Rice, Bean and Veggie Salad

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Ari
Sometimes I’m concerned that I’m not cut out to be a doctor. No, it’s not that I’m afraid I’ll never know enough. It’s not the long work hours. It’s not even the lack of sleep (although I do feel bad for the people who have to deal with me when I’m suffering from sleep deprivation induced grumpiness). Honestly, it’s the lack of eating that concerns me the most. I mean most of the doctors I work with seem to survive on little more than coffee and Lornadoons. Maybe they’re like camels and have a secret food storage hump. Maybe I’ll develop one of those on the day of graduation… I highly doubt it, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
With all that being said (and the fact that I don’t honestly expect to become a camel), I’ve been trying to come up with easy meals that are not only quick to prepare but also quick to eat (and don’t leave you with a stomachache when you inhale your lunch in 1 minute flat).  When I originally made this recipe I wasn’t thinking about whether or not this would be a good “hospital lunch”. All I knew was I had some old rice that needed to be used up and this dish looked pretty enticing. I was pleasantly surprised when the dish took very little time to prepare. I was even more excited when I began eating my lunch the next day and realized how tasty it was. It wasn’t until 3 hours later that I realized just how awesome this dish is. Just to preface, I have a very temperamental stomach and I can almost guarantee that if I eat something quickly, I will develop stomach cramps. This lunch, however, left me with no stomachache! Success! I guess the only thing that would make this meal better is if I could attach it to my side and feed on it throughout the day…Well here’s to hoping for development of a food hump over the next year!

(Adapted from Oh She Glows)

What you need:

  • 4 cups of cooked brown or basmati rice (or about 1 ½ cup uncooked rice)
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 1 can black bean, drained and rinsed
  • 3 tbs soy sauce (preferably Tamari)
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 2 carrots, grated
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp coriander
  • ½ tsp red pepper flakes
  • ½ tsp oregano
  • ½ tsp mustard seeds

What you need to do:

  1. Cook your rice (or if you’re a rice fiend like me, grab the leftover rice out of the fridge).
  2. In a (very) large skillet, heat your olive oil and sauté the chopped onion on medium heat until it begins to soften.
  3. Add the garlic, green onion and spices and sauté on low heat for a few minutes (be careful not to burn the spices and onions).
  4. Add the soy sauce and black beans and stir well. Heat for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
  5. Add the frozen peas, corn and grated carrots and stir well. Continue cooking for 5 minutes on low heat.
  6. Stir in the cooked rice.
  7. Serve and enjoy!
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Posted in Freezer, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Saag Paneer (Spinach with Fried Indian Cheese)

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Anita!

Does Gruyere engender grief?  Does Manchego manufacture misery?  Does Bleu brew the blues?  This could be you:
Lactose Intolerance

Ingredients (adapted from Ambika’s Kitchen)

  • 1 block paneer
 To fry: put enough oil in a large skillet to cover the bottom.  Heat the oil on medium until it shimmers, then dial the heat to low and add the cubed paneer.  Fry (shield yourself with a lid if need be) until golden on one side, then flip and fry on the other.  Drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
  • 1 Tbsp oil
  • 1.5 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp cumin seeds
  • 8 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 2 Tbsp ginger, chopped fine
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Heat the butter and oil on medium high heat, then add the cumin seeds and fry for 30 seconds.  Add the garlic and ginger and dial the heat to low, frying for another 1-2 minutes.  Add the onion and turmeric and fry until the onions are lightly browned
  • 1 Tbsp coriander powder
  • 1 can diced tomato
  • 1 tsp red chili powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix in the coriander powder.  Add the tomato and red chili powder and cook on medium-high heat until the tomatoes fall apart, about 8-10 minutes.  Add the garam masala and nutmeg and stir again.

  • 5-7 cups spinach, chopped into strips (you can also use frozen…probably 12-15 oz?)
  • 5-6 Tbsp greek yogurt (original recipe calls for cream cheese)
  • 1-2 tsp salt

Add the spinach and let it cook down until the spinach is wilted completely.  Add salt to your taste, then turn off the heat and let the dish cool for 5-10 minutes before adding the yogurt (I feel this will keep the yogurt from coagulating as much).  I took out 4/5 of the spinach mixture and pulsed it a few times in my food processor to get that “saag” consistency, but you can leave it as is.  Add the paneer, serve with bread or rice.

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Posted in Indian, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

Aebleskivers (Danish Pancake Donuts)

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Ari
Not every recipe you try is gonna be a success. Not every successful recipe will be something you want to try again…
A couple of months ago my mom bequeathed to me one of her many fantastic thrift store finds – a cast iron skillet that looked like it had gotten into a fight with a mellon baller. With a little help from my dear friend google, I was able to figure out it was an aebleskiver pan. And what is an aebleskiver?? It’s essentially a fried pancake ball. Well, with a definition like that, how could I resist a little culinary experiment?
The results: Are they delicious? Of course (fried balls of apples and dough?! how can you go wrong?). How about a pain in the you-know-what? More than I care to admit. Will I be making these again? Not any time soon. To be honest there was just too much oil in the recipe (even after I cut it in thirds) and it was way too much work for the final product. I will say that the batter itself is quite tasty and makes some delicious regular ol’ flapjacks when cooked in a frying pan.
Oh well. At least I can now say that I know how to make aebleskivers…

(Adapted from Allrecipes’s Aebleskiver Recipe)

What you need (makes about 30 aebleskivers):

What you need to do:
  1. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites in a glass bowl until they can hold stiff peaks (see above).
  2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, sugar, egg yolks, butter and buttermilk. Beat until smooth. 
  3. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
  4. Spoon about 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the bottom of each cup in the aebleskiver pan and heat.
  5. Pour about 1 tbs of the batter into each cup, add a pinch of apples to each cup then cover with another tbs of batter.
  6. When the batter starts to bubble at the edges, use some sort of cooking utensil to flip them over (I used a fork and spoon, but traditionally you use two long knitting needles…I am anything but traditional).
  7. Continue cooking until both sides are a light brown.
  8. Tops with powdered sugar, whipped cream or maple syrup (or all three) and enjoy!
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Posted in Breakfast, Dessert, Vegetarian | 5 Comments

Onion Ring Eggs – Back to the Basics

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Ari

On a recent flight back to Cleveland I sat next to surgical resident who admitted to me that he didn’t know how to cook an egg. Actually…it was worse than that. He first admitted that he didn’t know how to boil pasta. He said that his pasta always comes out looking like “sushi” (personally, I had a hard time picturing that). We did a little trouble shooting and quickly realized that he was adding his pasta to cold water and then boiling everything at once. At first I was shocked…Having grown up in a (we-like-to-pretend-that-we’re) Italian family, pasta was the first thing I ever learned how to make on my own. I won’t argue that it’s engrained in my DNA, but my obsession with cooking at least stems from some sort of epigenetic process. I’m not a master chef by any means, but I think I can cook pretty well, and something as “basic” as cooking pasta (or an egg) feels as natural as breathing. But did it always feel that way?
When we first entered medical school, we were told to be careful not to start speaking “medical-ese” in front of our patients. The first time you hear that, you can’t help but scoff and think to yourself “Are you kidding me?! I won’t ever do that! I totally understand what it means to not understand what the doctor is saying. I would never be so insensitive!”…Three years later, you’re sitting in front of a patient telling them about some sort of disease process, and realize that they’re staring at you like you’ve grown an extra head. Oops.
I guess that as you become more comfortable with whatever new skill or information you’re attempting to learn, you forget what is was like to not understand the “basics”. It’s not that you never struggled with it yourself, it’s just that you’ve reached the point where you’re struggling with the “next step”. And as exciting as it is to master each new step in the learning process, it never hurts to take a step back, acknowledge how far you’ve come, and appreciate that you know how to cook a pound of pasta…or an egg.

 (Adapted from Apron Strings)

What you need:

  • 1 large onion (the larger the better so the egg doesn’t spill out)
  • eggs
  • 1/2 tbs butter
  • salt and cracked pepper, to taste
What you need to do:
  1. Cut your onion into thick 1/2 inch slices and pick out the largest rings for your eggs.
  2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan and lay out your onions as pictured above.
  3. Sauté the onions on medium heat until the bottom side is slightly browned.
  4. Flip the onions over and continue sautéing for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Turn down the heat to medium-low, and crack your eggs into the center of the rings (it’s okay if the egg spills over the edge).
  6. Sprinkle a little water in the pan and cover.
  7. Continue cooking the eggs until they reach the desired consistency. 
  8. Sprinkle on some kosher salt and cracked pepper, and enjoy!
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Posted in Breakfast, Eggs, Vegetarian | Leave a comment