Spiced Moroccan Chicken Wrap with Eggplant Tomato Jam

I know, I know... long time, no cook.  But it's not that I haven't been cooking, it's just that what I have been cooking hasn't been new or particularly blog-worthy.  And, yes, since moving to Bangkok I have definitely been cooking a little bit less frequently.  Food is so delicious and cheap here, whether on the street, in a restaurant or at the market!

Anyway, this spiced Moroccan chicken wrap is a recipe from The Cozy Apron that I have cooked twice now, once in Jakarta and once in Bangkok, and both times I failed to get a good photo because it was dark and also because the dish was so tasty we snarfed it down immediately.  But please do check out The Cozy Apron for some mouthwatering pics.

The dish is full of spices and garlic and pretty healthy: awesome.  It consists of 3 parts (hummus, spiced and grilled chicken, eggplant and tomato "jam"), which seems like a lot, but none of the steps is particularly taxing or time-consuming.  You can make the hummus in advance (although we liked it to be room temp on the sandwiches, not cold), which helps the flavors meld and the chicken can be marinated overnight (I started marinating mine in the morning and that was sufficient, too).  We thought the sandwiches were good with a little lettuce for crunch, too.  Mmmm.

Spicy Lemon Date Dip

My date obsession continues unchecked.  This iteration: a spicy, lemony date dip/spread. 

Dates are simmered with spices (cumin, red pepper flakes, ginger and lemon) until soft and stewy, then served up with toasted pita bread.  Sadly mine did not turn out to be the pretty deep color of Joy the Baker's, it was sort of pallid and reminiscent of refried beans.  It definitely didn't taste like refried beans, though... zesty, sweet, and quite spicy, for sure.  

I like this dip, but it's not my favorite date dish thus far.  My favorite still falls firmly in the salty-cheese stuffed category.

Saag Paneer and Tandoori Spiced Cauliflower

My favorite Indian dishes, hands down, are saag paneer and chana masala.  Unfortunately, our preferred Indian joint here in Jakarta is kinda a pain to get to on the regular, so I don't get my favorites as often as I would like, leaving it up to me to try to recreate them at home.

Step 1: Sag Paneer.  Step 2: Chana masala (coming soon... maybe this recipe?).

 

My first attempt at saag paneer was pretty successful!  Two thumbs up for the recipe, although I wish now that I had made my own paneer (there are instructions in the recipe) rather than using the store-bought kind... the consistency of the cheese wasn't what I was looking for, but I bet homemade would have the creamy goodness I seek.

The only change I made was to splash a few tablespoons of heavy cream into the dish before serving, as it was a little too thick for my taste.  Other than that, pretty straightforward and simple.  And healthy, too... Give it a try!

We paired it with some tandoori-style roasted cauliflower that had a nice flavor, but turned out a bit mushy for my taste.  Maybe a dry spice rub is better for cauliflower than the yogurt-based marinade in this recipe?

Chipotle White Bean Dip

Bored with hummus?  Me too.

Hummus seems to have turned into the staple party snack.  I have nothing against it, I mean, I love hummus, but I think it's become somewhat overdone as a snack and party dip.   

Here's an awesome alternative: chipotle white bean dip. 

Similar to hummus in the sense that its base is a bean and it's got some garlic and olive oil, but this dip is jazzed up with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, lime juice, cilantro, and cumin.  It's awesome as a dip for salty chips or fresh veggies- fresh and zingy, smokey with a hint of spicy...  good stuff.  And good for you, too!

 I used this recipe as my general inspiration, but altered the ratios to suit my tastes.  One can of white beans, two chipotle peppers, juice of 3 limes (although I am using the tiny Indonesian jeruk nipis, which is probably equivalent to one or one and a half regular limes), about 3/4 teaspoon of cumin, a tablespoon of olive oil, a handful of cilantro, one grated garlic clove and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Grilled Corn Salad and Fresh Mint Ice Cream

Tim and I were invited to a BBQ here in Jakarta this past weekend... the hosts made an awesome spread of great Aussie sausages, a whole baked red snapper with rosemary and some tasty steaks.  Our contributions to the meal were of the side-dish and dessert variety:  a grilled corn salad with feta, tomato, cilantro and a cumin-chili-lime dressing and fresh mint ice cream with chocolate chunks, both of which seemed to go over quite well with the crowd.

The salad was really tasty and easy.  Grill corn right on the cob until it's slightly charred, cut it off the cob and mix it with cherry tomato, chopped red onion and cilantro, and a lime vinaigrette flavored with chili powder and powdered cumin.  The only changes I made to the recipe was to toast the spices for the dressing in a dry pan until fragrant before adding them...  brings out the flavor.  Also, I skipped adding the whole cumin seeds, as ours were a little "off."

The mint ice cream was a big hit... while it wasn't florescent green like the stuff you get at the store, but it was better since it was full of natural mint flavor from steeping a bundle of fresh mint leaves in the cream before making the custard.  Awesome. 

Rice with Pineapple and Beans

Tim and I bought a fresh pineapple last week, and after eating most of it straight, my tongue was going a little numb from the acid.  I decided I needed to cook the remaining fruit a little to tone it down, and thought I might mix it with some beans and rice.  (As an aside, I thought I was buying black beans, but somehow ended up with red kidney beans... oh well.)

  I sorta made the dish up, loosely based on some recipes I found online:

-In a small pot, saute a couple cloves of garlic (minced) and some chopped onion in a pan, add 1 cup of rice and then 1.5 cups of chicken stock- cook until rice is done

- Meanwhile, in a frying pan, saute a couple cloves of minced garlic, 2 or 3 chopped green onions, a couple minced hot peppers (I think I used 3 or 4 birds' eye chilis) and about a teaspoon each of cumin and coriander until fragrant.  

- Throw 1.5 cups of chopped pineapple (and any juices that accumulated) and a 15 ounce can of rinsed beans into the frying pan heat up and carmelize a little bit.

-  Mix the rice and bean mixture, add salt and pepper to taste

- Top with lime juice to taste and lots of coarsely chopped cilantro.

- Eat!

Pretty good!  Tangy, sweet, spicy, earthy.  You could probably make it healthier with brown rice, but that's hard to find here. 

Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad

An tasty, healthy weeknight meal; easily scaled up for lots of people or down if it's just you:

- Cut a head of cauliflower into small florets

- Rinse a can of chickpeas

- Toss both with some olive oil, minced garlic, a handful of cumin, salt and pepper

- Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or so. Keep an eye on it. You want it to be browned and crispy, but not burnt...

- Throw on top of a bed of arugula

- Top the whole thing with a simple lemon/shallot salad dressing (lemon juice, olive oil, minced shallots, a little Dijon, salt and pepper)

Cumin-Coriander Sirloin and Sweet Potato Fries

Mmmm... this super simple steak rub was really good: a little spicy, earthy. Served with similarly spiced sweet potato fries that I was hoping would be a little crispier. I made a tasty chipotle lime sour cream for fry dippin'.

Spicy Black Bean Balls

Spicy black bean balls... no relation to chocolate salty balls.

Based on this spicy black bean burger recipe from Real Men Eat Green (a cute website from an earnest Canadian trying to convince men that eating and living green is cool/good for you), I decided to make these into dippable balls (ha! I said 'dippable balls'!) rather than burgers since we didn't have any buns.

Served with a chipotle/lime/cilantro sour cream dipping sauce. Mmmm.

Spanish-style Spinach and Chickpeas

A couple weeks ago, both Smitten Kitchen and The Minimalist posted recipes for a Spanish-style spinach and chickpea dish with smoked paprika (which is AWESOME... get some if you don't already have it)... both recipes were seriously drool-inducing, so I put them on my to-do list.

The Smitten Kitchen recipe won out this past Monday night, but only because it didn't involve a trip to the grocery store (which, in my case, usually involves waiting in line for a minimum of 20 minutes while the person in front of me vehemently argues with the cashier about god-knows-what).

Deb's was the meatless version of the two recipes, as Mark Bittman's involved Spanish chorizo. However, you didn't miss the meat in her recipe- somehow her ingredients and method gave the impression that the chickpeas and spinach were cooked in a deliciously meaty sauce. I'm curious to try Mark Bittman's version, too, for comparison. I'm sure his is equally delicious.

Anyway, this recipe was really tasty. You could serve it as an appetizer on little toasts, or, as we did, as a main dish, along with a green salad on the side.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup

This soup is very loosely based on this recipe that I saw on foodgawker.com. Although not that pretty looking, it was really hearty, perfect for a rainy Saturday!

Here's what I did:

• Rather than use squash, since we've had it a couple times this week already, I used some sweet potatoes I had lying around.
• Peeled 'em, chopped 'em up, roasted them at 400 for about 25 minutes- until they were soft.
• Mixed them with one can of drained diced tomatoes and one can of rinsed black beans.
• Mashed it all together with a potato masher.
• In the meantime, I sauteed a chopped onion, a chopped shallot, a couple cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of cumin and some salt and pepper.
• Once that was soft, I added the potato/bean/tomato mixture in, along with about 2 cups of beef broth.
• Let it simmer for approximately 25 minutes.
• Pureed it with my immersion blender.
• Served it with a ton of lime juice, some greek yogurt (out of sour cream) and cilantro.

Chuck: Chieftain of Chicken

Chuck is the chieftain of chicken.*

Her chicken cooking skills are unparalleled. Behold the beautiful grill marks. Marvel at the magnificently juicy insides.

Chuck got this recipe for sauteed chicken breasts (we used thighs) with latin citrus sauce from a "Best of Cooking Light" magazine that Martha suggestively and wistfully stuffed in her stocking one Christmas in the hopes that Chuck would catch the cooking bug. It worked, apparently.

*She is also apparently the chieftain of spelling, as she was the only one in the house that knew how to spell "chieftain."