Curried Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup

When daytime temperatures dip into the 40's, I want soup.  Every day. For every meal.  Suddenly, eating a lunchtime salad has all the appeal of chewing ice, so at the beginning of each week, I make a big pot of vegetable-filled soup and portion it out into glass containers to be reheated for lunches throughout the week.  At night, I tend to favor soups that “get it all in”–veggies, starch, and beans–because when I’m in hibernation mode, I don’t want to worry about main dishes and side dishes and all that nonsense.  I want my whole meal in a nice, steaming bowl of soup.

Of course, I still make sure my family eats their fresh, leafy greens.  Somehow, a salad’s  more palatable when it’s on a plate next to a bowl of soup and we can alternate bites of homegrown spinach and oak-leaf lettuce salad with spoonfuls of hot soup.  I’d guess about 75% of the dinners I serve my family in the colder months consist of soup, salad, and often some kind of bread.  The kind of soup depends on what vegetables we have in the refrigerator and what flavors we’re craving.

For reasons I’m not entirely sure of, cauliflower reminds me of curry, so when my husband came home from the grocery store with a huge head of cauliflower, I immediately envisioned it dyed bright yellow by turmeric and fragrant with cardamom and cumin.  I’m comfortable with creating my own spice blends, but for time’s sake I decided to use a family-favorite short cut: Maharajah blend curry powder.  I’ve been using this style of curry powder for years, and I truly believe I could use it to season an old shoe (non-leather, of course) and my family would devour it.  I won’t be performing that experiment just yet (shoes are expensive), but I have tried it on vegetables my daughter usually dislikes, such as eggplant, and had her coming back for seconds.  This fragrant soup was no exception.  Though she doesn’t usually like sweet potatoes in savory dishes, E pronounced this soup a winner.  I made it on the mild side, but you can make it as spicy as you like by using hotter peppers or more ground red pepper.

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This is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day, after the flavors have had time to develop, so feel free to make it ahead of time and reheat it.  Most of the seasoning comes from curry powder–a full tablespoon–so be sure to use a fresh, high-quality curry powder (or simply one that you like). My favorite is the Maharajah blend, which contains cardamom and saffron, and is available from both The Spice House and Penzeys.  I add it in two stages to give the best flavor.

1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon ginger paste or minced ginger root
1 small chile pepper, such as jalapeño or serrano, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth (or water plus bouillon cubes)
1 pound sweet potatoes (about 1 large), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon mild curry powder, divided
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large head cauliflower, separated into bite-sized flowerets
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas)
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
2-4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter

Heat a large non-stick pot (4 quarts or larger). Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add the cumin seeds, ginger, chile pepper, and garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, for another 30 seconds. Stir in the broth, sweet potatoes, 1 teaspoon of the curry powder, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook over low heat until sweet potato softens, about 20 minutes.

Add the cauliflower, chickpeas, and tomatoes to the pot. Add just enough water to almost cover the cauliflower, probably about 3 cups. Stir in the remaining 2 teaspoons of curry powder, and add salt and cayenne pepper (more if you like things hot, less or none at all if you prefer it not spicy). Cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in the peanut butter and serve hot.

Note: The peanut butter adds a gram of fat per serving but gives the soup a richness you won’t want to miss.  If necessary, you can leave it out or substitute with cashew butter or another nut  butter.

Servings: 8

Nutrition (per serving): 181 calories, 17 calories from fat, 1.9g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 866.8mg sodium (with 1 teaspoon salt), 657.9mg potassium, 35.6g carbohydrates, 7.7g fiber, 7.6g sugar, 7.4g protein, 3 points.

Nutrition analysis is approximate and will vary depending on exact ingredients used. Though MyPoints are calculated using a formula similar to Weight Watchers Points TM, this site has no affiliation with Weight Watchers and does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Copyright: Susan Voisin 2010. All rights reserved. Please do not re-post recipes or photos to other websites; links are welcome!

Tagged as: eat-to-live, gluten-free

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Savory Sweet Potatoes recipe – 120 calories

This is a quick and easy recipe for sweet potatoes, which in my opinion should never be made any sweeter. The blend of spices, herbs, olive oil and lemon juice is just wonderful… a fabulous way to prepare sweet potatoes!

Savory Sweet Potatoes recipe – 120 calories

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes (peeled, cut into French fries, rinsed and dried)
1 tablespoon rosemary (minced)
1 tablespoon tarragon (minced)
1 tablespoon parsley (minced)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preparation:
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Toss the potatoes together with all other ingredients to coat.
3. Place on a sprayed baking sheet.
4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes (or until golden and crispy).

Servings: 4

Nutritional information for one serving:
Calories: 120
Total fat: 6.9 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 37.5 mg
Total carbs: 14 g
Fiber: 2.1 g
Protein: 1.3 g
Weight Watchers points: 3

Photo credit: little blue hen

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Incoming search terms for this recipe: Tags: calories, cooking, diet, dish, easy, food, herbs, quick, recipe, savory, savory sweet potatoes recipe, Side dish recipes, side-dish, spices, sweet-potatoes, vegetable, Vegetable recipes, veggie

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Sweet Soy Bean Rice Patties – Mov Phom

Mov Phom Sweet Soy Bean Rice Patties

This traditional soft sweet fluffy delight makes a great healthy snack. In Laos, sugar is found in towns only. The Hmong people didn’t always add sugar since they lived in mountains secluded from the rest. Traditionally Hmong people wrapped the rice patties in banana leaves but aluminum foil works just fine. You will need a regular sized blender and a steamer.

Preparation time 25-30 minutes.

Ingredients:

6 rice cups of raw rice8 oz of soy beans, eagle brand4 TB of sugarBanana leaves or aluminum foil

1. Rinse rice in a bowl twice. Fill water 2 inch above level.  Rinse soybeans twice as well in its own bowl. Fill its bowl with 4 cups of water. Let both bowls sit for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Both will increase in size and soften.

2. Drain excess water from both bowls. Fill your blender 3/ 4 way with rice. Blend the rice until it’s grounded. It should take only about a minute or two for each batch. Pour the grounded rice & its liquid into a big mixing bowl. Refer to images below for guidance. Do this for the soy beans as well. (sidenote: if the soy beans become hard to blend, add ladels of rice liquid from your mixing bowl into the blender to help the soy beans blend more smoothly).

3. Mix the grounded rice and soy bean in one mixing bowl then in a big wok cook half of this mixture on medium heat. Constantly and thoroughly stir so that the rice doesn’t burn at the bottom

4. You will notice that the mixture will thicken and will be harder to stir which is what you want. The mixture should be cooked in 20 minutes. The end result should be soft and fluffy.

5. Pour the cooked mixture back into the mixing bowl and mix with the raw batch. Let it sit in a warm area like in the oven for another 2 hours at least.

6. If using aluminum foil, tear the foil at 6 inches then tear it in half. Do this for at least 13 more times and stack the foils. With one foil, take about 1 cup of filling and put it closer to one side of the foil. Fold one end to the other on each side and finish it with a firm press between your palms before setting it in the steamer. Continue this for the remaining mixture. Remember to lightly stack these individual patties on top of each other.

7. Steam for 45 minute to 1 hour. Take one and taste it; it should taste soft and fluffy.

sidenote: You can place these in a rice steamer right on top of your cooked rice for up to a few days to keep the patties from getting stale.

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Bread Baking: Sweet Corn Yeast Bread

Ah, fall. The squirrel-like part of my personality wants to pack away foods for winter. That's great when I'm canning tomatoes or pickling peppers or freezing vegetables, but it's not great when I overbuy and don't get around to using things as soon as I should.

In this case, my nemesis was fresh corn. Knowing that corn season is just about over, I bought way more than I needed.

Corn starts getting old faster than almost anything else. Picked fresh and cooked soon, it's amazingly good. After few days, it's just okay. Another day or two, and it's time to get creative.

I cut the corn off the cob then "milked" the cobs to get all the juice, then started looking at my food processor...maybe it would take care of the texture problems that exist with corn that's a bit over the hill? Perfect! And of course, I decided to make bread.

While this bread has plenty of corn in it, this isn't your grandmother's cornbread. It's a lightly sweet yeasted bread with a subtle corn flavor that begs for butter. This bread is soft, moist, and sandwich-worthy. I love the smell of baking bread all by itself, but this one was particularly enticing, with the added scent of roasting corn as the bread started browning towards the end of baking time.

Note: When using the food processor, you need to be careful not to overprocess the dough. Process for a minute, then check the dough's consistency and temperature. If it feels warm to the touch, let it rest for a few minutes to cool, then process for another 30 seconds, and check again. It needs to be properly elastic, but it's possible to overknead with a food processor, so don't be tempted to keep going after it's done.

About the author: Donna Currie has been cooking for fun and writing for pay since the days when typewritten articles traveled by snail mail. When she combined those talents in a food column for a newspaper in her area, she realized that writing about food is almost as much fun as eating. She most recently launched the blog Cookistry and has now joined the Serious Eats team with a weekly column about baking.

1 1/2 cups fresh corn (about 3 small cobs)2 1/2 teaspoons (1 package) instant yeast1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt1 tablespoon sugar13 1/2 ounces (about 2 1/2 cups) bread flour2 tablespoons unsalted butterOlive oil for greasing bowlCornmeal for dusting

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