What did you have for dinner?: The last minute, picture-less edition

Dinner was supposed to be leftovers.  Husband was supposed to be working late at the lab eating leftovers and I was supposed to be at home, not be cooking and eating leftovers here.  But, surprises surprises, William was home early this afternoon and working outside.  Also he convinced me to finally scrub our nasty, dirty, grubby, horrific deck table and chairs so they would be ready for summer usage and more specifically dinner tonight as he wanted to eat outside.  So I scrubbed away at the furniture and suddenly realized at 5pm I needed dinner.  I didn't exactly want to do leftovers since it was one of the few evenings where William was here and we were eating as a family and eating outside!  No one wants leftovers on a night like that!  So my brilliant idea?  Kushari!  It's a super tasty dish that my friend Shelley had been telling me about earlier today.  I had most of the ingredients on hand, and improvised the rest.  It was Ah-MAZ-zing!  I  didn't expect it to be so good, but IT WAS!  Kushari (or Koshary, or Koushry, or Kosheri, or Koshari - however the heck you actually spell it!) is, according to Wikipedia :) an Egyptian dish consisting of lentils, rice, chickpeas, macaroni, Egyptian garlic and vinegar, spicy tomato sauce, and fried onions.  Several recipes that I looked up just had the lentils, rice, spicy tomato sauce, and caramelized onions, and I went with one of those.  I take absolutely no credit for the recipe or the idea of the recipe, but I'm going to share it with you anyways because it was so tasty.

This recipe was gotten off of Food.com, but I had to make some alterations due to the last minute of it, so I'll post those changes along with the original recipe.  And don't be put off my what looks like the long list of ingredients and steps.  It's not the simplest dish, but it's not too complex and it's well worth the effort.

Kushari

(also, there is no picture of this dish because I forgot to get one.  but given that I would not have chosen to eat this meal had I seen it on a buffet or in a potluck line, perhaps the lack of picture is a good thing.  it tastes way better than it looks. the flavors just meld amazingly.)


My alterations in blue.


Ingredients

Rice And Lentils:
2Tbsp olive oil   1 Tbsp
1 1/4 cups lentils   2 cups
3 cups boiling water (or stock)  4 cups veggie stock
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 1/2 cups rice    1 cup brown rice
1 cup boiling water (or stock)  2 cups veggie stock

Sauce:**  
3/4 cup tomato paste
3 cups tomato juice
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup celery leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
 (For the sauce I needed something quick so I just did 1 1/3 jars of Ragu Garlic and onion spaghetti sauce with 1 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp cayenne)

Browned Onions:
2 Tbsp oil*   1 Tbsp oil
3 onions, sliced  So good I should have done 4 (or at least 3 BIG onions)
4 cloves garlic, minced   6 cloves

1. In big sauce pot over medium-high heat, brown lentils in oil about 5 minutes, stirring often.
2. Add 1st quantity of boiling stock and salt and pepper.
3.  Cook uncovered on medium heat for 10 minutes
4. Stir in rice and second quantity of boiling stock.
5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, simmer for 25 minutes w/o stirring. 30-35ish minutes if using brown rice
6.Mean while make sauce.  Heat all ingredients together in medium sauce pan. (or use spaghetti sauce mixture)
7.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes (only 5 minutes of simmering needed if using spaghetti sauce mixture)
8. To make browned onions, heat oil in skillet.  (I used nonstick so I could use less oil)
9. Saute onions and garlic over medium heat till browned.  (took me 15ish minutes)
10.  To serve, put rice mixture on platter, pour tomato sauce over, and top with browned onions.

Some people may turn up their noses at the use of spaghetti sauce instead of the "from scratch" sauce, but let me tell you, when you have a toddler who's awake during dinner prep time, and usually whiny, sometimes you just have to cut corners.  And honestly, I looked at my pasta sauce jar and it contained a lot of the ingredients that would have gone into the "from scratch" sauce anyways, so I figured it couldn't be too off.  Plus it shaved off a chunk of time since I didn't have to cut up the celery or green pepper.

Notes about other alterations:  I cut back on the oil and the recipe still tasted great.  I figured I didn't need 480 calories in the recipe coming JUST from oil, so instead I lopped of 240 of those calories by reducing from 2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp at each of the places.  Next time I might try skipping the oil coating of the lentils in the beginning, since I don't think it helped prevent mushiness at all.  Also I wanted a bit more protein in this meal than grain, so that's why I upped the lentils and reduced the rice.  Also, I used brown rice which was great. :)

So there you have it.  One ugly looking, but killer tasty dish.  I wish it didn't involve 3 pots going all at once.  It's a little more involved than I generally make now in my post-kid era, but it was so good it will have to be made in spite of the more involved preparations. This is also a pretty cheap, vegan dish given that the main ingredients are rice, lentils, onion, garlic, and tomato paste and sauce (or pasta sauce).  Right up my alley.  And if you are needing to boost your iron intake, a hearty bowl of lentils will help with that.

Happy Tasty Eats!

Hummus - the good old standby

I’ve posted some of my newer dips we’ve been eating over here, but not the good old favorite standby that we always have on hand.  We love hummus!!!  All three of us do in fact.  Charlie is just as passionate about hummus as we are.  We barely get two bites into a meal before he refuses to eat anymore until there is hummus mixed in (or tahini - that works almost as well).  In fact, many days we just skip the first two plain bites of food and smother it with hummus from the beginning.

But aside from Charlie, William and I love having hummus on hand for snacking on veggies, and sometimes just eating by the spoonful.  (Yea, it’s that good.)  We both used to eat loads and loads of chips and hummus (still the favorite way to have it), but my days of gorging on chips are over and I largely favor carrots and hummus.  William will still consume some corn chips and hummus though.

So here’s what I love about this tasty snack:


Versatile!!  Eat it with carrots, chips, pita squares, cucumbers or smother your entire plate with hummus (like Charlie does).  Sometimes I’ll even add a dollop of hummus to a soup that I’m eating (lentil soup in particular).  Slather it on some good whole grain bread, top with lettuce, tomato, bean burger (if you have it), and any other veggies. Do whatever you want with it!


Cheap!!!  When you make it yourself that is….  Our income certainly would not support our hummus habit, should we ever have to buy pre-made hummus again.  And given hummus’s other health virtures which I will sing in a moment, I’d hate to cut back on our hummus, just because it was expensive.  So homemade it is!  Plus you can tailor make your hummus to your exact tastes and needs.  At my Kroger a 1lb bag of dried chickpeas is $1.65.  Tahini is the only other “expensive” ingredient in here, which can have a huge range in price, but I can find it for $7/2lb tub.  For the salt, garlic, lemon juice and 6 Tbsp of tahini used per 1lb bag of chickpeas, I figure you’re looking at $2, maybe $2.50 for ingredients.  And a 1lb bag of chickpeas will make up 7 cups of hummus!  If you find good, store bought hummus for $2.50/7cups, please let me know!!


Healthy!!!  Chickpeas are a legume and are high in protein and low in fat!  But that’s just the beginning.  One cup of chickpeas has 12g of fiber, 15g of protein, 26% RDA iron, 71% RDA folate, 84% RDA manganese, and 28% RDA phosphorus, just to name a few of the high points.  Plus, they have satiety value “staying power” to help you feel full.  When I eat 1/2cup of hummus on my salad for lunch, it helps me feel fuller for longer than if I’d just eaten a veggie salad.
So recipe already…


Hummus
1/2lb dried chickpeas, soaked, cooked, cooled
1/2cup lemon juice
1 medium clove garlic
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp tahini
cold water to thin as desired

Place all ingredients in food processor, and mix until desired smooth texture.  Water will aid in getting a smoother texture but will also make it thinner, so it’s a trade off.

Couple of things you’ll notice:  No oil!  You can of course add olive oil to it, but with every Tbsp you add, the calories go up obviously.  Since we don’t use this as one of our main sources of fats (although you could if you needed that to suit your dietary style), I don’t bother with the oil.  In fact I use hummus as a substitute for the more calorific salad dressings.  Salad dressings are generally all fat, and have little to no nutrients, fiber or protein, unlike chickpeas.  If I’m going to consume fat, I’d rather do it in a more pleasing and healthy way (I love nuts!). Besides, it tastes pretty darn good without olive oil, so try it first!

Also notice the dried chickpeas.  You can in fact use canned, but in my opinion the quality of your hummus will diminish DRASTICALLY!!  And I say that in all seriousness.  There are some things for which canned chickpeas work fine - and I do NOT believe hummus is one of them.  Also cooling the chickpeas and using cold water in the recipe make for a better result too.

One last thing to mention that has to do with versatility, is that while I make our hummus with less tahini than some recipes call for because I like reduce the fat I’m getting, tahini is a pretty good way to consume fats.  So if your family needs more fat in your lean diet, or you have a child who needs more fat consumption, go a little more heavy handed with the tahini, or mix in extra tahini to the portion of hummus you are giving your lean folks and leave it out of the main bowl.  I would favor doing that over adding olive oil, as tahini (sesame seeds) generally have more nutrients in them than olive oil - so more bang for your fat calories.
Tell me what you think if you try it!  Off to have some hummus and carrots…