Roasted vegetable and Black bean BARE Burrito..

One thing I couldn’t figure out in the last 5 years is how to eat overstuffed sandwiches or wraps. I become very clumsy and self conscious when eating these big size sandwiches. I see myself constantly looking around to find any occasional giggles or stares. I figured the best thing to do is stay away from them in public places (make them to-go and eat at home or desk).
So you can imagine my ecstasy when I found this bare-burrito on Baja Fresh menu. All the ingredients in a burrito layered in a bowl instead of wrapping in a tortilla. This is my entry to Sweet nicks ARF/ 5-a-day Tuesday event. My first ever entry into any food blog event. :-)

Ingredients:
Cooked long grain rice – ½ cup (You can use any kind of rice)
Cheddar or Pepper Jack Cheese– ¼ cup

For Black bean Sauce:
Black beans – 2 cups cooked or 16 oz. can, rinsed and drained
Onion – 1 medium
Jalapenos – 2
Tomato sauce – 2tbsp
Corn – ½ cup
Garlic cloves - 2
Cumin powder – 1tsp
Chili powder – 1tsp
Salt and pepper – to taste

For Guacamole Salsa:
Avocado – 1
Plum ripe tomatoes – 2, seeded and chopped
Garlic clove – 1
Jalapeno – 1
Lemon juice – 2tsp
Red onion – ½ small (or 1 shallot)
Salt

Vegetables:
Green Peppers – 2
Zucchini – 2
Yellow Squash – 1
Onions – 2
Salt and Pepper

Method:
Roasted Vegetables:
· Pre heat oven to 400˚F.
· Cut the vegetables into big chunks and coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper.
· Roast them in the oven for 20-25minutes or until tender, but not mushy.

Black Bean Sauce:
· Heat olive oil in a sauce pan, when warm add garlic and sauté.
· Add chopped onions, jalapeno and sauté till onions turn transparent.
· Add the beans, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Mix well. You can add water if the mixture is too thick.
· Let it simmer for about 10minutes. Keep aside.

Guacamole:
· Put all the ingredients in a blender and pulse them couple of times. I like it smooth, but you can make it chunky too.

Putting them all together:
· Take a bowl, add a layer of rice then add the black bean sauce, roasted vegetables, guacamole and cheese. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and serve.


Notes:
· Store bought guacamole and salsa will reduce the prepping time.
· Vegetables can be either grilled or sautéed instead of roasting.

Strawberry Bread Pudding

Jihva for ingredients is Indira of Mahanandi's idea of showcasing one natural ingredient every month. For June Baking Fairy is hosting this event and Strawberry is the ingredient of the month.
I like the juicy and wonderful flavor of strawberries. Also who can resist the magnet like aroma of ripe strawberries.
I got this recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine. This recipe will serve 8, but I made with half the measurements for the two of us.

Ingredients:
Strawberry Compote:
Strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced - 1 pint
Granulated Sugar - 4tbsp
Juice of 1 lemon
Grand Marnier - 1tbsp

Bread Pudding:
Sourdough or other white bread - 6 slices (about 1-inch thick, crusts removed and bread cubed)
Whole strawberries, hulled and halved - 8oz.
Grated Lemon zest - 2tsp
Skim milk - 2 cups
Large eggs - 4
Granulated sugar - 1/3 cup
Vanilla extract - 1tsp
Ground cinnamon - ¼ tsp

Method:

To make Strawberry Compote:

• Sprinkle berries with sugar, and add lemon juice. Let sit for 1 hour. Add Grand Marnier, if using, and set aside.

To make Bread Pudding:

• Spray 8 3/4 cup ramekins with cooking spray. Toss bread cubes with halved strawberries in mixing bowl; set aside.
• Combine lemon zest and milk in saucepan, and bring almost to a boil over medium heat. Beat eggs and sugar in bowl until well blended. Add vanilla, cinnamon and almond extract. Gradually add hot milk, whisking constantly to prevent eggs from setting.
• Pour egg mixture overstrawberries and bread, and let stand for 15 minutes.Scoop bread mixture into ramekins, filling each almost to rim. Spoon any remaining egg-milk mixture in bowl over tops of each.
• Bake about 30 minutes, or until set. I had to bake my pudding for about 40 minutes until it was completely set.
• Serve, and pass with Strawberry Compote.

Strawberry bread pudding was delicious with the sweetness from strawberries and slight tartness from the lemon juice.

Stir fry Vegetables with Tofu

Sometimes when I go shopping, I get excited and buy too much stuff (like soy meat, tofu)for one week. But as the week goes by I am either too tired to cook or sometimes I completely forget about them. But the good thing about these packaged soy products is that they usually have a long shelf life, which is good for me.

Anyway this weekend, as I was cleaning the fridge, I found a box of extra-firm tofu that I bought, hmmmm, may be 2 months ago (expiration date: September 2006, yippee). I also had half a bag of frozen broccoli stir fry vegetables. So I made stir fry vegetables with tofu and white rice.


Ingredients:Extra firm Tofu - 12 oz. box
Carrots - 2 medium
Sn0w peas - about 12
Frozen Broccoli stir fry - thawed
Water Chestnuts - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1 small
Green onions - 5-6
Red chili flakes - ¼ tsp
Ginger - 1” piece minced
Garlic - 2 cloves
Sauce Ingredients:Low-sodium Soy Sauce - 3tsp
Sherry or Chinese rice wine - 1tbsp
Vegetable stock - ¼ cup (you can substitute with water)
Sugar - 1tsp
Salt - pinch
Corn flour - 2tsp mixed in 1 tbsp of water

Method:

• Remove tofu from the package, rinse with water. Place it on several layers of paper towel and blot out the water. Cut it into 1 inch cubes.


• Thinly slice all the veggies. Make sure they are all almost the same size.


• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large wok or skillet. Add tofu and fry the cubes till they are golden brown on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towel.


• In the remaining oil, add red chili flakes, ginger and garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add all the veggies and fry for about 3-5 minutes until they are crisp tender.


• Add the sauce to the veggies and bring it to a boil. Keep stirring constantly until the sauce thickens and becomes clear.


• Add tofu, salt and pepper and fry for 1 minute.


• Remove and serve hot with rice or noodles.

Ada, Mixed Lentil Dosa

I wanted to make something different for our saturday night dinner and my mom gave me this recipe for Ada. I am not sure if this is an Andhra recipe, may be one of the readers can let me know.

Ingredients:Kandi pappu (Toor dal) - 1/2 cup
Senaga pappu (Channa dal) - 1/2 cup
Pesara pappu (Moong dal) - 1/2 cup
Menapappu (Urad dal) - 1/2 cup
Rice - 1/2 cup
Red Chilies - 6

Seasoning/ Popu Ingredients:
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2tsp
Asafoetida - pinch
Curry leaves - 6
Oil - 2tsp

Method:

• Soak the first 5 ingredients in enough cold water for atleast 4hours.
• Grind them with red chilies and salt into a smooth batter similar to that of dosa.
• Heat oil in a small pan, when hot add all the seasoning/popu ingredients.
• Add the seasoning ingredients to the batter and mix well.
• Heat a griddle on medium heat and pour about 2 ladleful of batter. Spread the batter around with the ladle.
• Add 1/2 tsp of oil around the dosa and let it cook for about 3 minutes.
• Flip the dosa and cook for another 2 minutes.

• You can make them either thick (like utappams) or waffer thin (like dosas).
• Serve hot with any chutney (coconut/ peanut etc) you like.
• These "Ada" are like kicked-up dosa and are really quick and delicious.

Pics Updated: June 2013