Tag: healthy

Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

Stuffed Vine Leaves – Authentic Turkish Dolma

(Mine didn’t look exactly like this but pretty close 🙂 – And it wasn’t a lack of effort

 

TOTAL TIME
2hrs 30mins
PREP 1 HR 30 MINS
COOK 1 HR

“Dolma” in Turkish translates to any vegetable stuffed with a rice-based mixture. Lots of spices are used for the stuffing. For me, the most important one is the lemon salt. It gives a nice aromatic taste, which can not be replaced by the combination of lemon juice and table salt. If you can not locate any lemon salt, don’t forget to replace it with only half the amount of kosher salt (two tbsp will be too much) and juice of half a lemon. The process may be a little confusing, you can check out step-by-step pictures at my blog here: http://cafefernando.com/?p=42

INGREDIENTSNutrition

1040 dolmas

DIRECTIONS

  1. Dice the onions and sauté with 1/4 cup of olive oil.
  2. When they turn translucent, add the pine nuts and sauté for 5 more minutes.
  3. Add rice and stir constantly for 5-10 minutes until the rice is translucent.
  4. Add the spices (dried mint, cinnamon, lemon salt, black pepper, dried currants, sugar and allspice) and chopped parsley.
  5. After another quick stir, add 1/2 cup of boiling water and simmer on low medium heat for 15-20 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice mixture.
  6. Take off heat and let cool.
  7. And now, here comes the fun part. Traditionally, you would put a spoonful of the cooled mixture in the center of the top part of the leaf, fold the sides inwards and then roll the leaf like a cylinder. But since I have “The Ultimate Dolma Machine” (follow the link mentioned in the description section), I just placed a leaf on the rubber compartment of the machine, put a tbps of mixture in the middle and with a single slide, there comes my dolma from the other side of the machine. The process was a breeze. It took me only 10 minutes to roll nearly 40 perfectly shaped dolmas. Below is the process fully photographed.
  8. As the final step, spread a layer of vine leaves on the bottom of a large and heavy pot (to prevent the stuffed leaves from burning).
  9. Lay all your dolmas side by side and tuck very tightly.
  10. Transfer the remaining 1/4 cups of olive oil, juice of half a lemon and 2 cups of boiling water, cover with a plate upside down (so that the dolmas don’t move around in boiling water) and bring to a boil.
  11. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until all the water is absorbed (roughly 45-60 minutes).
  12. Transfer to your serving dish and let cool.
Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

Vegetable Couscous Paella

Yield: Serves 6
BON APPÉTIT | OCTOBER 1997
 CousCousSQ-300x300 (1)

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 cups canned vegetable broth
  • 3 large plum tomatoes (about 10 ounces), seeded, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup drained canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
  • 1/2 cup chopped peeled carrot
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed saffron threads
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups (about 9 1/2 ounces) couscous
  • 6 canned artichoke hearts, quartered
  • Sliced red bell pepper rings
  • 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
  • Chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and chopped bell peppers; sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and paprika and sauté 1 minute. Stir in broth and next 6 ingredients. Bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mix couscous into vegetable mixture. Cover and simmer 1 minute. Remove pot from heat. Let stand covered 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with fork. Let paella stand covered 5 minutes longer; fluff with fork again. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. Arrange artichoke hearts, red bell pepper rings and lemon wedges atop paella. Sprinkle parsley over and serve.

We scooped out a few onions and baked them then stuffed them with the couscous