Ingredient cooking challenge, Final week: fresh basil and/or pumpkin
We are going to do an ingredient cooking challenge, starting after the blog recipe cooking challenge is completed. This will be a great opportunity to try some new ingredients, new dishes with ingredients, and just to have fun with cooking, and talking about food. There are 13 weeks/13 ingredients, and the last week will be a surprise challenging ingredient. Try to make dishes that have the ingredient as the star, or one of the main ingredients. Get recipes from books, blogs, wherever! Come back, and talk about them.
Feel free to discuss where you've found your ingredients. Some things might be harder to find in certain areas.
1. okra (Jan.25-31) (look in fresh produce, frozen)
2. quinoa (Feb. 1-7) (look with grains, bulk bins, "health" food)
3. kale (Feb. 8-14) (look in fresh produce)
4. plantains (Feb. 15-21) (look in fresh produce, ethnic markets)
5. avocado (Feb. 22-28) (look in fresh produce)
6. edamame (Mar. 1-7) (look in frozen)
7. jackfruit (Mar. 8-14) (look in ethnic aisles, markets)
8. barley (Mar. 15-21) (look in grains, bulk bins)
9. wild mushrooms (Mar. 22-28) (look in fresh produce, spices (or wherever dried mushrooms can be found)
10. collard greens (Mar. 29-Apr. 4) (look in fresh produce)
11. tarragon (Apr. 5-11) (look in fresh produce, spice aisle, bulk bins)
12. nuts and seeds (Apr 12-18)
13. basil and/or pumpkin (Apr. 19-26)
so the other day I made a variation on this recipe - just added garlic coz I love it. I really really enjoyed this dish. I used frozen okra or this and first of all I thought it was gonna be slimy because it looked a bit snotty at the beginning but after cooking for a bit all the slime vanished! Yeah will make again, in fact I did and had it for lunch again today!
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr134/shelloid/okraonions.jpg
Then I also tried the roasted okra off fatfreevegan tonight for my second dinner. I loved loved loved it! Like AC I managed to add too much salt and I only used a teesny sprinkle. Next time I won't bother with salt.
I used fresh okra for this - I found that nearly every corner type shop near me sells it and it was cheaper than expected. i didn't weigh it but I got enough okra for a portion for myself and it was about 20p.
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr134/shelloid/roasstedokra.jpg
I have discovered that I loooooovvvve okra. <3
eta: photos added - sorry for the shite quality!
yay, shell! yay for okra! I plan to get some more when we make it to the store..maybe tonight.
wow the first recipe i might try since i have all the ingredients!
The only thing about okra is that if it is boiled or stewed it becomes slimy. They use it a lot in West Africa (were it originates) to thicken stews. They call it okro in Ghana. I prefer to steam it and add it at the last minute or make a dish that requires to fryor bake it.
I've never use frozen, though. I assume that it won't be as firm as fresh. Probably better for gumbo than fried okra.
I couldn't really tell much differenct between the fresh or frozen - but they were cooked differently. Certainly the recipe I made with the frozen okra came out firm-ish. Maybe I'll buy some more fresh and make a batch with that to compare!!
I ended up making the Indian style, which is basically just onion sauteed in oil, add okra, add salt, pepper, coriander, and cumin. It's actually really tasty! It doesn't taste that much different than a cornmeal fried okra. It was definitely slimy when I was slicing it, but not really slimy after cooking. It's sauteed for a few minutes, and then covered, and simmered for about 15. I also made a chana type dish with mushrooms added. I messed that up (it was ok), but the okra was better. I think that's all the okra I'll do for now, unless I buy that breaded package! I have definitely been reminded that okra is a great vegetable (fruit?) that needs more love.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs219.snc3/22663_443658330532_507120532_10980257_7664998_n.jpg
ok so I'm really pissed off. I have been really enjoying my quinoa for breakfast and what with this week being quinoa week for this challenge I need some more.
EVERYWHERE near me has sold out of quinoa. Seriously, what the hell. Most people in the UK have never even heard of quinoa so how come it's all been bought.
Gaaaa! I want quinoa!
I only have enough for a small breakfast bowl. :'(
I wonder if everyone in Kilburn is secretly doing this challenge and so stocked up on quinoa.
I'm going to make some Moroccan style quinoa with chickpeas and peppers. I tend to use quinoa whenever it calls for couscous in a recipe, because quinoa is gluten-free & I can't eat gluten.
so I managed to find some quinoa - Yay!! But it was waaaaaayyyy more expensive than where I bought it from before - Boo!!
So to start off the quinoa week I had a chickpea and quinoa pilaf for dinner today. Not hugely adventurous for me (sp?) as I've made it lots before, but not in a while - like a few months.
Tomorrow I will have quinoa for breakfast (if I don't oversleep) and maybe a lentil and quinoa salad for dinner.
Neither of these are that differnt for me, so I will try to think of something different to make on Weds or Thurs.
i am thinking of making the quinoa sushi on this site but using rice vinegar and sugar instead of butter because that sounds nasty
This ingredient cooking challenge was the gentle nudge I needed to try out a recipe with my bag of bulk quinoa. I kept it simple, and made the Indian Spiced Supergrain Cereal in Radiant Health, Inner Wealth instead of the usual oatmeal. This hot cereal combines quinoa, amaranth, with ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla and is sweetened with maple syrup. I used a teaspoon, instead of a tablespoon, of maple syrup. A splash of apple juice complemented the flavors nicely.
I found a blog with lots of whole foods recipes, many vegan ones, called Delicious Wisdom in my search for interesting quinoa recipes to try. The blogger hasn't posted since last fall though.
Anyway...
I made her Molasses Quinoa Burgers recipe last night and it is now J's "new favorite burger" and I agree that it is yummilicious. It's a combo of (lots) of cooked quinoa and black beans with onion, jalapeno, chili powder and cumin. Molasses is also in there of course and I added about 1/4 tsp of garlic powder. The patties formed well but in cooking they began to fall apart. J ended up eating his in a wrap. The recipe says to form 4 patties, but it easily could have made more and they probably would have held together better. The burger in the picture is a smaller one I made with the leftovers after making 4 humongous ones. This is a very delectable burger and I know I'm going to be making this again!
http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss15/erthfemme/003-2.jpg
I forgot to say that I added quinoa to a soup the other day..which is not very exciting, but not something I ever do. The soup turned out to be P's favorite soup, ever...so I've added the recipe:
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=31406.msg372753#msg372753
I found a blog with lots of whole foods recipes, many vegan ones, called Delicious Wisdom in my search for interesting quinoa recipes to try. The blogger hasn't posted since last fall though.
Anyway...
I made her Molasses Quinoa Burgers recipe last night and it is now J's "new favorite burger" and I agree that it is yummilicious. It's a combo of (lots) of cooked quinoa and black beans with onion, jalapeno, chili powder and cumin. Molasses is also in there of course and I added about 1/4 tsp of garlic powder. The patties formed well but in cooking they began to fall apart. J ended up eating his in a wrap. The recipe says to form 4 patties, but it easily could have made more and they probably would have held together better. The burger in the picture is a smaller one I made with the leftovers after making 4 humongous ones. This is a very delectable burger and I know I'm going to be making this again!
http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss15/erthfemme/003-2.jpg
With the salt and vinegar fries? Yum! I'm going to look into the burger recipe, too. What's the white stuff? Cashew cheeze?
With the salt and vinegar fries? Yum! I'm going to look into the burger recipe, too. What's the white stuff? Cashew cheeze?
Yep! The "white stuff" is a funky looking slice of brie cheez from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. It was a very good dinner, not anything too exciting but still delicious.
BR - that looks so so delicious! I'll have a look at the burger recipe, but I'm not sure I'll make it as I don't keep molasses in stock.
I had quinoa for breakfast yesterday and today - standard quinoa w/soy milk, agave, cinnamon and sultanas. If I remember I'll take a photo tomorrow just for this thread.
I made Lucidanne's lentil and rice salad, but subbed quinoa for the rice - and had that on Tues and Weds night.
Tonight I am making 'mexican' quinoa - basically my normal mexican rice recipe, but with quinoa! This is exciting for me because even though I say my 'normal' recipe it has been months and months since I have made it. Yay quinoa!
I put quinoa in soups, pasta, etc...more for a health boost than flavor....I made with quinoa, red lentils, and yellow split peas (along wih potatoes, carrots and roasted garlic) last night and it was yummy! I blended it 3/4 of the way so it was really creamy...especially from the red lentils and potatoes....the quinoa was in there but not really detectable...so maybe that was cheating.
Like always BR, your pic looks yummy!
My BF is really good at making sushi and uses a ratio of brown rice to quinoa, where the qunioa makes the rice more sticky-like..maybe we'll make that tonight. I'll post the recipe if it turns out good....the soup was good, maybe I'll try to add that too.
AC, I want to try your soup, i finally have liquid smoke for the furst time in my life!
just found that burger recipe http://deliciouswisdom.com/2008/04/28/molasses-quinoa-burgers-2.aspx
would it work with kidney beans? hard to get black beans in denmark
I made Quinoa Sushi
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k397/amymylove/vegweb/AmysPictures005.jpg
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k397/amymylove/vegweb/AmysPictures004.jpg
It tasted really good (i mixed in a little leftover sticky rice) but fell apart like crazy so I don't think I will be making sushi with quinoa again... As I mentioned earlier I flavored the quinoa with rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt instead of cooking it in broth and flavoring it with butter
That still looks yummy, amy, even though they were messy.
ampallang: I imagine kidney beans would work, doesn't hurt to try!
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