Caribbean Channa Aloo Roti

 

The second instalment of easy, simple-to-make recipes for my sister Denise! I first fell in love with roti on a date with the fine gentleman who is my now husband, aaaah, it was meant to be! He took me to a Caribbean Flavours, a great little place in Ottawa, which unfortunately is now closed. The food was amazing, the wait times were extremely long, but in the end it was worth it. Here is my rendition of channa aloo roti, a spicy chickpea potato curry wrapped in freshly grilled roti bread. Make it as spicy as you like and/or can handle...you don't want to suffer the shame of being served from the 'wussie pot' of mild roti filling made especially for people who can't handle heat!

Ok, Denise is already wondering how homemade flatbread is supposed to be 'simple', and I agree - if you're not inclined to make the dough, roll it out and cook it in a frying pan, then just make a side of rice and skip the bread altogether. The filling is simple to make, and while it doesn't look overly visually appealing, it would tase great on it's own with rice. 

Makes 4 servings.

If you do decide to make the bread, start it first as it needs to rest for about an hour:

1 cup flour, half whole wheat & half white
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive or vegetable oil, seperated
1-4 Tbsp milk of choice

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add enough milk to make a soft dough. Knead for 1-2 minutes on a floured surface. Clean the bowl, add the remaining 1 tsp oil, and roll the dough around in the oil to cover the surface. Put a clean towel over the bowl, and let rest for 1 hour while you prep the filling.

 

1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil

3 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp garam masala

1-2 large sprigs fresh thyme
1 onion, cut into small pieces
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or

1 can chickpeas, or enough cooked from dry to make 1.5 cups
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/4" cubes
1 small scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and minced
note: wear plastic gloves or small baggies on your hands when handling the pepper, the juice will burn your skin!

salt to taste

Heat oil in a large pot, and add the turmeric, cumin, allspice, ginger garam masala and onions. Cook the spices over medium heat for a minute or so, until the spices become fragrant - be careful not to burn them! Add remaining ingredients to the pot, and continue to cook for a couple of minutes to brown the potatoes. Add enough water to just cover the potatoes, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender.

 

At this point, the broth should have reduced quite a bit. Take a fork to break up a couple of the potatoes a little, creating a thicker mixture. Season with salt to taste.

Assembling the roti:

Cut your roti dough into 4 pieces. On a floured surface, roll out each piece of dough to a large circle, making sure it's no bigger than your frying pan. As the circle of dough rests, heat a tablespoon of oil in the frying pan over medium heat and swirl it to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Lay your circle of dough in the pan, and cook on each side for 2-3 minutes or until the dough puffs and is lightly browned on each side.

Place dough on serving plate, place a scoop of the channa roti filling in the middle and fold the sides to make a little bundle. Voila! Great served with ripe plantain grilled in a little olive oil, and streamed green beans sprinkled with oregano.

Per serving: 397 cals, 14g fat, 60g carbs, 601mg sodium, 11g fiber, 12g protein.  (PRO42.2/11%,CHO234/59%,FAT120/30%)

Buddha Rice Bowl with Ginger-Carrot Dressing

The first installment in simple, easy-to-prepare recipes for Denise – and all of you too, of course! This rice bowl comes from Aux Vivres, a wonderful veg restaurant in Montreal, Quebec. I’ve had the Buddha Bowl a few times…brown rice, steamed veggies, delicious Wafu carrot-ginger dressing, topped off with toasted pepitas. Yum!

So here’s the thing. This recipe has a few steps, but don’t be put off – the ingredients can be adapted to whatever you have on hand. Wait, did we just lose Denise? I hope not, this dish is soooo worth it. Don’t feel like making the homemade Wafu dressing? Fine…buy it or use the leftover sauces sitting in your fridge. Don’t want to marinate and grill tofu? Sure…buy something pre-made or use whatever leftover proteins you’ve got kicking around. You get the idea. And even better, Aux Vivres serves this warm rather than piping hot, which means if things cool down between preparation steps, no biggie.

And, if you’re still not convinced this is easy food to make, get your other sister to do it for you. I think both of mine will like this dish very much! Carrot-ginger Wafu dressing, by the way is amazing...check my lower-calorie homemade vegan version.

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 x 450g firm tofu

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp oil, for grilling the tofu

4 cups broccoli stalks

1 large or 2 medium carrots

3 cups spinach

1 cup sprouts

¼ cup pepitas

1 recipe Ginger-Carrot dressing

Start cooking your rice, follow package instructions. In the meantime, slice tofu into 2” strips, and marinate in soy sauce and sesame oil while preparing remainder of ingredients.

Get a steamer basket ready – if you don’t have one, a microwavable container, a little water and plastic wrap will do just fine. Slice your broccoli stalks into large pieces, or whatever size is desirable for you. Place them in the steamer basket and steam for 4-5 minutes or until just tender. While the broccoli is cooking, shred your carrots – no need to cook them, they’ll be used raw. Once the broccoli is ready, remove from steamer basket and add the spinach. Keep the lid off, and let the spinach wilt for a minute or two while you prepare the tofu.

Heat a grill or frying pan over medium-high heat, add your oil and gently place the tofu strips in the pan. Discard the remainder soy sauce, or keep it to drizzle over your meal if desired. Grill the tofu until nicely browned. Remove from heat and put aside while prepping the serving bowls.

Place ¼ of the rice in the bottom of each serving bowl, and arrange tofu, broccoli, carrots, spinach and sprouts on top. Using a dry pan, toast pepitas over low heat, and then sprinkle them on top of each serving bowl.

Serve each bowl with ¼ of the Ginger-Carrot Dressing, either on the side (I used a shot glass for the pic!) or drizzle over the entire dish.

Per serving: 413 cals, 15g fat, 53g carbs, 596mg sodium, 7g fiber, 19g protein.  (PRO68.2/17%,CHO211/51%,FAT133/32%)

Ginger-Carrot Dressing

This dressing is my take on Ginger-Carrot Wafu, a delicious sauce made here in Canada! My version is a little less creamy and sweet, but also contains less than half the calories...

Makes about 1/2 cup.

½ cup carrots, sliced

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

½ tsp sesame oil

1 tsp soy sauce

2” piece ginger, grated or finely minced

1 tsp garlic puree, or 1 clove finely minced

1 tsp mayonnaise of choice

¼ tsp succanat, brown or white sugar

¼ cup milk of choice

Boil or steam carrots until well done, then run under cold water to cool. Put carrots and remaining ingredients in a blender, puree until smooth. If you don't have a blender, mash the cooked carrots with a fork and use a whisk to blend all ingredients in a bowl.

Per serving: 30 cals, 2g fat, 2g carbs, 112mg sodium, 1g fiber, 1g protein.  (PRO2.3/8%,CHO11.6/38%,FAT16.2/54%)

Recipe challenge - feed Denise!

Denise, always serious.

Who doesn't love a challenge! One of my younger sisters lives in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) teaching English as a second language. Denise is, shall we say, not inclined to cook for herself unless it is required to sustain life. She'd much rather just eat great food than actually go through the effort of cooking over a hot stove. 

Apparently in Vietnam, takeout is both a tasty and fairly inexpensive endeavour - but having the same dishes over and over can be monotonous. This past summer, Denise came home to Canada for a family visit armed with a list of healthy ingredients readily available to her overseas, and she's looking for easy recipe suggestions to bring back.

So help us out by submitting your recipe ideas!

Here are the guidelines:

1. The recipes must be short and simple, and ingredients must draw primarily from the list below.
2. Be sure to include ingredient quantities and instructions for assembling the dish. 

3. Denise has access to a stovetop range, and a toaster over - but no microwave or actual oven for baking in, anything baked or roasted would have to be done in her toaster oven.

4. Her list includes meat products because she's not vegetarian, but for the purposes of this blog, I will be adapting and posting the recipes as veg-friendly only.

If you've got a great recipe you think she'd be able to make, send us an email at cookin.from.my.kitchen@gmail.com

Please note that you will get credit for submitting the recipe, but that I will likely tinker with the ingredients to suit her tastes. I'm looking forward to trying some things cookin' in your kitchens!

                           

onions         kidney beans      brown rice     

garlic          lentils                pasta

zucchini      chickpeas           couscous

broccoli      white beans        flour     

carrots                                 spaghetti sauce

bok choy

green beans       tomatoes

limes                 green cabbage

broth cubes        cilantro/parsely

spices

Cold Thai Rice Noodle Salad

Rice noodles are the best - this salad is cool and refreshing! To round it out as a meal, sometimes I'll fry up cubes of tofu that have been marinading in soy or teriyaki sauce and add them to the salad. I add way more veggies than you'd normally find in this kind of salad, I find it adds bulk to the dish but with few calories...yummers!

Makes 4 servings.

1 x 250g package rice noodles

2 cups 2" pieces of thinly sliced carrots
2 cups 2" pieces of thinly sliced cucumbers (seeded if desired)
1/2 - 1 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, roasted and chopped
1 green onion, thinly sliced for garnish

dressing:
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sucanat or brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
4 Tbsp lime juice (or 1 freshly squeezed lime)
1-2 Thai red chilies, seeded and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil

Cook noodles according to package instructions, rinse under cold water until the noodles are cool. Mix all dressing ingredients, and pour over noodles. Let marinade for 20-30 minutes if time permits, the noodles will soak up the dressing and expand a bit. Divide up the noodles into 4 bowls, top with carrots, cucumbers, coriander, a sprinkle of roasted peanuts and sliced green onions.

Per serving: 357 cals, 8g fat, 65g carbs, 160mg sodium, 4g fiber, 5g protein.  (PRO15.8/4%,CHO270/76%,FAT71.4/20%)