Pad Thai Soup

This is a fantastic modification of a traditional Thai favourite.  As a bonus, it only takes about 15 minutes to whip up!!

Pad Thai Soup

3 tbsp oil

2 Cloves garlic, minced

4 oz diced extra firm tofu (for you non-veg types, can use chicken)

4 cups vegetable broth

4 oz rice noodles (aka Pad Thai Noodles)

1/4 tsp sriracha sauce (adjust to taste)

3 tbsp soya sauce

salt to taste

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, crushed

1/4 cup chopped green onions

Red pepper flakes for sprinking

In a large pot heat the oil and add the garlic.  

Add the chopped tofu and fry for 5 minutes (or until lightly browned).

Add the broth, noodles, sauces, salt, and peanuts. Cook until the noodles are soft (about 5-10 mins)

Serve with onions, extra peanuts, and pepper flakes sprinkled on top.

*NOTE: If you are someone who eats fish, adding about a tsp-tbsp (to taste) of fish sauce will add some authentic flavour, I would not add salt if doing so.
*NOTE 2: Serve immediately!  The noodles soak up the broth if left to sit and makes the soup thicker and less soupy. Still tastes fine, but texturally different.

EDIT (April 21, 2013):
Today I made this again and served it with a lime wedge for squeezing and a handful of fresh beansprouts to garnish. I also made it with 2 tbsp oil (instead of 3).  It was FABULOUS!!!  The fresh "zing" of the lime wedge brightened up the flavour amazingly!  Will make it like that from now on.  (By using 1 tbsp less, you save yourself 30cal and 3g fat per serving!)

Awesome!

Nutrition Info:
Per serving (1/4 of the batch)
341 Calories | 19g fat | 32g Carbs (3g fiber, 2g sugar) | 11g Protein
*The fat is high, I know that.  Mostly it comes from the peanuts - but also the oil and the tofu.  Next time I will try making this with less oil and see how it goes, I imagine you could make this with half the oil in the recipe.

Chole Palak (Chickpea Curry with Spinach)

WOW!  This is all I can say about this phenomenal dish.  I had some spinach that was going to go bad and needed something to do something with it. I wasn't overly inspired so I spent some time on the web searching for something new and exciting...the result was fabulous.  Hubby and I both absolutely LOVE Indian food and are always excited to try something new.

This recipe combined many healthy and delicious ingredients resulting in a spicy, flavourful, nutritious dish that  I will definitely make again and again.

Chole Palak 

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
3 cups spinach, finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes, cubed
1/2" piece of ginger root. cubed
1 green chili (deseeded if you want a milder dish)
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp garam masala (available in the spice aisle in most supermarkets)

-Drain and rinse the chickpeas, set aside.
-In a blender or magic bullet or similar, blend the tomatoes, green chili, and ginger to make a puree. Set aside.
-Heat the oil, over medium, in a large saucepan (with lid).
-Drop one cumin seed into the oil, the oil is hot enough if the seed sizzles.  Once pan is hot enough, add all the cumin seeds. Fry for a few seconds.
-Add the tomato puree, coriander, turmeric, chili powder.  Cook until the oil starts to separate and the mixture reduces by about half (about 4 minutes).
-Add spinach, salt, and 1/2 cup water.  Cover, cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
-Add chickpeas. Mash some chickpeas slightly - this will thicken the sauce.
-Reduce pan to low and cook an additional 8 minutes.  You may wish to add about another half cup water if it starts to get too dry.
-Add garam masala and cook for another 1 minute.
Serve with naan, roti, or other bread if desired.

This made about 4 smallish servings.  (But, the calories are low enough to have seconds! ;-) )

Nutrition Info for 1/4 of the batch:
223 Calories | 12g fat | 22g Carbs (5g fibre, 2g sugar) | 7g Protein

**I found that having everything ready before I started preparing this made it go very smoothly.  I had all the veggies chopped/pureed, the spices measured and the whole thing took just over 30 mins.  Really quick and super awesome.

Vegetable Miso Soup with Noodles

This was a recipe I made up tonight.  Was delicious. As this is my first time making it AND it was invented on the spot, measurements might be slightly off.  When I make it again, I'll confirm the measurements AND take a picture (oops).

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 medium onion

1 tsp minced garlic (from a jar) or 2 cloves, minced

8 cherry tomatoes halved or 2 medium tomatoes chopped

6 cups water

2 vegetable bouillon cubes

1/2 can chopped baby corn

1 tsp grated fresh ginger*

1 bunch green onions or about 10 chives, chopped

1/2 block firm tofu, cubed

1 bag (the small bag, forget the weight) baby spinach

2 pieces longlife noodles

2 tbsp white miso paste

1-2 tsp sambal oelek (optional)

In a large pot sautee the onion and garlic and tomatoes in the oil until tomatoes collapse and the onion is soft and translucent.

Add the water, the bouillon cubes, the ginger, and baby corn and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to LOW (make sure it's not boiling anymore) and add everything else.  Stir and keep warm but not boiling until the miso dissolves, the spinach is wilted, and the noodles are soft.

Serve.

Be sure to stir your portion as the miso settles.

{Note: When I was making this, I forgot I had intended to put in some shredded carrot and a shredded nori (dried seaweed) sheet. Next time.}

Nutrition Info per approx 1.5 cup serving:

130 Cal | 5g fat | 15g carbs (2g fiber, 2g sugar) | 6g protein

*Tip!  I keep a knob of fresh ginger root in my freezer.  This way I always have the delicious and fragrant flavour of fresh ginger without ever worrying about it going bad.  Just take it out of the freezer and grate it on a ginger grater or on the fine side of your cheese grater.  Makes a delicious powdered ginger, much better than the flavourless store-bought type.

Marrakesh Stew

In our endeavours to eat more and more vegetarian food and less and less meat I have been experimenting with several different vegetarian dishes.  (I will make a separate post about the gradual shift to vegetarianism another time).  One of the many fantastic dishes is this curried Moroccan stew

Here's the recipe:

Marrakesh Stew

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cups lite coconut milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper*

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tbsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp tumeric

2 white potatoes, cubed

1 sweet potato, cubed

1 small eggplant, cubed

6 cloves garlic, crushed

2 green peppers, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 zucchini, diced

2 cups cooked or canned chick peas

3 tbsp raisins

2 tbsp toasted coconut

sea salt to taste 

1.  Put the onions and carrots in a large pot with 1/2 cup vegetable stock and cook over medium heat until onions soften a bit - about 3 minutes.
2.  Add the coconut milk and the spices.  Cook for 1 minute while stirring.
3.  Add the white and sweet potatoes and the rest of the stock.  Cover and let cook 5 minutes.
4.  Add the remaining ingredients (except the salt), stir, cover and cook until vegetables are just soft, about 20-30 minutes.
5.  To bring out all the flavours, season to taste with a pinch or two of sea salt.
6.  Serve over cooked, brown rice or quinoa

*You might find that 1/2 tsp cayenne is too much.  This dish has quite a zing.  Not burn-your-face-off hot, but definitely spicy.  Next time I'm going to try with a bit less cayenne (and cumin perhaps) to see if that helps bring out the rest of the flavours.

Nutrition Info per approx 1 cup (excluding rice/quinoa)

230 Cal | 6g fat | 37g carbs (7 fiber, 13 sugar) | 7g protein

Easy and delicious Vegetarian Chili

This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe found in my PCOS Diet Cookbook - a low GI cookbook for people with PCOS.  I made this for supper last night and it was fabulous.  We agreed that you couldn't even tell there was no meat in it because it felt very "meaty" eating it.  It was satisfying and filling.  Definitely going to put this in my supper rotation.  The bonus was that it made a LOT of chili so there's lots left for lunches.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 sweet peppers (green, red, yellow), chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed (or 1 tbsp jar garlic)
2 cups canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup raw quinoa, rinsed
28oz (796mL) can tomatoes (or 6 fresh tomatoes, chopped)
1 cup bottled salsa
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp each pepper, oregano, and ground cumin
1/4tsp cayenne
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp sugar

Heat oil in a large pot. Sauté onions, peppers, and garlic for about 8-10 minutes on medium heat. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 25 minutes (or more, if the quinoa is not done), stirring occasionally.
Serve.
This makes about seven 1cup servings. This freezes and reheats well.

Nutrition data per 1 cup serving:
269 cal | 4g fat | 47g carbs (10g fibre, 10g sugar) | 13g protein

There is lots of room for modifications in this recipe - feel free to change the beans to a different type of bean or chickpeas, you can add mushrooms to the sautéeing step, you can add corn niblets towards the end of the cooking time - just remember that will alter the nutrition data slightly.