Lentil Stew.

Made Moroccan lentil stew last night and it was delicious as usual. I love lentils!

Moroccan Lentil Stew & Bisquick Apple Cake

I love lentils, especially in a warm and comforting stew like this Moroccan lentil stew with eggplant and a variety of vegetables flavored with spices: cumin, curry powder, ras el hanout and cayenne.

I got this recipe from sexy Vegan Mama.

Homemade Tagine and LOLA ROSA VEGETARIAN BISTRO in Montreal.

This was my dinner tonight. I was inspired by a beautiful tagine I had at LOLA ROSA vegetarian restaurant in Montreal, Canada where I had my holiday the past ten days. I was back at work today and couldn't stop thinking of that tagine. So I came home and made this. It has potatoes, chickpeas, carrots, onions, raisins, apricots, olives and tomato. I served it with whole wheat couscous and sliced almonds.

Lola Rosa is a beautiful little bistro in the Plateau district in Montreal on Avenue du Parc.

I liked the artwork in this place. ;)

Quesadilla plate which my husband had. It had a sweet potato filling and he said it was delicious. It could be made vegan also.

Veggie burger made out of lentils and chia seeds. Looked amazing.

I had the tagine which was so delicious! It was served with what tasted like mint chutney. So good.

For dessert, chocolate banana tarte. Yumm.

The tables had drawers which housed random notes from strangers.

I left my own note.

Lola Rosa Montreal

Moroccan Stew.

Today's lunch (and dinner too): Moroccan red lentil stew, couscous, baba ganoush, bread and salad.

Broiled Vegetables in Charmoula Marinade and Couscous

I have this really beautiful little book called The Vegetarian Table: North Africa and there a so many exotic dishes that I've been wanting to try. I love broiling vegetables because it only takes 10 minutes or so. The couscous took 5 minutes. Very easy and very delicious. The marinade is Moroccan in origin and has beautiful flavors of olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, paprika, ginger, cilantro and marjoram.


This was lunch.


This was dinner. I made a sauce from Vegenaise, lemon juice and Sriracha sauce. Yum!

Moroccan Lentil Stew and Homemade Harissa

I love to throw stuff in a pot and call it dinner. This is what happened tonight after a long day at work. I've made this before using this recipe, but this time I took some liberties and used red instead of brown lentils, and added other veggies like corn and zucchini. On top there is a blob of North African style chili paste, also known as "harissa". I love to eat this stew on top of rice. Lentils and rice. You can't go wrong.


I must have been anticipating a Moroccan/North African flavor because I made the harissa over the weekend. I used New Mexico and Japones dried chilies, LOTS of garlic, mint, coriander, caraway, cumin and olive oil. It is SO FREAKING GOOD.

Moroccan Black Bean Stew

You can tell it's fall by looking at my dinner. This is the Moroccan Black Bean Stew recipe from The Vegan Family cookbook. It was so simple to throw together. I added 2 TB of tomato paste and some cumin (which I love!) and I decreased the sugar to 1 tsp. Came out just perfect. Looking back I should have added ras al hanout as well which is a Moroccan spice blend. Next time! This was very warming and tasty served on a bed of rice with a dollop of harissa (North African chili paste) on top. This will also go well with couscous or quinoa.

Vegetable Tagine and PB & Pickle Sandwich

When I have lots of produce to use up, I like to find a recipe that utilzes them all in one pot. This vegetable tagine was the perfect thing. I based it off the recipe in 'Classic Veg.Cooking from the Middle East and N. Africa' and added tomato sauce, ras al hanout, coriander and a little water. I garnished with lemon slices and green olives stuffed with chiles.


Served with bread and sweet pickles. All the vegetables cooked away in the hot dutch oven which resulted in a meltingly tender melange. I used eggplant, zucchini, carrots, onions, peppers, potatoes and chickpeas.


Just wanted to show you my "snack of the moment". I used to read Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries quite a lot and the main character Kinsey Millhone had several foods that she ate all the time. One of them was a peanut butter and pickle sandwich. I thought it was a genius idea. I don't remember if in the novels she used sweet or dill pickles but I prefer the sweet 'bread and butter' pickles. You might be cringing right now at the combination but don't knock it till you try it!

A Moroccan Lunch.

I made two beautiful Moroccan salads for myself today to enjoy on my backyard patio. The one in front is called 'zalouk' which is a cooked eggplant salad with onions, garlic, tomatoes and green peppers flavored with cumin and paprika. The one in back is called 'khizou harra' which is a cooked carrot salad that is flavored with cumin, paprika, lemon, olive oil and cilantro. The zalouk recipe is from 'Olive Trees and Honey' cookbook (one of my absolute favorites!).


Such vibrant color! This carrot salad recipe is from a book called "Food of Morocco".


Served with warm whole wheat bread and a little bit of cauliflower bean dip that I made last week. Gotta have some protein!

Moroccan Lentil Stew (again!)

I made Moroccan Lentil Stew again and served it on top of rice for a change. It is so comforting and so good! I added a tsp. or so of ras el hanout to make it more Moroccan, haha! That's a blob of fiery homemade harissa on top. I can't wait to have leftovers tomorrow! Recipe here.

I'm going to repost this recipe here in case you have trouble with the link. Recipe taken from americanheart.org

Moroccan Lentil Stew
Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped Spanish or other mild onion
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
28-ounce can no-salt-added crushed tomatoes, undrained
8 ounces red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup lentils, sorted for stones or shriveled lentils and rinsed
1 medium carrot, chopped
Low-sodium vegetable broth or water (as needed)
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, snipped or chopped
Cooking Instructions

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Pour the oil into the pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Cook the onion for 3 to 4 minutes, or until translucent, stirring frequently.

Increase the heat to medium-high. Stir in the cumin, curry powder, and cayenne; cook for 30 seconds to release flavor. Stir in the tomatoes, potatoes, broth, lentils, and carrots. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the lentils are tender, stirring occasionally and adding more broth or water if needed to keep from sticking. Stir in the peas; simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley.

Cook's Tip
If lentils have been stored for an extended time, they may take up to 1 hour of cooking time to become tender.

Nutrition Analysis (per serving)
255Calories
3.0 gTotal Fat
0.5 gSaturated Fat
0.0 gTrans Fat
0.5 gPolyunsaturated Fat
2.0 gMonounsaturated Fat
0 mgCholesterol
88 mgSodium
46 gCarbohydrates
12 gFiber
12 gSugar
13 gProtein
Dietary Exchanges
2 starch, 3 vegetable, 1 very lean meat

Moroccan Lentil Stew

I've been in a Moroccan state of mind recently. My blog picture up top is now a bowl of chickpea tagine. I've been looking at all my Moroccan picture books and recipe books and visiting my favorite lifestyle blog My Marrakesh several times a day, just to stare and stare at beautiful photographs and yes, to dream. One day I will make a trip to this beautiful, exotic desert paradise to soak up the local culture and lounge in beautiful courtyards while drinking mint tea. Hopefully I'll get the chance to stay at this luxurious guest house.

I made this Moroccan inspired lentil stew for dinner tonight. What could be better than coming home from a long day at work and getting to eat a warm and comforting bowl of this stew? I added some authentic Moroccan spice to my stew: ras el hanout which means "head of the shop". Its a blend of many spices and to be honest I'm not sure what spices are in the blend that I bought! I also wanted to use the homemade harissa I made on Sunday. I took a photo of the stew but I haven't eaten yet. I will wait until I come home from work. Hope everyone has a great day.


Looking forward to a bowl of this with a dollop of harissa on top.
Recipe here.

Easy Going Weekend.

I spent the majority of yesterday and today just seriously relaxing. No television, no phone, no computer to distract me. I only allowed music to create atmosphere while I sat on my patio outside soaking up sun and leisurely enjoying food on a tray with a good book and Nag Champa filling the air with a soothing, sweet perfume. I didn't allow myself to distract myself with thoughts like "What else could I be doing right now? Should I find something to do? Should I run errands?" I let thoughts like that float away while I enjoyed my time alone in a complete restful state in mind and body. All of this was something I really needed and to be able to enjoy delicious simple food as well was a bonus.


I did all the cooking early in the morning so it was ready for me to load up on a tray and take outside. I made Zalouk (Moroccan eggplant relish) and Tabbouleh (Lebanese parsley and bulgur salad) to enjoy with whole wheat pita and a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade. I used Olive Trees and Honey cookbook and Tables of Lebanon cookbook to make these recipes.


Couldn't forget dessert! I got these because Trader Joe's ran out of the Trail mix cookies that I love so much. These were great too and even had coconut in them.


Buster ate a bit too, do you see evidence of tabbouleh on the floor? He found a spot under the shade of my caftan to get comfy.


A while later I was craving peanut butter so I made a sesame Ezekiel toast with crunchy pb and date syrup.

Rockin' Moroccan.

Zeilouk d'Aubergine. (Moroccan eggplant relish). I think I may have overdid it on the tomato paste because it's a lot redder than I think it's supposed to look. Looks aside, this was wonderful. A tangy relish of cooked eggplant, green bell pepper, onions and tomatoes. Recipe from Olive Trees and Honey cookbook.


Delicious meze platter: eggplant relish, baba ganouj (store bought), lavash bread and assorted olives.


Moroccan vegetable stew with couscous and onion-cinnamon raisin topping. Recipe also from Olive Trees and Honey cookbook.

VeganMoFo: Healthy Nourishing Soup!

This delicious yellow split pea, butternut squash and carrot soup was adapted from the 'Moroccan Pumpkin Soup' recipe from Olive Trees and Honey. It's beautifully spiced with cinnamon, cumin, allspice and turmeric. My husband has decided to "eat healthy" all week so no more delivery pizzas, fast food burgers, frozen pizzas and mac n cheese from a box (yuck!) and more healthy options like this soup. This will be dinner tonight with a nice salad and garlic bread.

Simple Lunch and Moroccan Tagine Dinner

I wanted to eat my lunch on our backyard patio today. I kept it simple with freshly made hummus, cucumber salad, Trader Joe's spinach pizza and pita for dipping. It was perfect.


I enjoyed it all with Reed's Cherry Ginger Brew.




Dinner was a little more complicated only because I did a lot of chopping. I based this stew off of the Vegetable Tagine recipe from 'Classic Vegetarian Recipes from The Middle East and N. Africa' cookbook. It has loads of things in it: sweet potato, carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, yellow pepper, eggplant, zucchini, chickpeas, black and green olives, cilantro, cumin, cinnamon and a bit of tomato sauce and water for some sauciness. This tagine requires you to bake it covered in the oven for about an hour and a half. I served it with healthy brown rice because I didn't have any couscous. Delicious! The flavors melded so well.


Very satisfying stew.

Moroccan Tagine of Chickpeas

I got this recipe from a cookbook I just bought called 'Food of Morocco'. It has mostly meat recipes but a few were vegetarian or vegan. The Tagine of Chickpeas recipe was completely vegan to my delight. This stew is beautifully flavored with a medley of spices: paprika, turmeric, cumin, ginger, cinnamon and harissa (a North African red chili paste) and is bathed in a rich tomato sauce. I didn't feel like couscous tonight and I don't know where to get Moroccan bread, so I enjoyed it with a loaf of Iranian Barbari bread (wheat flour, water, yeast, salt) that I picked up from Payless Produce on the way home from work today.

Moroccan Carrot-Orange Salad

My cousin Oraphan (of Easy Veggie blog) came to my dad's b-day party on Saturday and made this beautiful salad. I loved it so much. Hers was flavored with orange, lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and pine nuts! I re-created it this morning and didn't remember the exact proportions of ingredients but I was able to add little by little until it tasted just right. The bright citrus notes of the lemon and orange contrasted beautifully with the sweet carrot and spicy cinnamon. I added agave syrup to mine instead of sugar and toasted almonds instead of pine nuts. This salad is very refreshing and perfect for a mild spring day like today.

Edited to add recipe.

This is approximately what I did to make this salad:

3-4 carrots, grated
1 orange, peel and pith removed, cut into chunks
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 TB olive oil
1 TB agave syrup (you may use less to cut down on sweetness)
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Mix all ingredients together and chill.

Moroccan Pumpkin Soup (Shorabit Yatkeen)

After barreling through the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers (sniff sniff...bye bye mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy!), I wanted to make something low key and easy yet kinda sorta staying with a fall theme. This beautiful yellow-orange pumpkin soup was in order. It's from one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks "Olive Trees and Honey". A few of the recipes in the book uses eggs and dairy and I was happy that this recipe was completely animal free. I checked online and found it posted here in case you want to try it.



It's a fairly thick and hearty, warm comforting soup with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg which melds well with the sweetness of the pumpkin (I used butternut squash). I added yellow split peas instead of chickpeas because I realized mid recipe that I ran out of chickpeas which is a far superior bean in my opinion. But the split peas are very nice too. I also added a bit of cumin which is not called for in the recipe because I wanted to add some earthiness to it. It was a good call. A bowl of this and a warm pita was a perfect dinner for me.

VeganMoFo: I Heart Olives.

Whenever I go to Whole Foods Market, I like to stroll by the fresh olive bar and just feast with my eyes and nose. They've got a serious variety of mouthwatering olives, some stuffed, some unstuffed, in black, purple, green, brown... They are beautiful. But unfortunately in this time of financial concern, they are way too expensive, like $13245677 a pound. No, not really but still way more than I can afford for a tiny container of olives. I've bought some before here and there in the past and they were divine but haven't lately because of the price tag.

The only olives I cook with are the really bland California black olives or jarred green olives and now that I think about it, that's kind of sad. And I don't really eat those out of hand because they don't offer that much in flavor. I was flipping through my new favorite cookbook, 'Olive Trees and Honey' and I found a section on marinated olives. I had a large jar of plain green spanish olives in my pantry and decided to use them to make these Moroccan Fiery Marinated Olives or Zeitoom al Had as they are called in Arabic. Wow, these are hot and so flavorful! They are cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, cumin, lemon slices and harissa and then left to cool. These would have been great as part of the meze last night.

I love ethnic foods.

I am a big fan of cuisine from different cultures. It's kind of like armchair travel in a way. You get to taste the exciting flavors of specific countries and for me anyway, it's like being transported to that place. Well, sort of. I'd rather get on a plane and actually travel to these countries but this will have to be my best option for now.

Let's start with indian food. I've never been to India but man do I love their food! I am a curry-holic. It must have something to do with my Thai background (we Thais like our curries too!). I think I make curry more often than anything else. It's one of the easiest things to cook too. Just throw a bunch of garlic, onions, veggies, spices, water and tomatoes in a pot, let it simmer and throw on some rice for a spicy delicious dinner. My favorite indian curry is Aloo Chana Masala which is basically a potato and chickpea curry.

This curry is perfection. I add peas to mine for some color. Recipe can be found here. It has step by step instruction which you will find delightful.


I also crave Pav Bhaji at least once a month. This is a spicy mashed vegetable curry served with buttered rolls. I used this recipe and substituted Earth Balance margarine for the butter. It is soooo good.


Ah, Morocco! How I would do anything to travel there! I might be idealizing but it seems like such an exotic, colorful desert paradise. The food always looks amazing too. I recently purchased a vegetarian cookbook called Olive Trees & Honey where I found a recipe for this vegetable stew which has sweet potatoes, squash, chickpeas and carrots topped with an onion-cinnamon concoction. It was gorgeous on top of couscous.


Lebanese food is really simple and fresh. It is considered one of the healthiest of cuisines. It relies on an assortment of fresh vegetables and salads, lemon juice and copious amounts of olive oil and garlic. I am a huge fan of this type of cooking. This eggplant stew recipe which is from the Tables of Lebanon cookbook is a delicious and healthy meal served on top of rice. (Sorry about the dark photo.)


And from the same cookbook, hummus along side za'atar spice in olive oil and pita bread for dipping.


When you think of japanese food, do you think of sushi first? I do. I never ate sushi before going vegan because I hated seaweed and seafood. I went online to do some research and I found a way to make vegan sushi without using nori (the seaweed wrapper around sushi rolls). Spring roll wrappers make a perfect roll. When I make sushi, I usually use both nori (for my husband) and spring roll wrappers for mine. Check it out.




I'll end this post with some thai food. I grew up eating lots of it and unfortunately most of it was meat based. Here in Los Angeles, you will find a plethora of vegan Thai restaurants that serve delicious and tantalizing thai favorites like Pad Thai, Pad See You and Tom Yum Kai using mock meats and fresh vegetables. It's actually quite good! I go every now and then if I don't feel like cooking my own. When I do cook thai food, it's usually curry. Here is a karee curry with coconut milk, tofu and vegetables served on top of rice with a side of purple slaw. Mmm. mmm. mmm.

Feel free to comment if you want any of these recipes. I'd be happy to share them with you via email.