Author: Laxmi Parida

Thanksgiving Leftover Pumpkin Arepa

Transform your leftover roasted pumpkin into delectable arepas, with more personality than pancakes. Enjoy with maple syrup!

Special tools:

Stove-top grill; food processor

Ingredients

Makes 8 arepas

  • I cup pumpkin pulp from leftover roasted pumpkin (with skin)
  • 1 cup corn meal (Venezuelan harina PAN)
  • 2 tbsp EVOO
  • salt to taste
  • Maple syrup for accompaniment

Method

In a food processor, process the leftover roasted pumpkin till it turn into a pulp. Then add the rest of the ingredients and continue to process till it gathers into a ball. Make 8 equal sized balls and flatten into patties.

Heat the stove-top grill. Spray lightly with ELOO. Then place the patties on the hot grill. Loosely cover with aluminum foil. Cook for 6 mins on one side; flip and 4 minutes on the other.

Serve hot with maple syrup.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. The roasted pumpkin did not have any additional flavorings that made it simpler to turn into this sweet-leaning arepa.
  2. The Venezuelan arepa cornmeal is pre-cooked. If using other cornmeal, you may have to cook the cornmeal first. This arepa cornmeal is a great pantry ingredient that you can stock up on. I always have some handy in my freezer (if the packet is opened); else in the dry pantry.
  3. To warm the arepa, wrap in kitchen towel and microwave for 15-20 seconds.

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Steamed Salmon on Chicory

Grilling fish indoors is a tricky affair- the smell can be hard to get rid of. But steaming is a very clean, unobtrusive option with no compromise on the taste. And, steaming is very forgiving- you can never go wrong. Enjoy!

Special tools:

Steamer.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb salmon cut into four equal sized pieces
  • salt to taste
  • Spice rub: 2 tbsp Ottoman spices + 1 tsp ajika spice (or any spice mix of your choice) blended with 2 tbsp EVOO
  • Bed of greens: 1/2 bunch chicory

Method

Wipe the salmon dry. Sprinkle salt and let it rest for about 10 mins, then wipe it dry again. Roll the pieces in the spice mix till evenly coated on all sides.

Line the steamer with the greens and sprinkle salt to taste. Place the fish pieces on the bed of greens. Steam for 15 minutes on medium-high until the fish is done.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. When I travel I usually bring home spices from these lands. Here I have an Ottoman spice mix from Istanbul and Ajika spice from Tbilisi. And, if one falls in love with the spices, one can always replenish online. Feel free to use any spice mix of your choice.
  2. use any greens for the bed. Also you can add any vegetables that canbe pre-cooked or cut into sizes that will cook cook along with the fish.

Here is another version using purple cabbage leaves as the base.

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Insane Noodle Soup

This dish is insanely delicious. It seems like a big affair with three pots going for the layers of the soup but the result is tremendous. Enjoy!

Special tools:

None.

Ingredients

  • Soup base:
    • 1/2 cup tahini + 1/4 cup soy sauce +
    • 2 tbsp each of rice vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil
    • 1 tsp sugar (to balance the flavor)
  • Broth (fortified):
    • 4 cups dashi + 6 inches kombu
    • 2 cups oat milk
    • 1 lb frozen corn
  • Saute in oil:
    • 12 oz tofu bock drained and broken into chunks
    • 12 fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 12 oz noodles
  • Garnish:
    • 4 scallions diced
    • sesame seeds2 cups mixed grains

Method

Prepare the soup base by thoroughly mixing all the ingredients and set aside.

You could do the following three in parallel with two pots and a saute pan:
(1) Heat plenty of water, with salt, for the noodles. When ready soften noodles till ready and then remove with tongs and add to the soup directly.
(2) Mix dashi and piece of kombu on slow simmer for 5-7 minutes. Remove the kombu and slice thin to add to the broth along with frozen corn. (3) Saute the tofu chunks till lightly browned. Sprinkle salt to taste. Remove and set aside. In the same pan saute the diced shiitake till soft. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

To bowl up a serving: Put a tbsp (or to taste) soup base. Then ladle the broth and mix till the base is homogenized with the broth. Add the sauted ingredients and noodles fresh from the pot (no need to cook in advance). Garnish.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. The recipe was inspired from Vegan Tantanmen With Pan-Fried Tofu Recipe.
  2. The oat milk could be replaced by regular milk or any other nut or grain milk.

Building the bowl:

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Japanese Mixed Grain Socarrat

How to kick up grains a notch? Socarrat (Spanish) or tahdig (Persian) is crisping of the bottom layer of usually white rice. Here this technique is adapted to store-bought Asian mixed grains with a Japanese touch (via Zen Kokoro).

Special tools:

Wok (non-stick).

Ingredients

  • 2 cups mixed grains
  • 4 cups cooking liquid: 4 cups dashi + 2 tbsp soy sauce + 2 tbsp mirin (or white Balsamic vinegar)
  • Julienned veggies: 3-4 woodear mushrooms rehydrated + 1/2 large carrot + 1/4 purple cabbage + 2 poblano peppers deseeded
  • 4-5 sendai-fu pieces

Method

Dry cook the veggies in the work till lightly charred (or browned). Mix in the grains. Add the liquid and cook covered on low heat for about 1 hour.

Check that the grains are cooked. Reduce heat and cook undisturbed for 10-15 mins till a crust forms at the bottom. Shape the cooked grains so that it can be inverted into a deep pan. Serve warm.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. The vegan dashi is from Kokoro package.
  2. Any other vegetables of your choice can be added. Even Persian barberries.
  3. The disks in the picture is wheat gluten from the Kokoro package.
  4. I inverted the cooked grains with the browned bottom into a deep springform pan. Keep warm in the oven.

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Moi Moi Inspired Bean Dumpling

Whether Native Indian corn tamales or African lentil moi moi, steamed dumplings are especially inviting with their DIm Sum like appeal. I give here a version of moi moi that will give an air consistency without the laborious bean peeling process and also keep La Nutritionista happy (eat your peels! ). Simply delicious. Enjoy!

Special tools:

Steamer.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of prepared (white) beans of your choice
  • 2-3 tbsp besan
  • Salt + chili pepper to taste.
  • Topping: Steamed Romanesco broccoli bits + Black (aged) garlic + Chili EVOO

Method

Fold in besan into the cooked beans. Season with salt and chili pepper. let rest for 30 mins.

Generously brush chili EVOO to two serving size jars. Pour the batter into each. Add the toppings except the chili oil. (Or, some of the topping can be mixed into the batter). Steam covered for 40 mins.

Drizzle chili EVOO on top. Either unmold or serve directly in the jar.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. When West African Chef of Michelin star Chishuru explained the thinking behind the name of her restaurant as ‘the silence that falls over diners while eating delicious food’, I was intrigued. She also fed the interviewing journalist moi moi. I was delighted to see a rather interesting treatment of beans. Ever since La Nutritionista has been strongly recommending beans, I am constantly on the look-out for different bean versions to fight ennui.
  2. Rancho Gordo yellow eye bean. Soak overnight and cook in slow cooker or pressure cooker. Run blender through coarsely, so that it is still chunky. Or, halve and run only half through the blender. Add some tahini (sesame paste) for flavor (about 2 tbsps/ 1 lb beans) and season with garlic oil.
  3. The black garlic is aged at home. But it can also be purchased online.

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Minimalist Poda Pitha

Rice and lentil Brûlée Pitha. Is even more delicious than it sounds. Inspired by a local food expert in Bhubaneswar who served biri poda pitha. So much was I smitten (and so was my mother) that we quickly cooked up up a version. With great success. Enjoy!

Special tools:

Medium-powered food processor (or grain grinder); Non-stick, thick bottomed kerai/wok (small size)

Ingredients

  • Batter
    • Soak for 6-8 hrs: 1 cup rice + 1 cup white urad dal in plenty of water
    • 1 cup shredded (fresh) coconut
    • Sweetener: 3/4 cup guda/jaggery/brown sugar (or adjusted to taste)
  • Flavorings: 1 inch ginger diced + 1 tsp peppercorn coarsely crushed + 5-6 crushed cardamoms + 2 bay leaves
  • Toppings: raisins and cashews

Method

Drain the rice/lentil mix. Grind with little water to a fine paste. Pour into a large container and whip the batter. Test the doneness of the whipping by dropping a spoonful into water to check if it floats. If it sinks, then some more whipping is required.

Fold in the grated coconut and the sweetener. Mix well and add all the flavorings. Pour onto the well-oiled thick-bottomed non-stick pan.

Place the pan on low heat. Cover and let cook for 25-30 mins.

Cool, unmould, slice and serve.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. See Alka Jena’s recipe: https://culinaryxpress.com/biri-poda-pitha/
  2. Coconut does wonders to otherwise mundane ingredients. See also a Sri Lankan one https://purba.blog/2021/01/03/coconut-berry-rum-cake/
  3. For the bite-test (whether the grains are soaked enough), see https://purba.blog/2019/07/10/make-pitha-mainstream-chunchi-patra/
  4. The shredded coconut can be found in the freezer section of most Indian grocery stores. Alternative is to freshly grate a coconut. I don’t recommend using desiccated coconut found in most supermarkets.
  5. One would think that the rice and lentil combination may not whip easily– but it does. So you need not soak the lentil and rice separately.
  6. Again there is not need to rest the batter before cooking.
  7. The stove-top gives a nice crust. If baking in an oven, I would recommend 300F in a dark baking pan. My hostess had lined the pan with banana leaves– if that is available it is an excellent choice of lining.
  8. I called it minimalist since my Mom was particularly pleased with this one that does not require the pre-cooking of the batter (‘janta’) which usually requires some non-trivial effort. See https://www.instagram.com/p/C78NZ_rPkU-/ for the only-rice version of the poda pitha.
Whipping lentil batter

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