Veg Biscuits and Gravy

I had forgotten how deliciously divine biscuits and gravy can be. Now I came to this dish late in life, as a vegetarian, I never really got lard biscuits and sausage gravy, until a dietitian friend of mine made biscuits and vegetarian soysage gravy. Then I got the whole appeal of biscuits and gravy. I got the recipe from her, and have never looked back.

When a friend of mine posted this on FB the other day, I couldn't help but look, and it was a good thing it was in the morning, because this made an excellent brunch. I watched the video instructions and quickly got to work. If you don't have buttermilk, thin some yogurt with water, or add 1 tsp to 1 cup milk; as for all-purpose, you could use pastry whole wheat flour, but any healthier and you'll end up with tough biscuits. 

Here's the video link from Food Wishes; the ingredients are listed below the video on the site, but I'll add them here as well:

Biscuits (video and recipe here) 

Yield: 12 plus extra cut outs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt (I would recommend half a tsp if you use salted butter, they turned out too salty for me)

7 tbsp cold butter, cut into thin chunks or slices, chilled in freezer

3/4 cup buttermilk (I used a little bit extra)

When ready to bake, set biscuits on a ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 425 °F (218 °C) for 15 minutes or until golden on top.

Mushroom and Chickpea Gravy

Serves 4

1 cup whole mushrooms, such as white button, wiped clean

oil or butter to saute mushrooms

white wine vinegar

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

2 cups milk

(basic white roux ratio: 1 tbsp butter: 1 tbsp flour: 1 cup milk)

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp oregano (optional)

1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)

Note: For a plain white gravy, omit mushrooms and chickpeas, and season with salt and pepper; for soysage gravy, heat up some veggie soysage and crumble them in right before serving.

Directions:

1. In a wide skillet, heat up a little oil or butter for the mushrooms. Medium-high is good. Add in the mushrooms whole and stir around. Continue to cook on medium-high heat until water/moisture starts releasing from the mushrooms (5-7 minutes). Turn heat to medium. Continue cooking for 5 more minutes. Drizzle 1 tsp or so white wine vinegar on top and stir around to make a nice sizzling sound (it will look impressive for brunch) then turn the heat off, and allow mushrooms to cool.
2. In a medium sauce pan, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Now, take a whisk and start stirring. Slowly add the flour to the pan while simultaneously whisking. This will ensure that no lumps form. Keep whisking. Now, if using all-purpose flour the mixture will darken slightly, and give off a cooked pleasant smell. Once this happens, pour in the milk slowly, while whisking.
3. Making gravy is simple, it just requires patience and attention. Keep whisking! This movement will keep flour from sticking to the bottom, and will prevent the sheeny skin (in Guju, malai) that hot or boiled milk gets when heated and allowed to cool. Whisk another 10 or 20 minutes, or until thickened. Yep, keep whisking.
4. At this point season with salt and pepper, if serving a simple gravy it's ready. If adding mushrooms and chickpeas, chop the mushrooms coarsely and add them to the pan, along with 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas. To make a soysage gravy just add cooked soysage crumbles to the white gravy.
5. Serve over or alongside biscuits. Eet smakelijk!

Channa Masala

I love the smaller denser heartier black chickpeas or kala channa, but if you can't find them, regular chickpeas or garbanzo beans are fine. The term chickpeas and garbanzo beans can be used interchangeably, while black chickpeas are actually much smaller and darker. 

Since Indian foods tend to have longer ingredient lists with some hard to find spices (and who wants to buy a spice you'll use once?) try this: omit the things you don't have, and add the ones you do. Harder to find ingredients are marked as optional. This dish freezes well. Channa masala is usually served with rice or chappati (or naan), some yogurt, and salad. Try serving it on top of couscous. Couscous cooks in 5 minutes, and is a timesaver.

Channa Masala or Black Chickpeas Curry

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds (optional)

1/2 tsp udad dhal, (optional)

pinch asafoetida (hing), (optional)

1/2 cup onions, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger, minced fine

1 small jalapeno, seeded, deveined and minced (optional)

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp paprika

2, 14 oz cans chickpeas/garbanzo beans or 1 and ½ cups black chickpeas or regular chickpeas prepared by soaking and cooking.

1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes (or 1-2 chopped tomatoes)

1 tsp fenugreek powder, if using seeds, toasted and ground (optional)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp garam masala (optional)

cilantro and green onions, optional for garnish

salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat up oil in a large soup stockpot. Once hot add in cumin seeds, udad dhal, and hing. Fry until fragrant.
2. Add in onions, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno. Stir-fry.
3. Add in turmeric, cumin powder, and paprika. Stir everything together. 
4. Stir in chickpeas, tomatoes, fenugreek powder, and water. Add more water if too thick. Stir everything together. 
5. Partially cover and bring to a simmer. Cook 20 minutes.
6. Stir in garam masala, taste to adjust for salt, and top with cilantro and green onions.

Five Bean Chipotle Chili

This American in Belgium found canned chipotle in adobo sauce at Exotic World (get ‘jer mind out the gutter - it is an international food market). Where I also stocked up on over-priced hot sauce, pinto beans (my god do I love pinto beans), papadums, phyllo dough, Turkish feta cheese, and cilantro. 

This chili is perfect for cold weather. It comes together easily, and although the recipe calls for home-cooked beans, canned beans are a fine substitute. Chipotle peppers and pinto beans are among some of my favorite foods. This turns out to be a spicy chili which carries a lot of heat. Serve with some sour cream or yogurt, green onions, shredded cheese, and cilantro.  I made a quick chili powder out of some pantry spices. It's posted below the recipe.

Yield: 4 servings, 1 and 1/2 cups each

Ingredients:
1/3 cup pinto beans, dried
1/3 cup black beans, dried
1/3 cup kidney beans, dried
1/3 cup garbanzo beans, dried
1/3 cup navy or cannelini beans, dried
2 quarts of fresh water or enough to cover and soak the beans so that the beans can expand.
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup red onions or regular onions diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
2 T chili powder (recipe below)
2-3 cups water or vegetable broth (or 1 vegetarian bouillon cube)
1 chipotle pepper, chopped (from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
2 T of adobo sauce
1 cooked, diced potato, optional
large handful cilantro, chopped
2-3 green onions, chopped into chives.


Chili powder
Yield: 2 tbsp
1 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Prepare the beans using the soak and cook method or by using a pressure cooker.  Cook the beans with 1/8 tsp asafoetida powder and 1 bay leaf.  Asafoetida powder is meant to reduce the gas-causing effects of bean consumption. Set aside the cooked beans, until ready to use. Alternatively, you could use different varieties (kidney, pinto, black beans, chickpeas) of canned beans (14 oz cans).
2. In a large soup stockpot heat up olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in garlic and onions and saute for 3-5 minutes.  Add in chili powder and stir to combine.
3. Add in tomato chunks with their sauce and stir together.  Add in beans, water or broth if using, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, and stir to combine.
4. Cook uncovered until the chili begins to boil, then cover the pot with a lid, turn down heat to medium, and simmer the beans for 30 minutes. Stir it often, and adjust for taste. You can add more chili powder or chipotle peppers if you want it spicier.
5.  If using the cooked potato, add it in the last 10 minutes of cooking time.
6.  Garnish the chili with sour cream, chives, cilantro, and shredded cheese if desired.

Chickpeas Curry with Spinach and Wild Rice

Recipe (from Manjula's Kitchen) here.

Manjula's Kitchen is one of my favorite South Asian cooking sites.  Her recipes and accompanying video instructions make her recipes easy to follow, and preparing Indian meals accessible. Most cooks of Indian origin estimate measurements without really knowing whether they used 1 tablesoon or 1 teaspoon.  This becomes a problem if you are using say red chili powder, or you end up turning a dish neon yellow with too much turmeric.  Her site is wonderful.

I've been toying with the idea of only cooking Indian foods for a month, where my main goal would be to try and cook the foods that I grew up with.  I don't even prepare the foods I grew up with, and I miss them terribly.

This week we ate chole or channa (chickpeas) with spinach and I served it with some parathas and wild rice. The chole turned out delicious. The leftovers were devoured the next day.  This took under 30 minutes to prepare. I reduced the oil to 1 T from 3 T,  found the ginger essential, increased the salt, and used canned diced tomatoes.  Boil-in-the-bag wild rice mix was a nice addition, and parathas heated up from the freezer (you can buy frozen parathas from a South Asian grocery store) rounded out the meal. Serve the chole with a side of yogurt.

Recipe (from Manjula's Kitchen) here.

Ridiculously Easy Tomatoes and Lazy Rice

In my opinion, there are few tastes that are divine as baked tomatoes. Get the tomatoes baking first, and while they are baking, prep the rice (see ridiculously easy and lazy).  Serve tomatoes over the rice.

Ridiculously Easy Tomatoes:
1-2 T olive oil
4-5 medium Roma tomatoes, ripe, cut into 1" rounds (any tomato will do)
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup, parsley, chopped
1/4 cup basil, chopped
1 T thyme
feta cheese, sliced into long rectangles (you decide how much)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. First, pre-heat oven to 400 F. 
2. Drizzle 1-2 T olive oil on the bottom of a medium roasting pan.
3. Next place tomato rounds on top, followed by salt and pepper, then herbs. 
4. Next top with chickpeas and place strips of feta cheese on top.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until feta is golden on top. 

Lazy Rice:

1 tsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced (1/2 of a medium bell pepper or 1 small one)

1 cup red onion, diced (about 1 small red onion)

1 cup basmati rice

1 vegetable bouillon cube

3-4 cups water

1/2 cup feta cheese, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions:

1. In a wide skillet, heat up olive oil over medium heat. Once hot add in garlic and onion. Saute for 3 minutes.  Add in bell pepper, and continue to saute over medium heat 3 more minutes.
2. Add rice to pan and stir around to coat well. 
3. Pour in 3 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  If the water evaporates and the rice looks half done (the grains are still white/opaque in the middle) add in the last cup. 
4. Once most of the water has evaporated, stir in the feta cheese and lemon juice, and mix together quickly. Avoid over-mixing. The rice is done when the rice kernels are curved upwards like little "c's"

Kala Channa (Black Chickpeas)

I just love black chickpeas. I hate to admit this, but I have some family in India that has a cook, and she makes the best damn food ever. This is a lot like my late grandmother's kala channa recipe, as to why the cook made it. It was probably one of my favorite dishes that I tried while visiting. This attempt is to recreate what I tried there. I hope you will love. In addition, I have used stock Indian spice powder mixtures such as garam masala and channa masala. I choose salt-free varieties, and these can be an easy segway into cooking more Indian foods. Store them in an airtight container, either in the fridge or a dark cabinet. Spices can last 6 months - 1 year.

Soak the black chickpeas for at least 6 hours. When ready to use, drain and rinse at least 2 times. You can order online or buy from a South Asian store. They will be called kala channa/chana. You can also ask for black chickpeas. Another alternative is to purchase them online.

Cooking this is relatively simple. Plan ahead by soaking the chickpeas. Either first thing in the morning, or overnight if you plan to cook in the morning. Give it 6-8 hours to soak. Cooking time is about 1 hour. I listed all recipe ingredients in order that you will use them. Get a large 3-4 quart-sized pan, and heat a small amount of oil in it. Peanut, canola or vegetable oil is what you want to use. Olive oil has a low smoke point and is not appropriate for vaghar. When the oil is hot do a vaghar (described below). Once you add the onions and peppers, you can add the chickpeas, then spices, then water, tomatoes, adjust seasoning and bring to a boil. Once you bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover slightly and simmer. Add a potato to create a gravy-ish broth. Once done, garnish with cilantro.

Vaghar means to heat a small amount of oil or ghee in a wok-like pan or stirfry. Once the oil is hot, you add seeds and aromatics and once fragrant, jalapenos, garlic and onions. This cooks and releases the aromas from the spices and infuses the oil with a particular scent.

Recipe for Kala Channa
Serves 4-6

For Vaghar:
1 T canola or peanut oil
2 T whole basil leaves (I used red opal, omit if you don't have, or use curry leaves)
1/8 tsp asafoetida or hing
1/4 tsp urad dhal
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 small bell pepper chopped
1 tsp cumin, ground
1 tsp channa masala powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1 cup black chickpeas, drained and rinsed (*see note below)
1 quart or liter water
1 large tomato, chopped
1 tsp hot sauce
1 lemon (juice of one lemon)
1 medium baking potato, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
optional 1/4 cup or more heavy cream, for a creamier gravy

Serve over rice, or with hot paratha and some yogurt.

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a 4-quart sized pan, add basil through mustard seeds.
2. Once mustard seeds pop, add in the jalapeno through bell pepper.
3. Continue cooking, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Add in rinsed chickpeas.
5. Add in cumin through salt.
6. Add water and adjust seasonings if needed
7. Add in tomato, hot sauce, lemon juice. Bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat, simmer, lightly cover, add in potato and cook 45 minutes-1 hour. Checking often.
The potato will begin to fall apart and thicken the gravy. You can speed this process up by mashing some of the garbanzo beans and potato when the dish is about done. If using heavy cream add in when adding cilantro garnish. Stir and serve piping hot.

*You could easily use regular chickpeas with very delicious results!