Summer Vegetable Kitcheree

I've been gluten free for lass than one year and dairy free for 7 shorter weeks. I sometimes feel like I am learning to plan meals, cook, and eat all over again. The only Ace in my corner is 20 years of fearless  professional cooking, so I have the basics down... and that no fear thing. People that know me in 'real time' know how serious I am about food. I was a line cook, caterer, and personal chef, as well as a buyer for several health food stores. I am proud to say I never once worked in a chain restaurant and that I have had the pleasure of cooking with amazing chefs/cooks from all over the natural food world. I am often inspired by other cooks, just as every cook was before me. This time though, it's more than that sort of inspiration and admiration. Finding recipes I can see myself cooking, can see myself eating, and that make me feel really good... does not come to me as easy as it may for others. I have to be really moved to cook someone else's recipe... as they wrote it. I'm so very not a pretentious food snob, just a natural food professional with newly discovered multiple food sensitivities who appreciates safe, simple food that is well thought out and balanced.

I am so grateful to have found exceptional, clean, GF/DF culinary inspiration with The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. I've been cooking Ali and Tom's recipes as written, and finding I never need to change a thing. I don't need to tweak, omit, or add... though they do encourage you to do so and leave room for the recipe to grow. They cook like I do when I'm being very thoughtful about what I am eating. This is their Summer Vegetable Kitcheree, which is a perfect one pot meal, in every way. It's light yet filling. Comforting and exciting. It feels like I should eat it every day...so I have been enjoying it as my brunch, after the juicing part of my day is over. It's best warm but still great cold, too.

Summer Vegetable Kitcheree
Kitcheree is an Indian stew-like meal made from mung beans and brown rice. Spices and vegetables make up the remaining ingredients which can vary widely. Here I used carrots, fresh tomatoes, kale, peas, and cilantro. If you are on the Elimination Diet then this recipe is ideal. Just keep the tomatoes and chili flakes out until Phase 3. Once nightshades are added back into the diet then have at this recipe in its entirety!


2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil or olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
pinch or two of crushed red chili flakes
2 cups brown jasmine or basmati rice, rinsed
2 cups dry mung beans, rinsed
3 to 4 large carrots, cut into large chunks
1 ½ teaspoons turmeric
½ teaspoon ground coriander
8 to 10 cups water
4 cups finely chopped kale or spinach
1 to 2 cups fresh or frozen peas
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
½ cup chopped cilantro
2 to 3 teaspoons sea salt or Herbamare
dollop of chilled coconut milk, for garnish


Heat oil in an 8-quart pot (or pressure cooker). Add ginger, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and chili flakes, gently sauté over medium heat until the seeds begin to pop.


Then add the mung beans, rice, carrots, turmeric, and coriander. Stir together a bit so the spices evenly coat the rice and beans. Then add the water (start with 8 cups and add more after the stew is cooked if necessary). Lock the lid into place (if using a pressure cooker) and bring to high pressure, cook for about 10 minutes, then use the quick release method to bring the pressure down. If the stew needs some more time, bring to high pressure again and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes. Add more water if needed.


If you don't have a pressure cooker simply bring the stew to a boil, cover, and simmer on low for about 45 minutes (add more water if needed).


Once the rice and beans are cooked, add in the chopped kale, tomatoes, peas, cilantro, and salt. Stir until just mixed. Turn off heat, cover, and let stand for about 5 minutes. The tender vegetables will just barely cook in the hot stew. Add more salt to taste if necessary. Serve hot and enjoy!



Notes: Be sure to cut the carrots into large chunks otherwise they will fall apart in the stew while cooking.


Source:  www.nourishingmeals.com/2009/09/summer-vegetable-kitcheree.html

And a note from me,
I did cook this in the crock pot. I started it with the coconut oil and spices on HIGH until the kitchen got fragrant, added the rice, beans, carrots and I used whole green beans.
I added an extra 1-1/12 cups of water and turned it to LOW for 4 hours, and added the greens and cilantro in about 5 minutes before serving. It worked awesome!!

Homemade Corn Tortillas

Last night was going to be pasta night. It was almost 90 degrees out, so, I decided on flat iron steak marinated in lime juice, garlic, and cumin for the grill. Picked up lump mesquite charcoal w/ no additives or yuck in them. Plan came together for grilled carne asada and zucchini tacos w/guacamole. I live as close to Mexico... as once once lived in distance to Boston. I can easily purchase fresh today tortillas at a number of Mexican bakeries, street vendors, markets and shops but I had lots of Maseca and some energy...so fresh it was...for the first time ever. I sat with my iced latte and watched YouTube videos on tortilla making. I've seen it happening before in local restaurants but the practiced hands and quiet mouths of the woman making them left allot to imagination.

 I started thinking about how many millions of years people have ground corn, mixed it water, and cooked it on a hot stone. They sure didn't have YouTube... though they managed to hand down a portable form of sustenance to countless generations. When I am working in my garden, I am often overcome by the feeling of connectedness to every woman who ever squatted and pushed a seed into soft earth...or a baby into soft hands. I know, I know...the food blog...but it is all connected to me. (Circle of Life, from the Lion King, plays softly in the back ground) Same thing happened with the tortillas. I felt part of the Circle. That, and Alton Brown's Tortilla episode's zip top bag trick for lining the press kept playing on a loop in my head. A very 2010 blend of tradition and technology. Mmm, blend and balance.

This takes less time than you think, a bit more skill than you might imagine, and a gentle touch. Once you make one, you'll be freed of fear, and it will become second nature really quickly. The guy prefers soft wheat flour tortillas unless I'm making him enchiladas. Corn is his second choice for tacos. We spilt a dozen of these last night. We found that if we ate then warm...they tasted like the best soft flour tortilla ever made and were incredibly soft and flexible. When we were down to the last two, they had cooled and become the familiar 'tender, prone to cracking when you take them out of the bag' corn tortillas...but still really good.

I think you may also be able to find a tortilla press locally. Check for restaurant supply stores or a Latin American market. They cost about $10.00. Obviously...multiple online sources exist as well but why not keep the money in your own community,  if you can? I did a sample run and realized the dough needed to be wetter than I thought. I simply added more water. I used 2 pie plates to test press a few tortillas. It works, but not as simply as the press. I realized the press was so simple that I was doing to much to it. Don't mess with it. Place the dough ball, close the lid and press with the handle. Don't press it down on top or muck with it. It's simple genius.

Preheat a large ungreased cast iron skillet or griddle to medium high. 
Set up a landing pad of a clean (not scented from laundry products) kitchen dish towel lined bowl or basket.

The Dry Mix
1 cup of Maseca Instant Masa per 6-8 tortillas, depending on the size of your pressing device.
One pinch of sea salt per 1 cup of Maseca, about 1/8 teaspoon

The Wet
2/3 cup of warm, not hot, water per 1 cup of Maseca

The Mixing
In a large bowl, add the Maseca and salt. Whisk together. Add the water a bit at a time and mix with your hands into a loose ball. If the ball is crumbly, add more water. If it's really wet, add a bit more Maseca. Using your hands, knead in the bowl for 2 minutes. Mix and squish well. Form a ball. It should feel like a mix between damp, not wet, classic Play Dough and spackle.

The Shaping
For my press, a '12', 2 heaping tablespoons rolled into a ball was perfect for a taco sized tortilla. Just break pieces off and roll into like sized balls. Cover them with a cloth to keep damp (but not wet).

The Pressing
Take a large zip top bag. Cut off the zip top and split the sides so you have a rectangular flap. Open the bag up and line the press with the crease of the baggie against the hinge of the press. Place a masa ball on the plastic lined press about 2/3's of the way up towards the hinge of the press or just past the middle. A masa ball in the middle makes an egg shaped tortilla. Cover with top piece of plastic. Close the top of the lid and use the lever the press down once.

The Peeling
Gently lift the whole tortilla off the press, in the plastic. Open and gently peel the soft tortilla off of the plastic. Once you do it once or twice, you'll get the feel of it and this stage will move more quickly. If the dough is too dry, it will crack and crumble. If the dough is too wet, it will stick to the plastic. Simply add more masa or water and knead again. It's OK to play with your food.

The Cooking
Cook on each side for about one minute. It may puff. You want that. If they seem to be cracking, you need to add more water to your dough. They should have lightly brown speckles. Don't worry if they seem unfamiliarly textured. They'll be amazing after they rest and steam in the towel.

Eureka! Using leftovers.

While I was getting ready to make dinner last night, I realized that I had absolutely no intention of peeling potatoes for mashed potatoes. I still needed to use the potatoes, so I thought about rosemary roasting them but I had already put a sprig of rosemary in the chicken. Normally, this would be a good thing...but my dear heart only tolerates rosemary in small amounts, I had to choose.

I looked in the 'fridge for inspiration and saw the 1 1/2 cups of leftover onion soup from Monday night. A lazy spark went off and I got out the trusty mandolin. He sliced some scrubbed unpeeled russet potatoes, while I made a quick Swiss cheese sauce, using the onion soup for my liquid along with some milk. Pretty much instant, creamy Au Gratin Potatoes, that happen to take just about the same time to cook as our 4.6 lb chicken did. Happy dance...


This is what I did:

The oven was on and cooking a chicken at 350 degrees.

We scrubbed 4 large russet potatoes and sliced them very thin into a bowl of cold water.
I used the butter wrapper to very lightly butter a glass baking dish.

In a sauce pan over medium heat, I melted 3-4 TBS of butter. I then whisked in about 3-5 TBS of brown rice flour, making a roux.
I strained the onion soup and got just over a cup of liquid, which I whisked into the pan. It was pretty thick so I whisked in milk, about 1 1/2 cups, and cooked and whisked till it was smooth and bubbly.

I turned the heat off and added 1/2 cup of shredded Swiss cheese, black pepper, and the onions from the onion soup. I mixed well until it was combined easily into the sauce.
I drained the potatoes well then mixed them in the cheese-onion mix, then poured them into the baking pan.
I sprinkled the top with a bit more shredded Swiss and a touch of sharp cheddar.
I covered the pan in foil and baked along with the chicken for about 1 and 10 minutes, then removed the foil so the dish could brown for another 10-15.

I would have taken a picture but as soon as it was out of the oven...it was gone. YUM gone, with a browned cheesy top and bottom. The only slight negative was the pale brown color of the cooked potatoes from the tamari in the soup. My MIL, our house guest, was pretty sure I had let the potatoes 'go brown' when slicing, until I shared the onion soup secret. I will plan extra onion soup all Winter, from now on...just to make this again!