Gingery Chickpeas with Carrots: Wholesome, Yummy, HealthyBy foodjoyaGingery chickpeas and carrots are spectacular! Just imagine chickpeas soaked in a nectar of tomato sauce with carrots, ginger, parsley, and caramelized onions. All sugar-free, of course! This healthy treat is a perfect combination of warm flavors: carrots + ginger, chickpeas + tomatoes, parsley + lemon zest. And though ingredients are few, the dish is richly flavorful, but not spicy. Ginger and lemon zest add just the right amount of flare, without overtaking. This delight is neither sour nor sweet - perfect to the last bite.
This plant-based delight also shows how versatile garbanzo beans are. For most of us, they usually mean hummus. In reality, you can cook them with anything. They combine well with a whole medley of spices and herbs and vegetables. In my previous posts, for example, I combined chickpeas with butternut squash and eggplant mash -- and the dishes were delicious! Another example is FoodNetwork's Moroccan chickpea soup when made without sugar, of course.
Thinking back to that soup recipe, I decided to combine this wonderful legume with tomato sauce. Tomatoes, of course, are quite acidic. To reduce their acidity, I included plenty of carrots and a generous amount of ginger. Inspired by chef chef Michael Chiarello's recipe, I added lemon finely grated zest and chopped parsley. The result is the recipe below, and it's glamorous! Indeed, Gingery Chickpeas and Carrots are more than yummy. They are neither acidic nor sweet - just a perfect combination of flavors, with a ginger and lemon zest flare.
Lastly, note that, again, I recommend changing water when you cook beans. This step helps make them easier to digest.warm butternut chickpea salad: destined to be loved!By foodjoyaThis Warm Butternut Chickpea Salad makes a lovely meal or a satisfying side. Chickpeas and butternut squash combine perfectly together to create a nourishing, comforting salad. Because of its plentiful quantity, it is also perfect for your holiday table. You will see that this dish calls for plenty of mild curry powder and quality cinnamon. If you are working with a smaller squash (about 3 lbs), you can reduce the amount of curry powder for the squash to 1.5 tablespoons and cinnamon to 1.5 teaspoons. I would not recommend tinkering with the curry power for the chickpeas, however, because they benefit from a greater flavor. As you will also see, the Warm Butternut Chickpea Salads wants you to pour plenty of olive oil. While I've tried using less, butternut squash and chickpeas are quite dry and bland without it. Put simply, these two vegetables soak up the healthy olive oil. Note also that the recipe asks you to dice butternut squash quite finely, in half-inch cubes. To accomplish that, we used Breville Sous Chef Peel & Dice Countertop Food Processor.
If you are working with pre-cooked chickpeas, the entire dish will take about 50 minutes. That includes passive cooking time. I strongly recommend, however, that you use dry chickpeas. And if do, I would add onion, 3 garlic cloves and 1 bay leaf to the dry chickpeas. When the chickpeas are ready, you can discard these additions.
Once again, I found the idea for the combination of chickpeas and butternut squash in Food & Wine's recipe by Melissa Rubel. My recipe, however, uses completely different proportions of the ingredients and adds cinnamon. gluten free macadamia cookie: your healthy delightBy foodjoyaThis recipe for gluten free macadamia cookie delivers a chewy dessert with the perfect degree of sweetness. You will love how this gluten free macadamia cookie is moist on the inside, with a delicate crust on the outside. Instead of flour, these cookies use only healthy, wholesome substitutes -- almond flour and nuts. And they derive their sweetness solely from two tablespoons of honey and dried apricots. This is, probably, one of the most delicious, moist and healthiest cookies you will have ever tasted! See Medical News Today.Vegan Ash: Persian soup with unforgettable flavorsBy foodjoyaThis Vegan Ash, or a thick Persian soup, derives its flavor from a bounty of herbs. In this version, we used two bunches of parsley, two bunches of cilantro, and fresh mint. Traditionally, ash is served with lamb meatballs. See, e.g., a Persian cuisine blog. For our vegan version, we use walnut-mint pesto instead of meat. To highlight the nutty flavor, we use black wild rice (from Canada) instead of regular short-grain rice. We adore how the flavors from walnuts, herbs and black wild rice dance together in this soup. In addition, black wild rice is exceptionally rich in antioxidants and low in carbs. Research has shown that a spoonful of black rice bran contains more anthocyanins (a powerful antioxidant found in blueberries) than a spoonful of blueberries. See Dr. Andrew Weil.
Nonetheless, if that's what you prefer, you can make Vegan Ash with just a regular long- or short-grain rice. Our version of this soup is inspired by Naomi Duigud's recipe "Pomegranate Ash with Meatballs" published in Taste of Persia 107 (2016), also available on Kindle: Taste of Persia (Kindle version). Finally, note that Vegan Ash involves largely passive cooking. This soup will happily simmer while you are working from home or spending time with your family. vegan black lentil soup: how to make it zesty and flavorfulBy foodjoyaAs I am sharing with you the Vegan Black Lentil Soup recipe, I wish to thank my Mom. She discovered or conceived many recipes on this blog. She enjoys bountiful flavors found in the Middle Eastern cuisine and searches through myriads of books to find the right inspiration. Mom discovered the prototype for the Vegan Black Lentil Soup in a German cookbook by Ali Güngörmüş. See Ali Güngörmüs, Das Kochbuch (German) (Oct. 20, 2008); see also a Wikipedia article about Mr. Güngörmüş. And she was right on! This hearty and comforting soup is infused with subtle flavors from ginger and orange zest. Before bringing this recipe to you, we've substantially modified it. Most importantly, we cook our black lentils (beluga lentils) separately and thoroughly before adding them to the soup. (The original recipe would have you sauté the lentils with onions and tomatoes for about 15-18 minutes.) To add more flavor to our Vegan Black Lentil Soup, we use a high-quality tomato sauce in place of the diced tomatoes. Rather than the starchy conventional potato, we use the Japanese sweet potato. We also omit sugar, brown butter, and Crema di Balsamico. Finally, we double the amounts of orange zest and our favorite, incredibly versatile herb - thyme. Chicken pumpkin soup: Recipe for a Golden Cup of HealthBy foodjoyaOn a crispy winter day, a cup of a golden-toned chicken pumpkin soup loaded with vegetables is just perfect! When pumpkins are in season, I make this soup for my loved ones (including a toddler!) every week. As a reward, I get to spend lunches and dinners with very happy eaters! This chicken pumpkin soup is nutritious and sustaining, but it is also quite light. Made without grain, and overloaded with vegetables, it won't leave you feeling heavy. Another beauty of this soup is that it's quite flexible. You can make substitutions, adding or removing vegetables to your liking. Go ahead and experiment! Try to use only cauliflower, or add broccoli, or even brussel sprouts! Though this recipe looks long, don't be dismayed. It's a rather carefree thing: while the broth is cooking, the vegetables are sautéing, and then you just combine the two! In the end, you'll have a large stockpot brimful with a savory, sustaining meal!
