Tahini and Hummus

Tahini

Toast 1 cup hulled sesame seeds in a dry skillet (e.g. the 10" cast iron one) until light brown. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Let cool for a few minutes, e.g. in a metal mixing bowl. Process in a food processor until crumbly. Add 2 tbsp of neutral oil (light olive, avocado, or sesame) and process another 2-4 minutes. Add a bit more oil, 1/2 tbsp at a time, if necessary, until the paste starts to fold over so the blades can chop it. A pinch of salt of desired, to taste.

Source: https://www.inspiredtaste.net/26901/easy-tahini-recipe/

Hummus 

Have ready 250g cooked chickpeas, well drained. 

Add to food processor big bowl: 1/4 cup of the above tahini and 1/4 cup lemon juice (approx 1 lemon). Process for 10 seconds (they say 30), scrape down the sides, process for another 10 seconds (again they say 30). Apparently this helps "whip" or "cream" the tahini. Update I'm not entirely sure this step is necessary or does what it claims to do. With our food processor, this "whipping" step throws a lot of the ingredients up on to the bottom of the lid, which requires careful scraping. Might be a waste of time. Why not addd the tahini, lemon juice, oil, garlic, cumin, salt, and half of the chickpeas, and then blitz it? Maybe I'll try that next time.

Be careful not to nick the spatula on the food processor's blade.

Add 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 clove mince garlic, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp of table salt. Whip it again with the food processor for 30 seconds or so. Scrape down the sides and bottom, and whip it again for 30 seconds.  

Add 1/2 of the chickpeas and process for 1 minute. Add the remaining chickpeas and process for 2 minutes, scraping periodically. Another friendly reminder not to nick the spatula on the blade.

The hummus will likely be thick and have tiny bits of chickpeas. Either gradually add 2-3 tbsp of cold water and continue processing, or add 1-2 ice cubes. I liked using the ice cubes because they stir things up in the bowl. Also, they cool things down, which might help balance the heat being added by the processing. Do the above until the desired consistency is achieved. Taste and adjust as needed.

This should all fit in a 500ml mason jar. Serve with a thin layer of olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika, sumac, or za'atar.

Source: also Inspired Taste

Naan bread (low sodium)

Add to the bowl of a stand mixer:

• 2 cups flour (whole grain, bread, whatever you got)
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp ground white pepper (skipped this time b/c kids)
• 1 tbsp garlic powder (aka garlic granules)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (bottled was ok, fresh is probably preferred)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 cup warm water (mine was around 38C, ideal is 41-46C)

Stir that around with the dough hook on medium until it starts to form a dough. Lower the speed a notch, and add flour 1 tbsp at a time until the dough comes away from the sides. Knead with the machine for 5 minutes, or 10 minutes if by hand. Place the dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl, and cover. Let rest for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 8 balls, cover with mixing bowls, towel, or whatever, and let rest again for 10 minutes give or take.

Heat a cast iron pan to 450F or slightly higher, maybe 475. Do not add oil to the pan. It should be dry.

On a well-floured surface, and with a well-floured short rolling pin (dowel), flatten the ball into a disk roughly 6-8 inches in diameter. Gently knock off any excess flour by passing the disk between your hands, flap, flap, flap. Flop the disk into the hot pan, and let it cook 1-2 minutes until it is puffed up and has nice brown spots. Flip it over, and cook for another 1-2 minutes until the colouring is what you want. Remove and put onto a plate for immediate consumption, or onto a cooling rack.

After each patty, wipe any flour out of the hot pan, so it doesn't burn and affect the next slice of naan bread.

Source: https://www.cukebook.org/recipes/low-sodium-flatbread-recipe/

One pot chicken and rice

Chicken

• 2 cloves garlic, sliced or minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, sliced
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 tbsp "4 seasons spicy bake mix" or chicken bouillon powder
• 1.5 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp cooking rice wine
• 1.5 tbsp neutral oil (e.g. light olive oil)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 275 to 300g boneless skinless chicken thigh, cut in 1" cubes

Marinade the chicken in the above for 30 minutes on the counter, or longer in the fridge.

Rice

Wash 1.5 cups jasmine rice. Use the measuring cup used for baking, not the "cup" that is commonly used to measure rice, which is actually 3/4 of an actual cup. After the rice has been washed 3-4 times, drain the water using a strainer, not the back of your hand. This is to ensure the water is accurate.

Put the drained rice in the rice cooker and add 1.25 cups of water. Add the marinated chicken. Add 1 or 2 links of lap cheong that has been peeled (using warm water to loosen the skin), and sliced on the bias.

The original recipe says not to add the leftover marinade for fear of making the rice too mushy. But I think it depends whether you have used air chilled chicken, and how much marinade is left over. If it's only 2 or 3 tablespoons, I say add the marinade.

Start the rice cooker. When it finishes, let it rest another 15 minutes before removing the lid. If the rice is not completely finished, add a few tablespoons of water and start the cycle again.

Source: https://cookwithdana.com/one-pot-chinese-chicken-rice/

Bun (Vietnamese noodle dish)

Lemongrass pork

Begin preparations the day before because the recipe calls for a 24 hour marinade. Nations sells deboned pork shoulder in roughly 2 lb chunks, so I doubled the recipe. Trim off excess fat and any silverskin. Shoulder (aka pork butt) has grain that goes in all directions, but thanks to the marinade, it didn't make much difference whether I cut the slices against the grain or not.

Marinade for 2 lbs of pork butt (shoulder):

• 3 to 4 stems lemongrass (white part, bruised using meat hammer, 1cm slices on the bias)
• 8 cloves garlic
• 8 tbsp lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 6 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 8 tbsp brown sugar (not packed down)
• 6 tbsp light olive oil, or other neutral oil
• 1.5 tsp sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda)

Make 1cm thick slices of the pork butt, and pound them with a meat tenderizer. I harvested as many scraps as possible from what I bought, so there were lots of little not-steaks. Doesn't matter, because I'm going to cook them an a grill plate. Nothing will fall through, compared to cooking on the BBQ. Mix pork pieces in with the marinade.

The marinade will fizz because the baking soda reacts with the lime juice. Some heat will also be generated. I am curious how the baking soda or its by-products tenderizes the pork. In the end, the results were very good (L- loved it), so I will likely continue including the baking soda. As the author noted, pork shoulder usually benefits from long slow cooking, but this process created sufficiently tender and flavourful pork. Marinade for 24 hours or more.

I cooked the pork on a domed Korean grill plate on an Iwatani butane burner outside, because that's what we have. I wiped the plate between batches to remove black residue, to avoid burned (bitter) flavours. It's not difficult to do, just shut off the burner and wipe down with a damp paper towel. Don't forget to scrape off any lemongrass before putting the pork on the grill plate. It helps to have covered containers for input and output to keep wasps off the meat.

https://www.recipetineats.com/vietnamese-lemongrass-pork-steaks/

Nuoc cham (dipping sauce)

Begin preparations an hour or more before eating because it may be necessary to cool the sauce in the fridge before serving. I made the 8-servings quantity, which fits in a 500ml mason jar and was plenty for 2 or more meals for the three of us.

• 1 cup water
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tbsp lime juice (1 to 2 limes)
• 1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

The sugar has a hard time dissolving, so I put the water+sugar in a mason jar and microwaved it for 30 seconds to a minute (don't remember). The author recommended dissolving the sugar in 1/3 of the water, then adding the rest of the water at cool / room temp. If you prepare ahead of time, the sugar water will have time to cool before adding the rest of the ingredients (fish sauce, lime juice, garlic). Definitely try to add the lime juice to a cool mixture, to get the most flavour from the limes.

https://www.hungryhuy.com/vietnamese-dipping-fish-sauce-recipe-nuoc-cham-nuoc-mam-cham/

Noodles

Soak 375g package of vermicelli rice noodles in warm (45-50 degrees C) water for 10 minutes. Remove from the warm water, and cook in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Stop cooking when the noodles have reached the desired level of doneness (e.g. al dente). Drain and thoroughly cool down with one or two cold water baths, to stop the cooking process. Drain again, and use a salad spinner to remove any excess water. Spread the noodles across two plates to allow them to air dry. 

https://runawayrice.com/cooking-basics/make-perfect-rice-vermicelli/

Veggies and all the rest

Prepare:

• bean sprouts
• cucumber slivers
• sweet pepper slivers
• chopped lettuce
• lightly salted roasted peanuts, chopped or lightly crushed
• some Thai basil, coriander, mint leaves

The original recipe recommended a carrot + daikon quick pickle, but if you have some fermented carrot + daikon, e.g for banh mi, you're good to go. If you don't have daikon, even slivered carrots is fine. Everyone chooses what they want anyway.

https://www.recipetineats.com/vietnamese-pork-noodle-bowls/

Serve

Cut the cooked pork into bite-sized pieces.

Place some veggies in a big bowl. Add a layer of vermicelli. Top with pieces of pork, basil, coriander, mint, and peanuts. Spoon some nuoc cham over everything, and dig in.

Gyudon

Prepare the onion by slicing half of it thin, and half about 1cm thick. Separate the 1cm thick slices to ensure even cooking.

Cut a chunk of ginger (e.g. 1 inch cube) into slivers. Another recipe I saw said to use 1/2 tbsp ginger paste. The purpose of the ginger is to eliminate unpleasant odours from the beef, so use as much as you like, but not too much.

Combine in a medium sized pot

• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 3 tbsp cooking sake or white wine (to remove odour)
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2-3g dashi powder (optional) (to enhance umami flavour)
• 200-250g thinly sliced beef with some fat (e.g. brisket prepared for hot pot)

Bring to a boil / simmer over medium-high heat. Skim off the foam (blood and fat) to eliminate off-flavours. Cover the simmering beef with the thinly sliced onions and ginger slivers. Since I grated my ginger, I just mixed it in before adding the onions. Let the onions keep the beef submerged. Simmer gently for 20 minutes. Enzymes from the onions help to tenderize the beef.

Once the 20 minutes has elapsed, add the thickly sliced onions and cook until they have reached the desired texture.

Serve with rice.

Source: Japanese Cooking Ichie 

Rice and peas

Got a hankering for Jamaican rice and peas after making some jerk chicken.

• two 540 mL (19 oz) cans of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• one 400 mL (14 oz) coconut milk, highest fat content possible
• 526 g long grain rice, or 634 g basmati rice
• 1 red onion, chopped (yellow is fine)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed (minced is probably ok)
• 2 stalks scallions (green onions)
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme (I used 2 tsp dried thyme)
• small piece of ginger, about 3/4 inch or 15g, sliced for easy removal
• 10 allspice (pimento) berries, whole
• 2 tsp salt (I used 1 tsp, can season to taste later)
• 638 mL (2.5 cups) water

Wash and drain the kidney beans.

Saute the onion and garlic in some oil until aromatic. Add the beans, scallions, ginger, thyme, salt, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, add the coconut milk, and bring to a gentle boil again. This is to avoid burning the coconut milk on the bottom of the pot.

Wash and drain the rice, then add to the pot. Return to a gentle boil or simmer again. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let the rice steam for 20-30 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed. Turn off the heat, and let the rice sit for another 3-5 minutes.

Source: https://jamaicanfoodsandrecipes.com/jamaican-rice-and-peas-recipe/

Beware the page has a bug. If you click on 2x to double the recipe, some ingredients do not double. For example, the quantity of basmati rice remains 317 g. To its credit, the original recipe provides instructions to cook the red beans from dried.

Chili

 

Originally a three-bean vegetarian chili, but we like to add ground beef.

If using dried beans, start by cleaning and soaking them the night before. Cook each type of bean separately to ensure peak doneness, usually 30-45 minutes depending on soak time. The red kidney beans tend to be ready first, then the black beans. Roughly 1 cup of each type of dried bean has worked for me.

If using canned beans, a 15 oz can of each type of bean is fine. Quantity is flexible. In the original recipe, the ratio of each type of bean, and the corn, to each other is 1:1, but approximations are fine. It's a chili, not fine cuisine.

• 1 onion, diced
• optional: ground beef, like 1/2 lb or so.
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 15 oz black beans (425g), 1 can, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz red kidney beans (425g), 1 can, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz chickpeas (425g), 1 can, drained and rinsed.
• 15 oz corn (425g), 1 can, drained. Or use frozen.
• 30 oz diced tomatoes, or 2 cans.
• 1/4 cup tomato paste (55g)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp chili powder (original recipe: 3 tbsp, but A- doesn't like too spicy)
• 2 tbsp cumin (ground in mortar and pestle with the coriander and salt, below)
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups vegetable stock (or beef)
• 3/4 cup red lentils
• optional: 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (A- doesn't like spicy)
• optional: 2 tbsp honey (original recipe called for this, I never use it)

In a deep pot, saute the onions and garlic, adding the ground beef if using it.

Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, vegetable or beef stock, and lentils. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2-3 hours. Stir every 30 minutes or so. In the beginning, simmer with a lid on to control evaporation. When the diced tomatoes have broken down, simmer with the lid off to thicken the chili. Be careful to stir and scrape the bottom frequently, or the beans will burn on the bottom of the pot. Once the chili is done, turn off the stove. Give the pot another good stir, and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. This helps release anything stuck on the bottom of the pot.

Source: https://tasty.co/recipe/freezer-prep-protein-packed-chili

Cauliflower ideas

 https://dishingouthealth.com/parmesan-roasted-cauliflower/