Tag: chick peas

Posted on

Slow Cooked Lamb Curry with Chick Peas and Grilled Eggplant

IMG_2300

I really love lamb. When I was little my parents used to make lamb burgers with blue cheese and apparently I was repulsed by them. Those days are over. Sometimes my dad says he wishes they weren’t. Lamb and eggplant are a combination made in heaven. There is a guy at the Encinitas farmers’ market that sells some great curries so that is where we got this gem but most grocery markets carry jarred curries.

  • 1 eggplant
  • drizzle of olive oil/balsamic
  • salt/pepper
  • 1 can chick peas
  • 1 pound lamb shank
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 1 onion
  • 1 jar green curry
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp powdered turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 can light unsweetened coconut milk
  • farro or rice*
  1. drain and rinse chick peas, roughly chop garlic and onion
  2. start heating slow cooker
  3. once hot, melt coconut oil; add mustard seeds, turmeric, chili flakes and chopped garlic until aromatic
  4. add curry, coconut milk, onion, chick peas and lamb and cook on low for as long as possible (8 hours)
  5. slice eggplant and drizzle it with olive oil and balsamic then grill it and add to the stew in the last 15 minutes of cooking
  6. garnish with some herbs

*we served it over farro and it was delicious but feel free to go traditional and use rice

© 2015, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Cardamom Coffee Cake

IMG_1914

This cake isn’t for the faint of heart. I have an unusual affinity for cardamom, unearthed through my addiction to Lofty Bean‘s killer cardamom lattés. If you don’t (or haven’t discovered it yet), you may want to scale down the cardamom in this recipe. It’s also not very sweet so you may want to scale up the sugar or honey. I’m not a precise baker. At all.

Don’t be put off by the chick peas. You’re probably saying what are legumes doing in your coffee cake, but they don’t have a very strong flavor and actually meld really well with earthy spices (cardamom!) or nuts (that’s for another post). That said, don’t expect a spongy, traditional coffee cake. This version is pretty dense but tasty and packed with protein.

  • 1/2 can chick peas
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
  • 4 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 tsp cardamom
  • 2 cups roughly chopped walnuts (reserve 1/2 cup for streusel)
  • 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 2 1/2 tbsp greek yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 heaping tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  1. pre-heat oven to 350°F
  2. blend chick peas until smooth in a food processor
  3. add greek yogurt, honey and coconut milk and blend until incorporated
  4. transfer to a bowl and mix in 2 tsp of cinnamon, cardamom, 1/4 cup of the shredded coconut, baking powder, flour and salt
  5. transfer the gooey mixture to a lined loaf pan
  6. bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean; meanwhile, in another small bowl mix together the other two tbsp cinnamon, 1/4 shredded coconut, sugar and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts for the streusel
  7. remove bread from oven when ready and spread the streusel over the top and continue baking for 4 minutes (keeping an eye on the walnuts so they don’t burn)

© 2015, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Sauteed Chard with Dates and Garbanzo Beans

summer bulgur-heirloom tomato salad
This was another attempt to use up large amounts of greens before they wilted past the point of no return. I love making warm wilted greens in the winter instead of salads. It’s so much more satisfying and comforting. The combination of sweet dates and savory spiced garbanzo beans adds complexity and takes these healthy greens to a whole new level. If it wasn’t already good enough, another reason to eat chard is its’ plethora of health benefits. It has lots of antioxidants, vitamin C (for immunity), vitamin K (for bone strength), omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin A, calcium, potassium and iron (red blood cell production).

According to “nutrition-and-you.com”, regular inclusion of chard in the diet has been found to prevent osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anemia, and vitamin-A deficiency; and believed to protect from cardiovascular diseases and colon and prostate cancers

  • 1/2 can garbanzo beans
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 large bunch green chard
  • about 8 cups-worth spinach
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 10 dates
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt pepper
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 lemon (juice)
  1. heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat and mince garlic
  2. add garlic to the pan with the cumin paprika and chili flakes
  3. drain garbanzos and add them to the skillet, stirring to coat them in the spices
  4. continue cooking, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, until garbanzos start to brown a little bit
  5. slice chard and spinach and add chard in batches to the skillet, pit and slice dates
  6. in the first batch add the water and cover for 1 minute
  7. then remove cover and add more chard, flipping so that the already cooked greens are on top
  8. continue this process until all of the chard and kale are cooked about evenly, turn the heat down
  9. add the sliced dates and mix in, remove from heat and move to a large mixing bowl
  10. squeeze lemon juice in and mix, adding salt and pepper to taste

© 2014 – 2015, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...