Madhu Knits and Cooks

Excellent Vegan Red Beans and Rice

While this NYT Cooking recipe no doubt counts as sacrilege in my current city of residence, it does produce an excellent vegan red beans and rice.  Full of umami flavor, I've made this recipe 2-3 times already and plan on making it again this week.  I don't know if there could be a bigger endorsement of a recipe than this frequency of production - especially after what appears to be a decade-long hiatus from making vegetarian red beans and rice.

I've halved the recipe each time I've made it, and omitted the dried sage as I don't have it my kitchen.  I've used dried thyme instead of fresh, and halved the recommended smoked paprika per some of the reader comments. Also per the reader comments, I've added some shakes of gumbo filé at the end of the cooking process (one can't live in Louisiana without some filé in your cupboard!).

I've found that 55 minutes is the optimal pressure cook time for my Instant Pot and Camellia red beans.  I do find that cooking the red beans for a few more minutes on saute is great to get the creamy bean texture that is a hallmark of red beans and rice.  

The recipe uses soy sauce and miso (I know, I know New Orleanians), but the complexity those ingredients add to the final flavors can't be understated.  Salty and savory, this is a great recipe!

A Chia Pudding I Like! Overnight Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

With a largely unconsumed bag of chia seeds taunting me with each opening of the pantry doors, I decided to give chia seed pudding another go after a disappointing experience a few years ago.

I chose a Minimalist Baker recipe that fit the critical (only) requirement of adapting to ingredients I had at home.  The recipe included unsweetened cocoa, the bitterness of which I found particularly suited to the chia pudding texture.  No sure why, but it worked!

I made a few modifications to their recipe:

• Increased amount milk by 1/4 cup to 1.75 cups of unsweetened almond milk for 1/2 cup of chia seeds
• No vanilla or cinnamon because I used vanilla maple syrup as the sweetener
• I reduced the maple syrup to 2 tbsp
• I stirred the mixture after 15 minutes before putting it in the fridge

My husband found the bitter flavor to be akin to Mexican hot chocolate, so we are thinking about adding cinnamon or chile powder in the future to complete that flavor profile.

Bag of chia seeds - you will be consumed!  

Shockingly Good Bean, Cilantro + Dill Soup

I'm not sure I have much to add to the title of this post.  The Milk Street version of Iranian Ash Reshteh is shockingly good.  In fact, I'd say this lighter version may be more suited to my tastes than the more authentic variations I've had from excellent Persian restaurants.  

What I also love about this recipe is that it's seemingly flexible to prepare with what you have on hand, as long as there are some beans, noodles, cilantro, and dill involved. 

My modifications included no chickpeas, unsalted butter, a handful of filetti noodles instead of linguini, ~4 tbsp. of a vegetarian Better than Bouillon instead of chicken broth, and adding some leftover julienned baby spinach.  I also used pre-cooked Camellia kidney beans (approx. 1/3 cup dry) that I made in the Instant Pot the day before (17 minutes high pressure, natural release).  

The soup feels lighter than what you'd expect from a bean soup because of the copious amounts of fresh herbs and masoor dal, which is a thinner lentil.  The dill adds wonderful flavor complexity to the otherwise stodgier kidney beans and lentils.  The soup also features great textural complexity from the thin noodles, thicker beans, and thin lentil broth. 

And with precooked or canned beans, this is a weeknight, quick preparation soup that can be served within an hour of starting prep!

Simple Miso Corn Chowder with Interesting Enough Flavors for Several Days

The title of the post says it all - this Milk Street Corn Chowder with Miso and Scallions is not only a perfect weeknight meal, but also has enough complex flavors to make for great leftovers for days.  

I made a few edits to this recipe.  I partially blended the soup with an immersion blender instead of placing a portion into a stand blender.  I substituted russet for the gold potatoes because of grocery store availability, and used unsalted butter in place of salted.  And because I made this in the spring, I used frozen corn instead of fresh. 

I look forward to making this salty, subtly sweet, and herby soup again and again!

Simple Miso and Corn Side Dish - Salty, Sweet, and Tangy

Ah, the leftover tub of miso issue.  How it pops up every few years.  But as today's recipe review shows, the leftover tub issue can lead to some surprising new cooking staples.

Milk Street's Sautéed Corn with Miso, Butter, and Scallions was a weeknight delight to prepare and consume.  About 10-15 minutes of total prep and cook time, and makes use of items we almost always have on hand.  

I used a half bag of frozen corn, and as a result halved the recipe as well.  The corn was not fully thawed and dried - out of the freezer for approx. 1.5 hours - but it worked totally fine during the cooking process.  I also substituted 1 tbsp. of mirin and 1 tbsp. of shaoxing vinegar for the sake, which worked well.

Salty, slightly sweet, and a nice flavor and textural contrast from the long-cut scallions, I will be making this side dish over and over with many Asian-inspired meals.

Quick and Satisfying Tofu, Spinach, and Sesame Stir-Fry

Just as I question if my online cooking subscriptions are worth it, I'm reminded that not only can I make great recipe-based dishes from online sources, but also get inspiration for new standard cooking approaches moving forward. 

The latest such dish was NYT Cooking's Spinach, Tofu, and Sesame Stir-Fry, which taught me a great, adaptable sesame and vegetable base for stir-fry meals moving forward.

The final dish was nicely spiced and sharp from the toasted sesame oil garnish and red pepper flakes, and with both spinach and tofu, it was a complete meal with some rice. 

A few modifications that I made (see, the recipe is adaptable!):

• I probably didn't fully toast the sesame seeds because I was afraid to burn them
• Used 1 block of tofu, cut and drained in paper towels for 1.5 hours
• I doubled the recipe ginger and garlic amounts
• I added some Shaoxing vinegar with the soy sauce for more diversity of flavor

Restorative and Light Celery and Potato Soup - Great for a Luncheon

My winter soup posts continue with a light and refreshing celery and potato soup, which really is a year-round soup. 

This soup had a lightweight, almost broth-like consistency and was simply flavored by celery, potato, and chives.  I think it could be a great addition to a simple luncheon - served with salad, bread, maybe an egg dish, and dessert.  

I didn't strain the soup and used an immersion blender, and neither seemed to have an effect on the soup's smooth consistency.  Other modifications I made:

• 2 tsp. of Better than Bouillon 
• 5.5 cups of water
• No walnut oil (allergic)
• Chopped chives for garnish
• I didn't reserve any celery for the garnish, just used it all in the soup itself
• I didn't make a formal bouquet garni, and just took the bay leaf, parsley, and thyme out on its own

The only other modification I might make is to add more vegetables, perhaps some cauliflower, to make it more substantive as a stand-alone meal.

Milk Street's Kale, Miso, Tofu, and Ginger Soup - Sadly, Just OK

Sadly, the post title says it all.  This soup, while easy to prepare, was pretty good, but not a recipe repeat.

The tofu was too bland in the soup, and I'm wondering if I should have substituted silken tofu for the firm I used?  I also think that the kale itself just dampened the flavors of the soup so it tasty more healthy than flavor-rich.  

I think this soup could benefit from more flavor additions (scallions, garlic, maybe more miso, rice vinegar, celery even), but will likely just stick to other recipes than try to modify this one.

Two Disappointing, Picture-Less Recipe Attempts - Indian Black-Eyed Peas + Parmesan Cauliflower

The title says it all!  Just a quick update to make sure I don't make either of the following two recipes again.

First, sadly from the Ministry of Curry, which developed my favorite Instant Pot Chana Masala recipe, is the Instant Pot Indian Black-Eyed Pea recipe.  Sadly, I just found this recipe didn't really come together with underdeveloped flavors and too watery of a sauce.  Back to the drawing board for a tasty Indian black-eyed pea recipe!

Second on my "no repeat" list is America's Test Kitchen Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower.  This finished cauliflower did have a great taste, but the texture was a mess.  Some of the browned cauliflower edges with the cornstarch coating stuck to the tin foil and a lot of the cauliflower also was more steamed than roasted.  So the odd steamed / partly roasted texture ruined the presentation and overall enjoyment of the dish.  Boo.  

Simple Quinoa and Vegetable Soup - Great for Comforting Winter Meals

Seeking more weeknight meal diversity, as well as a way to use up my big bag of quinoa in the cabinets, I decided to try a New York Times Hearty Quinoa and White Bean Soup recipe.  

This savory soup was flexible with modifications, of which I made many.  I didn't add in any beans, and instead slightly increased the quinoa to 1/2 cup and added in a handful or two of ditalini pasta two minutes after adding in the quinoa.  I also added in some thawed frozen corn, fresh thyme, and a full can of diced tomatoes - why not?

Perhaps because of the increase in quinoa and the pasta, the soup ended up more like a stew, which my husband liked a lot.  

With some final grated parmesan on the end, this soup had a pleasing creaminess and saltiness to supplement the vegetables and fragrant herbs.  I look forward to making it again!