Dry Spiced Potatoes with Cauliflower

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Since just about every day for the past week I found out someone new who reads my blog (apparently EVERYONE in Germantown does) I figure I need to step it up.  Well, this week is the food stamp challenge so that will be interesting (well, cooking for 1 will be less interesting because I'll probably end up eating about 3 things including some things I've made before).  And on a note for that, I think I have to go lunch Sunday-lunch next Sunday because I have some organic yogurt and organic milk leftover that I don't want to go bad but I obviously can't use in the challenge.  Or maybe I'll just use it instead of the first cup of regular milk and make sure I have at least some milk left.  And the yogurt is such a small amount, I might eat it after running since the food stamp plan does not account for the fact that I'm going to be running 5-6 miles today.  Anyway, that's just housekeeping, let's get on to the recipe.

As I mentioned in my last entry, I had people over for Indian food a few weeks ago, and this side dish was probably the favorite dish (besides the cilantro mint dipping sauce for the samosas), mostly because it had the most flavor.  I had my friends try to guess what was in it, and since there really isn't much in it, they did a pretty good job and turmeric was a given because it ends up pretty yellow (I really need to replace the battery in my camera).  Also, this was a great entertaining recipe because it was so easy: chop and fry; it doesn't get any better than that.  This serves 4 as a side dish:
1 lb potatoes
2 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 green chili, finely chopped (I used thai chili and it gave it a little extra kick, which I liked)
1 lb cauliflower, broken into florets
1 tsp coriander
1/4 chili powder (not the chili powder blend you buy at the supermarket, this is dried ground chilis, if you don't have access to an Indian grocery store or store with bulk spices from India, as some grad students might not, you can probably use ground cayenne or some sort of ground "red pepper")
1/2 ground turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
chopped fresh cilantro

1. Bring pot to a boil in a medium pot.  Cut peeled and washed potatoes into 1 inch cubes, then boil for about 10 minutes.  Drain the potatoes well and set them aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large pan and fry the cumin seeds for 2 minutes until the begin to sputter.  Add the fresh chili pepper and fry further for 1 minute
3. Add cauliflower florets to the pan and fry, stirring for 5 minutes
4. Add potatoes and spices and salt and cook for another 7-10 minutes until both vegetables are tender.  Garnish with chopped coriander.

Note that I slightly overcooked the potatoes, so I added the spice before the potatoes and cooked the cauliflower with spices for about 5 minutes, then added the potatoes and cooked for another 2.  This made the spices slightly unbalanced between the vegetables, but I made it the night before and kept it in the fridge and I think that helped it blend a little bit.

Now I have to make breakfast, probably oatmeal, but I need to figure out how much stuff I am allowed to put in my oatmeal.  Lately I've been putting dried cranberries, frozen blueberries, about a tsp of cinnamon and bit of brown sugar in it, but I think I have to cut back on this $21 budget.  Malt-o-meal might be even cheaper than oatmeal, I need to price it out, but I'll probably switch between the two for this week.

Chicken in Green Masala Sauce

So a few weeks ago, I had some people over for (Northern) Indian food.  It was good, but I wouldn't say it was spectacular.  Oh well it was homemade and from a white girl.  But it came from my Curry cookbook, which is probably the single greatest cookbook investment I've made.  I think I've already made a half dozen recipes from it.  I'll periodically include the good ones.  This was good, but I thought a little bland.  Maybe the naan was just bad, I'm not sure.  It says it serves 4, but I doubled it and made another dish plus samosas and it fed 5 with few leftovers.  And I don't think we overindulged.  So it might make a good dinner for 2-3 (or one with leftovers).  Oh, and this is pretty much the easiest dish Indian dish ever, it was great for company because it went together really easily.  I chopped everything but the chicken the night before though.

1 crisp green eating apple, peeled cored and cubed
4 Tbsp cilantro
2 Tbsp fresh mint
2/3 c plain yogurt
3 Tbsp fromage frais or ricotta cheese
2 fresh green chilis (this might not be enough...)
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp grated fresh root ginger
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz chicken breasts skinned and cubed
1 oz sultanas (golden raisins)

1. Place apple, 2 tbsp cilantro, mint, yogurt, fromage frais/ricotta, chilis, spring onion, salt, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a food processor and process for one minute.  Scrape outside of bowl and process for a few more seconds.
2. Heat oil in wok or large pan and  pour yogurt mixture and cook gently for 2 minutes.  
3. Add chicken pieces and stir well to blend everything together.  Cook over medium low heat for 12-15 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.  I cooked longer because I thought the sauce was a little runny, so I cooked it until it was the consistency of curries I've had in restaurants.  Was this too much?  I don't know, but it made it easier to eat with naan.
4. Sprinkle sultanas and remaining coriander over for serving.

Pseudo-Indian Feast

So I'll be cooking a lot this week/weekend so be prepared. The reasons for this: 1) I went to the farmer's market today and 2) I'm moving a lot of my stuff, including most of my pans and what not. I'm cooking ahead, so I can have a bunch of reheatable meals for the future weeks.

So today, I made Indian Flavored Vegetable Pancakes, which aren't too expensive when you go to the farmer's market and get all your veggies and spices for next to nothing and a great way for someone like me to eat veggies. I also attempted a new dahl: Red Lentil Dahl, another ridiculously nutritious for the buck meal. I used red split lentils because that's what I bought today (and I misread the recipe) and reduced the oil by a lot. The were both great dishes and went well together. I forgot plain yogurt for the dipping sauce for the pancakes, but I'll pick that up tonight, I kind of think they needed the lime flavor.

My cheapest healthy dinner

Okay, so the spices aren't always extremely cheap, but once you have them, they last a while. Also, I have a farmer's market at which I can buy spices for about $2-3 a pound, so several ounces costs about 50 cents. But this is actually a delicious recipe. I'm not a fan of split peas, so I was a little concerned the first time I made it, but I love it. It's extremely filling an has a great flavor. Plus it is basically split peas, which are great for you!

Split Pea Dahl
1 cup dried split peas
2 tablespoon oil (not olive!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon red pepper

Boil split peas in a quart of water until they are tender (about 45 minutes). Then fry the spices in oil until they are fragrant. Add a half cup of the split pea juice to the spices, simmer for a few minutes, then add the mixture to the split peas. Simmer the peas and spices for a few more minutes, then serve with brown rice or eat like soup.

Edit 2/20/10: I computed the cost of this meal for the food stamp challenge.  At the prices I paid for spices (an average of about 60 cents for 2/3 of a cup), this meal cost me 54 cents.  For 3-4 servings!  That's ridiculous!