A Good Veggie Dish

 It is Lent along with being Ramadan. It's a time for feasting and giving up. Yet there are still delicious dishes to be had, namely veggie based ones. There is the delicious Impossible Meat stuffed peppers or the veggie rich ratatouille (always perfect with warm, crusty French bread)Steaming bowls of leek and potato or minestrone soup are perfect for these cold days.

What is your favorite veggie dish? Mine will always be ratatouille. There's something about the marriage between eggplant, tomatoes, and even squash in a bubbling tomato rich sauce that does it for me.

Let us know and enjoy your veggies anyway you can!

Gearing Up For Holiday Cooking

 Three major holidays happen this month and that means prepping the kitchen for holiday cooking. Ramadan, Easter and Passover happen within weeks of each other. it means planning and shopping along with scanning over recipes to see what works.

Ramadan starts tonight and ends on May 1st.There is fasting from dawn to sunset but that doesn't mean there can't be tasty dishes. The fast has to b broken each night with iftar the traditional meal. Of course the fast is usually broken by eating Medjool dates but there are other dishes that can be enjoyed by the family or by a crowd.Samosas are perfect, They're fun , finger foods and can be filled with either meat or potatoes. Think chicken or potatoes highly spiced with a variety of different spices like cumin and turmeric.Another tasty and quick to make dish are kabobs. A good choice is lamb or again chicken interspersed with onions, tomatoes and bell peppers.You could have stuffed veggies too or stews like one with lentils and beef. Sweets could be lokaymat, sweet dough balls fried and soaked in honey. Passover also begins this month and with it comes traditional recipes along with new spins on the classics.Of course there will be matzoh ball soup, highlighted by fluffy matzoh balls lightened a splash of seltzer. Brisket is always served. This savory cut can be seasoned with brown sugar, rosemary and a dash of paprika. What to serve with it? A vegetable kugel would work .it's a host of different veggies baked into a savory cake held together with potato starch and egg. A different dessert would be flourless chocolate cookies instead of the traditional cake.

Easter , itself, brings tradition and new spins.Most families serve ham with some kind of glaze. Southerners love one made with a good splash of Coke or Dr. Pepper. This cuts the meat's saltiness. Martha Stewart offers one with a cognac and brown sugar glaze. For a light  Spring-y meal Cornish hens will work. They have a more delicate taste than chicken and are perfect with an orange based glaze. Asparagus are a must , whether at a Seder or Easter meal. As for desserts, a cake would be nice. Think a bunny one, with  coconut frosting and jelly bean eyes. For all the holidays, make sure you have all the ingredients and the gadgets to prep them. Do you have enough pans for roasts along with plastic bowls and containers for left overs? What about linens? Is it time to get a new Spring tablecloth along with linen napkins. If it's warmer weather then what about having an outdoor holiday feast. Do you have enough outdoor chairs and plastic tablecloths? Now is the time to start buying for it all, along with planning. 

This is a month for holidays. Make sure you're ready with your recipes and ingredients.Planning and prepping will ensure a smoothly run holiday meal.

Kunan Gyada A Sweet Ramadan Treat

Ramadan is a study in contrasts. There's fasting and then there's eating. A way to ease from hunger is a warm cup or bowl of kunun gyada a Nigerian type of porridge.It's a nice first course for the feasts to come.

Yewande Komolafe, a food writer contributed this recipe to yesterday's New York Times Food section. She previously gave the section 10 Essential Nigerian Recipes. Make this one her eleventh. Kunan gyada is a warm porridge drizzled with tamarind for iftar , the daily breaking of the Ramadan fast.It's a welcome offering to guests visiting for the holiday and a precursor to the evening meal. It is West African from the Hausa tribe from northwestern Nigeria,Cameroon and southern Niger. The dish , though transcends nations and national identities. It's an easy dish with exotic spices like selim which has a nutmeg like flavor. Ms. Komolafe recommends buying  this any African market or online. Nutmeg is also used as is the fiery cayenne along with cloves. Tamarind is used and you can buy it as whole pods or pulp to create your own pulp or concentrate.There is also cinnamon plus a cinnamon stick added  and ground ginger for more heat . Keep in mind that it can also be made for breakfast and served with fresh fruit, homemade preserves or even dark buckwheat honey.  Granulated sugar and lemon juice are also added for sweetness and a pop of tartness.

Making kunan gyada is simple so novice chefs can easily try it. You will have to soak the peanuts and rice needed beforehand. Fine grinding the rice produces a silkier effect while keeping some grains coarse give the porridge a thickness and body. Both have to be soaked for at least one hour and up to four hours at room temperature. After the peanuts are drained and then transferred to a blender  The liquid is then strained through a fine mesh sieve. The solids are then returned to the blender with two cups of water  and then strained again. Add the liquid to the milk and discard the solid part.The cooked rice is then drained and added to the blender. All the spices are added to the peanut milk as it it cooks over a medium flame. Whisk until the mixture becomes thick and then add the rice . Stir frequently until it has a porridge like consistency.

You should warm the bowls or leave them out at room temperature before pouring in the kunan gyada. Top with a spoonful of tamarind paste and sweeten with granulated sugar or honey. Ms. Komolafe also suggests adding dates too.If you want to make it a drink add a cup of water to the rice and then mix it with kefir or drinkable yogurt.

Kunan gyada is perfect for starting Ramadan's sundown feasting. It is also a nice and different way of breaking the morning fast too. Try it to experience the warm blend of spices and the creamy porridge.

Ramadan Recipes To Open The Pantry

Like any other holiday , Ramadan is full of different recipes, from all over the world. The one thing they all have in common is that they're nourishing and tasty after a day of fasting. They're both stomach and soul satisfying.

The famed blogger and chef, Tejal Rao wrote about them today in The New York Times Food section. It's right on time too, with the holiday starting this Friday night and lasting for an entire month. This means a meal at night and then a predawn one before sunrise. The whole act of forgoing food is strenuous , but it's an act of devotion. The holiday is also  about community and charity, along with self-reflection and kindness.It's also about cooks buying in bulk and create a months worth of both easy and elaborate dinners.Freezers are stocked with all sorts of goodies. Pakistani born Malika Ameen stuffs her samosas in it. They're filled with ground beef and bulgar and can easily be popped into hot oil or microwave for easy cooking.There are also big pots of lentil soup ready to be scooped up into bowls. Unfortunately the family recipe, fruit chaat, the tangy fruit salad does take time to create.

Other countries also ave interesting recipes for the holiday. .Bim Adewummi, from Nigeria concentrates on carbohydrates and proteins.She spent one Ramadan making eggplant or courgette fritters, another was devoted to spinach balls, the recipe taken from a halal blog.It was based on another chef's, Antonio Carluccio's green dumplings.or probably gnocchi with pesto. There's also  the famed Lebanese fattoush  that Amanda Saab makes. This is a tasty salad with a lemon sumac dressing served with warm fried ,flatbread.Cinnamon and allspice is also added for subtle sweetness (this is actually a good summer meal dish too for anyone to try). The recipes featured are a watermelon chaat and namoura, the syrup soaked semolina cake. The first is spicy spin on a usually mild flavor, zested and zinged up with paprika and cumin seeds. Again, this would be a neat summer salad at a barbecue. The semolina cake is rich with butter and whole milk yogurt., soaked in a syrup that's' tangy with lemon and fragrant with lavender extract.

Ramadan is the holiday of fasting and feasting.It's the last that makes the days bearable. and the nights enjoyable. It's full of good food. and good memories

The Dates Of Ramadan

Ramadan starts tonight and with it  both fasting and feasting. The feasting comes early in the morning and late at night. Dates play an important part in both meals. They not only serve as nutrition but also are part of a tradition that goes back centuries. They can be made into both sweet and savory dishes, beloved by all.

Julia Moskin explored this in her article in today's New York Times Food section. Muslims do not eat during the day when they observe Ramadan. Eating occurs either during the predawn suhoor and the sundown meal, iftar. Dates figure prominently in the meals, since the Prophet Mohammed himself broke the fast with dates and water. The fruit proves a quick pop of energy after fasting. They have been grown in the Middle East for millennia. They are mentioned often in the Quran and the Bible along with ancient Assyrian and Sumerian texts. Surprisingly, they belong to the same botanical family as grasses and not fruits. This explains why they have more in commons with grains than with bananas, apples, or grapes. They contain potassium, iron, zinc and other minerals. Dates are a dietary staple. They've been grown here in the States for the last century.The Agricultural Department wanted to transform the southwest's arid fields into lush gardens and the date palm perfectly fit that description. They thrive in California's Coachella Valley  (yes, that Coachella, where the music fest takes pace) and Yuma , Arizona. sales are good, thanks to a growing Arab population in Southern California and people discovering the fruit's health benefits.

Ms. Moskin has discovered that a date is not just a date. There are several different types. One of the most popular is the barhi date, liked because it can also be eaten in its' yellow, unripe stage. Unlike its' riper , sweeter self, or called tamar, this young fruit has a touch of astringency like a tart grape or crisp apple, making it perfect for balancing rich and savory dishes. There are actually three different types of dates: soft which covers the types. the barhi,halawi,khadrawi and medjool, semi hard which has the deglet noor,dayri, amaray and zahidi and dry like the thoori.. Flavors also vary as well. Some could taste like rich molasses  while others have a light butterscotch flavor. There are dates that even are reminiscent of cognac and burnt caramel. Dishes vary as well. There is savory chicken roast chicken ,redolent of the fruit along with couscous and buttered almonds. Medjool dates are added to a freekah or wheat berry side dish that also has carrots. The same dates can also be whipped up into a tasty side or dessert with crème fraiche,almonds, walnuts or pecans and pistachios. Many Iranians transform the dates into an elaborate dessert for Eid ad-Fitr, a great feast on the first night of the month that follows Ramadan.It is a traditional date cake, cooked with cinnamon and cardamom and then layered with  walnuts.

Dates are an important part of Ramadan and Eid-ad_Fitr. They connect generations and dishes, from savory to sweet. Try them as part of the ritual or t enjoy their many health benefits.