Mustard, cumin, and coconut

Somewhat coincidentally, our dinner on Monday ended up being two dishes flavored with mustard, cumin, and coconut. I found both recipes online, but I modified them fairly significantly, so I'm including the recipes.

I have made the coconut greens recipe from 101 cookbooks before, that time with spinach (see above photo), and Jon loved it, so when I was trying to decide what to do with some leftover chard in the fridge, that came to mind. I also used coconut oil this time to enhance the coconut flavor (and because I just bought it for the first time, and I've been trying it in everything). We used both the stems and leaves of the chard. I just threw the stems in with the onion. Chard is more substantial than spinach, and I think it held up really nicely. I don't know which version I liked better.

The dal came up when I was looking up moong dal recipes online. I noticed that it had cucumber cooked with the dal, which I had never tried before. I also happened to have a partially rotten cucumber in the fridge. I cut off the rotten parts (most of the skin) and used the rest in the dal. It was a good use for a no-good cucumber, but we couldn't really taste any cucumberiness. I think it's omit-able, unless you've got some yucky cucumber to use up. The original recipe suggests squash as an alternative, and I think the effect would be similar. The recipe would be good without it, but it wouldn't hurt anything. Once again, I used coconut oil because I had it and to enhance the flavor.

For our salad, Jon tossed together a slightly unusual one: lettuce, red pepper, tomato, avocado, clementine slices, cashews, and coconut flakes. He dressed it with lime juice, honey, and olive oil. It was nice and tropical, a fitting complement to the dishes I made.

Spiced coconut greens (adapted from 101 cookbooks)

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp salt

Pinch chipotle

1/3 cup minced onion

4 Swiss chard stems, chopped (optional)

4 Swiss chard leaves, chopped, or about 6 oz spinach, chopped

Lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp shredded coconut

Heat coconut oil in a large skillet on high. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, salt, and chipotle, and cook until the mustard seeds start to pop. Immediately add onion and chard stems, if using, and cook until the onion is translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the chard or spinach and cook, stirring often, until it is wilted.

Moong dal with cucumber and coconut (adapted from edible garden)

1 cup moong dal

1/2 cup chopped cucumber (about 1/2-inch cubes)

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 cup chopped onion

Cover dal and cucumber with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and lower heat to a simmer. Cook until dal is your preferred texture.

Keeping out of a salad rut

Ev and I have a standard salad that we really like. Lettuce (usually red leaf), cucumber, grape tomatoes, red pepper, croutons, avocado, olives, feta with either balsamic and oil or Ev's lemon sesame dressing. We have this probably 4 times a week. But we love variety, and we've been trying to keep from getting in a rut by changing things up a bit. We have had a lettuce, roasted red pepper, goat cheese and olive salad with a mayonaise and balsamic dressing (next time leave out the olives); and a lettuce, cucumber, grapefruit, avocado salad with strawberry balsamic (thanks Rochelle) for our post-party brunch. This post is about a third experimental salad. The idea was to showcase zatar.

Lettuce

peeled cucumber cut into cubes

red pepper

grape tomatoes

feta

sliced almonds

zatar

Squeeze lemon over the top

Drizzle with olive oil

This was a nice fresh salad. It seemed very spring-y to me. For a more complete meal you could add chickpeas, limas or lentils.

Chinese spice oil

First, a moment of advertising. I like to make things other than food. Check out evelynsews.blogspot.com to see my sewing projects, old and new.

We made this beautiful red spice oil from a recent Minimalist column in the New York Times. We plan on making the celery and pressed tofu salad from the column later in the week. Jon is in love with this oil. He poured some on the eggplant flan we had for dinner, and when we strained it, he mopped up the bits still in the pot with bread. It is a bit spicy for me, even though I halved the amount of red pepper flakes from the original recipe. I might have to make a very mild version for myself, or just dilute this one to taste. The next time I make it, I might try to get the coriander and cumin tastes to be more prominent. Cinnamon and cloves are so strong that I might need to reduce or leave them out in order to taste the other spices. We plan on using this on the aforementioned salad, in dipping sauces for spring rolls, in stir-fries, and wherever Jon can think to add it for himself.

This was our first time using Sichuan peppercorns, although I had had them in a dish in Singapore. They are kind of trippy. They have a peppery, citrusy aroma, but they numb your tongue slightly, so you don't taste the heat as much. I don't think it would be a big deal to replace the Sichuan peppercorns with black peppercorns, but you would lose that tingly sensation. You can get Sichuan peppercorns at Asian grocery stores. I think Central Market also stocks them.

Chinese spice oil

1 cinnamon stick

1 2-inch segment of ginger, peeled and cut into a few pieces

3 cloves

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 star anise

1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns

1/8 cup (2 tbsp) red pepper flakes (this is half of what the original recipe calls for, and it's plenty spicy for me)

1 cup vegetable oil (we used a corn/canola blend; Bittman recommends peanut oil)

Throw all the spices into a pot. Pour in the oil. Heat over medium until spices are sizzling. Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature. Strain. Discard the spices. We're storing it in the fridge, but it's probably fine on the counter.

Deconstructed hummus

This post has three parts. In the first, I wax poetic about bulk spices. In the second, I wax poetic about dry chickpeas. In the third I give you a recipe.

The Central Market near me recently (past six months or so) started selling bulk spices. Oh my goodness, it's awesome. I have often read that buying spices in bulk was the way to go, but there weren't many places for me to do that. I could get a few things in gigantic bags from Indian, Middle Eastern, and Chinese grocery stores, but while I saved in the unit price, I had to get a lot at one time. Now I can get exotic spices tablespoons (and cents) at a time, saving me money and storage space and keeping my spices fresher. Combined with my recent acquisition of a spice grinder, I lead a charmed life.

Since I love listening to Saturday morning radio (Car Talk, Wait Wait, and even the insufferable twits on Says You) and have an HD radio in the kitchen, I like to have cooking projects on Saturday morning. This past Saturday, I made a batch of granola and cooked up a pound of chickpeas I had soaked overnight. I am always amazed at how cheaply I can make food from dry beans. I can buy a pound of dried chickpeas for 99 cents at my Fiesta. Cooked, that's about six and a half cups. I made two cups of the chickpea salad below and used two cups in Mark Bittman's roasted chickpea dish. (It's quite nice, and I might post it on here later once I play with it a little more.) I had two cups leftover. Some have gone on salads, and I used some in a delicious "inspiration soup" last night. I probably have about a cup of chickpeas still left in the fridge. I saved the cooking liquid and used it as the base of the soup. All those recipes for under a dollar's worth of chickpeas! It's great. Canned chickpeas are also quite cheap compared to meat or restaurant food, but the dried ones are unbeatable.

Deconstructed hummus

2 cups cooked chickpeas
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 tbsp)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp za'atar (to make your own, see next recipe)
Salt to taste

Combine ingredients and adjust seasoning to taste. I wanted to let you know whether it was better the next day, but Jon ate it all before I had a chance. It was really good.

Za'atar (from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp sumac

Toast the sesame seeds in a toaster oven or a dry skillet until golden. Allow to cool. Combine spices.