Thai Squash Soup

I love Thai food. If you are like me then this simple and flavorful soup will completely satisfy your cravings. The recipe does not require expensive, exotic ingredients and special skills. The result is absolutely delicious and especially perfect for cold winter days.

I have cooked the soup with butternut and kabocha squashes, but my favorite is the kabocha squash version.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 large kabocha squash, peeled and cubed
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 stalk lemongrass or lemongrass paste
• 1.5 " knob of ginger
• 5 keffir lime leaves ( check Indian supermarkets )
• 1 hot chili, for example serrano
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• Cilantro, for garnish
  

Instructions:

• First, prepare the ingredients. Cut the lemongrass into 3 pieces and bruise the pieces until slightly broken. Peel the ginger and grate it.
• Mix the broth with the squash, the coconut milk, and the rest of the ingredients in a pot. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes. 

• Fish the lemongrass out of the pot and puree the soup using a stick hand blender

• Garnish with chopped cilantro, and peanuts to serve.

Healthy Bonbons

I found this recipe online and changed it a little bit to my taste.  The best thing, it takes only 5 minutes to make it. You can add sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, or dates. The sweetness of butternut squash is perfectly sufficient for me.

Here is my version:

2 tbsp rolled oats

2 tbsp coconut flakes ( I use unsweetened )

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp cooked butternut squash ( could be canned)

1/2 tsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

Process the ingredients in a food processor to make a paste. Roll 6 balls and cover them with cocoa powder, coconut, or grated walnuts, if you wish.

Root Vegetable Salad

Hello everybody,

We've been absent for almost an year from this blog. Many wonderful things happened, while we were off, and the most important are the two new, beautiful baby boys that took all our time, and made us forget about the blog :)))
Now, the babies are almost toddlers, and we spend more time in the kitchen again. Glad to be back and share our new concoctions with you.

 

My dear friend T.V. has been asking for this recipe for ages. Finally, I am ready to post it. Root vegetables can be enjoyed throughout the year, but I prefer them in Fall and Winter, when most of them are in season and taste better. These vegetables are usually inexpensive, and have tremendous health benefits. They grow underneath the ground and absorb many nutrients and minerals available in the soil. 

 For this recipe, you can use any root vegetable that can be eaten raw. I usually buy whatever vegetables are available in stores. On my last trip, I came back with beets, red and golden, watermelon radishes, rutabaga and carrots. The salad is very easy to make and tastes fresh for long time, if kept in a fridge.

Ingredients:

2 beets,
2 golden beets,
2 turnips
2 watermelon radishes
1 rutabaga
5 carrots
1 bunch cilantro
dill
3-4 tbsp olive oil
3-4 tbsp vinegar and/or lemon juice
salt to taste

Clean and peel the vegetables. I used a food processor to shred them, that is why I cut them to pieces that would fit the opening of my food processor.

Add salt, olive oil, vinegar, cilantro, and dill to your taste. You can store the salad in your fridge for about a week.

Pickled Vegetables - "Trushia"

Pickled vegetables, a.k.a. turshia or trushia, as it is pronounced differently in different parts of Bulgaria, is an excellent accompaniment to meat dishes. Typically it is made in the late fall with the last load of vegetables picked in the home gardens. Made in huge amount, the turshia is then stored in the darkest and coldest places of the houses to last till spring. In the older times people ate only produce in season, so the typical winter diet consisted mainly of grilled pork cutlets, and home made sausages,  pork stews with potatoes, beans, pork cooked with pickled cabbage, and of course turshia. All the households in the villages had pigs and the killing and processing of the meat from the pig, usually happening around Christmas, was a pleasant occasion for family and friends gatherings and celebrations. The trushia had permanent place on the tables, used as an appetizer that people had when drinking rakia and a side dish for the meat dishes. Every family had their own recipes, or tips and tricks, and there was always a silent competition going on of who makes the most crunchy, fresh and delicious turshia.

These days, when we eat fresh vegetables all year round, we don't make turshia very often. It happens once in a while, usually around Christmas, to follow the years-long  tradition and satisfy the cravings we usually experience. 

A friend of mine DM gave me this simple recipe for a quick turshia. It gets ready in 2-3 days. There are variations of what types of vegetables you can use. In addition to my list below, you can add regular cabbage, green tomatoes, and small sweet peppers. The original recipe recommends slightly grilling the tomatoes and peppers before adding them to the mix.

This is what I used:

(Adapted from the original recipe)

• 2-3 heads cauliflower, cleaned and cut in small pieces
• 8 - 10 carrots cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 5 celery stalks, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 lb peppers cut in pieces. I use different colors peppers
• 1 head garlic, each clove peeled and cut into 3 pieces
• 1 bunch of parsley

Marinade:

• 300 g vegetable oil
• 500 g sugar
• 200 g salt
• 700 g apple cider vinegar

Procedure:

Boil the marinade and leave it aside. Mix all the vegetables, with the exception of garlic and parsley, in a big pot. Pour the marinade over the vegetables. Be careful not to use very hot marinade, because the vegetables will loose their crunchiness and become mushy. Cover with plastic foil or a lid and leave it for 24 hours in a cool place.

On the next day, add the garlic and parsley. Pack the turshia in glass jars and store in the fridge. If you live in a cold weather you can keep it outside. Usually the turshia is ready for eating in 2-3 days.

ETL: Fennel, Bok Choy and Watermelon Radish salad

We got fennel from our CSA box and I remembered that last year Marulka had made an amazing fennel and celery salad, topped with shaved cheese. Well I was out of celery and did not have any cheese so I decided to improvise and used only the ingredients that we got from the box. The result was awesome!

Ingredients:

1 fennel bulb, cleaned and thinly sliced.
2 heads of bok choy, cleaned and thinly sliced.
2 watermelon radishes, washed, peeled and thinly sliced.
5-6 kalamata olives, sliced lengthwise
1 lemon, juiced
some olive oil, salt and black pepper.

Wash all vegetables well and slice thinly (i used food processor and it took 30 sec!). Mix in a large salad bowl and add some olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the leftover fennel fronds and enjoy!

p.s. Here is what watermelon radish looks like :)

ETL: Easy and Delicious Pumpkin Cake

If you  LOVE pumpkin, as much as I DO, you must try this easy-to-make pumpkin layered cake. Each bite melts in the mouth, leaving a perfect flavour of pumpkin, cinnamon, and walnuts.
I must give all the credit for this recipe to my friend D.M. She worked on the recipe for years and gave me a perfected version of it. I made very small adjustments to reduce the calories.

Ingredients:
Makes 12 squares

Dry Mix:

1 1/4 cup of semolina or farina
3/4 cup of flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts, chopped or grounded
1 tbsp baking powder

Wet Mix:

6 cups of shredded butternut squash
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla

2 tbsp butter or olive oil (optional )

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a sauce pan saute the shredded pumpkin with the oil and the sugar. Add the cinnamon and the vanilla at the end.



Grease a 8x8 cake pan. Lay 1/3 of the dry mix in the bottom of the pan, following with a layer of the 1/3 of the wet mixture. Continue layering, alternating dry and wet, finishing with the wet mixture as shown on the photos below.
I made 2 batches at once and used a 13x9 pan.

Cut 2 tbsp of butter into small chunks and space them out on top of the cake. I think using additional fat ( butter or oil) in this step can be avoided. The cake is moist enough from the pumpkin and can do without extra fat.

 

Bake the cake for 30-40 minute.

Allow to fully cool and cut into 12 squares. Decorate with a spoon of whipped cream and enjoy!!!

PS. Did I tell you that cooking with wine is always GOOD ? :)

ETL: 30-minutes Corn Bread

I can't wait to share this recipe with you. It was so good, I could've eaten the whole pan by myself. It is again this time of year, when I crave hot stews and warm breads. The fresh, (cold) salads are not on my mind anymore. I know, I know, it means packing a few pounds, but if that is the price, let be it. I won't fight it :)

Ingredients: 
16 squares
Adapted from Basil and Wine. Krystina knows good food. So far I cooked two of her recipes and they came out great.

• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned cornmeal or polenta
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp raw sugar
• 1 cup almond milk
• 3 tbsp canola oil. Per Marulka's suggestion, I'm reducing the oil next time, by replacing 2 tbsp oil with 2 tbsp apple sauce.
• 1 flax egg ( 1 tbsp flax seed + 2 tbsp water )
• 1 tbsp vinegar ( I used rice vinegar )

I used polenta bought from Whole Foods. As you see from the picture below, it is quite coarse, not that fine like corn meal. Next time I'll try using polenta from Golden Pheasant. It is even more granular.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and the wet ingredients (aside from flax egg) in another bowl. Add wet to dry then add flax egg and mix until the batter comes together.

Allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes. This is the key to ultimate cornbread moistness.

Pour batter into a greased 8x8 pan. Shake and tap the pan to smooth out the batter if needed. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean out of the center.

  

 Serve with hot stew. I made chili, and the corn bread was just a perfect compilment. 

ETL: Thai Curry for Beginners

If you like Thai food like me, you should try this recipe. The taste is 100% good and as close as it could be to the authentic version. I used all the vegetables, I found in my fridge, and a stick of rice noodles. Steamed white or brown rice works as well. Surprisingly, the dish holds well when reheated. I was concerned the rice noodles would get mushy, but they were just fine.

Ingredients:
Serves 6
Adapted from Basil and Wine

• 1 block firm tofu.  My tofu was already cubed, I just squeezed the cubes to take out the water.
• 2 large bell peppers, yellow and red for colors, cut in strips
• 3 carrots, cut
• 2 zucchini, cubed
• 2 potatoes, cubed
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 clove garlic, chopped or minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, grated
• 1 Thai chili, minced, I used jalapeno
• 4-5 basil leaves, preferably Thai
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 4 tbsp red curry paste
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
• Zest and juice of 2 lime
• 4oz rice noodles 

First chop the onions, the garlic and the chili, Grate the ginger and the lime zest. Juice the limes.

Prepare your vegetables, washing and cutting them in equal sizes. 

Wash the rice noodles with cold water, or act according to package directions, and set them aside.

Dry fry the tofu in a non-stick skillet on medium/medium-high heat until golden brown on both sides. Set aside. 
For omnivores, you can use chicken instead of tofu. Just cube a chicken breast and saute the chicken in a tea spoon of coconut oil.

Add coconut oil to a large pan  on medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, chili and ginger and cook until translucent. Add the vegetables to the pan, starting with the vegetables that require the most time to cook, in this case, the carrots and potatoes, then the mushrooms, and the peppers and the zucchini at the end.

While vegetables cook, heat coconut milk in sauce pan. Stir the red curry paste into the coconut milk until dissolved, and the coconut milk is boiled. Add mixture to vegetables and stir to combine.

Add lime zest and juice, soy sauce, basil and tofu. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. During the last few minutes of cooking, add rice noodles. Stir to break them apart and coat them in the curry sauce. Plate with a garnish of lime and cilantro and enjoy!

 

Spinach and Sorrel soup, aka "Supa ot Spanak i Kiselec"

 
Another one of my all time favorites and a great soup for all you vegetarians and vegans! Alternatively, it can be made with spinach only, but I really like the taste of sorrel - it adds slight sour-flavor that is surprisingly refreshing and delicious. As always, feel free to scale up or down, depending on how many hungry throats you will be feeding :) ... And I have to give Plodova Salata credit for this soup, since she made it for me first and kindly provided sorrel from her garden!

INGREDIENTS:
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 carrots, sliced
2 bell peppers, chopped
1 lb fresh baby spinach, washed (or 2 lbs if you are not adding any sorrel)
1 lb sorrel (this is "киселец"... I only had frozen kiselec), washed and coarsely chopped
1 cup rice
Spices: salt, black and red pepper, cayene pepper, cumin, savory

In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic with some olive oil over medium heat. Then add the carrots, celery, bell peppers and all the seasonings / spices and continue cooking until all the vegetables are soft (5 min). Then add the washed spinach and sorrel and cook for additional 5 minutes or until all the leaves have released water. Add water (~ 1.5 - 2 Liters) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the rice and simmer for 20 min. (TIP: If you are in a hurry, you can reduce the cooking time by adding pre-heated water to the spinach.)

Serve and ENJOY!

Also for the non-vegans, this soup goes incredibly well with a spoon of plain yogurt and some feta cheese! Double Enjoy!

ETL:Bulgarian Vegetable Stew - "Gyuvetch"

There are many healthy and tasty vegetarian dishes in the Bulgarian cuisine. One of them is the famous gyuvetch. Many people cook gyuvetch with meat, beef, lamb or pork. Traditionally it is cooked with seasonal vegetables, baked in  in a clay pot. Since not many spices are added to this dish, the key is to find the perfect selection and proportion of vegetables and cook them the right amount of time to get the best blend of flavors and texture. For me the gyuvetch is one of the most difficult dishes to cook, and extremely rewarding when I get it right.

Here is my humble version of gyuvetch:

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic

2-3 small or 1 big eggplant, cubed

2 zucchini, cubed

1 celery stalk, chopped

3-4 carrots, chopped

1/2 lb green beans, chopped

2-3 bell or other kind sweet peppers

1/2 okra cleaned and cut at 2 " pieces

1 can diced tomatoes (optional )

2-3 Yukon gold potatoes

few sprigs mint and savory

2 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste and 1 tbsp paprika

1 cup Veggie broth

First clean and chop all the vegetables. Try to cut into similar size pieces to get the veggies cook simultaneously. Also the dish looks better when you get a mix of good shaped and bright colored vegetables. You must be careful to not overcook the vegetables to keep their colors fresh.

Saute the onions and garlic. I added salt, a little bit dry mint, and savory (chubritza).

Meanwhile boil water and pour it over the okra. You must soak the okra in hot water for 10-15 minutes and rinse it to get rid of the slime.

Add  first the carrots, then the celery, and then the eggplant to the pot and saute them for 2 minutes before adding the next veggie.

 Add the peppers and the green beans and sate them for 2 minutes.  

Then add the paprika and pour the broth. Cook for about an 30 minutes, before adding the okra, and the zucchini. After 30 more minutes add the potatoes. Cook them for about 20 minutes and then add the tomatoes. Always add the tomatoes at the end, otherwise the acids from the tomatoes would prevent the vegetables from cooking.

Cook till the potatoes get soft. Add parsley, and serve with MM's brown rice on a side or dip the Marulka's crusty ciabatta in the delicious sauce.

ETL: Easy Breezy Tortilla Soup

If you feel under the weather with stuffy nose and scratchy throat like me the only thing you'd need to get better is a hot and spicy soup. I hesitated between a Pho take-out from a near by vegan restaurant and a home made tortilla soup. The tortilla soup won. It took me 15 minutes to cook it and the result was superb. I used a Vitamix blender to cook, but I am sure it can be done with any blender, using some additional prep work and small adjustments.

This is what you need:

• 2 cups vegetable broth, hot
• 1 large Roma tomato or two small, halved
• 3 small carrots
• 1/2 stalk celery
• 1 thin slice red onion
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1 can beens, rinsed. It's best to use home cooked, but since I did not plan to cook this soup, I used a can of black beens.
• 1 tsp tortilla soup or taco seasoning. With the taco seasoning you may need to add a dash of cumin and black pepper.
• 1/4 of avocado

Process:
Boil two cups of hot water to speed up the process.

Place the tomatoes, carrots, peppers, onions, garlic, and celery in the blander.

Pour the hot broth and blend quickly to Variable 10 and then High for 3-4 minutes if you are using Vitamix.

When the mix is steaming, add the avocado, beans, frozen corn, the cilantro and spices. Blend to 10-20 sec on very low speed (2 for Vitamix). The goal is to keep the beans and corn almost intact for texture.

Optionally you can add cooked chicken breast, pitted olives and serve with tortilla chips.
Delicious! :)