Madhu Knits and Cooks

Improved Pearl Barley Risotto - Fantastic Spring or Winter Meal

Having some leftover pearl barley from two recent Ottelenghi recipes, I wanted to use up the remainder before an upcoming move.  It seems like the most popular approach these days, per the internet, is pearl barley risotto, but unfortunately the recipes I found all were a bit more complicated than what I wanted to invest in - particularly with a move coming up.

I ultimately decided to improve a recipe, and I could not have been happier with the result.  The risotto had a bright herb flavor, and the consistency was substantive and creamy.  I also really liked the pearl barley as the main ingredient as it resulted in a vegetarian risotto that felt like a true main course, instead of the arborio rice versions which always strike me as side dishes.

Needless to say, this will be a recipe repeat.  Current recipe below - I will post any updates or modifications as I make them!

Pearl Barley Risotto

Ingredients

• 1.5 tbsp. olive oil 
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup pearl barley, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup frozen green peas, defrosted
• 1/3 cup parsley, minced
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• parmesan shavings (optional), salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• In a medium pot, heat olive oil on medium-high heat.  When hot, add onion and celery and saute for 5 - 6 minutes or until soft.

• Add garlic and stir for another 30 seconds.  Stir in the pearl barley and saute fairly continuously for 3 - 4 minutes to toast.

• Add the vegetable broth, and bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and cook until liquid is almost completely absorbed by the barley.  When that happens, add the remaining one cup of water and cook until partly absorbed.

• Stir in the peas, parsley, and lemon juice and cook until liquid is almost completely absorbed and barley dish appears creamy. 

• Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste and serve while warm.

The Easiest and Most Delicious Weeknight Black Beans

When my husband and I recently gorged ourselves on Tex-Mex throughout Austin and San Antonio, my husband remarked that he wasn't sure if black beans could ever be that good if they were truly vegetarian. 

Taking that as a challenge, and with lots of delicious vegetarian Tex-Mex meals on my mind, when we returned home, I decided to perfect cooking dried black beans as I figured that it's easier to infuse flavor into cooking black beans from dry than cooking them from a can.

Surprisingly enough, by looking at some cookbooks and online Instant Pot websites, I quickly perfected a fantastic recipe.  The beans are well-seasoned, flavorful, and soft - even if not soaked beforehand.

The only thing that I've had to play with over the past four attempts at this recipe is the Instant Pot high pressure cooking time.  I initially cooked these beans at 22 minutes, but then had to cook the beans for another 3 - 5 minutes to get them to be evenly soft. 

I think moving forward 28 minutes is the right amount of time - but I'll report back if that changes in practice!

Instant Pot Weeknight Black Beans

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 small onion, halved (red, white, or yellow - it doesn't matter)
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup water
• salt to taste, perhaps start with 1/2 tsp.

Directions

• Put all ingredients in Instant Pot.  No need to stir.

• Set to manual, high pressure for 28 minutes.  Keep on sealed option.
• Allow for natural release (approx. 22 minutes of keeping Instant Pot on warm after cooking), release to "vent" and taste beans for consistently.  Cook for 1 - 2 minutes further if beans are not to your desired consistency.

Basic Instant Pot Pinto Beans - A Work in Progress

I never cooked dried pinto beans until the fantastic Cook's Illustrated Drunken Beans recipe.  Wowsa, that's a great approach that develops a really flavorful and interesting pot of beans.

However, it's not quite a simple recipe as it requires a lot of different ingredients (including two types of alcohol!) and a number of steps to get those oh-so-perfect beans.

Given that my time is sadly finite, as is my cupboard, I decided to experiment with a simpler Instant Pot dried pinto bean recipe.  While this approach wasn't quite that great (resulted in overcooked, bland beans), it's definitely a start to making a simpler pot of beans.

To begin this improvised approach, I soaked 1 cup of beans overnight and then cooked the beans with 1/2 white onion (left halved), 2 peeled garlic cloves, a few cilantro sprigs, and 2 bay leaves. 

I supplemented the above with approx. 2 cups of water and omitted salt for the cooking because I had remembered reading that cooking beans with salt can make them too hard.  However, on a recent Milk Street Radio podcast with Chris Kimball and Sara Moulton, I learned that this is an old wives tale!  So in the future, I'll add the salt to the outset of cooking (if not also soaking the beans with salt as well).

I set the timer to 25 minutes on manual / high pressure and let the pot depressurize naturally.

Unfortunately, this is where the problems started.  Pressure cookers do not need nearly the amount of water as standard stove-top cooking and I learned this lesson yet again the hard way.  Way too much water in the pot, such that sauteing it down wasn't going to be sufficient.  So I scooped out some of the extra water (which probably had a decent amount of flavor in it) and threw it down the sink.

I also learned that 25 minutes was WAY too long for pre-soaked pinto beans.  I think I should half the time next time to not get horribly mushy beans.

The beans were also incredibly bland.  So lots of salt next time, and maybe that many more herbs as well. Will report back as I continue to refine this "simple" pinto bean approach!

Vegan Noodle Soup - A Madhu Knits and Cooks Original, Revised

This post will be a short one focused on an oldie, but a goodie Madhu Knits and Cooks improvised recipe.  That recipe - Vegan Noodle Soup - is as great as ever, as a recent attempt proved.

I made just a few slight modifications to my first attempt - notably substituting parsley in for the cilantro, and omitting the thyme as I didn't have any on-hand.  I added in a half cup of orzo, and served the soup with a healthy amount of parmesan, which was a great slightly salty and rich touch, albeit a non-vegan one.

The other modification I made was to use my newly acquired Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base in place of bouillon cubes.  Now I understand what the great reviews are about - this will definitely be a staple in my kitchen moving forward.  Similarly, this soup is making a comeback in my kitchen as well, and I can't wait to continue to experiment with it (next up - adding beans?).

A Messy First Attempt at Frittata - Broccoli Cheddar Frittata

As the post title indicates, my first attempt at frittata was a bit of a mess.  Thankfully, it ended up tasted great, but not only was the process a mess, the final output was also a bit...messy.  

The challenge I had is that the saute pan I used was not oven safe to the temperature I needed, so I decided midway to use the Serious Eats flipping method.  But instead of actually using that full flipping method - which I was ultimately too scared to do - I decided to weakly semi-flip the frittata onto a plate to then slide the undercooked side back into the pan.  

In short, I kept changing my mind on what to do, and did each resulting step with such a heavy amount of hesitancy that the appearance of my frittata was largely doomed.  But soldier on I did, and the resulting frittata was one that I will make again (though with more certainty, gusto, and perhaps a different pan to just finish in the oven!). 

I settled on a broccoli cheddar frittata largely because I had the ingredients on hand and I thought this would be a good way to use frozen broccoli.  I also wanted to make a frittata that was more vegetable than egg-heavy, and given that broccoli is my favorite vegetable, it felt like the perfect way to anchor a vegetable-heavy frittata.

The hot frittata achieved my flavor combination perfectly.  When cooled though, the frittata was a bit more eggy than I generally prefer - but still, it's an egg-based dish, so what else would I expect?  

Recipe and instructions follow the picture below.

Broccoli Cheddar Frittata

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 - 3 tbsp. milk (my milk went bad, so I couldn't use it, but I will in the future)
• 10 oz. bag frozen chopped broccoli
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. water
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

• Defrost frozen broccoli according to bag instructions, and drain any excess water.
• Heat olive oil in a medium-t0-large saucepan on medium high heat.  When hot, add drained broccoli, red chili flake, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.  Saute for approx. 5 - 7 min or until hot and fully cooked.

• In a bowl, lightly beat eggs with milk, salt, pepper, and then add cheddar, stirring to combine.

• Add to the hot pan with the broccoli and shift the pan around for the egg to evenly coat the pan.  Let sit for approx. 6 minutes, and then flip into a prepared plate.  Slide the undercooked side back into the pan, and then cook for another 2 - 3 minutes.

• You can then flip another 1 - 2 times if you would like (I did this with messy results), and then serve when the eggs are cooked to your liking.  Season generously with salt and pepper, and serve!

Mint Raita - Simple Accompaniment to Many a Meal (or a Snack on Its Own)

I've been making different types of raita, a refreshing Indian yogurt accompaniment, for years, but only recently did I realize that I have never blogged about this simple, protein-rich side dish.  

What finally inspired this long overdue post was that I used a new ingredient for my latest raita - fresh mint from my mother's garden.  I usually use cilantro as my standard herb, but the mint added a nice freshness, and made this type of raita a great stand-alone breakfast or side to spicy Indian curries.  Look forward to continuing to experiment with more ingredients and will report back with any new findings!

Mint Raita

Ingredients:

• Approx. 1.5 cups of 0% Fage Greek Yogurt
• 1 seedless cucumber, diced into 1/4 inch square pieces
• 2 tbsp. scallions, divided
• 2 tsp. minced mint, divided
• 1 tsp. minced jalapeno, divided
• Pinch of cumin, or to taste
• Pinch of coriander, or to taste
• Salt, to taste 
• Lemon juice, to taste

Directions:

• Divide the ingredients in half, and place each Fage serving in a separate bowl.

• Add equal amounts of vegetables and seasonings to each bowl, and mix together.

• Let ingredients sit for 15 - 20 minutes, and then serve.  Store any leftovers in the fridge - will keep for ~3 days.

 

Roasting Hatch Green Chiles and the Resulting Hatch Chile Enchiladas - New Levels of Amazing Have Been Reached

My freezer is moderately packed with delicious, roasted, seeded and chopped New Mexico Hatch Green Chile, courtesy of a 5 pound order of fresh chile from the Zia Green Chile Company.  I asked the Zia guys about how to roast the chiles at home when I picked up my order, and surprisingly their simple advice adhered to several pieces of guidance I found on the internet as well.  

You first wash the chiles in cold water to get off the dirt, and then place on a lined roasting pan.

Then roast under your broiler until well-blackened or maybe 5-6 minutes on each side (rotate sides after one side is blackened to achieve even cooking across the chiles).

This next part is the one that made me the most squeamish - placing the hot, roasted chiles into a sealed plastic bag to trap the moisture and soften up the skins.  Not sure how to avoid the plastic in the future (maybe glass container?), but something I hope to figure out.

After the chiles have steamed for 15 - 25 minutes, put on some rubber gloves for the most time-consuming part of this process - removing the skins, deseeding and stemming the chiles.  It's fairly simple to remove the skins with your hands if the chiles have steamed enough, but I found the deseeding to be the most time consuming part of the process - so many tiny seeds to get off!

I then placed approx. 1/4 cup of chopped chile onto a covered baking sheet to partially freeze the chile for an hour, and then wrapped each portion tightly in plastic to place in freezer containers.

Ok, now to the amazing Hatch Green Chile Enchiladas recipe I put together, fusing elements of my favorite Tex Mex Cheese Enchiladas recipe with an AllRecipes post.  The result was amazing - deep flavor from incredible spice without unbearable heat.  I really felt transplanted to the Southwest with this dish.  This recipe will probably use up most of my frozen chile through the rest of this year!

Hatch Green Chile Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of roasted green chile, chopped and thawed if frozen
• 5 tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1.5 cups chopped white onion, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. oregano
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 2 cups vegetable broth or water plus bouillon
• 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
• 12 6-inch corn tortillas
• ~8 oz. monterey jack, grated
• ~6 oz. cheddar, grated

Directions:

• Heat 3 tbsp. olive oil on medium-high heat in a large pot.  When hot, add 1 cup white onion and saute until transparent (approx. 4 - 6 minutes).  

• Then add garlic, oregano, and cumin and stir until just fragrant or 30 seconds.  

• Then whisk in the flour, until it blends and distributes among the pot ingredients.  After 2 - 3 minutes of stirring, add the vegetable broth, chile, and salt.

• Bring to a boil and then simmer for approx. 20 minutes or until sauce cooks down a bit.  Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender.  This resulted in approx. 3.5 cups of sauce, which could be used for two servings of enchiladas (I froze the leftovers for another enchilada round later in the week).

• As the sauce cools a bit, brush each sides of the tortillas with olive oil and then put a damp cloth on top of the stacked tortillas and warm in the microwave for approx. 1 minute.  This allows the tortillas to become bendable so they won't break while rolling.
• In a 9-by-13 baking pan, spread approx. 1/2 cup of sauce along the bottom and sides of the pan, and heat the oven to 450 degrees.
• One at a time, put an equal amount of cheese (approx. 1/4 cup) and a bit (approx. 1 tbsp) of remaining white onion into the centers of the tortillas, and roll tightly.  Place in the prepared pan, seam side down.

• Pour approx. 1 cup of sauce over the top, and top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and onion.

• Cover baking dish with foil, and cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.  Let sit for 10 minutes outside of the oven and then serve.

Weeknight Black Beans - Simple Protein-Packed Side Dish

To complement some weeknight cheese enchiladas recently, I wanted to make a simple protein-heavy side dish.  Looking in my cabinets, the most obvious candidate became an aging can of black beans.  

I didn't want to default to my favorite refried black bean side as I wanted the texture of whole, creamy beans.  So I decided to quickly improvise a recipe, using a few online sources including All Recipes, Spicy Spoonful, and the New York Times.  

The recipe I put together turned out pretty well, and it was definitely an easy side that can be replicated during any quick weeknight meal.  I think the critical step was something that I've used in the refried black beans recipe - a splash of citrus juice, whether lemon or lime at the end.  The citrus definitely brightens up the beans, and makes them almost good enough to eat on their own.

Full recipe details below!

Weeknight Black Beans

Ingredients:

 

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 - 1 small onion, diced (I originally used 1 small onion, but will likely use 1/2 in the future)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. oregano, adjusted to your personal preferences
• 1/2 tsp. cumin, adjusted to your personal preferences
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth (I use water plus a bit of bouillon)
• 3/4 tsp. hot sauce such as Tapatio
• 1 tsp. lemon or lime juice
• salt to taste

Directions:

• In a medium pot, heat 1 tbsp olive oil on medium-high heat.  

• When hot, add onion and saute for 3 - 4 minutes or until translucent.

• Then add garlic, oregano, and cumin.  Cook for approx. 1 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
• Add in black beans, water or broth, and hot sauce.
• Cook down on medium-high heat for approx. 15 minutes or until the beans are cooked to your preference and the water has mostly evaporated.
• Add citrus juice and salt to taste, and serve immediately.

Three Cup Tofu with Awesome New Pan-Fried Tofu Technique

This post couples a new tofu cooking technique with a new recipe I've been wanting to try for some time.

The good news is that the new tofu prep technique worked fantastically well.  The bad news is that the recipe I cobbled together from various Internet sources (Three Cup Tofu) fell short of expectations.  

The tofu prep technique was disarmingly simple and produced restaurant-quality textures.  I first learned of this approach from a friend who had me over for the most delicious tofu meal and nonchalantly described his approach as just tossing the tofu with cornstarch, pan-frying and then adding to the other ingredients you want.  

Doubting it could be this simple, I turned to the internet to find a more "formal" approach because I assumed there was a lot more I needed to do.  Learning more though, it turns out my friend's directions were completely right!

Using the Kitchn's approach, I started by pressing out excess water from my firm tofu block with a large can of tomatoes.  

After about 30 minutes, I then cut the denser tofu into 3/4 - 1 inch cubes.

Then sprinkled the tofu with salt and a heavy amount of cornstarch (approx. 3 tbsp), ultimately coating evenly.  The tofu started to look a bit gummy and sticky at this point.

Then I warmed a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil on medium-high heat.  When hot, I added the tofu and tossed every few minutes until all sides were browned.

I then started preparations for my attempt at Three Cup Tofu, the modified Taiwanese version of the famed Three Cup Chicken.  I cobbled together a few internet recipes to come up with my approach, heavily relying on The Vegan Word and The Cooking of Joy for my version.  

Unfortunately, what I ended up with was incredibly salty and heavy, and didn't feature the lightness of my favorite restaurant version.  I think I'll significantly reduce the amount of soy sauce in the next go-round and also add more basil.  It definitely was a tasty dish, just really had too much salt to be enjoyable.

Three Cup Tofu - first attempt

Ingredients

• 1 package prepared tofu (see above)
• 1.5 tbsp .vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 tsp. sliced ginger
• 1 scallion, diced
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 4 tbsp. Shaoxing cooking wine
• 4 tbsp. soy sauce (1 tbsp. dark, 3 tbsp. light - will probably go to 2 tbsp. light next time)
• 1/3 cup chopped basil

Directions

• Heat oil with 4 cloves garlic in a nonstick skillet on medium-high heat.

• When garlic starts to cook, add ginger and scallion.  Saute for 15 - 30 seconds or until fragrant

• Add the tofu, and then the remaining sauce ingredients.  Cook the mixture down on medium-high heat for approx. 10 minutes.

• Add chopped basil, stir the mixture, and turn off the heat.  Serve immediately.

 

Pan-Fried Vegetarian Dumplings Two Ways - Lot of Prep Time, But Worth the Effort!

Eating delicious homemade dumplings at a friend's house last month inspired me to finally make dumplings at home.  

I didn't make my dumplings completely from scratch as I used prepared egg roll wrappers as the dumpling skins.  While that step made the process easier, it was still a bit time consuming to fill and roll the ~4 main course servings of dumplings on a weeknight (would be great weekend activity).

To achieve the perfectly steamed and pan-fried textures, I used Serious Eats great technique for browning the bottoms of the skins in a non-stick pan before adding some water to steam the interior and exterior of the dumplings.  It worked out really well, though I would probably start with an eighth cup of water rather than a quarter per pan so it doesn't take too long to steam the dumplings (and concurrently overcook them).

I also improvised the filling, using a mix of just boiled fresh summer corn and 4 oz. of a baked tofu cutlet for two different interiors.  The result for both was a bit bland (though the corn filling was marginally better), but nothing some soy sauce, vinegar and hot sauce couldn't cure.  That being said, I think I'll play with these fillings further to get them to pop a bit more.  

To the recipe!

Pan-Fried Vegetarian Dumplings Two Ways

Ingredients

• kernels from 1 ear fresh corn on the cob, just boiled and striped
• 4. oz of tofu cutlet diced
• 1/4 tsp Chinese five spice
• 1/4 large carrot, finely diced
• 2 baby bok choy, cleaned and finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 scallions, finely diced
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• A dash of white pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp. white sugar
• Salt to taste
• Optional:  bit of cornstarch to bring the ingredients together while cooking
• Nasoya egg roll wrappers, cut into four equal pieces, or use dumpling-size prepared wrappers
• Small bowl of water

Directions

• Split the carrot, bok choy, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, white pepper, and sugar into two different bowls in equal portions.  To one bowl, add the tofu and five spice.  To the other, add the corn.  

• Toss ingredients in each bowl to combine and season with salt to taste.

• Place initial wrappers for filling on a flat working space.  Take approx. 1.5 tsp. of filling and place in the middle of the wrapper.  Using a pastry brush or your finger, dab water along the edges of the wrapper.  Following the "square flower" technique I used for the cheese wontons, fold the skins into place.

• Depending on the amount of time it takes you to fill the dumplings, you may want to cover the folded dumplings with a damp paper towel to make sure the skins don't dry out.  Continue filling the dumplings until you exhaust the mixture.

• Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a non-stick saute pan, depending on the number of dumplings you will be cooking in each round.  When hot, add the dumplings and swirl the oil under the dumplings until the bottoms are evenly coated.  Cook for a few minutes until the bottoms are browned.

• Now add approx. 1/8 cup of water to the pan, and cover immediately.  Steam for a few minutes until the dumplings are cooked.  Serve immediately with a sauce of your choice.