Teff Porridge with Potato and Sweet Potato, Crispy Seitan and Okra (No Added Fat)

I can't believe I've not posted in so long. I recently experimented with whole teff grain; we love Ethiopian food including the injera teff-based bread with which it is served. Teff provides a good source of protein, magnesium, calcium, iron, Vitamin B6, and more. I thought that I would try using this nutritious food as a base for a dinner porridge and did so successfully a few weeks ago.

The package that I purchased of organic brown teff suggested cooking for 12 minutes or so 1/4 cup teff in 2/3 cup broth. That ratio is 1/4 : 2/3 = 3/12 : 8/12 or, in easy terms, a bit less than 3 times as much liquid as grain. I've also seen recipes of 1:4; in the end one can have significant leeway for varying thickness.

I also made a seitan dish. My daughter doesn't love seitan so I served her smoked tofu. I also pan sauteed some okra halves. Here is what I did.

Ingredients

• Approx. 4 ounces teff; Whole Foods Market and I'm sure others sell this grain
• Approx. a cup and a half of water
• Stalk of broccoli; stalk cubed into small 1/4" or smaller pieces, florets cut into small bite-sized pieces
• 3 leaves of kale with pieces approx. 1 1/2" or so hand torn and then stems discarded (composted)
• Clove of garlic roughly chopped into 1/4" or so cubes
• 2 t ginger, finely (less than 1/4") chopped
• Approx. 1/4 - 1/3 cup of onion cut into 3/8" cubes (most of a small onion) put in two sets
• 2 medium Russet potatoes or 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, well cooked (I used my pressure cooker) and then cut into 3/4" cubes
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, cooked (I also pressure cooked) and then cut into 3/4" cubes
• Spices to taste - I suggest starting simply with 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper or lemon pepper, 1 t garlic powder, and salt to taste (maybe 1/4 t)
• Herbs to taste - I suggest a dozen fresh oregano leaves
• (optional) Hot sauce to preference

Process

1. I put all of the ingredients except the potato, sweet potato, second set of onion, and spices and herbs into a large stock pot and brought to a boil
2. I continued to cook, simmering on low-medium heat, dropping to low heat after 5 minutes or so, and stirring all the way from the bottom occasionally as the grain can coat the pan bottom and harden
3. I let the porridge cook down till most of the water was absorbed; there should still be some water as absorption will continue even after the heat is turned off
4. I mixed in the remaining ingredients and served

I also put in a cast iron pan with no oil pieces of seitan, garlic, and onion, and cooked on medium high till crispy, adding a bit of dried rosemary needles and more onion in the final few minutes, then mixed in, outside of the pan, a bit of lemon juice and garlic powder. I served it with lovely cherry tomatoes. On another cast iron pan also with no oil I cooked halved okra with onion and served it with a little bit of salt and, for my wife and me, a small amount of jerk seasoning.

Results

Dinner was good! We all enjoyed the meal. I was afraid that the porridge might be a bit bland but it was good. It's fun and easy to cook with teff!

Ideas for the future

I should explore more teff dishes - and one day maybe make Ethiopian injera. I do occasionally stop by an Ethiopian restaurant and pick up their whole-teff injera and use it as a base for dishes I make. I had thought of adding bell pepper to this dish and decided that it had enough ingredients, but bell pepper would be welcome with this kind of dish. Sauteed mushrooms would go well, too.

Waterless Seitan and Okra (No Added Fat)

We're so lucky - we have new neighbors a few houses down. We enjoyed starting to get to know them a few weeks ago when they were quite pregnant - and they had their baby a few days ago! I wanted to bring a meal over so made a larger quantity of tonight's dinner, knowing we'd be sharing. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 1 cup onion cut into half moon slices approx. 1/4" x 1" (app. 1/2 or a bit less of my medium Vidalia onion)
• 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8") minced
• 1 cup thin okra (I found beautiful about 3/4" length thin red locally grown okra and cut a few pieces that were bigger into halves; if using thicker okra, try 3/8" slices)
• 15-20 small crimini or button mushrooms sliced into thirds (about 1 cup)
• 16 ounces seitan as thin strips or cubes up to 3/4" thick
• 1 medium green (unripened) tomato cut into 3/8" cubes (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup bell pepper slices (approx. 1/4" x 3/4") (I might have used 1 1/2 cups but pepper can cause gas, and I wanted to be careful for the new mother)
• 1 cup (compressed) kale leaf pieces (I hand separated kale into approx. 3/4" squares from the stems; I used 6 lacinato kale leaves)
• (optional) 1/2 t fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
• 1t fresh lemon or lime juice

Process

1. I put, in this order, the onion, garlic, okra, mushroom, seitan, tomato, bell pepper, kale and fenugreek into a large Saladmaster stock pan. I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 20 minutes.
2. I then mixed in the salt, black pepper, and lime juice, and served (or packed for the neighbors) along with brown rice and tomatoes.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Vegan Macaroni and "Chreese" with Seitan and Broccoli, Waterless Okra, Sungold Tomato

My wife and her sister-in-law enjoyed ample food on an outing in the afternoon, so weren't very hungry for dinner and were just going to eat leftovers from their outing. I took advantage of that to prepare one of my daughter's favorites, vegan macaroni and cheese, using Road's End Organics shells and "chreese". I almost always add to the macaroni, and today used broccoli, seitan, and onion.

My wife picked up some beautiful thick okra from the farmer's market. I took about a half dozen or eight spears, cut them into 1" lengths, then split them in half. I put them, along with about 1/3 cup sweet onion cut into approximately 3/4" x 1/4" chunks, in a 1 quart Salad Master stock pan (which I should have preheated but I usually forget!), covered, and brought to heat over medium high for a waterless dish. Once the little cap allowing steam to escape started jiggling, I reduced the heat to low and cooked for about 20 minutes. I then mixed in about 1/4 t turmeric, 1/4 t dried oregano, and a bit of salt; I wish that I had amchoor (dried mango) powder, which would have been good with the okra.

Dinner was good! I added some hot sauce to the macaroni to make it even more tasty. The packaged macaroni and "chreese" is only 2g of fat if one were to eat the whole prepared box and the soy milk that I mixed in has 3.5g fat per cup (I only used 2/3 cup). I didn't add any margarine. Surprisingly, then, this is an almost no added fat meal!

Red Split Lentil Stew with Green Beans, Squash, and Okra, served with Madagascar Pink Rice and Avocado (No Added Fat)

My Dad is visiting and particularly likes red lentils, so I picked up some red split lentils. Conventionally, they cook in a 1:3 ratio of lentils to water over 30-45 minutes. In my Instant Pot, the time is 15-18 minutes. Rather than put other vegetables in for the duration, I thought that I would cook the lentils for all but 4 minutes; I used vegetables that take 2-3 minutes time to cook but, to be sure that everything would be soft enough for my Dad, I gave them 4 minutes.

 Ingredients

• 1/3 cup red split lentil
• 1 cup water
• 2t coarsely chopped ginger (to approximately 3/8" pieces)
• 1 vegan bouillon cube
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 1/8 t ground cumin
• 1/4 t salt (I used Indian kala namak, "black salt" that is really pink in color and that adds a nice sulfurous taste, but regular salt is fine)
• (optional) 1/2 t (or to taste) diced jalapeno - I omitted as my Dad is needing to avoid spicy food, and my daughter won't eat anything with jalapeno, but I think it would be a good addition
• 1/2 small onion, diced to 3/8" cubes
• 3 dozen green beans, ends trimmed off then halved
• 1 small yellow summer squash, cut into 3/8" cubes
• 24 okras, stem end removed then cut into 1/2" pieces

Process

1. I put the lentil, water, ginger, and bouillon cube in the Instant Pot and cooked on high pressure for 13 minutes
2. I waited as long as was feasible (ideally, I should have set the lentils up to cook earlier in the day) then slowly released the remaining pressure manually and opened the Instant Pot (pressure cookers should always be opened carefully, obviously, with the back end first so steam escapes away from the cook)
3. This was the first time that I had cooked lentils under pressure; I was interested to try them at this point, and they actually seemed done and tasty, but rather thick. I know that the added vegetables would contribute moisture, but, to be sure, I added another 1/3 cup water (as in the ingredient list). I'll have to research a bit more about cooking lentils in a pressure cooker.
4. I added the rest of the ingredients, closed the pot, and cooked on high for another 4m

I was originally thinking of a thicker stew, but it was really the right consistency and best served in a bowl. My intuition was right about the water! I also made some Madagascar pink rice.

Results

My wife and I enjoyed the dish! At first, my wife, who was brought up in India, thought that the okra didn't go so well with the main course, but after eating a few bites, changed her mind. I made this dish particularly with my Dad's preferences in mind; he needs soft food with little spice, so I thought that the okra would add a bit of chewable texture. My Dad thought that the dish was "okay" but certainly not up to my Mom's standards!

Ideas for the future

I was pleased with how versatile the pressure cooker was in preparing lentils. I'd like to try similar dishes with other vegetables, such as perhaps eggplant and/or carrot. It would add a nice accent to serve with some raw or almost raw onion, as well as some fresh peas. Tomatoes, cooked or raw, would go well, too, but I avoided tomatoes for my Dad's benefit as he is reducing his acidic food intake.

Okra and Kale Stew with Madagascar Pink Rice and Corn-off-the-Cob with Sweet Onion (Almost No Added Fat)

My wife and daughter camped locally last night. I don't like camping, but joined them for a potluck dinner that they and other area vegetarian families put together, then came home to my more comfortable home :-) .

All of us like okra, but I don't cook with okra often. My wife brought some fresh okra home from the store, and I thought that I would use my Instant Pot to pressure cook it. The pot does much more than just pressure cooking and can also, for example, sauté - and it comes up to heat very quickly. One should be able to duplicate this recipe by sautéing in a stock pan and then cooking, covered, on low heat for probably 15m or so. This is what I did.

Ingredients

• Half small or medium sweet (e.g., Vidalia - but yellow okay, too) onion cut into 1/2" cubes
• 4 ounces tempeh cut into 3/8" cubes  3-4m medium sauté
• 1/2 c marinara sauce
• 1/2 c water
• 30 spears okra (just over a half pound), halved lengthwise and tough ends removed
• 1/8 c bell pepper
• 6 baby carrots, cut into thirds lengthwise
• 6 leaves kale (I used lacinato but any kind is okay), leaves roughly hand torn into approximately 1" squares with stems left for compost
• App. 1/2 teaspoon lemon sage leaves
• App. 1/8 teaspoon salt
• App. 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• (Optional) Hot sauce to taste

Process

1. Into the Instant Pot, I put the onion and tempeh, then I turned the pot on in standard sauté (i.e., medium) mode.
2. The pot heats up quickly; within a minute or minute and a half, I could hear the onion sizzling. I then stirred frequently for about 3-4 minutes till the onion was getting clear. The tempeh was starting to stick.
3. I turned the pot off and put in the marinara sauce (2g fat per half cup - hence I list this recipe as "almost no added fat") and stirred, releasing any of the stuck tempeh.
4. I added the water, okra, bell pepper, carrot, kale, lemon sage, salt, and pepper, and stirred.
5. I closed the Instant Pot. Okra takes 2-3 minutes cooking time on high pressure; I set the pot to cook for 3m on high.
6. When the pot was done, I turned it off. Ideally, I'd let it release pressure naturally over about 10-15m, but we were ready to eat after maybe 5 or 6m, so I slowly let a little pressure out intermittently with the release valve over a minute or so (I wanted to be sure not to suck any tomato sauce out of the valve; this has not at all been a problem for me) till the pot was depressurized and would allow the top to be removed.
7. I stirred and served, adding some hot sauce at the table.

I also made Madagascar pink rice (1 part rice to 1 3/4 parts water simmered for 20m; I usually add a vegan bouillon cube, but we are out right now) and corn-off-the-cob. After I roasted two ears of corn on an open gas flame, I stripped the kernels and added juice of half a lime, a pinch of salt, and a bit (I used the rest of the onion, though I knew it was probably too much - 1/8 or 1/4 of a small sweet onion would be good, cut into a small 1/8" dice ideally) of onion.

Results

Wow, the stew was very good! My wife felt that this was one of the best okra dishes that I have served. I quite enjoyed dinner. It's fun cooking under pressure - most of the time is just chopping and assembling ingredients, and the cook time itself is just a few minutes.

 

Ideas for the future

I should have added a bit of garlic, maybe 2 finely chopped cloves, when I added the okra and the other ingredients. A little jerk seasoning could work well, though I didn't want to go that route since I was also cooking for my spice-averse daughter. I wonder what this dish would be like with black, Great Northern, pinto, or other beans, with or without the tempeh.