Kale with Moroccan Chickpea Soup (or Garbanzo Bean Soup)

Late winter soup. Very quick, easy and delicious.  This soup recipe makes 4 servings. For each serving, steam 1+cups of kale and mix in.

Make stock
1.5 cubes of vegetable bouillon
3 cups of water

Saute in a dutch oven or soup pot
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 carrot, grated
1 cup broccoli slaw
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, finely chopped

While this sautes, puree in Vita-mix or food processor
15 oz canned garbanzo beans (or chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1/3 cup tahini
1 cup of the vegetable stock
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Stir into the soup pot with the sauteed vegetables
Pureed mixture
Rest of the vegetable stock (about 2 cups)
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp thyme leaves, dried
.5 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 
1/2 to 3/4 tsp Ras el Hanout
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp cried chopped parsely 

Cook 5 minutes or so, until heated through.

For each serving, ateam
1+ cups of kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Serve 
Put steamed kale in bottom of soup bowl, and add 1 serving of the soup. Mix up. 
Can garnish with toasted sesame seeds, or nuts.

Rated a 4.6 on the Kale Scale.

Kale Saute with Ham, Persimmon and Fennel

Had some Canadian Bacon, and the persimmon and fennel. Threw this together for a quick meal. It was very tasty!   I am taking the quick and dirty route for posting this. Cut and paste from my Nutri-base program, which I use to get the nutrition info for all of my concoctions.

Saute
Use Pam spray and saute onion, garlic, fennel, ham and persimmon

Add and simmer
Orange juice, vinegar, coriander, turmeric and pepper

Add, cover and wilt
Kale

Serve with
Splash of Worcestershire sauce and sprinkle finely diced nuts on top.

Rated a 4.71 on the Kale Scale.

Spiced Tofu &Chickpeas on Kale

I got this from Eating Well magazine, and proceeded to make some variations.  Spicy, and tasty.Seems like a bunch of messing around to get to the end product, but the result was worth it!
The recipe here, serves 4.

Combine, mix up in a big bowl
3.5 tsp paprika (sweet, hot or mixed)
3.5 ground cumin
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Set aside 2.5 tsp of the spice mix

Mix into the rest of spices
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil

Add to spice mix, stir up, leave sit for 10-15 minutes or so
1 brick of tofu - 14 oz, drained and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 can (15 oz) - chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Spread tofu and chickpeas on greased baking sheet
Roast in 450 F oven for 20 minutes.
Stir once half-way.

While tofu and chickpeas are roasting, put the set aside spices into the big bowl and mix it up with
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp olive oil

Add 1 big bunch kale, ripped to bite size pieces
Massage kale in the spice, juice, oil mixture.  Kale will reduce in size as a result.

Plate the kale - divvy up for 1 serving (about 2.25 cups each)

Add to plated kale:
10 CastelVetrano olives, halved
1 red pear, cut up
1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds, toasted 

Add 3/4 cup of the tofu and chickpea mixture on top of the kale bed.

Serve and enjoy!

Rated a 4.59 on the Kale Scale. 

Steamed Kale under Indian-Spiced Quinoa with Raisins and Pine Nuts

Mom gave me a recipe from the Oregonian for Indian-Spiced Quinoa with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts which I varied a bit for this meal. It is deeee-licious!  The nutrition count is for 1 serving of the quinoa mixture, on 1+ C kale.  This mixture will serve 3-4.

Saute until onion is limp
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp raw ginger, shredded

Add and mix up with onion and oil
3/4 C quinoa (rinse first)
Ground spices:
  1/2 tsp cardamon
  1/2 tsp coriander
  1/2 tsp cumin
  1/2 cinnamon
  1/4 tsp turmeric
  1/8 tsp cayenne

Add, mix, lower heat, cover and simmer for about 10-18 minutes until quinoa is done, and mix is still moist
2 C broth (vegetable or chicken)
1 oz white wine

Add, mix and serve
1/3 C raisins
1/4 C toasted pine nuts

[To toast pine nuts, put them in skillet on low heat. Stir every so often until done.]

Serve the quinoa mixture on a bed of:
1+ C steamed kale, ripped to bite size pieces.

Rated a 4.67 on Kale Scale.

Eggplant Marsala ala Momo Masala

I based the eggplant concoction  on the Eggplant Marsala recipe in Moosewood Recipe Book, but varied it in several ways to deal with having only 1 eggplant; and not using pasta. Then you add to this the Momo Masala spice that I got in Nepal and here's the result. It was very tasty!

Saute until onion is browned, limp
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped

Add and continue saute til eggplant a bit browned
1 eggplant, diced, peeling optional
1 yellow pepper, diced

Add and simmer until liquid is reduced mostly
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
10 kalamata olives, halved
2 tsp garlic, diced
1/2 C sherry
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp black pepper, ground
2 tsp Momo Masala spice

Add and simmer more till liquid reduced
1/2 C water
1 oz white wine
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Serve on top of
1+ cup steamed kale, ripped to bite size pieces
Top with dusting of parmesan, grated.

Rated a 3.7 on Kale Scale.

Spicy Potato and Egg with Kale Saute

This was delicious, and filling. I started out reading the recent issue of Cooking Light, and was motivated to these ingredients by a recipe I saw. However, by the time I was done, this had nothing in common with that recipe except the kale!

Saute
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Shiba's Popping Seeds
1/3 C onion, chopped
2/3 potato, chopped (used 1 small red; and 1 fingerling)
1.5 tsp turmeric, ground

Add, cover and simmer for about 5-10 min till potatoes are soft
1/4 to 1/2 C water

Add, and continue simmer at almost a saute temperature
1/3 C broccoli slaw
2 brussel sprouts, chopped
7 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 oz white wine
1/3 C non fat milk

After ingredients are hot, and liquid almost gone, make room in middle of pan and add, fry over hard:
1 egg

As needed, add a bit of liquid to keep egg from sticking and keep ingredients around edges steaming.

As the egg cooks, add:
1 C ripped up kale around the edges on top of the other veggies. When the egg is done, take it out and set aside. 

Cover the dish and wilt the kale 1-2 mins til done.

Serve by putting the veggie mix on plate with egg on top.  Dust with chopped almonds.

Rated a 3.73 on Kale Scale.

Momo Masala Spiced Kale

Just returned from trip to Nepal where momos are a favorite appetizer. Momo is like a dumpling; or a pot sticker. It has spiced veggies or meat wrapped in dough and then steamed.  One of the ingredients
in momo is a collection of spices that one can buy in a spice mix called Momo Masala (which I found at the Nepal Airport for $2).




I did not make momos. Just used the spice. As you can see in the pix, momos by themselves are more work than my typical culinary activity.

This Kale experiment was inspired by the spices.

Next time, I think I'll bypass the tofu marination; and just saute it with the spices.  But overall it was a tasty dish.  These ingredients make 2 servings. The nutrition count is for one serving.

Marinate for 15 minutes or so
7 oz tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 T Momo Masala spice
1 T raw shredded ginger
1 T soy sauce, sodium lite
1 T olive oil

1 T white wine

Saute
2 tsp olive oil
2/3 onion, diced
1 yukon gold potato, small, diced

Move this to a plate when done.

Saute (add oil only if needed)
The marinated tofu
1 tsp turmeric, ground

After tofu is heated through and browned some add, and simmer for 5 minutes or so, stirring every so often:
onion and potato mix
2 brussel sprouts, chopped
1 T white wine
1/2 c soy milk

Steam
1 cup kale, chopped fine

Put the kale on dinner plate. Put serving of Momo masala veggie mix on top.

Serve with a dusting of dukkah (ground Egyptian nut mix)

Rated a 3.60 on the Kale Scale.

Mashed Squash with Shiba's Popping Seeds

Shiba's Popping Seeds formed the basis for my experiment to night. This new spice is something I picked up at the grocery store this week. The seeds are a mix of cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, bishop seeds, nigella seeds, fennel, dill seeds.  This was a great mashed side dish!

Saute til seeds' aroma is wafting
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Popping Seeds

Add and continue til almost done
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 brussel sprout, chopped
1 fingerling potato, sliced fine
1/4 cup fennel bulb, chopped

Add and mash
3/4 cup acorn squash, pre-cooked (using one I cooked up this weekend)
1/3 cup soy milk

Add, mix everything up and continue simmer, lower heat
1 oz white wine
1 Tbsp fig balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp turmeric ground

Steam in microwave
1+ cup kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Add kale to the Popping Seeds mix, and stir it all up.

Serve and enjoy!

Rated a 4.77 on the Kale Scale