Gome, ethiopian collard greens

One more item in the Ethiopian restaurant i was talking about... It is very nutritious, so make it as much and chomp away. This recipe is made many ways, this is just one of the ways to make it. This recipe uses a spice infused clarified butter called Netir Khebbe. In case you can not make netir khebbe, i have given an alternative in tips of this recipe... check it out. Kids may eat their greens this way, try it out, you never know this could be their next favorite.

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1. Collard/spinach or both - 1 big bunch, washed and chopped
2. Garlic - 2 pods, grated or 1 tsp paste
3. Ginger - 1 inch piece grated or 1 tsp paste
4. Onion - 1 medium sized, diced
5. Hot pepper of your choice - 1 to 2 [depending on the heat you want]
6. Netir Khebbe / oil - 2 tsp [follow the link and scroll down for recipe]
7. Salt - to taste
8. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• On medium heat, heat a huge pot which can fit in all the ingredients. 
• Make netir khebbe and add onions, saute for a minute, add some salt and saute till it gets slightly golden brown.
• Add ginger and garlic, saute for a few seconds.
• Add the hot peppers and saute for a few seconds.
• Now add the chopped greens and saute till the wilt a little.
• Add enough salt and pepper powder and saute till it is well cooked. Gome is ready to be served on Injera

Tips:

Instead of netir khebbe, you can use 1/4 tsp of garam masala powder when the oil heats up. 

Stuffed peppers with Quinoa

Talking of healthy food, how can I go without talking about a great grain called Quinoa? Grain basically from Peru, has won hearts all over the world for it nutritional quality. Very high in iron... about 12% to 20% iron in a single serving... can anything beat that? 5 to 7% protein and 10- 15% carbs. Easy to cook and will blend with almost any cuisine. you can make upma or puliogare out of it.. just use this grain in lieu of rice/rava.  It is basically very bland, making it very absorbing of other flavours.  Here goes the recipe

Prep time: 25 mins [includes quinoa cooking time]

Cook time: 15 - 20 mins

Servings: upto 4

Ingredients:

1. Bell peppers - 4, any colour of your choice, just make sure they are round and have some space to be stuffed and stand upright.
2. Quinoa - 1 1/2 cup
3. Cranberry raisins/ regular raisins - 1/4 cup
4. Spinach - 1 bunch washed and finely chopped
5. Garlic - 2 pods grated/minced or 1/2 tsp paste
6. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
7. Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp
8. Slat - to taste
9. Grated cheese - a handful, any cheese on hand  [optional]
10. Oil - 2 tsp
11. Water - 3 1/2 cups to cook Quinoa

Method:

• Wash quinoa and cook it in a vessel by adding water, 1/2 tsp salt and a few drops of oil till it is well done. That is, you will be able to see white sprouts kind of lines on the grain once it is cooked. It takes about 17:00 mins to cook.
• In a pot, heat oil and add garlic and saute for a few seconds.
• Add sping onions and a pinch of salt and saute for a few seconds.
• Add carnberry raisins and saute for a few seconds.
• Add Spinach and close the lid on the pot till all spinach wilts. Now add salt enough for the dish and add pepper.
• Add cooked quinoa and mix all the ingredients well to let it stand for a minute.
• Add the cheese now and stir for a few minutes. turn the stove off. Save a little cheese to top the peppers.
• Now chop the top of the peppers, the part where you see the stem. Remove all the seeds and stuff the peppers upto the brim with the quinoa mixture and top it with a little cheese. Repeat the  process till all the peppers are filled. Set them on a baking tray.
• Preheat oven at 375F and place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, till all the cheese on top melts and peppers become soft and cooked.

Serving suggestion:

A ranch dip goes excellent with this pepper stuffing. 

Tips:

If the pepper does not stand upright, cut a very thin slice below the pepper to make it straight. keep in mind not to make a hole while cutting the bottom. By chance you do, do not panic, just take a section from the cut part and place it inside the pepper to cover the hole and then stuff it.

If you don't have an oven, place these peppers in a pan add a little oil and place a lid over it. Cook it on a low flame. Or in a big vessel, pour water till 1/4 of it's capacity, place a pan which can cover the mouth of the vessel. Place the peppers on this pans, cover with lid and cook till the pepper gets soft. After 15 to 20 mins, check if the water has evaporated and pour some more water in to the vessel.

Greens and Beans Soup

This soup has All the goodness of Beans and smooth flavour of Greens such as Spinach and etc.


Prep time, cook time and serving same as vegetable bean soup.

Method:

1. Follow the Basic Bean Soup Method and add a whole lot of chopped greens such as Spinach/Collard Greens/Kale or all of them to the soup.

2. You can combine a few veggies and greens as you may wish and make an even more yummy and and nutritious soup.

Tips:

1. Canned beans contain salt in them, so be careful when you add salt to the soup.

2. For Garnish, add some croutons. You get them in variety of flavours. Just watch out for the salt in the soup if your are planning to add croutons. They are pretty salty.

3.It is always a good idea to cook in medium heat, if you are in a hurry, use high heat. Remember to stand near the stove if you cooking on high. for more flavour, simmer the stove for 5 minutes before you turn it off for soups.
4.Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking all kinds of soup.

Some More variation to Bean Soups:

1. You may soak barley for 4 hours and add it to these soups. Half a cup of barley goes a long way. This will also give additional protein and carbohydrates. Barley is good for Urinary system, so add it in your diet once in a while.

2. Quinoa is another super grain full of iron, protein and some carbs. you can find it in health food stores/organic produce stores and Whole foods stores. Cooking quinoa is fairly simple, just rinse and add it to your soup. half a cup will do. I will post a lot of quinoa recipes and pictures shortly...

 

Aash

Aash:

This is a highly nutritious Iranian soup. Filled with lentils, chick peas, blacked eyed peas and wholesome goodness of a bunch of different greens make this soup very delicious. Aash basically means soup in Persian, this is a heavily aromatic and heavy in the tummy soup. Have a bowl full of this and you will forget eating for the rest of the day :D.

Prep time: 30 minutes approx (including cleaning) 

Cook time: 1/2 hr to 2 hrs.

Servings: 8 to 10 approx.

Ingredients:

1. Black eyed peas - 1 16oz can

2. Chick peas - 1 can 16oz or half if you don't want too much.

3. Lentils - 1 16 oz can.

4. Big onion - 1 or 2 small medium onions.

5. Garlic - 4 to 5 pods

6. Parsley - 2 tsp (dry) you can use fresh herbs if available.

7. Chives/scallions - 4 tsp(dry) if using scallions about 1/4 cup.

8. Dill weed - 1/4 cup

9. Cilantro/coriander - 1/4 cup

10. Mint Leaves - 1/4 cup

11. Spinach - 2 cups or more if you like

12.Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

13. Ground black pepper - to taste

14. Salt - to taste

15. Oil - 2tbsp

16. water - enough to cook, please eye ball it. approx 6 to 7 cups.

17. Kashk*/Wine vinegar/sour cream - 1/4 cup

*Kashk is a yogurt based ingredient, used in Persian cooking. You will find it at middle eastern stores or where a lot of middle eastern people shop for groceries. Only substitute it if you absolutely cannot find kashk. It is the main ingredient which gives this soup an unforgettable taste. It is salty, so when you add salt to the dish, add less so it gets adjusted when you add kashk.  It is generally found as white dry balls or now in liquid form. Next best substitute to Kashk is sour cream.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a big pot.

2. Saute all the dry herbs first for a few seconds.

3. Add Garlic and saute for few seconds.

4. Add onions saute for a few seconds and add salt mix and close it till it gets slightly golden brown.

5. Now add Mint, dill, parsley, chives, scallions, turmeric and saute for a few minutes.

6. Add spinach and let it wilt slightly.

7. add all the beans from the can, add sufficient water and let it cook for atleast 20 minutes.

9. Now add cilantro and cook for 2 minutes.

10. Add kashk and black pepper and cook for a 3 to 5 minutes.Aash is ready to eat.

Tips:

1. You can soak all the peas and lentils overnight and cook them using the above method. However, it will easily take up to 2 hours for it to finish cooking. if you do not have enough time, use the can version. It cooks a lot faster.

2. If you hate garlic. Do not chop or grate them into your dish. Just crush them and add them to the dish and pull them out when the cooking is done. you will have the garlic flavour but no garlic. This trick can be used for all the dishes which uses garlic.
3. Canned beans contain salt in them, so be careful when you add salt to the soup.
4.It is always a good idea to cook in medium heat, if you are in a hurry, use high heat. Remember to stand near the stove if you cooking on high. for more flavour, simmer the stove for 5 minutes before you turn it off for soups.
5. Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking all kinds of soup.

Goes well with Persian naan, if you can't find it, you can use pita bread.