Rajma Chawal

According to my favourite Indian cookbook (title and authors below), Rajma Chawal (kidney beans and rice) is essentially the "mac and cheese" of Indian cuisine. I love it because it's so warm and filling that it's just perfect for a rainy day like today. It's comfort food (like mac and cheese! Only you can actually eat it for dinner without feeling sick and hungry later).

Meeru and Vikram introduce this recipe by telling stories about their family and this dish, describing how this dish is integral to their lives. They discuss a time when five-year old Nanaki's friends looked at it and said "Eew, what's that?" which got me thinking about the food I ate growing up. I wish I could say that I would have been all over the kidney beans but that really wasn't me. I definitely came from a family of meat-eaters. Even as a pigtailed little girl who loved nothing more than My Little Pony and frilly dresses, I requested that my dad make me ribs every year for my special birthday dinner. When my brothers had long moved on to requesting expensive restaurants, I continued asking for dad's homemade ribs. After I moved out, my dad continued to make me ribs for dinner almost every time I came home. Yup. Vegetarian, right here.

I often meet people who tell me that they would like to become a vegetarian but they don't know how to tell their family. They grew up eating meat and they feel like in giving it up, they're saying that the way they were raised wasn't good enough. It seems really silly, but I had the same worries when I gave up meat completely. Ribs were one of the first things I stopped eating (is there a more blatant method of chewing on an animal carcass?) and I actually had a harder time telling my dad that I didn't want to eat ribs anymore than I did telling him that I was finished with meat completely.

I can't tell you how your family will react, but I can tell you that my family has been at best insanely supportive and at worst completely unconcerned. In fact, I'm pretty sure that deep thoughts regarding their parenting skills or zeitgeist never entered their minds. My dad is always searching grocery stores for things I might like to eat and (the biggest surprise) has tried everything I've cooked since Matt and I moved in with my parents. My mom reads everything I give her on the subject and is proud of my choices, if occasionally annoyed that I won't just "pick the bacon off " something before eating it. At the end of the day, nobody really cares what I eat for dinner. 

  

Rajma Chawal

Vij's at Home: Relax, honey

Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij

(published by Douglas & McIntyre)

Serves 6

Ingredients

1/2 cup cooking oil

2 cups chopped onion (1 large)

2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic (6 cloves)

2 Tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 1/2 cups chopped tomato (3 medium)

1 1/2 Tbsp mild Mexican chili powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper (optional)

1 tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional)

1/2 cup plain yogurt, stirred (optional)

5-6 cups water (6 for a soupier curry)

3 14-oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

5-6 cups cooked white or brown basmati rice

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium pot on medium-high for 30 seconds. Add onion and saute for 8 minutes, or until slightly dark brown. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes, then stir in ginger and tomatoes.

2. Add chili powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, black pepper and cayenne and saute this masala for 5-8 minutes or until oil glistens on top.

3. (Skip this step if omitting yogurt) Place yogurt in a small bowl. To prevent curdling, spoon about 3 Tbsp of the hot masala into the yogurt. Stir well, then pour yogurt into the pot of masala. Saute for 2 minutes or until oil glistens again.

4. Add water, stir and bring to a boil on high heat. Add kidney beans, stir and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes.

5. Serve the rice and beans buffet-style in separate bowls.

The publishers asked me to explain any adaptations, so I've kept the recipe as it is written (I added numbered steps so it is easier to follow), but I will mention a few things that I do differently. I only use a few tablespoons of oil, I do not add yogurt (it is listed as optional in the original recipe), I use red or yellow peppers in lieu of onion (I really want to make it with onion but Matt would never approve), I often use dried powdered ginger and a large can of diced tomatoes in lieu of the fresh ginger and tomatoes (because I always have them so I can make this dish when I get home late and I have no idea what to have for dinner) and I'll often add only 2 cans of kidney beans and no water (I keep the spices the same) because I get a lot more moisture from the canned tomatoes and I like a thicker curry. Meeru and Vikram encourage adjusting the spices to suit your tastes. I usually use minute rice. Sometimes I eat it with sliced avocado.

Best Hummus Ever

I love hummus and I love this hummus recipe. Matt hates hummus and he loves this hummus recipe. And I don't think there is really much else I can say about it. Normally I prefer hummus on pita but this recipe is fantastic with chopped veggies of any kind. Especially celery.

The last time I made it, we ate it so fast that these were the only pictures I could get. Sorry.

Best Hummus Ever



Ingredients
1 15 or 19 oz can of chickpeas (whichever your supermarket carries) or about 2 cups of cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp paprika
1-2 tsp garlic, minced (or more, to taste)

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until well-mixed, about 2-3 minutes depending on the power of your processor. Scrape down the sides as necessary to make sure all the spices get mixed in. 

Double Chocolate Muffins and a Confession

I have a confession. And I'm bribing you with healthy double chocolate muffins. 

I thought I could get away with posting a couple of recipes from my Mennonite cookbook and saying “oh yeah, I eat local” and no one would be the wiser. But after reading my first blog post, Matt (who eats everything I eat) said “I didn’t realize you were trying to eat local” and I knew I had to provide a bit more of an explanation. He never lets me get away with anything. So, along with a recipe for amazingly delicious double chocolate muffins containing an obviously imported avocado, I thought I’d include an explanation about why I’m not a "locavore" (someone who eats only local food, however “local” is defined – usually food grown within 100 miles).

But I’ll start with why I do (sometimes) eat local (in the summer):

1) I like supporting local farmers.

2) I like fresh produce. Even if I probably couldn’t tell the difference between a peach and a plum if blindfolded, let alone a fresh peach and a peach that had traveled across a continent. 

3) During the summer, I love visiting farmer’s markets and community gardens.

4) I can’t think of many better ways to use public spaces, especially if your local food is from an urban garden.

Now, whether I want to eat local all the time is a different story. There are two main reasons for this:

1)  I live in Alberta (for now!). We all know I can’t subsist on mustard and canola alone (though I do love mustard). I suppose my dad would be perfectly happy eating nothing but Grade-A Alberta Beef all winter but it’s really not my thing. We obviously grow more than 2 crops in Alberta, but I’m trying to make a point here. It is important for everyone, and particularly vegetarians, to get a wide variety of foods in order to get all the nutrients we need. But also, I like eating lots of different things. And chocolate. 

2) Sometime between entering grade 1 and finishing my Master’s degree, I learned that complex questions rarely have simple answers. I don’t believe that simply eating local would solve all of the environmental problems associated with our current food system. Because I know you don’t care about my opinion, I’m also including some points that Dr. James E. McWilliams of Texas State University makes in his fantastic book Just Food. 

• The environmental impact of transporting food from where it’s produced to where you purchase it actually doesn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Dr. McWilliams quotes transportation analyst Lee Barter and argues that if there is any benefit to buying locally grown food, it is likely lost as soon as you drive past the supermarket on your way to the farmer’s market or stop to pick up toilet paper. But let’s say that you can walk to the farmer’s market and you don’t need toilet paper. Read on. 
• Some places are better suited to growing certain foods than other places. Food production in colder climates is much more energy-intensive than food production in climates where food already grows naturally, even when you include the energy used to transport food. So it can be less energy-intensive for me to buy sweet potatoes from China even if someone in Alberta is growing them.
• Imported food often comes in larger quantities, which means fewer trips, which means less energy used.

Obviously Dr. McWilliams had a lot more to say than that, but I'm pretty sure you're ready for the double chocolate muffin recipe now. I tried really hard to keep my rant as short as possible. I even considered leaving it out completely but then I figured that this is exactly the kind of conversation I have with friends and strangers all the time (yes, I really am that fun) that made me think I should start a food blog.

Muffins! I saw these on Eat me, Delicious and made them this weekend. As usual, I took some liberties with the recipe. I had never made any kind of double chocolate muffin before but I’m no stranger to vegan baking. I usually make super healthy muffins that taste like delicious healthy muffins. These were somewhat healthy muffins that tasted like bakery cupcakes. They were a hit with everyone, including my dad who hates avocado (you can't taste the avocado). I wanted to make them completely vegan but carob chips are disgusting and the Camino chocolate chips I used were vegan but had a “may contain milk ingredients” warning on it. Can anyone recommend a completely vegan chocolate chip brand?

Double Chocolate Muffins

I made 30 mini-muffins but the original recipe stated 12 regular-sized muffins.

Ingredients

Dry:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet:
1 ripe avocado, pitted and peeled
2/3 cup liquid sweetener such as real maple syrup or agave
3/4 cup almond milk
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup dried cherries, optional

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. If you’re like me, you’ll leave this until you finish the batter and then stare impatiently at the oven as it heats up.  

2. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.

3. In a food processor or blender (I used my Vitamix!), blend the wet ingredients until smooth.

4. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix by hand until the ingredients are just mixed. Over-mixing muffin batter can make muffins dense. If the mixture seems dry, add a little more milk. Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries.  

5. Grease the muffin tin with coconut oil or line with muffin cups. I filled the mini-muffin tins to the top but I generally fill full-size muffin tins about 3/4 full.

5. Bake mini-muffins for about 12 minutes (regular-sized for 22 minutes) or until a tester comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cool before removing them from the pan.
6. Try to freeze some so you don't devour them in one sitting.

Edamame Fried Rice

This isn't the fried rice you're used to. This recipe is adapted from the Vegetable Fried Noodles recipe from Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook. I added lots of veggies (as you can see in the picture) because I didn't have as much leftover rice as I thought I did and I like a large veggie-to-grain ratio anyway. Edamame is essential in this recipe (in my opinion) because it is 1) delicious and 2) full of protein and iron. I'm not a doctor and I'm not particularly interested in nutrition (my doctor wanted to check my iron levels 11 months ago and I still have not got around to booking an appointment) but if you're interested in learning more about vegan/vegetarian nutrition, I highly, highly recommend Vegan for Life by Jack Norris and Virginia Messina. It contains a lot of information about nutrients that vegans should pay particular attention too as well as some information on food labels which I found helpful. I really liked it, especially because they emphasized that a manageable plant-based diet is best and didn't make me feel bad for breaking the rules. With that in mind, here is a stress-free, rule-free vegetarian/vegan recipe.

Add the veggies you want, in the amounts suitable to your appetite. The amounts listed are just guides. We thought it was quite flavourful with the fresh ginger so you don't need to worry about diluting the flavour with extra veggies or rice, but you can always double the ginger or garlic if you like a lot of flavour.

This is best and easiest with leftover rice but it works with fresh rice too. If the rice is freshly made, I wouldn't bother adding it to the pan because it can get sticky. Just make the recipe as is, but skip the step 4 and spoon the veggie mixture onto the rice before serving.

To make this recipe vegan, omit the eggs. I made it with 4 eggs because I was cooking for four and I wanted leftovers for 2 lunches, but I don't think they added much to the recipe so could definitely be omitted. I wouldn't say it is the yummiest thing I've ever made, but it is easy and fast to prepare, and really filling. I will definitely make it again.

Ingredients
1-2 cups of cooked rice or quinoa (I used a mix; use your appetite to guide you)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 cup diced onion, optional
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 cups frozen edamame
1/4 cup organic or homemade vegetable stock (because it is usually made of actual vegetables)
2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
2-4 eggs, beaten, optional
Black pepper, to taste
1/4 cups chopped peanuts, optional

Directions
1. Put the vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium heat. When it gets hot, add the garlic, ginger and scallions. Stir for about 15 seconds and then add the rest of the veggies, the vegetable stock and soy sauce.
2. Cook the veggies, stirring frequently, for about 5-10 minutes or until tender.
3. If you are using eggs, push the veggies to the edges of the pan, leaving an empty circle in the centre. Add the eggs into the circle and scramble them by swirling your cooking utensil around. When they set, mix them in with the veggies.
4. Add your rice and toss or stir until everything is mixed together.
5. Serve with pepper and peanuts sprinkled on top, to taste.

I'm submitting this recipe to Wellness Weekend, an event which I am not even remotely familiar with so I hope I'm doing this right! Anyway, follow that link to a big pile of vegan recipes! And now I won't feel so bad for telling people who ask me about vegetarian cooking that I have a blog that can help them. "Yes, please check out my blog. I post vegetarian recipes!" ... I've posted two vegetarian recipes. People like eating the same thing over and over again, right?

I will be away next weekend but I'm going to try to save another blog post that will automatically upload on Saturday. I spent today making delicious vegan muffins and taking glamour shots of them to make up for the lazy photos I've been posting.

Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Curry

I wish I had a better photo to show you guys but I really wanted to post this recipe and this photo was all I had (it also happens to be the only photo of a homemade dinner I've ever taken, and I have no idea what inspired me to take this photo with my phone when I did).

I had to start this blog with this recipe because it is something I make every single week. This is how I introduced my boyfriend, Matt, to curry and I think it would be safe to say that this is now his all-time favourite dish. He was a little sceptical about Indian food in general but now he loves it, even requesting Indian restaurants for his birthday dinner. I think it might be my favourite dinner recipe too. It takes fairly minimal prep time and then simmers largely unattended for around 20 minutes. And it is so yummy.

This recipe has evolved from a Chicken Tikka Masala recipe in Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cookbook (Jamie would love to know that I think this was the cookbook that initially piqued my interest in cooking, and this is the recipe I've chosen to kick off my food-sharing blog). It's not a vegetarian cookbook but it is a really helpful cookbook for beginners. I like sharing this recipe with vegetarians who live with meat-eaters because you can cook it in one pot, leaving room on the stove for omnivores to make meat to eat with it. Matt will sometimes make a chicken breast to go along with it (chopped up and mixed in with his portion of curry) but he has eaten it happily on its own as well.

About the sweet potatoes. I don't know what they spray on those guys but they are absolutely massive if you don't buy the organic ones. If your sweet potato or squash is really large, you'll want to either add extra canned tomatoes or some water to ensure they're mostly covered in your pan. Green guides always recommend that squash and potatoes are two vegetables that are smart organic purchases because of their thin/edible skins and the high amounts of pesticides used in growing them. I peel sweet potatoes (which wouldn't remove any pesticides that made it through the skin) because I've heard the skin can be toxic but I don't actually peel butternut squash (I just cut the ends off, and remove the seeds in the middle). I also use canned beans unless I've got my act together over the weekend to cook some dried ones. You can always replace the two cans with about 2 cups of cooked beans.

Ingredients
1 - 19 oz can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 - 19oz can of mixed beans (or another of kidney beans), drained and rinsed
1 red pepper or onion (or a mix), chopped
1 medium-sized sweet potato (or a small butternut squash), peeled and diced into approximately 1-inch cubes
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced or 1 1/2 tsp powdered ginger plus 1 tsp lemon
1/2 cup tikka masala or mild curry paste (I absolutely love Patak's)
1 - 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, including juice
1 - 14 oz can of light coconut milk (if you use regular, add about half a can of extra water)
1 Tbsp peanut or vegetable oil, or butter

Rice enough to feed your family (any kind: Basmati rice is so decadent with this dish but I'm usually a minute-rice kind of girl). This is about 3 cups for Matt and I (including leftovers).

Optional (if you like heat): 1 fresh red chile, finely sliced or 1 tsp of chile flakes (or to taste)
Optional: a small handful of sliced almonds
Optional: a dollop of plain yogurt (preferably Greek)
Optional (but highly recommended): naan bread, such as PC Blue Menu Naan from Superstore

Directions
1. In a large frying pan (the biggest you have), place the oil and onions or red pepper. If you are using fresh ginger and/or a fresh red chile, add them now as well. Cook them for around 5-7 minutes or until soft.
2. Add in the tomatoes, coconut milk and curry paste. Stir it around to make sure the curry paste gets mixed in with the liquids.
3. Add in the beans, sweet potato or squash, powdered ginger and lemon (if you did not add fresh ginger) and chile flakes if you are using them. Mix around to make sure everything is coated with the sauce. If the sauce does not cover the beans and potato (this will depend on how large your potato was), fill one of the 14 oz cans with water and pour it in.
4. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down and let it simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Check it regularly to make sure it's not drying out too much and add water if necessary.
5. While it's simmering, prepare your rice as usual.
6. Once the potatoes are tender, take the lid off and let it simmer for another few minutes to let the sauce thicken up if you like a thicker curry like I do. If you're impatient (like I am!) or you don't want to let the sauce reduce too much in volume, dissolve about a tbsp of corn starch with a 1/2 cup of warm water and stir it in the curry to thicken it.
7. Spoon the rice into bowls and smother it in delicious curry. Sprinkle over almonds and a dollop of yogurt, if using. Use the naan to scoop it up and eat it, if you like. I get lots of greens in throughout the day but will sometimes make a spinach salad with a lemony dressing to go along with it.

Another Way
Sometimes I make this with a mixture of dried red lentils and yellow split peas (about 1/2-3/4 cup each). I'll add extra water (3-4 cups, or more if it starts to dry out) to cook the lentils and peas and make it a little more like soup. I also keep it boiling (rather than simmering) for the 20 minutes and I leave the lid off. I might replace the sweet potato with 2 carrots. I usually eat it with rice for dinner but by itself as soup for lunch the next day.

I hope that's clear! To be perfectly honest, my way of cooking it is more like "dump everything in the pan all at once and get Matt to check on it while he's cooking the rice" but when I'm taking my time, this is how I do it. Anyway, this is my first time writing out a recipe to share so please, please, please let me know if something doesn't make sense. And let me know if you try it, and how it turns out! And then invite me over so I can have some too.

It's March 31st - Earth Hour! What do you plan to do during your energy-free hour? Do you plan on incorporating a reduced-energy dinner into your Earth Hour? I think I might. I heard that Calgary tends to use more energy than usual during Earth Hour. I hope we can do better this year! Check out this article by Adria Vasil for energy-saving dinner tips.

About the Blog

Hello, and welcome to 10,000 Ways!

I decided to start this blog after several of my friends expressed interest in learning more about environmentally-friendly lifestyle choices and specifically vegetarian cooking. I started eating a plant-based diet and transitioned into becoming a vegetarian so slowly that I cannot pinpoint an exact date. I do know that the last time I ate meat was a single bite of turkey on Canadian Thanksgiving Day last October. I had reduced (and eventually eliminated) my meat consumption to reduce my impact on the environment and to improve my health and figured that a little bit of meat now and again wouldn't be the end of the world. It turns out that it's true what they say and eventually, your tastes adjust to what they're used to. I've never been a picky eater but I definitely struggled to get that piece of turkey down my throat without gagging! I handed my plate to my little brother, picked up a salad bowl and have never looked back.

I named this blog 10,000 Ways after the Thomas Edison quote "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." because I love experimenting even though it frequently takes me a lot of tries to get something right. I've never been one to follow a pattern exactly, whether it's in a recipe or in life. Most of the recipes I'll post will be from cookbooks, so you don't need to worry about getting too many duds from me!

10,000 Ways also suits my style of cooking. Because I am not a trained chef and I tend to be in a rush, I like to make meals that have the same basic steps (practice makes perfect!) but can be made with a variety of ingredients. To further reduce my impact on the environment, I try to eat seasonally and locally as much as possible and I will often change the ingredients of a recipe to suit what's available to me depending on the time of year. Of course, living in Canada does reduce the amount of fresh local produce available to me and I handle this by eating a lot of "winter foods" as well as some imported fruit and vegetables. I would never be able to stick enjoy sticking to a strict diet and I think it is better to make as many good choices as you can instead of trying too hard to be perfect and then giving up completely. I hope this blog will appeal to a wide audience because my primary goal is to help people learn a bit about the small steps that they can take to incorporate more vegetarian meals into their diet and reduce their impact on the environment. If I can do it, I'm sure you can too!

This post is getting pretty word-y so I'm going to leave you with a picture of my dog, Gus. Check back for a Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Curry Recipe coming Saturday!