This is a great grab-n-go to have in your back pocket any time you’ve got too many bananas and need a quick breakfast.
gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan
Chai Spiced Baked Oatmeal
2 cups rolled oats
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 Tbsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 over ripe bananas
1.5 cups your favorite milk (I’ve used both hazelnut and oat milk and they were both great)
1/4 cup tahini
2 Tbsp. date molasses or maple syrup
2 Tbsp. chia seeds
3 Tbsp. pepitas
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Optional topper: a drizzle of nut butter, fresh or frozen berries, more banana
Preheat your oven to 200c/375F.
In a small baking dish, combine the dry ingredients. Mix to incorporate.
In a separate bowl, mash the bananas and add the wet ingredients. Stir to combine.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix to combine fully. If you still have little chunks of banana, mash them with the back of a spoon while combining. You want to make sure all the oats are wet.
Bake about 25 – 35 minutes, or until the bake is set and nicely browned.
Slice into 6 big squares and serve with your optional toppers.
Optional add-ins: Zaatar, fresh parsley, your favorite olives, pine nuts
I served last week’s Garden Orzo alongside and it was the perfect accompaniment
Preheat your oven to 200C/375F.
Arrange the chicken in the bottom of a pan (or sheet tray). Sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano on both sides.
Chop the onion and garlic and add to the pan. Halve the lemon and add.
Nestle the tomatoes around the chicken. Pour the stock in and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake 10 minutes, chuck the cheese on top and bake an additional 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the cheese at least begins to brown.
Top with a generous sprinkle parsley, one of the squeezed lemon halves, a sprinkle of Zaatar, and the olives if you like olives. I love them and ended up eating the whole hand full in one sitting.
Serves 3 – 4 for dinner – take care to double the orzo recipe if you are serving 4; you could stretch it if you’ve got dinner bread to 3, but 4 would be a bit light of a meal
Finally. A curry with taste! I have been crap at making truly flavorful curries in general – I find recipes either too light in the spice for my taste, or just generally falling flat of the kind of deeply layered taste thing I love when enjoying my favorite delivery curries.
This is a step in that direction. It’s complex, flavorful, and wholly satisfying.
A word of caution for this recipe: I served mine with just a side of basmati rice, and I was still hungry. Either the carb ratio was off, or the meal needed some protein or fat to be truly filling.
Note: This recipe uses some of the Good Standard Curry I posted last week. That curry is a fantastic base for all number of other curries – I’m hoping I’ll get one more shot at transforming it into something else before I run out. Luckily, it freezes beautifully in batches.
gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan
Okra Curry
1/2 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 green chili of your choice
400-500g can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp. ground coriander
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1.5 c. chopped okra
1 bell pepper
1 c. of the Good Standard Curry I posted a recipe for last week
Your favorite cooking oil
Salt & pepper
Chop your onion and garlic. Mince the chili. Fry in a little oil until just beginning to brown.
Add about a quarter cup of water, let simmer about 5 minutes while you are prepping the next step.
While the aromatics are softening, in another pan, fry the coriander, cumin, smoked paprika and tomato paste in a little oil about a minute, or until fragrant.
Add the canned tomatoes, stir well, and simmer 10 minutes.
While the tomatoes are simmering, Whiz the onion mixture to form a paste. Chop the okra and bell pepper.
Add the onion mix, okra, bell pepper and curry base. Simmer 20 minutes, season well with salt and pepper and serve.
I served mine with basmati rice cooked with a little butter – you do you.
This curry makes a great jumping off point for a whole world of sauces. It’s based on this British-style sauce from Great Curry Recipes, but with amped-up spices, since I just can’t help myself. I also turned it into a full vegetarian meal, and it was delicious
gluten-free, vegetarian
A Good Standard Curry
2 yellow onions
Neutral oil
4 cloves garlic
1/2 inch ginger
1 carrot
2 bell peppers
1.5 cups crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp. + ghee
1 Tbsp. curry powder (your favorite style)
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. coriander
1 Tbsp. asofetida (fenugreek was called for in the original; I used what I had)
1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
1 Tbsp. turmeric
To turn this into a meal:
2-3 potatoes
1 carrot
1 can chickpeas
1 c. water
Lemon juice
Finishing salt
Basmati rice
Thinly slice your onions. Add to a medium- large pan over medium heat where you’ve heated enough oil to cover the bottom till slightly bubbly.
Fry about 20 minutes until really soft and clear with a little color.
While the onions are working, chop the peppers & carrot. Mince the ginger and garlic and make a paste out of them by crushing with the back of a knife or grinding in a mortar & pestle.
When the onions are ready, add the peppers and carrot. Fry 5 minutes to get working.
Add the ginger, garlic and all spices but the turmeric.
Add to tomatoes and enough water just to cover.
Simmer :30, and remove from the heat. Cool until safe to whiz.
Whiz to make a mostly smooth mixture.
Add the ghee to the pan over medium heat and fry the turmeric :30 – 1 minute to bloom. Add the sauce back into the pan and simmer over low for 20 – 30 minutes.
Now to turn this sauce into a meal.
Set the sauce aside, and add a Tablespoon of oil back into the pan. Chop and add the potatoes, second carrot, and can of chickpeas (drained). Let sauté a couple minutes to warm up a bit. I had intended on putting a little color on the chickpeas but I lost patience with life.
Add a cup or two of the sauce and 1 cup of water. Simmer :30, covered.
Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice and a liberal sprinkle of finishing salt over basmati rice.
The dinner portion serves 4 easily, with enough sauce leftover to make at least 1 more big meal
Note: This curry is unsalted on purpose. The original recipe was unsalted as well, and I think that’s a good idea since it’s supposed to be used as a base for additions. I’ll be taking this curry and adding some fire next meal – along with more peppers and a deeper taste with tomato paste.
This version of shakshouka makes a great topper for crusty bread, uses a good blend of fresh + pantry ingredients – and makes a bonus second meal if you swirl some of your leftover sauce in with noodles.
It’s also DH approved, and he’s not a fan of skin-on tomatoes. He could live without the spinach, but we had greens and needed chlorophyll.
This would also be great with chickpeas for added protein and either scrambled or poached eggs/substitute cooked in the sauce. I wanted to keep my eggs separate to maximize leftovers. Scrambled soft tofu would be fantastic.
gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, halal
Fresh Shakshouka
1 small jar fire roasted peppers in oil
2 hands cherry tomatoes
1 large onion
4 Tbsp. zaatar
1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 c. tinned tomatoes (I used crushed but use what you have)
3 – 4 cloves garlic – 2-3 minced and 1 or 2 whole with the end sliced off
Thinly slice the onion and sauté on medium in 1 Tbsp. of the oil that comes from the jar of peppers until soft and lightly brown in spots.
Add the sambal and 2 – 3 cloves minced garlic. Sauté a minute or two more to meld together.
While that is working, remove the peppers from the oil and roughly chop.
Add the tomatoes and peppers and sauté until the tomatoes burst.
While the tomatoes are doing their thing, roughly chop the parsley, slice the bread into thick slices and drizzle with some of the pepper oil.
Broil the bread until your desired toast level has been reached. Remove from the oven and rub with the cut end of the reserved garlic clove. Set aside.
When the tomatoes have burst (with or without a little help), add the Zaatar, smoked paprika, salt & pepper. Stir to combine and let sauté a minute or so to meld.
Add the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, and half a cup of water. Bring up to a boil, reduce the heat, add the spinach + half the parsley on top, and simmer 7 – 8 minutes. As soon as that spinach wilts and can be thoroughly mixed in is the time to add eggs if you are cooking them like a traditional Shakshouka.
If you are not, fry your eggs separately in a little of the pepper oil to your desired doneness.
Serves 2 for a light dinner + makes enough sauce to be used for another night’s pasta
I make this – or a variation on this – quite often for lunch later in the week, when I’ve got leftovers kicking around in the fridge, am out of my main protein, and still have some of this week’s spinach hanging around that is quickly going to age itself right out of my fridge.
For this version, I resisted the temptation to go Southeast Asian like usual (this dish 99.9% of the time turns out vaguely Japanese), and went Indian instead. I’m glad I broke out of my comfort zone a little and I think I’ll make this again on purpose for dinner some night.
To reheat your rice – any rice – without it drying out, add a Tablespoon or two of water, put the lid back on really loosely and zap in the microwave for :45 to 1:00. Boom. Steamed and refreshed rice.
Fry the eggs to your liking in the oil, seasoning with salt and pepper and adding a liberal sprinkle of turmeric when you flip. Add the spinach on top of that to wilt a couple seconds while the yolks finish setting to your desired doneness (I love a good runny yolk, so I separated my whites from yolks, scooted them to the side and added the spinach more to that side so I could see to yank the yolks when they were just barely set).
Grate the ginger and garlic into the rice.
Mince the chili (de-seeding if necessary) and add to the rice.
Add the eggs on top, along with a small hand of the crispy chickpeas.
This is a simple and quick sheet pan dinner with a nice, light taste for nights when you *want* some super unhealthy Japanese takeout, but don’t want a bunch of grease – or to wait for delivery.
gluten-free
Sheet Pan Miso Bowl
1.5 Tbsp. miso
1.5 Tbsp. brown sugar
1.5 Tbsp. date molasses (or a smaller amount of honey or other sugar)
3 Tbsp. soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos
3 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 bell pepper
2 – 3 carrots
2 – 3 chicken breasts or other protein
Preheat your oven to 200C/375F and prepare a baking sheet.
Combine all the wet ingredients together, mashing the miso with the back of a spoon to break it up better. Set aside.
Chop the chicken, carrots and pepper into bite-sized pieces, placing all onto the prepared baking sheet.
Pour 2/3 of the sauce over top and toss well to combine.
Spread the chicken & veggies out in a single layer over the baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes or until cooked through.
Take the last third of the sauce, zap it in the microwave about 20 seconds to ensure the sugar is melted. Add a Tablespoon of water to thin the sauce a bit. Stir well to combine and toss with the cooked chicken & veggies before serving.
This simple Indian relish makes a great snack, breakfast, or topper for a wide variety of dishes.
Try it tucked into a chapati or roll – with or without an egg, atop a bed of rice (I’m particularly fond of sushi rice), bulked out with sautéed green beans, spread over a protein like chimichurri sauce, mixed into a stir fry (preferably with something sweet like red pepper), or mixed into a salad (this would be great with cucumber and mint).
This recipe was inspired by a Tasty video for crispy onigiri that popped up on my Facebook feed, and turned out really well, though it’s not *technically* teriyaki sauce, since it doesn’t include mirin. Mirin isn’t available where I live, and this recipe makes a great halal alternative.
gluten-free
Chicken Teriyaki Onigiri
1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts
1.5 Tbsp. cornstarch or arrowroot powder
1/4 c. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 cloves grated garlic
1 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. sushi vinegar (I used this as a replacement for mirin)
1 medium carrot, grated
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced and then chopped fairly small
Neutral oil, salt & pepper
Sushi rice
Nori sheets
Green onion (optional)
Sesame seeds (optional)
1 Tbsp. mayo
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
Mix the cornstarch with enough water to form a slurry. Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, honey, sesame oil and sushi vinegar. Stir to combine.
Chop the chicken into small chunks and add half the marinade. Marinate for :30 – 1 hour.
While the chicken is marinating, cook your rice (I make mine simply with 1c. sushi rice + 1 Tbsp. sesame oil + 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar, a big pinch salt + 2c. water cooked on the rice setting of my electronic cooker).
When your rice is done, remove to a bowl to cool a bit.
Reduce the other half of the marinade until thickened over low heat and set aside.
Grate the carrot and chop the pepper thinly. Set aside.
Thinly slice the green pepper and set aside.
Mix the mayo and remaining 2 Tbsp. soy sauce in a small dish and set aside.
Add 1 Tbsp. neutral oil to a medium pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and sauté, moving frequently so the sugar in the sauce doesn’t burn, until cooked through. Sprinkle with a little salt and a generous amount of white pepper (or less – or black pepper – you do you).
Set the chicken aside. Add 1 Tbsp. neutral oil to the pan and put back over the heat.
Add the carrot and pepper and sauté until soft. Add 1 Tbsp. of the reserved and reduced marinade. Stir to combine and let cook another minute or two. Set aside.
You’re ready to assemble your onigiri, and this process goes pretty quick.
I made myself an assembly line – a little dish of water to coat my hands in so the rice doesn’t stick, rice, the dish of soy sauce mayo, chicken, veggies, sliced green onions, sesame seeds, and nigiri sheets that have been cut in half.
To assemble: dip your hands in the water, grab a small hand full of rice, and press into a flat (ideally triangular shape but I couldn’t make that happen) shape. Make a small dent in the middle of the rice. Spread some of the flavored mayo all the way to the edges of the rice. Add a couple chunks of chicken (I used 3), about a Tablespoon of veggies, and a couple slices green onions. Fold your fingers up, turning your hand and the rice into kind of a cup. With your other hand, push the chicken into that cup as you continue folding your fingers up, enclosing the chicken and veggies into a rice case. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and lay on one of the halved nori sheets. Roll up into a burrito looking roll, wetting one end of the nori to seal everything together.
I know this sounds really awkward, but you’re basically doing what you would do to stuff a burger with cheese, if that makes sense. I went gentle and slow and didn’t worry too much about overstuffing each ball. Needless to say, I had a bunch of leftover chicken; enough for dinner for two + lunch the next day.
Gastography 