Simple Beet Salad

Makes: 4 large servings
 
Ingredients

• 2 pounds (~900g) beets
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• salt
• pepper
• plain thick or set yogurt

Boil or roast the beets until done (pierced very easily with a fork) - check after 1 hour and then go from there. Peel the beets and cut into bite-sized pieces.  Toss with the garlic, oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.  Let sit in the refrigerator a few hours or overnight.  Serve with yogurt.

Brussels Sprouts with Cheese

Makes: 2 servings

Ingredients:

• ~20 Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved (enough to make one layer in bottom of pan you're using)
• 1½ tablespoons olive oil
• grated cheese of your choice (recommended: gruyere, parmesan, appenzeller...)
• salt & pepper

Toss sprouts with half a tablespoon of the oil.  Heat the other tablespoon in a skillet over low/medium-low.  Place the sprouts in the skillet in a single layer cut side down and sprinkle with salt.  Cover and cook ten minutes.  They should be well browned on the bottom.  Stir around a bit over higher heat.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle with cheese, salt, and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Red Cabbage with Apples

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon oil or butter
• 1 apple, sliced
• 1 medium or large onion, sliced
• 1 medium head red cabbage, sliced
• ⅓ cup white vinegar
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oil or butter.  Fry onion and apple until tender.  Add all other ingredients, mix, and simmer covered for 1 hour.

Beet and Potato Hash

Adapted from the New York Times.

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound (~450g) potatoes, peeled and cut in small dice
• 1 pound (~450g) beets, roasted, peeled, and cut in small dice
• ~50g beet greens (or similar - chard, spinach, etc), cleaned and stemmed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh or ~½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 4 eggs
• salt
• pepper

Steam cubed potatoes for 10 minutes.  Add greens to steamer and steam 5 more minutes, turning them halfway through to cook them more evenly.  Remove greens and rinse with cold water, squeeze out, and chop.  Set greens and potatoes aside.

Heat olive oil and add potatoes.  Cook over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are lightly browned.  Add garlic, greens, beets, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, stirring often, for about five minutes.  Press the mixture into the pan to brown the edges.  Taste and adjust salt/pepper as needed.  Add vinegar.

Top each serving with a fried or poached egg.

No-Bake Cookies

These are little sugar bombs. There are lots of recipes out there for this, but this is the right one!  Many others are too dry.

Makes: almost 5 dozen
Calories per cookie: ~100

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1½ cups dessicated coconut
• 3 cups quick or porridge oats

Combine the cocoa, sugar, butter, milk and vanilla.  Melt together over low heat.  Bring to a boil over low/medium-low heat, then allow it to boil for one minute.  Remove from heat.

Add peanut butter, coconut, and oats and mix well.  Drop by small spoonfuls onto wax or baking paper and let cool.

Corn & Zucchini

This is a great side dish when you're having Mexican food!

Makes: 4 servings

Cost per serving (Heidelberg): ~€0,96

Calories per serving: ~97

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large zucchini (yield about 2 cups when chopped), cubed
• 1 small can (140g dry weight) corn, or fresh corn if you can get it!
• 1 jalapeño, fresh or pickled, seeded or not seeded depending on how spicy you want it, finely chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• salt
• pepper

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil for one minute.  Add zucchini and cook covered for 5 minutes.  Add corn and jalapeño, stir while cooking for 3 minutes.  Add tomato.  Cover and cook until zucchini is tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tamales

Filling

• 600g pork roast
• 2 onions (cut in half length-wise)
• 4 cloves garlic, whole
• 2-4 Tblsp. ancho chili powder (to taste)
• ground cumin (also to taste)

Masa

• 3 cups masa harina for tortillas (e.g. Maseca)
• 3/4 cup lard
• ~2 1/2 cups pork broth (reserved from making the filling)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• ancho chili powder

Day 1:
Put pork roast into a pan with onion and garlic and cover with water (be sure to use plenty of water because you will need it for preparing the masa later. Having a little left over is OK, too--it can be used to make beans.). Lightly salt the water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for >2 hours--until pork can be easily pulled apart with a fork. Remove and shred pork. Remove garlic cloves, smash with a fork and mix with pork. Reserve broth. Discard onions (onions can also be blended and added back to the broth, but we don't have a blender so this isn't an option). Mix pork with chili powder and cumin to taste. Keep in refrigerator overnight.
Soak corn husks in water overnight. You will need ~24 of medium size for the tamales plus several to line the bottom and the top of the steamer insert while cooking the tamales (the latter can be of a more dubious quality, i.e. very large or small or have tears in them).
Day 2:
Masa: mix masa harina, baking powder, salt, and enough chili powder to turn mixture pink. Cut lard into masa harina mixture using fingertips. Add enough of the pork broth from day 1 to give the masa a spreadable consistency (~2.5 cups, considerably more or less depending on how damp your masa harina is).
Assembling the tamales: with the pointed end toward you, spread a thin (1/8"-1/4") layer on the ~2/3 of the corn husk furthest from you (the broad end), also leaving a narrow strip (~1/4") free on the left and right sides of the corn husk. Place a line of meat down the center of the masa-lined husk, fold the left 1/3 over the filling, then fold the right 1/3 over, and finish by folding the empty portion of the husk (the pointy end) up over the filled portion. (This sounds really complicated, but there are lots of videos on YouTube demonstrating this technique.) Place the tamal on a plate with the folded side down to keep it from unfolding and move on to the next tamal.
Cooking the tamales: use a pot with a steamer insert that is large enough to fit the tamales standing on their ends. We used a large IKEA pot with the pasta insert. Fill the bottom of the pot with enough water that it doesn't come through the bottom of the steamer insert. Line the bottom of the insert with corn husks. Place the tamales in the pot, standing on their ends, open end up (if your pot is too big enough or, more likely, you have too few tamales, there are other methods of stacking the tamales so that you won't lose the filling on the internet). Line the top of the insert with more corn husks. Finally, place a damp kitchen towel on top and cover with a lid. Steam the tamales over medium-high heat, adding water when necessary, until the masa easily comes away from the corn husk, around 1 hour and 15 minutes.
This recipe is a combination of the recipes here (mostly for making the masa from mara harina for tortillas) and here (mostly for the filling). Both links contain a number of helpful photos and tips.
Makes: ~24

Tandoori Marinade

1/2 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1" ginger, grated
1/2 cup yogurt
1 Tblsp. MDH tandoori masala
1 tsp. Kashmiri mirch
juice of 1/2 lemon

Mix and marinade chicken (or whatever) for >2 hours. Enough for at least two large chicken breasts.

Cochinita Pibil

• 600-750g pork roast or pork shoulder
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 25g (1/4 bar) achiote condimente
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• juice from two limes
• 1 Tablespoon concentrated white vinegar (4 Tblsp. wine or cider vinegar)
• 1 Habenero or jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Cut pork into large cubes, cover with lightly salted water, and cook for 1-2 hours until pork can easily be shredded. In the mean time, mash the onion some with a mortar and pestle. Mix in garlic and achiote. Then, add orange and lime juice and vinegar, and mix well. (Alternatively, put everything in a blender and blend.) When the pork is done, remove broth and reserve. Shred the pork with two forks, and return to pan. Add the achiote mix and enough broth to barely cover, and cook, partially covered, for 1.5-2 hours--until pork has absorbed most of the cooking liquid.  For spicier pork add habenero or jalapeno to achiote mix.
Adapted from here and here.

Salsa

• 3 medium tomatoes
• 1/2 medium onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 jalapeno
• ~1/4 cup water
• 1 Tblsp. olive oil
• juice from 1/2 lime
• salt and sugar to taste

Peel and chop tomatoes. Peeling can be made easier by placing tomatoes for ~5s in boiling water and then shocking cold water. Finely chop onion and jalapeno. Mince garlic. Heat oil in medium sauce pan. When hot, add onion, garlic, jalapeno, and tomatoes. After about 1 minute, add enough water to achieve desired consistency. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. The mixture should change colors from a orangey-red to a deeper red color. Add lime juice and salt and sugar to taste. Pour into a clean jar and let cool to room temperature before placing in refrigerator. Makes ~1 pint.

Pickled Jalapenos and Carrots (Escabeche)

• 150-200g jalapenos
• 2 large carrots
• 1/2 medium onion
• 5-7 cloves garlic
• cauliflower florets (optional)
• apple cider vinegar (or diluted white vinegar)
• 1 tsp sea salt or kosher salt

Slice jalapenos into rings (alternatively, if whole peppers are preferred, cut a deep cross into the tip of the pepper to let the vinegar enter, or use a mix of sliced and whole peppers). Peel and slice carrot into rings. Peel garlic cloves, but leave them whole. Cut the half onion into quarters. Mix everything in a small sauce pan and add salt and enough vinegar to cover. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for ~2-3 minutes--until the peppers are done (they will begin to take on a translucent quality). Divide vegetables between two one-pint (0.5 liter) jars that have been washed with hot water and add enough of the cooked vinegar mixture to cover. Let the mixture come back down to room temperature and then move to refrigerator. Alternatively, process hot jars for 10-15 minutes in a hot water bath.
Source: adapted from Simply Recipes.

Chipotle Chicken Soup

Makes: 4 servings

Cost per serving (Heidelberg): ~€1,84

Calories per serving: ~235 (excludes chips)

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 3 chipotle peppers
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 avocado
• 1 lime
• 5 green onions, sliced
• tortilla chips

Soak the chipotles in hot water for 30 minutes or until softened.  Remove stems and seeds and slice into thin strips.  Set aside.

Simmer the chicken in 6 cups salted water for 20 minutes or until done.  Reserve the broth and shred the chicken.

Add garlic and chipotles to the broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.  Meanwhile, cube the avocado and toss with the juice of half the lime to prevent browning.  Cut the rest of the lime into four wedges.

In four bowls, arrange equal portions of chicken, avocado, and green onions.  Ladle soup over the chicken and serve with lime wedges and tortilla chips.

Dressing for Feldsalat/Mache/Lamb's Lettuce

Makes: 4 side servings


Cost per serving (Heidelberg): ~€0,33

Calories per serving: ~76 (using low-fat yogurt)

Ingredients:

• 150 grams Feldsalat (aka Mache, Lamb's Lettuce, Lamb's Ear, Rapunzel, Corn Salad...)
• 3 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt
• pepper

Wash and dry Feldsalat.

Crush garlic and mix with yogurt.

Separately, combine olive oil, lemon juice, and salt/pepper to taste.

Combine salad, yogurt mix, and oil mix and toss.

Chicken kebabs with harissa marinade

Another recipe that I've long searched for and recently found is the marinade I had in an Algerian restaurant in Cambridge, MA. The ingredient that I was missing all these years turned out to be harissa--a north African chili paste. Here is a much altered recipe I found on the internet:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized (~1") cubes
• 1 clove garlic
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 3 Tblsp. harissa
• 1-2 tsps. olive oil
  
• cumin (about 1 tsp or to taste)
• dried or fresh mint (about 1tsp. or to taste)
  

Mix chicken, garlic, and lemon juice. Marinade 30 minutes in fridge. Mix in harissa, olive oil, cumin, and mint, and marinade a further 30 minutes in fridge. Assemble onto kebabs and grill.

Buckwheat Crepes

When visiting Paris years ago, a friend took me to a restaurant called "le Petit Jocelyn" near Montparnasse, a Breton restaurant that specializes in crepes. All of the savory crepes were made with Buckwheat flour and had a very particular consistency with lots of holes in the pancake. I've been trying ever since to replicate these crepes, and I've recently had some success with a recipe I've adapted from bon appetit magazine. I use a stainless steel skillet, which requires some special handling instructions, but it is otherwise pretty straight-forward.

• 1 1/4 cups buckwheat flour
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil plus additional for skillet
• 3/4 cup cold nonfat milk
• 1 1/4 cups (or more) cold water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk eggs, mix in oil, cold milk, and cold water. Whisk in salt and buckwheat flour a little at a time until completely mixed. Check the consistency with a tablespoon--the batter should have the consistency of heavy cream. Cover and place batter in the fridge. In the mean time, heat frying pan over medium to medium-high heat (on our stove, level 2). It is important that the pan is *HOT* before proceeding any further! With a paper towel or napkin, rub a thin layer of oil on the hot skillet, pour in ~1/3 cup batter, and tilt pan to coat bottom. Fry for 20-30 seconds on each side adjusting heat (if necessary) to prevent the crepe from burning. Repeat. Makes ~12.

I typically fry all the crepes before assembling them in order to prevent stuff from getting on the skillet and causing the freshly poured crepes to stick. To reheat, simply throw the already cooked crepe onto the skillet over medium to medium-low heat and add your favorite filling (also works with left over crepes that have been stored in the fridge in a plastic bag). One traditional filling is cooked ham and cheese (Emmentaler, Gruyere, etc) and egg. Serve with cidre.

Kung Pao Chicken

Makes: 4 servings

Cost per serving (Heidelberg): €1,63 (excludes rice)

Calories per serving: 386

Ingredients:

Marinade:

• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons rice wine
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1½ teaspoons cornstarch

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 1 teaspoon sugar

The rest:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 8 small dried hot chili peppers, halved and de-seeded
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 scallions, cut into 1"/~2cm pieces
• 4 bunches baby bok choy, stalks cut into 1"/~2cm pieces
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns
• ½ cup cashews

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and combine with marinade ingredients, adding the cornstarch last.  Marinate 25 minutes.

Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Fry the chicken in 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high/high heat.  After it is almost done, remove it from the pan and set aside.  Add 2 more tablespoons oil.  Fry garlic until aromatic, then add chilis and peppercorns.  Fry briefly (until chilis have a redder color).  Add sauce, then chicken, peanuts, onions, and bok choy, in that order.  Stir together and remove from heat.

Eat with rice.

Thai Chicken Soup

Like Tom Kha Kai, but using ginger instead of galangal, and probably there are lots of other things about it that aren't exactly original.

Makes: 6 servings

Cost per serving (Heidelberg): ~€1,95 (includes the cost of chicken to make stock)

Calories per serving: ~253

Ingredients:

• 6 cups (~1½ liters) chicken stock
• 2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 1½ cups shiitake or other mushrooms, sliced
• 2" fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tomato, cut in wedges
• 2 Thai chilies, minced (or substitute crushed red pepper flakes)
• ½ 14-oz. or 400-g can coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• fresh Thai basil leaves (for garnish)
• green onions, sliced (for garnish)
• wheat or rice noodles

Mince the bulb portion of the lemongrass stalk.  Keep the upper part of the stalk.

Bring the chicken stock to a boil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, mushrooms, lemongrass (both the minced part and the stalk), lime leaves, and chilies.  Boil or simmer until chicken is cooked.

Over medium heat, add ginger, coconut milk, fish sauce, and tomato.  Stir well and simmer 1-2 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cook the wheat or rice noodles in a separate pot according to package directions.

Turn heat to minimum.  Add lime juice and stir.  Taste the soup - if it's too sour, add 1 tsp. palm or brown sugar.  Make other changes as needed.

Put noodles in bowls and ladle soup over them.  Sprinkle with basil and onions.

Chicken Chili

AKA white chili (a name that for some reason sounds so gimmicky to me).

Makes: 7 servings (1 serving = 2.5 ladles)

Cost per serving (Heidelberg): ~€0.96 (without garnish)

Calories per serving: ~334

Ingredients:

• 1 package chicken legs/thighs (Schenkel - about 1kg with bones/skin) or any chicken which will yield ~3 cups shredded
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 fresh spicy peppers, sliced (in Germany where this is harder - there are some long skinny ones marked Peperoni imported from the Netherlands or Israel which work)
• 1-lb. or 500-kg bag dried white beans
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• salt
• pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons masa harina or corn flour
• ½ cup shredded cheese

Simmer the chicken in at least 8 cups of water for 30 minutes or until done. Feel free to add soup greens, chipotles, or anything you want to flavor the meat and liquid. Shred the meat.  Set both the meat and the water you boiled it in aside.

In a large pot, saute onions and garlic for about 2 minutes.  Add the peppers and beans, followed by 8 cups of the water you cooked the chicken in.  Add cumin and salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and cook over low heat.  After 1 hour, add the shredded chicken, then continue to cook for an additional hour or until beans are done.

When beans are done, mix milk with masa harina and add to chili.  Cook 10 more minutes, then add paprika and cheese and mix well.

Garnish with corn chips, tortillas, guacamole, cheese, tomatoes, parsley, sour cream, or whatever you want, or nothing at all.  :)

Cucumber & Yogurt Salad

Makes: 4 servings

Cost per serving (Heidelberg): ~€0,48

Calories per serving: ~88 using low-fat yogurt

Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon salt

Add garlic, salt, and water to yogurt and mix well.  Add mint and cucumber and mix.  Serve cold.

This is great with mujadarrah.

Mujadarrah

I found this recipe online one day while searching for something I could make with things I already had on hand.  It's become a huge favorite.  It normally calls for green lentils, but I use brown or red if that's what I have around.

Makes: 4 servings

Cost per serving: ~€0,35 excluding yogurt, ~€0,50 including yogurt

Calories per serving:  ~480 excluding yogurt

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion sliced into thin rings
• 1⅓ cup uncooked lentils
• ¾ cup uncooked rice
• salt
• pepper
• cumin
• yogurt 

Put lentils in a large pot with enough lightly salted water to cover them.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil.  Since this recipe uses a large amount of oil, you may feel tempted to skimp on it, but I highly recommend using the full amount.  When the oil is hot, add the onions and fry until browned - about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

After the lentils have simmered 15 minutes, add rice and enough water to cover well.  Add salt, pepper, and cumin to taste.  I recommend tons of pepper.  Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until rice and lentils are tender.

Mix half the onions into the lentils.  Use the rest of the onions as garnish.  Top with plain yogurt, or serve cucumber salad alongside it.