Tandoori Cauliflower
This delicious recipe of tandoori cauliflower with spiced yogurt by Kelsey Nixon made a great center piece for a vegetarian Thanksgiving.
Spicy Potatoes
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 2 lb. bag of assorted color baby potatoes
- 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced lengthwise
- 2 serrano chilies, thinly sliced
- 1 inch piece of ginger, finely minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dhana-jeeru (spice blend of ground cumin and coriander)
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 3 tablespoons cilantro, for garnish
Directions
- Wash potatoes and cut them in half.
- In a large cast iron pan or non-stick pan, heat oil on a medium-high heat until shimmering, 2-3 minutes. Add cumin seeds once oil is hot and let them sizzle. Add asafetida, shallot, green chili and ginger. Sauté them for 2-3 minutes.
- Lower heat to medium. Add turmeric, chili powder and dhana-jeeru. Stir in spices with shallot mixture. Add potatoes, season with salt and stir everything so that potatoes are covered with spices. Cover the pan and let potatoes cook until tender, 7 to 10 minutes, stirring few times.
- Once potatoes are cooked, uncover the pan and let potatoes brown and become crispy for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve warm with any Indian flat bread.
Mixed Mashed Potatoes
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 2 large russet potatoes
- 2 large Yukon gold potatoes
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
Directions
- Peel and cut potatoes into 1 inch chunks. Transfer them to a Dutch oven or a large pot. Cover the potatoes with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover the pot and let potatoes cook until tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Meanwhile combine milk, heavy cream and 3 tablespoons of butter in a small pot and warm it.
- Drain potatoes once they are cooked and transfer them to same pot. On low heat, mash the potatoes with a potato masher or a ricer. Stir in milk mixture and cheese with mashed potatoes. Save some milk if you are not going to serve mashed potatoes immediately. Season with salt and pepper.
- Just before serving, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small pan. Add cumin seeds and paprika in melted butter, let it toast for 30 seconds and pour over mashed potatoes.
Tomato and Pumpkin Gravy
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
- ½ 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree
- 2 8 oz. cans of tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 medium shallot, roughly chopped
- 1 medium tomato, roughly chopped
- 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 Jalapeno pepper, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon dhana-jeeru (spice blend of ground coriander and cumin)
- 2 tablespoons kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves), see Note.
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon sugar or to taste
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Directions
- Combine tomato sauce, pumpkin puree, almond butter, corn starch, shallot, tomato, ginger, jalapeno and garlic in a blender bowl. Blend all the ingredients until smooth sauce. Set it aside.
- Heat butter and oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add the pumpkin-tomato sauce. Add all the dry spices and stir the sauce. Season with salt and sugar. Cover the pot and let gravy cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. If gravy is too thick add some water.
- Uncover the pot, stir in heavy cream. Let gravy cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly until cream is well combined.
Notes
Kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves) can be purchased from Indian grocery stores.
Paella with Roasted Vegetables
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
Roasted Vegetables:
- 1 green bell pepper, 1 inch diced
- 1 red bell pepper, 1 inch diced
- 1 small zucchini, 1 inch diced
- 1 small yellow squash, 1 inch diced
- 1 medium carrot, 1 inch diced
- 1 15oz. can baby artichokes, well drain
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Tofu Chorizo:
- ½ of 10.5oz. package of extra firm tofu
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- Pinch of cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Paella:
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 leek, thinly sliced, white and light green parts
- 1 large red onion, ½ inch diced
- 4 plum tomatoes, ½ inch diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Spanish paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups basmati rice or short grain rice
- ¼ teaspoon saffron
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, for garnish
Directions
- Roasted vegetables: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine vegetables for roasting in a large mixing bowl. Toss the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to a large baking sheet and arrange vegetables in a single layer. Roast the vegetables for 30 to 35 minutes or until vegetables are slightly brown. Keep them aside.
- Tofu Chorizo: Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray. Combine dry spices and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Crumble tofu on top of spices in tiny pieces. Drizzle oil and vinegar over it. Stir tofu with spices until well coated. Transfer tofu to a baking pan and make a single layer. Bake tofu in the same pre-heated oven until tofu is brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Keep it aside.
- In a medium sauce pan warm stock. Add saffron to stock and keep it warm.
- In a large cast iron pan or paella pan, heat oil on a medium high heat. Sauté leeks and onions with pinch of salt until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes and sauté them until tomatoes break down, 3 to 4 minutes. Make a space for tomato paste and sauté it for a minute. Stir everything and sauté for a minute.
- Add rice, paprika, black pepper and sauté with onions and tomatoes until rice is well coated with oil, 2 minutes. Add warm broth and let rice cook until almost tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove artichokes from roasted vegetables, add rest of the vegetables to rice and stir. Add tofu chorizo and stir rice. Level rice and arrange artichoke and green peas on top. Let rice cook for another 4 to 5 minutes.
- Before serving, garnish with cilantro.
Brussel Sprouts and Green Apple Slaw
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Brussel sprouts
- 1 delicious green apple
- Seeds from ½ pomegranate
- ¼ cup mint leaves
Dressing:
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- Juice of 1 orange
- 1 inch piece of ginger, finely minced
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil
Directions
- Make dressing: Combine all ingredients of dressing in a small mixing bowl except oil. Whisk everything until salt is melted. Slowly drizzle oil while whisking until dressing emulsifies. Set it aside.
- Wash and drain Brussel sprouts. Cut them in half and thinly sliced them. Remove core of apple and cut it in matchsticks roughly same size as Brussel sprouts. Combine them in large salad bowl and dress the slaw. You can dress the slaw up to two hours in advance.
- Just before serving, spread pomegranate seeds and mint leaves on top.
Eggless Pecan Pie
I tweaked recipe of Chocolate Caramel Crunch Pie from Giada De Laurentis to make it as an eggless pecan pie. I replaced walnuts with pecans, semi-sweet chocolate with dark chocolate and 24 oz. dulce de leche with 8 oz. dulce de leche and 8 oz. salted caramel sauce. For a crust, I used 1 ½ cups of honey nut cheerios cereal instead of graham crackers. I forget to buy graham crackers, the crust with cereal turned out great.