The Smiling Onion

Vegetarian and Gluten-free Cooking

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Green Bean Chutney

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If I were the subject of one of those desert island thought experiments – you know, where you have to choose things to bring with you – I’m pretty sure my blender would be one of them. (That’s assuming, of course, that this desert island scenario included ingredients for me to put in said blender as well as some sort of electrical power – either run off currents or magic, I’m not fussy.) Why would I choose to bring a blender? Well, first of all, it would probably be hot so I would definitely need to make shakes like this one (yum, salted caramel!) and this leche de tamarindo. Ooh, and this tropical papaya smoothie would definitely help me cool down too. I also wouldn’t know what kind of protein sources would be available and how they would taste, so the ability to make vegan sauces like this creamy garlic staple, this decadent walnut sauce, and this spicy serrano cream would make anything taste delicious. (Hemp seeds would have to go on the list too as they are the BEST vegan sauce base, IMHO.) And, to finally get onto the topic of this post, my blender would also enable me to whip up bright and flavor-packed chutneys like the green bean one detailed here – keeping life fresh and beautiful.

Chutney was actually the middle name of one of my childhood pets, Mango. (Yes, Mango Chutney). No, I did not name him – my parents get credit for that. (Where do you think my love of food comes from?)

Anyway, this green bean chutney floated into my head one day after wondering what to do with the 1/2 pound of green beans I had left. I knew they’d be gone all too soon if I roasted them with balsamic, which is usually my go-to, and I was feeling kind of like a sandwich for dinner but didn’t really have anything to dress it up with and make it pop. So…I steamed some green beans, then whirred them up in my trusty blender with cumin seeds, tamarind paste, a bit of sugar, cilantro, lemon, some cayenne for spice, and some oil to help it blend. Delicious!

Bright, fresh, and tangy – but with some warmth from the cumin – this chutney is so versatile. I first enjoyed it on a sandwich with goat cheese and a fried egg, but it would also be amazing on potatoes, grain bowls, or mixed with a bit of yogurt/sour cream for a creamy sauce. You can also enjoy it by the spoonful, which I did rather too much of that first night. (I mean, gotta scrape out the blender, right?) Luckily, the recipe made a cup so even after binging on it, I had plenty to pack up and store in the fridge – ready to make the next meal pop.

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Cold Cucumber Soup

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My goal was to get at least one summer post out before September. I failed, of course. But at least it’s still summer for another eighteen days. I’m gonna call that a win.

If the humidity is getting to you, I highly suggest this cucumber soup. It hits all the right notes: fresh, sweet, tangy, spicy, nutty, and creamy. If you’re a fan of the green chutney often served in Indian restaurants, you’ll love this. The flavor profile is quite similar…but presented in a less intense, drinkable form, with some gazpacho-y notes thrown in. In fact, I guess you could say this soup is kind of a cross between gazpacho and green chutney. Except that doesn’t sound very good. And it’s actually incredibly delicious! Oh, and also there’s no mint.  Hm. I may be a bit out of practice with this whole blogging thing. Let me just get right to the point: Make. This. Soup.

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Blueberry-Fennel Salsa

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Tis the season to eat salsa! And oh, how numerous are the possibilities. I’ve always been one for experimenting with new flavor combinations so when I looked in the fridge and saw some blueberries fresh from the Union Square Greenmarket, along with some jalapeños and cilantro, I immediately thought blueberry salsa.

Now, I’m quite familiar with fruit salsas  – your standard pineapple one, for example, is pretty ubiquitous. But I couldn’t remember a time when I’d eaten a version made with blueberries. I also wasn’t 100 percent sure it would be a success. But I was fairly certain that one ingredient might be the key to marrying the sweet, fruitiness of blueberries to the savory spicy notes all good salsas should have, and that ingredient (drumroll please) was fennel. Specifically sautéed fennel, which has an onion-like texture and a lovely deep flavor.

So off to the market I went, eager to test out my theory. I thinly sliced my freshly-purchased fennel, sautéed it in some olive oil for 10 minutes or so (stirring frequently to promote caramelization as opposed to frying) and pulsed it up in a food processor with some jalapeño and cilantro. After seasoning with salt and lime, I sampled a bit. Yum! I almost wanted to eat it then and there – blueberries be damned – because it was really tasty! But delayed gratification is supposedly the mark of intelligence, so in went the berries. And voila! Blueberry-fennel salsa complete; snacking commencing in T minus…and that’s as far as my countdown got before my mouth was full of chips and salsa.

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Moroccan Quinoa with Preserved Lemon

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I designed this quinoa with Passover in mind, but it may very well become a staple in our household. Here are three reasons why:

1. It’s incredibly flavorful

Simmered with Moroccan spices like cumin, turmeric, allspice, and cinnamon, a drop of olive oil, and a hefty dose of preserved lemon (if you haven’t tried this, you are in for a treat!) this quinoa tastes even better than it smells.

2. It’s pleasing on the eyes

Forget your mountain vistas and city skylines…instead,  feast your eyes on lovely mounds of beautiful golden pearls, flecked with bits of bright red pepper, dark succulent raisins, vibrant green cilantro, and whimsically geometric walnuts. (Too much? Just practicing my storytelling for the seder…but seriously, my photos really don’t do this dish justice. One of these days, I’ll get an actual camera and stop taking photos on my phone!)

3. It’s easy to make and can be served hot or cold

Aside from measuring the spices, there’s not much you have to do here. Put the quinoa in a pot with the spices and lemon, set your timer, and walk away. In 18 minutes or so, you’ll have the most luscious, flavorful side dish all ready to go. You can eat it steaming hot right from the pot (even without any of the mix-ins) or, as in this recipe, spread it out to cool slightly before tossing it with the red pepper, walnuts, raisins, and cilantro. Once it’s cooled completely, store it in an airtight container in the fridge and serve cold.

So…ready, set, QUINOA!

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Quick & Dirty Coconut Chutney

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Let me just say right off the bat that this is not a traditional coconut chutney recipe. For starters, instead of using fresh coconut that you then have to chop or grate before grinding to a paste, I use shredded, dried coconut softened in boiling water. There is also no tempering oil – I just add a little chili, cilantro, and lime juice and away we go!

The result? A surprisingly close approximation to the coconut chutney you might be used to eating. It can certainly be served immediately; however, if you want it to more closely resemble a chutney made with fresh coconut, let it sit in the fridge overnight. The chutney will absorb more liquid and the texture will be closer to fresh. Of course, if you go this route, you may need to add some extra lime juice the next morning as acid tends to mellow in the fridge. So, if this happens, just remember the words of Harry Nilsson.

Now, you may not want to DRINK this coconut chutney a la Nilsson, but you will want to dollop it on all manner of dishes. It is wonderful on Indian-spiced potatoes, dals (Indian lentil stews), or spicy vegetables. Try it on these buckwheat kati rolls, chickpea cakes, cauliflower steaks, or with this lovely mung bean salad.  And vegans – wherever you might crave raita, try this instead.

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Tofu Satay Bowl

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Do you ever spend forever trying to decide the simplest things? I know I do…when it comes to ordering food, that is. I’m sad to say that far too much of my brain power has gone to agonizing over questions like “Sweet potato fries or regular?” “For the soup, did you want the cup or the bowl?” and “Pesto or marinara?” If these questions seem trivial, they absolutely are. But for someone whose happiness level is very much tied to getting these questions right – and who suffers from a disproportionate amount of ordering regret when it’s a miss – the decision can take a little while.

I had a similar dilemma when crafting this recipe, which was born out of a delicious thrown-together dinner (bowls are fabulous for these situations) a couple weeks back. I wasn’t planning to make it a blog post, but I was really happy with the tamarind-peanut sauce I had spontaneously created and thought a warming tofu satay bowl worth sharing. Then I had the leftovers – cold – the next day and found myself with an intriguing idea: should I post a summer salad instead? Same sauce – maybe make it a tiny bit more dressingy with a little vinegar – sub papaya for the broccoli, keep the tofu, cilantro, and peanuts, and maybe throw in some fresh basil? It certainly was quite delicious cold and you can never go wrong with fresh papaya! But I really liked that warm dinner bowl,  too…

I was so torn that I ended up buying both broccoli and papaya at the store so I didn’t have to decide until later. And I ended up going with the satay bowl. I don’t have any regrets (because this bowl is really quite delicious) but if you feel like trying the salad variation I described, do go for it. I don’t think you’ll have regrets either way.

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Lime-Roasted Hakurei Turnips with Chimichurri and Smoked Salt

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I guess I haven’t been to the Greenmarket in a while because it’s suddenly changed – the spring produce is out in force! And these hakurei turnips were calling my name.

Have you heard of them? They look like radishes, and in fact – I almost passed them by altogether for this reason (I do love radishes, but they always manage to go bad before I can use them all up!) Then I realized they were about the cutest little turnips I’d ever seen. So I snatched them up.

Whenever I buy full-sized turnips, I always end up roasting them, so that’s what I decided to do. I’ve also recently become obsessed with this Alder smoked salt grinder (Frontier brand) which is the exact same type of smoky as Laphroaig whiskey – in other words, the type I like. (See more about my love-hate relationship with smoky flavors here.)  My original thought was to toss in some fresh-squeezed citrus – preferably orange – but I was out and too lazy to go to the store. Luckily, it’s a pretty quick cognitive leap from whiskey to tequila, which led me to the answer – lime and salt!

Well, I’m happy to say this was a complete home-run. The turnips are so tender you don’t even have to peel them; just wash them and cut them in half, toss them with some olive oil, lime juice, and smoked salt, and roast them for 20 minutes at 425°. The result will amaze you! They were so flavorful I was almost sorry I had made the chimichurri sauce – until I tasted them together, of course :p

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Grilled Polenta with Tomatillos, Cilantro, and Feta

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What could be better than a fresh, spicy medley of feta, jalapeño, and tomatillo mounded on top of a slightly smoky grilled polenta disc with plenty of cilantro and freshly squeezed lime to boot? You got me. Actually, a bottomless supply of these perfect little bites, available for your eating pleasure on Cinco de Mayo – now that might take the cake.

Sadly, these polenta bites don’t come out of a fairytale (unlike this eggplant) so they won’t automatically replenish themselves; hence, making a bottomless supply would be pretty difficult. You can, however, make a finite supply (and trust me – these go fast, so their finiteness will be painfully obvious) for Cinco de Mayo, which is coming up this Friday! All you need to do is follow this recipe.

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Asian Tofu Salad

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If you’ve ever taken any sort of culinary or food science class, you may know that there are two types of cooking methods: dry-heat cooking and moist-heat cooking. Dry-heat is where your sautéing, roasting, baking, and frying lie. And moist heat is your boil, steam, simmer, and stew! (That’s by no means an exhaustive list of all moist/dry heat cooking methods, but it gives you a general idea.)

Anyway, it turns out I’m a dry-heat girl by nature. My go-to cooking methods are sautéing, roasting, baking, and pan-frying. Sure, I steam and boil on occasion (fried pasta would be pretty gross and I do like to blanch my greens and boil potatoes for mash now and then) but on the whole, my cooking routine generally begins with a skillet, some oil, and an onion.

In this heat, however, standing by a hot skillet babysitting a stir-fry is just not appealing. So when the craving for some tofu hit, I decided to boil it. Now if you’re like me, and you’ve spent your entire tofu-eating life baking, frying, or sautéing it, you may have some doubts about whether boiling is even possible. I know I did. But guess what?! It is! And it’s quite delicious and refreshing when seasoned well, chilled, and made into an Asian tofu salad like this one. In fact, taking foods I’m used to cooking one way and giving them a completely different treatment is definitely something I’d like to do more of. It helps me stay inspired, be creative, and not get stuck in any cooking ruts (which 90 degree weather can definitely precipitate!)

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Summer Buckwheat Noodle Salad

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I guess I maybe shouldn’t have complained about the lack of hot weather in my last post. Because now we’ve got it…bad. I know it’s not officially summer yet (and the weather is actually pretty nice when you’re lucky enough to get outside) but it’s so hot inside my apartment that the familiar summer sluggishness has definitely set in for me. I don’t feel like eating much, and when I do, it better be light and refreshing if I’m expected to eat more than a mouthful or two!

Hence this salad. The only part that requires the stove at all is boiling water for the buckwheat noodles. Easy peasy. It’s nice and light – more of a side than an entree – but if you wanted to make it more substantial, you could easily add some fried tofu and/or egg. Buckwheat noodles are tossed with fresh cabbage, carrots, scallion, and cilantro, doused in a light Asian-inspired vinaigrette, and topped with some roasted peanuts and crispy ginger. Sounds pretty good, right? It is!

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