Eat Veggies, save the planet

Rose and I dined at Gracias Madre Mexican Restaurant in the Mission district of San Francisco. The refried black beans were delcious. When I returned home to Austin, Texas  I decided to try my hand at replicating this deliciousness. I do believe my results are  excellent even though I left out the pasilla peppers I wanted to add because my hubbie does not like hot.

• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 onion
• 2 TBSP canola oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4- 2 tsps. chipotle powder(if not using fresh chiles)
• 2.5 cups of cooked black beans
• 3/4 cups liquid from cooking the black beans

1. Roast the unskinned garlic cloves in a cast iron pan on medium, turning once until golden brown for about 15 minutes.
2. Saute the onion in the oil until soft on low medium
3. Put the peeled garlic, onions, oil, salt and chipotle powder in the blender with the black bean liquid.
4. Blend until smooth..
5. Add the black beans and blend again until very smooth.
6. Put mixture into cast iron pan and heat. Be careful as it splatters.
7. Serves 4.

My youngest daughter likes this soup and so do my friends it seems. I served it at a luncheon and they all asked for the recipe. So here it is.

I think you can use whatever veggies you want. I use whatever I have fresh from my garden. To me this is more a winter soup than a summer soup, but then remember it was 80 degrees F in Austin yesterday. My winter may be your summer.

• 5 TBSP tahini
• 3 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 4.5 cups of vegetable stock
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 3 cups of broccoli
• 5 TBSP of fresh parsley, chopped

1. Stir together the tahini, soy sauce, lemon juice, cumin(freshly ground is best), with 1/3 cup of the broth until smooth. Set aside,
2. Bring the broth to a boil, turn pot down to medium and add broccoli, onions, carrots, and tomatoes. All veggies should be cut into small pieces.
3. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the tahini mixture and parsley.
5. Cook 3 minutes and cover.
6. Serve.

I harvested 3 large cauliflowers from my garden this week. John and I were tired of cauliflower, potato, pea curry. It was 80 degrees and I didn’t want to turn on the oven to roast the cauliflower. (That’s right, 80 degrees in Austin on February 6th in the middle of winter.) SThus, I tried this stew on the stovetop. I only made enough for 2 servings since I didn’t know if we would like it, We did. You can double the recipe for 4 easily.

You can also add fresh green chile chopped or cayenne powder to the stew if you desire.

• 1 TBSP canola oil
• 1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped(I used frozen ones.)
• 1 TBSP of grated ginger, fresh
• 1/4 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp of salt (or less)
• 1 TBSP tamarind paste
• 3 cups of small cauliflower florets
• 1 carrot, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
• 3 cups of very hot water

1. Boil water to have ready.
2. Put oil in a cast iron pan, heat on medium, and add fenugreek seeds
3. Add chickpea flour. Turn the heat down to low and toast the chickpea flour for 3 minutes, unitl brown.
4. Whisk in the water slowly.
5. Add tomatoes, ginger, tumeric, salt and tamarind paste.
6. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
7. Add cauliflower and carrots and cook covered for 15 minutes more until the vegetables are very soft.
8. Serve.