Vegetarian Banh Mi

I love watching food network shows, and one that has been a lot of fun to watch is the one with the food trucks.  Food trucks are becoming very popular, especially in big cities, and they have some very tasty food!  One dish that I have seen come up a lot on a food truck is a Vietnamese sandwich called Banh Mi.  The classic version of this sandwich is made with various Vietnamese cold cuts such as sliced pork and pork bellies, head cheese, liver pate, and vegetables.

In Vietnam, vegetarian sandwiches are rarely ever found on the streets, but I was curious to see if there were any vegetarian versions of this sandwich available.  My mom got me a cook book recently called Culinary Consciousness: An Intimate Journal of Vegetarian Food and Travel by Nirupa Sejpal-Parmar.  And to my great delight, I found a recipe for vegetarian Banh Mi in it!

When I saw that there were radishes in this week's CSA box, I knew I had to make this sandwich with them, as they are one of the key ingredients!  I also got spring (green) onions in this week's CSA box, which is also needed for this sandwich.  I have made this a few times now, and it is quickly becoming my favorite sandwich of all time!  This time, I even made my own French baguette using my new bread maker that Vivek got for me for my birthday.  So yummy!

Recipe for Vegetarian Banh Mi

INGREDIENTS
1 French baguette, sliced
10 radishes, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 cucumber, sliced thinly
1 tbsp light mayonnaise
2 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp garlic chili sauce
1/2 cup red onion, sliced thinly
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup white vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large bowl, mix vinegar, sugar, and salt until dissolved.  Add the carrots and radishes and marinate for about 1 hour.  Then strain the mixture.

2. In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, mustard, and garlic chili sauce until smooth.  Spread this mixture on one side of the baguette slice.

3. In another small bowl, toss together green onions, cilantro, and mint.

4. Layer on the baguette the pickled carrots and radishes, a few slices of cucumber and red onion, and the green onions/cilantro/mint mixture.

5. Drizzle with soy sauce, top with the other slice of baguette, and serve immediately.

Kid-friendly kale

I wanted to find a way to get the kids to eat some kale after learning about all the nutritional benefits. For Vidya, it was easy!  I just mixed in some steamed kale with her steamed apple and carrot and pureed it.  She ate it up!

For Keshav, it was a big trickier since he is such a picky eater!  Vivek's cousin, Anu, in California had once made some kale chips when we were still living there, and since Keshav loves eating potato chips and tortilla chips, I thought this may be a way to get him to try this amazing green vegetable.  They ended up being a yummy salty snack, but after trying two kale chips, Keshav said, "I don't want these chips...I want the yellow ones!"  Well, it was worth a try!

Recipe for Kale Chips

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch kale

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F

2. Cut away inner ribs from each kale leaf and discard.  Tear the leaves into pieces of uniform size, about the size of a potato chip.  Wash the torn kale pieces and dry thoroughly with a paper towel.

3. Put the kale pieces into a large resealable bag (or use a bowl if you don't mind getting your hands oily).  Add about half of the olive oil; seal and squeeze the bag so the oil gets distributed evenly on the kale pieces.  Add the remaining oil and squeeze the bag more, until all kale pieces are evenly coated with oil and slightly 'massaged.'

4. Sprinkle the vinegar over the kale leaves, reseal the bag, and shake to spread the vinegar evenly over the leaves.

5. Spread the leaves evenly onto a baking sheet.  Bake in the preheated oven until mostly crisp, about 15-20 minutes.  Season with salt and serve immediately.

Green Smoothie

Yesterday, we picked up our second CSA box, and we are so excited about all the new things inside!  This week we have arugula, kale, lettuce mix, mizuna (similar to a mustard green), radish, spring onion and spinach.  I have always heard about the nutritional benefits of kale, so I looked it up, and it really is a superfood!  It is high in iron, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium.  It is also filled with powerful antioxidants and fiber for good digestive health!

I decided to start off my morning with some of this superfood, and I made myself a green smoothie!  It tasted pretty good, but I think next time I'll add some strawberries to give it a little bit of extra sweetness and fruitiness.  It is high in protein and vitamins...a great way to start the day!

Recipe for Green Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 cup kale
1 cup spinach
1 banana
1 carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
3/4 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
3/4 cup ice
2 tablespoons honey

INSTRUCTIONS

Put all the ingredients into a blender (I love my Vitamix) and blend until smooth

Baked Spinach Ravioli

The first meal that I ever cooked for Vivek was in college, at Duke, in the dorm kitchen!  I bought some packaged spinach ravioli that I boiled in water and topped it with some store-bought marinara sauce.  And Vivek LOVED it!  We were 19 years old, and I was trying to win his heart through his stomach (and I think it worked)!

Well now, 14 years later (OH MY GOSH, we're old!), since we have gotten fresh spinach in our CSA box for the past two weeks, I decided it was time to try my hand at making my own spinach ravioli!  Instead of making fresh pasta, I used some square won ton wraps that I bought at the store to save some time.  The recipe I used said to bake the ravioli instead of boiling it in water, which I did.  However, baking it made the edges pretty tough and crispy, which is not the consistency I want when making ravioli.  But the taste was great!  I think next time I'll try cooking it in some boiling water instead of baking it.  Also, I still used some store-bought marinara sauce, but I heated it in a saucepan and added about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese and about 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper to make it a creamy arrabiata sauce.

Recipe for Baked Spinach Ravioli

INGREDIENTS

Won Ton Wraps
10 oz fresh spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Marinara sauce of your choice (I made mine a creamy arrabiata sauce as above)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook spinach in olive oil in a saucepan for 5 minutes of until just wilted.
2. Combine the ricotta cheese, spinach, grated cheese, salt, pepper and garlic in a blender until smooth.
3. Place wraps flat on a clean, dry work surface.  Drop 2 tbsp of mixture in the center of each wrap and brush edges of wrap with water.  Place a second wrap on top and crimp edges together tightly with a fork.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place the ravioli on a baking sheet coated with non-stick cooking spray. Brush raviolis lightly with olive oil and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.
5. Serve with marinara sauce.

Easy Calzones

I am always looking for quick and easy meals that are kid-friendly for a very picky eater.  This one I learned from Reema, and it is a great way to get Keshav to eat some vegetables!

Recipe for Calzones

INGREDIENTS
1 package of Pillsbury Grands Original Biscuits
Shredded cheese (1/4 cup per calzone)
Chopped vegetables of your choice: we used broccoli and spinach from our CSA box and mushrooms
Pasta sauce of your choice

INSTRUCTIONS
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Roll out the dough of one biscuit until it is about 1/4 inch thin.
3.  Put veggies on half of the biscuit dough and cover with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese.
4.  Fold over the other half of the dough and pinch the edges together so it is completely closed all the way around.
5.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until the top is browned.  Then flip over the calzone and bake for another 5 minutes.
6.  Serve topped with warm pasta sauce and a salad on the side!

Tofu Saag

We got a lot of spinach and mustard greens in this week's CSA box, so we decided to try mixing the two to make a punjabi saag dish.  I always wondered what the difference was between "Palak Paneer" and "Saag Paneer," so I looked it up, and it turns out that "palak" is the punjabi word for spinach, whereas "saag" means any greens or mixture of greens.  So since I was making this dish with both spinach and mustard greens, it is a saag dish.

Also, I didn't have any paneer in the house, but Ami Mami came to the rescue!  She cut up some tofu into thin slabs and pan fried them in some olive oil until it was browned on one side and then flipped them to brown on the other side.  Then she cut up the slabs into squares, and the texture and taste was very similar to paneer!  It was a perfect addition to the saag.

This is a recipe that I have used before, but never with fresh vegetables (I always used frozen spinach).  And I had never used mustard greens before, but I definitely believe it added a delicious peppery taste to the saag, and I would certainly make it with them again!

Recipe for Tofu Saag

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons ghee
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons dhana jeeru (coriander cumin powder)
3 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1 can tomato paste
1 (3 inch) piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cups chopped fresh spinach and mustard greens
1 teaspoon sour cream
1/2 container tofu pan fried in olive oil (as described above)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Melt ghee in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. Stir in garlic, onions, dhana jeeru, ginger, garam masala, salt, red pepper, curry powder, and tomato paste.  Add water to keep it at a sauce-like consistency and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Stir in spinach and mustard greens and simmer covered for 30-40 minutes.
4. Place mixture into a blender and pulse puree 5-10 times.  You want to keep it a chunky consistency, not completely smooth.
5. Transfer back to saucepan and add sour cream and tofu.  Mix well, and serve with rice or naan!

Cheesy Spinach Mini-Quiche

In addition to the amazing spinach we got in our CSA box, we also got a half dozen farm fresh eggs, so I decided to combine the two and make a quiche!  It was a hit with Vivek, and even Keshav enjoyed it (and he is a pretty picky eater)!  We dipped it in Shlotzsky's Louisiana Hot Sauce, and it was so yummy!

Recipe for Cheesy Spinach Mini-Quiche

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 cups fresh spinach, chopped
3 white mushrooms, diced
1 (6 ounce) package feta, crumbled
3/4 cup shredded cheese (we used the Mexican blend)
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil. Saute garlic and onion in the oil until onions are translucent. Stir in mushrooms and spinach and cook until spinach is tender. Take off of heat and stir in feta and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Add the spinach mixture to the bowl along with the salt and mix.

4. Fill a greased muffin pan with the egg and spinach mixture and bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the top with the remaining shredded cheese and bake for an additional 20 minutes, until set in the center.

We made this without any crust, but you could also make it by putting the egg and spinach mixture into a 9 inch unbaked deep dish pie crust and then baking it.