broccoli lemon poha (rice)

lemony broccoli flattened rice

1 1/4 cup poha (flattened rice), or other rice
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 chopped onion
2 dried red chillies
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
Chana dal 1 tbsp
Urad dal 1/2 tbsp
fistful of cashews
fistful of raisins
1 lemon, juiced
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
1 red orange or yellow sweet pepper
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tbsp
a few curry leaves

Wash and drain poha and keep aside. (If using regular rice, cook it normally with a bit of salt.)

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard & cumin seeds until they pop and add chana dal, urad dal, cashews, and raisins. fry them a few minutes.

Add curry leaves & dry red chillies. fry lightly. add chopped onions and saute till translucent.

Add finely chopped bell peppers and broccoli florets and turmeric powder. Stir fry the broccoli for 3-4 minutes or till done.

Add the poha and salt and stir well.

After a minute, turn off heat and add lemon juice. Top with chopped cilantro.

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from spicy treats

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edit late july.

pretty wonderful – i really enjoyed it, and everyone who tried it raved about it. definitely something i’ll be making variations on again and again.

it was my first time sauteeing raw lentils with onions and mustard seeds – by the time the broccoli was done, they had the kind of crunchy, half-raw, nutty, surprising presence of steel-cut oats in cookies! a great trick for texture nerds.

5-minute gochujang korean hot pepper sauce

made this for a friend with little bites of fried popcorn chicken, and she asked if i could make her a tub of this sauce to keep in the fridge.

the best part is that it takes less than five minutes to prepare.

this was created as a dipping sauce for fried food, but it’s healthy and could be used as anything from a pasta sauce to a topping for sauteed vegetables – maybe even a soup base (?)

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fry a fat pinch of minced ginger and garlic in oil for a few minutes

add prepared tomato sauce, a little lime juice, two pinches of five-spice powder (or blend your own with anise, fennel, pepper, clove, and cinnamon), and some gochujang (korean hot pepper paste – you can use homemade pepper paste, too!)

cook until flavors combine (only a few minutes)

perilla and vegetable jeon (gluten-free fried dumplings)

i’m starting to really get into korean food.

i went to a korean market yesterday and tasted a little leaf of everything i’d never heard of, like dropwort (parsley-like). nothing stood out as really unique, until i got stuck on these leaves labeled as “sesame leaves”. i love sesame, but these leaves had rounded stems and toothy leaves like the mint family. tasting it, it’s even more clear – like a cross between a bitter green, mint, and nettle. they also have the slightly fuzzy, sturdy feeling of catnip.

so what’s the deal with this sesame mint? turns out the literal “translation of deulkkae (“wild sesame”) and ggaennip (“sesame leaf”) are in spite of perilla’s not being closely related to sesame” (wiki). it’s incredibly good for you, like the other mints.

tried it in a salad – it’s a little too tough and bitter. tried marinating it in a berry vinegar. good, but it brought out a bitterness. so this will be the next thing i try! i think this sounds like a winner! the pictures look great – fried packets of meat. i’ll write a veg version, but can’t try it yet – i used up all my perilla leaves!

1 cup mixed vegetables, like carrots, onions, and whatever you have
15 Perilla Leaves
¼ Cup Flour (use a gluten-free blend if you like)
Eggs
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
½ Tbsp Sesame Oil
⅛ tsp Black Pepper

Marinate hard vegetables in cooking wine, salt, and pepper. Cook some. Or don’t. I don’t know, I haven’t made this yet. Experiment! Definitely cook vegetables like eggplant prior to filling leaves.

Combine the vegetables, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, ½ Tbsp of sesame oil, and ⅛ tsp of black pepper in a mixing bowl. Mix so that all of the ingredients stick together nicely.

Rinse about 15 medium sized perilla leaves and set them aside to dry out.

On a flat plate, pour about ¼ cup of flour. Evenly flour the backside of a perilla leaf. The flour helps the mixture stick to the perilla leaf.

Spread about 1 Tbsp of mixture on one half of the floured side of the perilla leaf. About a quarter inch thickness will be good.

Fold the perilla leaf in half and cover the outer surface with flour.

In a flat bowl, break 2 large eggs and whisk them gently. Mix in 2 pinches of salt. Dip both sides of the floured perilla leaf in the egg mixture.

Fry the egg-dipped perilla leaves in a heated and generously oiled pan. Fry each side of the jeon for about 7 to 8 minutes on medium or medium-low with patience. When one side is done, flip, and fry the other side for another 7 to 8 minutes.

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recipe from here