Easy Everyday Mujadara and Moroccan DIY Spice Blend

A few months ago I mixed up a batch of chai spice blend to liven up my green smoothie making. There really isn't a simpler or more economical way to wake up your food than to make your own spice blends. You probably already have tons of individual spices if you are preparing your own healthy meals. And those little dashes of spice used in each recipe mean that oftentimes jars of spices need to be replaced before they ever get used up. Why not mix up spice blends for yourself and even for gifts?

The second homemade spice blend to scream my name was a Moroccan Spice Blend. I made it at 5 am this morning. Sad, I know.

Moroccan Spice Blend

makes 8 Tbsp

5 tsp ground nutmeg
5 tsp ground cumin
5 tsp ground coriander
2.5 tsp allspice
2.5 tsp ground ginger
1.25 tsp cayanne pepper
1.25 tsp cinnamon

Mix together and store in an airtight container.

What to do with this you ask? How about a big batch of Mujadara? It's a Lebanese dish that, if you make this way, is extremely low in fat, is full of fiber, protein and iron, AND is exceptionally delicious! If I have frozen brown rice and packaged cooked lentils on hand, it's the easiest thing I can cook up for dinner when I'm tired and I just don't feel like cooking. In fact, this dish has become quite a staple in my house for just those reasons!

Ridiculously Easy Mujadara
Makes about 10 one cup servings

Printable Version

2 large sweet onions, diced
vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups brown or green lentils (Not red lentils or french lentils! I used one package of Trader Joe's cooked lentils.)
4 cups cooked brown rice (Trader Joes and Whole Foods sell frozen brown rice)
2 Tbsp Moroccan Spice Blend
salt to taste

Heat the largest skillet you have over medium heat and cover the bottom with vegetable broth. When broth starts to bubble, add chopped onions and saute, stirring every few minutes, for 35-45 minutes or until onions are very, very soft. Reduce heat and/or add broth to deglaze the pan as onions start to stick too much. Do not let the onions burn. Buy the end of the process, your heat will likely be on low and your onions will be very soft.

Meanwhile, cook the rice and lentils separately according to the package directions. If you have the TJ's packaged lentils, just open the package! If you are cooking your own lentils, they should be tender but not smushy or soupy, they should retain their shape.

When onions are ready, add brown rice, lentils and Moroccan spice blend and mix well.  Heat everything together until fragrant, warm and combined.

You can serve Mujadara with some toasted pine nuts or chopped parsley.

Have you made any of your own spice blends lately?

What do you make for dinner when you want some good food but are too tired to make a complicated dish?

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Go-to Moroccan Chickpea Stew

I was having a "deep" conversation today about go-to recipes and the appropriateness of serving vegan food to guests at your dinner table. "What are your vegan entertaining go-to recipes?" my friend Jill asked, who's husband is a newly inspired no-added-fat vegan and who's sister-in-law has been living the "diet" for quite some time.

It surely is a personality thing, but I have zero problem serving vegan food to my non-vegan guests and even crazier than that, I generally experiment on guests. Oh my gosh! I said it out loud.

My feeling is that if I experiment with enough different food at one dinner, there is bound to be something really good in the mix. And what I have found lately is that everything that I am making is beyond passable, it's downright amazing. And I take no credit for this, I'm just a tester and tweaker of other people's recipes. And maybe it's because I'm a food blogger, but I just can't get myself to make the same thing twice when there are a bizillion amazing recipes out there to try!

Like this recipe for Moroccan Chickpea Stew. I truly cannot remember how I stumbled upon Vegan Epicurian's blog, but I'm so glad I did. This recipe is certainly company worthy. It's also just great turned into a salad of sorts, served over a bed of fresh baby spinach on any regular night. If you are unfamiliar with the health benefits of garbanzo beans, check out what Whole Foods Market has to say about them.

Want the recipe?  Get it here. My only changes were that I substituted vegetable broth for the oil and I couldn't find preserved lemons at Whole Foods so I just put in one whole lemon, cut into large chunks and seeded. I started the recipe by cooking my chickpeas from scratch instead of using the canned version. It took quite a while, but was relatively pain free. If you'd like to do that too, get the instructions here.


When you are serving guests, do you stick to tried and true recipes or do you experiment on your company?

What is your favorite bean? Do you eat beans or lentils every day? If not, why not?

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Easy No Oil Vegan Butternut Squash and Kale Soup

So Easy Your 5 Year Old Can Make It!

Easy Vegan Butternut Squash and Kale Soup
serves 8 (small/1+ cup) or 4 (large/2+ cup)

5 small or 2 large yellow onions, peeled and chopped
2 32 ounce boxes vegetable broth
1 butternut squash
1/2 bunch kale-washed, stems removed and chopped
salt
pepper
dash of Cayenne pepper

Place dutch oven or other soup type pot over medium heat. Pour in vegetable broth to coat bottom of pot. When broth is bubbling, place chopped onions in pot and stir. Cook onions over low-medium heat, stirring frequently. Watch that they do not burn. They can cook slowly over low heat for up to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, poke holes in the butternut squash and place it on a paper towel in the microwave. Heat on high for 2 minutes to soften it and make it easier to cut. Remove squash from microwave--be careful, it's hot--and peel it with a vegetable peeler. Cut in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Cut squash into medium sized chunks.

When onions are really soft, add butternut squash to pot and pour in enough vegetable broth to cover everything. This amount will vary depending on how large your squash was. You cannot mess this up!

Simmer over low heat for 25 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender. Add chopped kale and simmer for 10 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper and a dash of Cayenne pepper if you like heat (be careful!).

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Vegan Indian Spiced Lentils with Spinach and Brussels Sprouts

I am a huge fan of brussels sprouts. There, I said it. I don't care how gassy they make me, I love to eat them in mass. So when I was checking out some other blogs for recipe inspiration and I saw a recipe that combined Indian spices with brussels sprouts on http://www.pure2raw.com/, my head about popped off!

So here is my version of this vegan yumminess. I served it with brown rice and a nice dollop of leftover  Curried Cashew Spread that went beautifully with this dish.

Vegan Indian Spiced Lentils with Spinach and Brussels Sprouts

inspired by a recipe from the twins at pure2raw

1 1/2 large white or yellow onions, cut in half and then sliced

1 heaping Tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/8 tsp cardamom

3/4 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cumin

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

salt

3 cups water

1 cup lentils

8 cups brussels sprouts, stems cut off and quartered

1 large bag or box fresh spinach

In a large skillet, place 1 Tbsp coconut oil over medium heat. When coconut oil is melted, place cut onions in skillet and saute for a few minutes. Add in chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/8 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir and saute for a few more minutes.

Add quartered brussels sprouts and stir. Continue to saute over low to medium heat until sprouts are soft, but not mushy (this will take some time). Onions and sprouts will begin to caramelize. (FYI-this alone would make an amazing side dish even without the lentils and spinach!)

While onions and sprouts are cooking, boil 3 cups of water in a sauce pot. Add 1 cup lentils and cook for 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and let rest for 2 minutes. Drain excess liquid and put lentils back in warm pot.  Add spinach, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger, and  1/4 tsp salt and stir until spinach has wilted.

Once brussels sprouts have cooked to desired consistency, pour lentil and spinach mixture into onion and sprouts mixture. Stir and serve, with brown rice and Curried Cashew Spread if you would like.

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Vegan Indian Eggplant Curry

Are we done with Indian food yet? Never! Here's the last of what I made for last week's vegan pot luck. It's very yummy. Great with some naan or brown rice and keeps beautifully in the refrigerator as leftovers.

Eggplant Curry

makes at least 4 cups

1 Tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil (not olive oil)

2 medium onions, peeled and diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated on a microplane

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped into 3/4" pieces

1/2 cup vegetable broth (or water)

1 large eggplant, peeled and diced into 1" cubes

2 red or yellow or orange (or a mix) bell peppers, seeded and diced into 3/4" pieces

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground fenugreek

1/2 tsp ground cumin

In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onions, garlic, ginger and jalapeno and cook for 10 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the broth (or water), eggplant, peppers, salt, turmeric, coriander, fenugreek and cumin and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 70 minutes.  Serve immediately or reheat before serving.

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Vegan Chana Masala (Indian Chickpea Stew)

I've got a group of friends that have been getting together for a decade and having pot luck dinners. This weekend  I'll be hosting one at my house that has been in the making for months. The theme? Vegan, of course!

So I decided to go crazy and make 5 vegan Indian dishes (have I told you that I was Indian in a past life?). I was inspired by a cookbook I just got called The Candle Cafe Cookbook, More than 150 Enlightened Recipes from New York's Renowned Vegan Restaurant.  This restaurant is beloved and I hope to get the chance sometime soon to visit.

Here's my first adventure, Chana Masala.  I am very impressed with the results. Quite addictive actually. 

Here's a photo of all of the ingredients prepped and ready to go before I started to cook anything. The french term for this is "mise en place" meaning "everything in it's place" and believe me when I tell you, this recipe moves along very quickly, so getting everything ready beforehand is a must.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_place

Vegan Chana Masala (Indian Chickpea Stew)

makes about 5 cups

1 tsp brown mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 Tbsp coconut butter or vegetable oil

1 large onion (about 2 cups), diced

2 Tbsp finely minced garlic

2 Tbsp grated (on a microplane) fresh ginger

1 cup vegetable broth (or water)

1 medium tomato (1 cup), diced

1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered

3 cans (15 oz. each) chick peas, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp sea salt

Heat a large skillet over high heat.  Add the mustard and cumin seeds and cook, stirring often, until they begin to pop.  Lower heat to medium.  Add the coconut butter or oil and stir for about 1 minute.

Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook for about 8 minutes, until softened.  Stir in the broth (or water), tomatoes, chickpeas, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom.

Reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes.  Serve immediately or reheat gently before serving.

Yum!

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When Life Hands You Lentils, Make Fat Free Vegan "Mujadara"

It's Pot Luck Season here in Northern Ohio and that fortunately  affords me an opportunity to share my love of healthy food with other people.  In a matter of one week, I have four pot luck dinners to plan for, prepare for and attend .  That's probably why I have been so quiet on the blog these days! So much good stuff going on!

For yesterday's event I decided that I was going to tweak a recipe out of The Engine 2 Diet called Candle Cafe Brown Rice and Lentil Burgers. The tweak was that I was planning on making balls instead of burgers to make a vegan "meatball."  When it came time to roll the balls and I tried doing so, nothing was going to hold the mix of ingredients into a ball shape (I guess I missed the part of the recipe where it said to add whole wheat flour if the mix wasn't sticking together--oh well, it was a happy accident). So I tasted the concoction and decided that it was delicious as is, added a bit more brown rice, and brought it to the party as a warm salad. No hassle with rolling into balls! Yipee!

I loved it, my husband loved it, and so did all of the party goers. I brought along a bowl of Kale Butter and it was a great pairing. We just spooned the kale butter on top of the brown rice and lentils. When a guest at the party, who happens to be a local vegan chef, tried the dish, she immediately exclaimed that, "It's Mujadara!"  Mujadara (also spelled Mujadarah, Megadarra or several other variations) is a delicious, inexpensive, and simple to make Lebanese comfort food.  My version's spices are not the traditional cumin, cinnamon and allspice, but the results were just as spectacular.

Wendy's Warm Brown Rice and Lentil Pilaf

7 cups water
1 cup dry lentils, rinsed and drained
2 cups uncooked brown rice or 4 cups cooked brown rice
4 garlic cloves
2 medium red onions, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp chili powder (or, for traditional Mujadara, use 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp cumin)

In a saucepan, bring 3 cups of the water to a boil.  Add the lentils, reduce the heat, and cook until the beans are softened, about 15 minutes (check for doneness, the lentils should be soft but not falling apart, this may take longer than 15 minutes).  Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in another saucepan, bring the remaining 8 cups of water to a boil, add the rice, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the rice is tender, about 40 minutes. Drain and set aside.  (Or, microwave two Trader Joe's frozen brown rice pouches to yield 4 cups of brown rice.)

In a saute pan, water or broth saute the garlic, onion, and carrots over high heat until lightly browned.  This may take a while. If mixture starts to burn, lower the heat a bit.  In a large bowl, combine the lentils, cooked rice and vegetables.  Add the salt and chili powder and mix well.

Delicious served with a dollop of kale butter on the top. http://healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-8-and-janes-kale-butter.html

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