Roasted Squash Freekeh (or frick) Pilaf

Blogging Marathon #29
Theme: Cooking with Colors

Spelled many different ways - frick, freekeh or farick is wheat harvested when the seeds are yellow and soft. It is roasted, thrashed and sun dried. Used throughout the Middle East and North Africa, it is then cooked like you would use rice. However, it is healthier than rice. High in protein and low in its glycemic index, it is appropriate for diabetics. Butternut squash also has a low glycemic index and is high in both fiber and potassium, a natural energy source.

If freekeh (green wheat) is unavailable where you live, substitute whole wheat berries, however you will have to soak the mature wheat berries for 30 minutes before.

For today's BM theme, my color is orange - the color of butternut squash. Delicious and healthy, this is a diabetic friendly option.

Roasted Squash Freekeh Pilaf

Serves 8
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups green wheat (frick/freekeh)
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water (for my homemade vegetable broth, see here)
1 lb.butternut squash, peeled and chopped into large dice (half of 1 large butternut squash)
2 teaspoons baharat (Middle Eastern spice blend)
1/2 teaspoon sumac
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups green beans, trimmed and snapped in half
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss squash with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, baharat, sumac and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Roast in oven for 40 minutes.
In a skillet, heat remaining olive oil. Add onion and garlic. Saute for a few minutes, until softened. Add green beans and saute another 2 minutes.
Add broth, green wheat, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until tender and all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
Add squash, cilantro, lemon juice and pomegranate seeds.

Toss lightly to combine.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#29

...linking to Healthy Me & Healthy Us hosted by Kalyani and Flavors of Cuisines - Middle Eastern hosted by Sandhya

LIKE THIS RECIPE? LEAVE A COMMENT..I LIVE FOR THEM!
Chef Mireille

Watermelon Cupcakes

Blogging Marathon #29
Theme: Cooking with Color

Today's color is red, using red fleshed watermelons. When you think of summer, what's one of the first things   that come to mind? Summer is one of my favorite seasons only for the abundance of fruits available - watermelons, cherries, lychees and more are all of a sudden readily available, at affordable prices.

So when I logged onto Pinterest one day and these watermelon frosted cupcakes were at the top of the page, I thought what a great idea! The author of this recipe is actually not a great watermelon fan and so used food coloring to create the watermelon effect in the cake and only used the fruit in the icing. However, this watermelon fan went crazy with watermelon in the cake and in the frosting. If you like the fruit, enjoy these fruity cupcakes for a melony twist!

With no butter or milk, by using a Vegan egg substitute, these can easily be adapted for Vegans.

Watermelon Cupcakes

Yield: 20 muffins
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups watermelon puree, strained to remove pulp
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rosewater
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)

Heat oven to 350 F. Spray muffin cups or muffin pan with non stick spray.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, beat shortening and sugar well. It will be crumbly.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add rosewater and mix.
Add half the watermelon puree and half the flour. Mix well.
Add the remaining watermelon puree and flour and mix well. The color will be peachy pink, so I added a little food coloring to get closer to watermelon color. Add food coloring, if using, and mix well.

Divide evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until knife inserted comes out clean.

Although I made the frosting exactly as described, I did not like the texture of the frosting. It was very grainy eventhough I strained the watermelon puree and these were delicious and flavorful without it, so I left the muffins unfrosted.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#29

...linking to What's With My Cuppa 2 & Bake Fest hosted by Radhika


LIKE THIS RECIPE? LEAVE A COMMENT..I LIVE FOR THEM!
Chef Mireille

Paneer Mint Peach Salad

Blogging Marathon #29
Theme: Cooking with Colors - White

The theme for this week's Blogging Marathon is colors. So every day I will be cooking food of a different color. Today's color is white (or non color, if you want to look at it that way).

Paneer, Cabbage, Peaches, Mint & Sprouted Lentils...you might wonder what in the world made me think this would be a good combination for a salad. I wish I could give you some great technical reason to make a food scientist proud, but it happens all by accident.

When I picked this week's color theme, I opened my refrigerator to see what was there. A block of paneer staring at me made me select white...ooh I had some cabbage too. The color for the day was decided, but on this blank canvas, some more vibrant colors needed to be added for aesthetics. A quick glance over at the fruit bowl and the peaches called out to me as a fruit that works well in both savory and sweet dishes.

Generally, I don't like sour cream. You'll never see me topping my baked potato or Mexican food with it. I usually use it for cake and other baked goods, but I had a little left over after using it for another recipe. I didn't want the remainder to end up in the garbage, so it was incorporated into the dressing.

I had taken the sprouted lentils out of the pantry a few days earlier, thinking of making a lentil and couscous pilaf. Alas, the pilaf never got made and the lentils were screaming at me:
"Don't you dare put us back in that dark cabinet. It's taken you months to rescue us. We can't go back...PLEASE...NO!!!
Finally, gorgeous bunches of fresh, clean mint at the market the day before that I couldn't resist were in the vegetable bin and that's how this salad was born.

With protein, fruit, vegetable and dairy, this is a great salad, giving you a little of most of the food groups in one healthy bowl. Add some crackers or bread to eat with this salad and you'll have a complete balanced meal, with grains included also.

Paneer Mint Peach Salad with Sprouted Lentils

Serves 4
Ingredients:
14 oz.paneer, diced
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon dhania-jeera (cumin-coriander) powder
1/4 teaspoon red chile powder (cayenne pepper)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup sprouted lentils
2 cups cabbage, chopped
1/2 cup mint leaves, finely chopped
1 peach, chopped
Dressing Ingredients:
2 peaches
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red chile powder (cayenne pepper)

Toss the paneer with the ginger paste, turmeric, cayenne, dhania-jeera powder and salt.
Heat oil. Add paneer pieces and pan fry until golden on all sides.

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add sprouted lentils and cook for 5 minutes. Drain immediately.
In a large bowl, combine paneer, lentils, cabbage, mint and peach. Mix well.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add peaches and boil for 3-5 minutes, until you see the skin start to crack. Immediately remove from boiling water and place in ice water or run cold water over peaches. The skin should now very easily just slide off the peaches. Peel and core the peaches.
Transfer to a food processor and puree. Add all of the other dressing ingredients and mix well.

Add to salad and toss.

Let sit for 30 minutes before serving. (this allows the cabbage to soften)

If UK celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi can mix cauliflower, grapes and cheese in his salad recipe which I tried here, why can't I be just as innovative with equally delicious results?

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#29

....linking to Souper Sundays

LIKE THIS RECIPE? LEAVE A COMMENT..I LIVE FOR THEM!
Chef Mireille