Dharma Feast Cookbook (23 page)
Read Dharma Feast Cookbook Online
Authors: Theresa Rodgers
Theresa, who has a love for playfully speaking with a French accent, came up with this one. You can quickly prepare this after picking up the children from school, doing the laundry, and making three phone calls. It tastes great and is nourishing. Especially recommended in the summer when zucchini and squash are in season. If you’re in the mood for Italian, add fresh minced garlic, chopped basil, and a medium diced tomato. Or if you prefer a Mexican twist, substitute black beans for the garbanzo beans, add a cup of corn, and chopped cilantro and minced garlic to taste.
| S ERVES 2 | P REP TIME 30 MINUTES (DOES NOT INCLUDE COOKING TIME FOR GARBANZO BEANS) |
3 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1 medium zucchini, diced 1 yellow squash, diced 1½ cups cooked garbanzo beans Salt to taste | Heat olive oil in a pan. Add onions; cook until transparent. Add zucchini and yellow squash. Cook until soft. Add garbanzo beans and simmer for 7–10 minutes. Serve over millet or rice. |
| Warm French Lentil Salad |  |
| S ERVES 4 | P REP TIME 1 HOUR |
1 cup French green lentils (also called 2 cloves garlic, peeled 2 teaspoons dried tarragon Sea salt Pepper 2 cups water ½ cup finely chopped, jarred, marinated artichoke hearts | Combine lentils, whole garlic cloves, tarragon, salt, pepper, and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover tightly with a lid. Simmer gently for 30–40 minutes until lentils are tender. Remove garlic and reserve for use in vinaigrette. Drain. Put in a mixing bowl. Add chopped marinated artichoke hearts. Combine ingredients for vinaigrette. Using a fork, mash cloves of cooked garlic. Add to vinaigrette and mix well. Pour vinaigrette over lentils. Toss. Serve warm or at room temperature. Note |
D ¼ cup olive oil 1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper |
| B EAN S ALAD | |
We like to serve beans as a way to provide protein, but bean soup three times a week can be a little bit much. So out of necessity we invented this bean salad recipe as a creative way to serve legumes. You can use any kind of beans. Our favorites are great northern beans, pinto beans, black beans, and kidney beans. This bean salad is a satisfying and light dish for summer. You can experiment with variations; for example, add avocado, fresh tomatoes, onions, and summer cilantro from the garden to black beans for a Mexican version.
| S ERVES 8 AS A MAIN DISH, 12–16 AS A SIDE DISH | P REP TIME 1 ½ HOURS |
2 cups dried black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans or white Navy beans, or 5–6 cups cooked beans ½ medium red onion, diced 5 stalks celery, chopped 1 red pepper, diced 6 medium Kosher dill pickles, diced | Soak and cook beans (see Combine beans, onion, celery, pepper, and pickles. Make dressing. Pour over vegetables. Mix. Let sit 30 minutes or longer to allow flavors to combine. Serve at room temperature. Serve with rice, a green salad, and a side vegetable. Note |
D 2/3 cup olive oil 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon sea salt Black pepper (optional) 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (optional) |
| C OOKING B EANS |  |
Some beans (and some rice, too) come with little pebbles mixed in. Generally the pebbles are a lot smaller than the beans and the rice so put the beans in a big colander under running water and swirl them. This washes the little stones out and the beans or rice remain in the colander. Scoop out the beans or the rice and use the pebbles to re-pave your driveway.
Most beans and nuts have enzyme inhibitors. Soaking them for 24 hours gives the beans a chance to sprout, which removes the inhibitors and produces enzymes for digestion. Lentils, split peas, mung beans, aduki beans, and butterbeans should not be soaked because it ruins them.
Soaking also cleans the beans. Beans are covered in “field dust,” which can contain anything from pesticides to rodent droppings to bacteria to insect larva (which aren’t on the Stage 3 diet). This is why we don’t use the water the beans soaked in for anything else and why we rinse the beans one more time after soaking.
Soak dried beans for 24 hours in a jar or pot on your kitchen counter (or 48 hours in the refrigerator) in water mixed with a few tablespoons of whey for 24 hours on the counter or 48 hours in the refrigerator before cooking. Whey helps the beans be less gas-producing and it also helps neutralize enzyme inhibitors. Dried beans will double or triple in size, so make sure to put them in a large container and cover with three times the amount of cold water as beans.
For a “quick soak,” boil them in water for 3 minutes and then let sit, covered, for at least 2 hours (or up to 6). Remember to pour out the water they’ve been soaking in and rinse them again. While this works, the best method still is to soak them for 24 hours on the counter.
Make sure beans stay covered with water while they are cooking. After bringing water to a boil, lower heat and simmer for the remaining cooking time (60–90 minutes for soaked beans, depending on the texture desired). Soaking translates into less cooking time. Also, beans which have been soaked first cook more evenly.
Another method for producing less gassy beans is to add a 1” x 4” piece of kombu (a seaweed) to the beans as they cook.
Consider saving the water the beans cooked in (not soaked in) to use in other dishes—it’s full of nutrients.
Store cooked beans in the freezer in an airtight container.
In general:
| 1/3 cup dry beans | = | 1 cup cooked beans |
| ½ cup dry beans | = | 1 ½ cups cooked beans |
| 2/3 cup dry beans | = | 2 cups cooked beans |
| 1 cup dry beans | = | 3 cups cooked beans |
| 2 cups dry beans | = | 6 cups cooked beans |
V
EGETABLES
Vegetables come straight from Mother Earth. There are hundreds of varieties but most of us stay within the same range of choices. One way to increase variety is by eating with the seasons—asparagus and artichokes in spring, bell peppers and that barbeque staple, corn on the cob, for summer. Although available year-round, cauliflower and potatoes taste best when harvested in their rightful season—fall. And there is a whole category of squash, such as pumpkin and butternut, that are best in winter.
Another way to expand your range of choices is to be adventurous and try new vegetables. If you’ve never eaten fennel, try
Oven-Roasted Fennel.
Or explore the world of vegetables used in Indian cooking zucchini, cauliflower, or potatoes and spinach. Or work your way through the many suggestions for baked vegetables contained here.
Vegetables also bring balance to a meal with their different textures and colors. Instead of serving a main dish, try centering a meal on two well-prepared vegetables matched with a small salad, rice, and a sauce that brings the flavor of the vegetables to life.
Having a simple meal occasionally, such as steamed broccoli and rice with a sauce or dressing, can be a nice break from heavier meals. Light steaming is fine as it preserves the enzymes needed for complete digestion and absorption of nutrients; just make sure the vegetables are still a bit crunchy.
| B AKED V EGETABLES | |
Baking brings out the sweetness of vegetables and getting them a little bit crispy makes them even better. A lot of children we know love baked Brussels sprouts which, in itself, is a miracle. Also, if you’re as sick of your computer as we are, stick it in the oven and bake it with a little olive oil and then there’ll be no conflict about buying the latest model.
