrimp, or mushrooms. Regardless of main ingredient, it's traditional to use fish sauce in the broth. This vegetarian version is very hot and sour, using lots of lime juice, but not so much that it overpowers the lemongrass.
Ingredients:
6 cups vegetable broth
6 cups water
6 stalks lemongrass, sliced into 4 inch sections, and crushed with a meat tenderizer
6 keffir lime leaves
1 T ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T peanut oil
1 jalapeño, sliced
2 dried red chilies, ground
12 oz white mushrooms
8 oz shiitake mushrooms
¼ cup soy sauce
juice of 3-4 limes
cilantro
diced fresh tomatoes
thinly sliced jalapeño
Directions:
Mix broth and water in soup pot and add lemongrass and keffir leaves, bring to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes, then reduce heat to gentle simmer. Remove lemongrass and leaves with slotted spoon. Add peppers, mushrooms, and soy sauce. Cook soup until mushrooms are slightly cooked. Turn off heat, add more soy sauce to taste and the lime juice. Serve with cilantro, tomatoes, and jalapeño.
Green Papaya Salad
At first glance, the ingredients for this salad might seem strange, but the fish flavor is quite complimentary to the fruit and the ginger. Traditionally this salad is topped with dried shrimp, but I left that out for this dinner. I did all of the shredding in my food processor, a julienne wheel would be ideal, but a grater wheel will work just fine.
Ingredients:
1 large green papaya, peeled, seeded, and shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 English (hot house, seedless) cucumber, julienned
Dressing:
6 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
3 T fresh ginger, grated
½ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup fish sauce
1 t sugar
Directions:
Toss vegetables. Mix dressing ingredients together till well blended and then toss with veggies they are thoroughly coated. Serve immediately.
Serves 10
Sweet Rice Banana Cakes
I found this recipe on the interweb and made it my own by adding coconut whipped creme and toasted coconut. It was delicious.
Ingredients:
2 1 ft sq. pieces of banana leaves, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw for at least 1 hour)
2 regular bananas
1 cup Asian sweet rice
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
some twine or string for securing banana leaves
coconut flakes, lightly toasted
Whipped “creme”:
1 small carton coconut creme
1 t sugar
Directions:
First, make the rice. Place rice in a pot together with the coconut milk, water, salt and brown sugar. Turn heat to high or medium-high. Stir until coconut milk has dissolved and mixed with the water and rice. When coconut-water reaches a bubbling boil, stir to loosen any rice stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Turn down heat to low, and cover with a lid. Simmer like this for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until most of the coconut-water has been absorbed and the rice is only slightly crunchy. Turn off the heat, but leave the pot on the burner, and allow to continue "steam" cooking on its own for another 10 minutes. Leave to cool completely, or if you're in a hurry, put the pot in the refrigerator.
When rice has cooled, you're ready to wrap. Lay out one of the 1 ft sq. pieces of banana leaf. You will need to cut the leaf to size from package. Peel one of the bananas and lay it along one end of the leaf: this is how long your cake roll will need to be (you will want to have enough leaf left on either side of the banana to tie it later). Remove the banana and scoop half of the cooled rice onto the leaf, patting it down to approx. 1/2 inch thick, and as long or longer than the banana. You will also want to make this rice "bed" twice as wide as the banana (so that when you roll it, the rice will completely surround the banana). When you're finished making the rice bed, lay the banana on it, pressing it gently into the rice (you can break the banana in half to keep the roll straight). Lifting up the banana leaf, begin to roll so that the rice completely surrounds the banana. Tuck the leaf under and continue rolling until you reach the end of the leaf. Try to roll as tightly as possible. Secure each of the 2 ends with string (it will look like a firecracker). Place the roll in the refrigerator and leave to set for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Repeat with remaining leaf, rice, and banana.
When ready to eat, heat the roll in the oven for 15 minutes at 325 degrees, or bar-b-que it, turning the roll to cook on all sides (banana leaf will turn brown). Remove from oven, open banana leaves and allow cakes to cool. Meanwhile, whip the coconut creme until it starts to firm, add sugar, then continue to whip until it forms soft peaks. Slice cakes into 1-2 inch disks, sprinkle with toasted coconut, and serve with coconut whipped creme.
]]>Madras Eggplant
As the Madras in the title suggests, this eggplant is spicy. I had an issue with the eggplant being under-done and would suggest that the eggplants be slightly roasted over an open flame before cutting to cook the skin and give it a slightly smoky flavor. Using 6 Asian eggplants instead would have been preferable, but given the recipe to do again, I would still roast the outside slightly. Eggplant issues aside, the flavors are wonderfully pungent. This dish should be served with rice.
Ingredients:
3 medium eggplants
2 T peanut oil
2 large onions chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
5 T finely chopped peeled ginger
4 curry leaves
2 t ground coriander
3 t ground cumin
2 t tumeric
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cardamom
3 t sweet paprika
1 t cayenne pepper
1.5 lbs fresh tomatoes chopped
2 t tamarind pulp
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
Cut the eggplants into small cubes, sprinkle with salt and leave for at least an hour to purge.
Heat the oil and add the the onion, garlic, ginger, and curry leaves. As soon as the onions start to change color add the ground spices, tomatoes, and tamarind.
Rinse the eggplant and pat dry.
Add them to the pan and cook gently until tender, being careful that they do not overcook and lose their shape. Remove from heat and toss with the cilantro.
Serves 10
Fresh Paneer
Paneer is an easy thing to make fresh to go with any curry. This paneer goes well mixed into the madras eggplant along with the cilantro, but I served separately as there are almost always vegans at my table.
Ingredients:
10 cups whole cows milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
cheese cloth
Directions:
Bring milk to a boil in a heavy bottom pot, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, line colander with 3-4 layers of cheesecloth. When milk has started to boil reduce heat and add lemon juice, stirring until milk is fully separated into curds (white cheese solids) and whey (yellowish clear liquid). Turn off heat and let mixture sit for 10 minutes. Strain mixture through cheesecloth lined colander and gently rinse with warm water. Draw up corners of the cheese cloth and twist, pushing the cheese into a tight ball. Once most of the liquid is pushed from the cheese, place in a bowl and push the ball into a ½ inch disk. Place heavy bowl with a can inside on top of the cheese disk to push out any additional moisture and let sit for 30 minutes or until fully cooled. When it is time to serve the cheese remove from cheese cloth and slice or crumble. The cheese will keep for several days in the fridge, but if you plan to store it, reserve some of the whey to store it in so that the cheese stays moist.
Pesara Pappu Kattu (yellow dal)
This recipe was taken from a fellow blogger, and turned out beautiful. I have a feeling that this will become a regular dish around our house as it is very easy to prepare and is versatile in its spiciness and consistency.
Ingredients:
2 cup split moong dal(pesara pappu, yellow dal)
6 cups of water (less for thicker dal, more for soup)
2 T ghee (I used olive oil to make it vegan)
2 t cumin seeds
2 green chilli slit length wise
2 dry red chillies seeded and torn into pieces
2 t grated ginger
20 curry leaves
½ t turmeric
¼ t asafoetida (hing)
salt
lime slices
Directions:
Clean dal, removing any stones or deformed beans. Cook dal in water till just tender (do not overcook, this dal cooks much faster than other forms of lentils). Meanwhile, heat ghee in a small frying pan. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle and brown. Add red chillis, green chillis, curry leaves, and ginger. Fry for a few seconds. Add the asafoetida and turmeric and immediately add mixture to the cooked dal in water. Add salt to taste. Let the dal simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until dal is well cooked and the water has cooked off (unless you're making soup). Turn off heat. Serve with lime slices.
Serves 8
Curried Quinoa Salad
Quinoa has more protein than any other grain. This cool salad incorporates mango and cucumber, making it a light, cooling balance to the deep flavors of the eggplant.
Ingredients:
2 cups quinoa (about 6 ounces)
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup mango chutney, chopped if chunky
3 t curry powder
½ t dry mustard
salt
pepper
2 T chopped parsley
2 t chopped mint
2 cup chopped peeled mango plus mango spears for garnish
1 chopped unpeeled English hothouse cucumber
1 cup grated daikon
½ cup chopped green onions
4 cups (packed) baby spinach
Directions:
Roast quinoa in cast iron skillet for 5 minutes. Then cook quinoa in medium pot of boiling salted water over medium heat until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Drain well; cool. Transfer to medium bowl.
Meanwhile, whisk oil and next 4 ingredients in small bowl to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.
Add chopped mango, cucumber, 2/3 of the daikon, ½ of the green onions, mint, cilantro, and ½ cup of the dressing to quinoa; toss to coat. Place spinach in serving bowl, spoon quinoa salad over spinach. Garnish with mango spears, remaining daikon and green onions. Drizzle with remaining dressing.
Serves 10
Spiced Basmati Rice
Basmati rice is already fragrant, and is perfectly wonderful steamed plain. However, just adding a few toasted spices to the rice before steaming creates an incredibly aromatic delicacy to accompany a meal. I almost always make rice in a rice steamer because I am notorious for burning it in a pot. A rice steamer is a good investment as it generally cooks rice faster and without any effort at all really.
Ingredients:
3 cups basmati rice
3 cups water
10 peppercorns
½ t cumin seed
½ t coriander seed
¼ t whole clove
2 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise pods
5 cardamom pods
¼ cup coconut flakes
5 curry leaves
Directions:
Rinse rice well using a fine strainer or colander. Place wet rice in rice steamer. Toast all spices except curry leaves in cast iron or heavy bottom skillet. Add toasted spices and curry leaves to rice, cover rice with water, and give a little stir. Start rice cooker.
Serves 12 ½ cup servings
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