Martha Rose's Eggplant, Quinoa and Tomato Casserole with Yogurt Topping

This is another winner recipe from Martha Rose Shulmans, Recipes For Health. This woman is my hero! It's vegetarian moussaka and oh so yummy! Light, but hearty at the same time.

 

I followed the recipe closely, except i replaced bulgur with quinoa (making it GF), I prepared my eggplant slightly differently and I used whole cinnamon and smoked paprika.

 

I've never made this yogurt-egg topping before, apparently it's "Balkan-style". Not only is it far more convenient than making a white sauce, but also lighter and healthier.

 

Eggplant, Quinoa and Tomato Casserole with Yogurt Topping

 

Tomato Sauce       

Olive oil       

1 large onion

4-8 garlic cloves

2 (425gm) tins of tomatoes      

Salt and pepper

1/2 - 1 & 1/2 teaspoon sugar (taste to adjust)

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp allspice

     
Filling

3 small or 1 large eggplant
3/4 cup dried quinoa 

4 tbl Parmesan    

Topping 

3 eggs

1 cup thick Greek yogurt (I think full fat is important here)

Salt, pepper and paprika to taste

2 tbl freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C.

 

Dice the onion and garlic. Don't worry about it being too fine as you blend it once the sauce is finished.

 

 

Start fry the onion on a medium heat.

 

 

Once the onions are nice and caramelised (5-8 minutes), add the garlic and cinnamon.

 

 

 Fry for another minute or so then add the all spice and paprika.

 

I found some smoked paprika, its yum!

 

Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper and let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes.

 

Keep an eye on the sauce while preparing the eggplant and quinoa.

 

 

Slice the eggplant into 1cm thick discs.

 

 

Lightly salt and oil the eggplant then place in oven for 30 minutes, turning them over at the 15 minute mark. Don't over cook them because they will become too sloppy in the casserole.

 

I haven't mastered cooking quinoa by evaporation, so I put 3/4 cup with about 2 cups of water and boiled it for about 10 minutes. Slightly under cook it as it continues to cook in the casserole.

 

Once the quinoa is done, drain and set aside.

 

 

Mix up the yogurt topping.

 

 

After the tomato sauce has simmered for 30-40 minutes, grab your hand held blender and make it nice and smooth.

 

 

Taste for sugar, salt and pepper.

  

 

Once the eggplant is done, turn your oven down to 180 and put the casserole together.

 

 

 

 A thin layer of tomato on the base.

 

Add about 1/2 the quinoa.

Make a nice snug layer of eggplant

 

 
Add another layer of tomato and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

The rest of the quinoa 

 

The yogurt sauce and another sprinkle of cheese.

 

 

 

Bake at 180 for 30-40 minutes until brown on top.

 

 

 

Be very careful not to over cook it. Baked dishes with yogurt or ricotta can curdle if you cook them too long.

 Enjoy!

Black Bean Chilli

This post follows directly on from Black Beans 101. Martha Rose Shulman has a number of recipes using her perfectly simmered black beans. The first one I tested out was her  Black Bean Chilli. I've been searching for a vegetarian chilli recipe for ages and I'm so happy I found this one.

I made a few changes, primarily due to a lack of canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce available in Australia. As a substitute I added paprika, fresh chilli and apple cider vinegar. I also added some celery, because it was in the fridge and needed to be used.

It's thick, rich and delicious!

1 pot simmered Black Beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions finely chopped
6 large garlic cloves, minced
2 fresh chillies
3 sticks celery
1 tbl dried chilli
1 tablespoon lightly toasted cumin seeds, ground
425 gm tin tomatoes
2 tbl apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tbl paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt
1/2 cup chopped coriander

Make the black beans as directed, preferably the day before you wish to serve.

Heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion and celery

 

Cook, stirring often, until the onion is lightly colored, about 10 minutes.

Add the fresh chilli and garlic, fry for a minute or two until fragrant

 

Then add the spices, dried chilli, cumin and paprika. Cook, stirring, for two to three minutes, until the mixture begins to stick to the pan.
 

 

Add the tinned tomatoes, vinegar and oregano. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.

  

 

Stir in tomato paste then simmer for another 15 minutes, stir often to prevent it from sticking and burning.

 

Add the Black Beans to the tomato mixture and bring back to a simmer.

 

 

 

Continue to simmer, stirring often, for 45 - 60 minutes.

 

Taste and adjust salt.

 

I've been eating this all week in various ways along the theme of a burrito salad.

Served with brown rice and/or sweet potato

Garnished with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, coriander, jalapeños, spring onion, grated cheese, natural yogurt and corn chips.

 

Black Beans 101

Black beans are not widely used or available in Australia, which is sad, because they are so delicious not to mention super healthy. Lucky for me the Kakulas Brothers in Northbridge, Perth have bulk bins of almost everything you could desire, including dried black beans.

I attempted cooking black beans once before with poor results because I boiled them and discarded the cooking water - amateurs mistake. They require more time and effort than other dried beans, but after discovering the absolute brilliance that is Martha Rose Shulman and her guide to Black Beans as part of her awesome recipe series with the NY times called Recipes for Health, I think my cooking abilities are about to take a leap forward.

 

On her website she says, "I draw my inspiration from Mediterranean and Mexican cuisines, inherently healthy cuisines with big flavors, whose recipes can be easily adapted, if they need to be, to lower-fat versions without compromising flavor"... I want to meet this woman!

 

This recipe is pretty much Martha Rose Shulman's to the letter, it takes a good 2-3 hours and completely worth the time and effort. 

I am tired of the excessive foodie language used today in Australia. Comments like "I love how the saltiness of the fish sauce is balanced by the sweetness of the palm sugar", or "I love the way the lemon zest brings out the flavour of the beans" are so over used and drive me bananas. For this reason I avoid being too verbose when describing food.

But for this recipe I can't help it. The rich earthiness of these black beans has to be tried to be believed, it is deeply satisfying.There I said it..

When you have time, give this recipe a go, you won't regret it!

 

2 cups dried black beans, washed and picked over for stones

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 medium onions diced

6 large garlic cloves roughly chopped

1/4 cup chopped coriander

Salt to taste 

Soak the beans in about 2 litres of the water for at least six hours. If they will be soaking for a long time in warm weather, put them in the refrigerator.

 

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, about three minutes.

 

Add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about one minute.

 

Add the beans and soaking water. The beans should be covered by at least an inch of water. Add more as necessary and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and skim off any foam that rises.

Once it comes to a boil, this is when I put mine in the oven at about 170 degrees for an hour, alternatively simmer on a low heat for an hour.

Add salt and fresh coriander and simmer for another hour.

 

The beans will become soft and the broth thick and fragrant. Taste for salt.

T

Let sit overnight in the refrigerator for the best flavor.

 

 

I ate mine with brown rice, coriander, spring onion, lettuce, jalapenos, fresh chilli, black olives and a couple of corn chips. Some sour cream or natural yogurt would have been good, but it wasn't missed.

Lamb Rogan Josh Curry

It's the weekend and I've cooked up a huge batch of lamb curry. I start the curry on the stove top and finish it in a low oven for several hours using a Le Creuset cast iron casserole pot. That way you can walk away and not worry about it burning at the bottom, plus a lack of frequent stirring means it doesn't end up a shredded meat mush. I'm sure this recipe would work really well in a slow cooker too.

A large amount of my curry is destined for the freezer, which is why I don't add extra vegetables. If you choose to make a smaller version, with no intention of freezing it, I'd recommend adding some vegetables such as potatoes in the last hour of cooking or in the final 15 minutes add some beans, broccoli and cauliflower.

I often cook stews and curry's using chump lamb chops, they stew really well, have a strong flavour and are, you know, cheap. I prefer the leg chops, which my butcher calls "target chops" because the have a little round bone in the center. They are really meaty, not as fatty as the shoulder chops and plus have all that marrow goodness! I don't cut them up, instead I take a more osso bucco approach - if you cook them long enough the meat will all fall apart anyway.

The base for the curry is Mangal rogan josh curry powder, if this troubles you, have a read of my Dahl recipe for my justification for not making it entirely from scratch.

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees

Lamb Rogan Josh

20 green cardamon pods

10 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks
4 tbl Mangal brand rogan josh curry powder
1 tbl coriander seeds

1 tbl cumin seeds

3 onions diced

2.5 cm knob of ginger diced

3 cloves purple garlic diced

2 kg of leg/sirloin lamb chops

2 tins tomatoes

dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds then grind in mortar and pestle

Brown all chops in a pan with a little oil. Be careful not to over crowd the pan, I used two to speed up the process

while you are browning the chops, dice the onion, garlic and ginger

Set the browned chops aside, add a little more oil and onions to the casserole dish. Even with the extra oil, the base of my casserole dish was pretty dry at this point and the browned meat bits were sticking and at risk of starting to burn. I didn't want to waste the brown meaty goodness in the extra fry pan either, so I added about 1/4 cup of water to the fry pan and scraped up the good stuff, then pored that water into the casserole dish and did the same again.

fry onions for about 2 minutes, then add garlic, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves until the onions are translucent

add the remaining spices (cumin, coriander & mangal curry powder) fry for another couple of minutes. Then add two tins of tomatoes. I don't like it to have too much tomato so I make up the rest of the liquid with water - about 800 ml

Allow it to heat up to a gentle simmer, then layer in the chops, gently pushing them down as you go. Again wait for it to start simmering then transfer it into a 150 degree oven.

I cooked mine for 4 hours, which is long I know but I think it is totally worth it, the meat was falling apart and the flavours well developed. If your oven is reliable, you could just check on it every hour, or even less, it only needs to have the chops pushed down every now and then. My oven is not reliable, so I checked every 1/2 an hour for the first 2 hours, then after I was convinced the temperature was steady I left it for the next two and it came out like this...

I stirred it a bit take out the cinnamon sticks and had a moderate attempt at removing the cardamon pods and pulled out the odd stringy bit of fat. A little bit of gentle stirring broke up the meat perfectly - and now I'm swimming in lamb curry! I also tasted it to check if it needed salt or a tsp of sugar - sometimes the tomato flavour is too acidic and needs some sugar to balance, but this time it was fine without.

I served it with dahl, diced capsicum, cucumber, coriander, greek yogurt, papadums and brown rice. i know I should have taken a photo... blogger regret, a lesson learned for next time!