Cilantro Chutney (an herb sauce)

Some yeas ago, Edward Hamann, a culinary expert on food from the Asian subcontinent and a wonderful cooking instructor who is now at Sur La Table, taught a small group of us how to make his fabulous Fresh Cilantro Chutney (Dhaniya ki Chatni ).  I started with his amazing recipe, added turmeric, black pepper, and made a few other minor changes, and that’s how this Cilantro Sauce recipe came to be.

This delicious sauce transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary – and it’s easy to make. We love it! For a while this sauce was the new “ketchup” at our house. I served it with everything from scrambled eggs to pan fried fish, and, of course, curries. In fact, it was this Cilantro Chutney that made me want to learn more about herb sauces and led me to create the other herb/vegetable sauces on this blog: Charmoula, Arugula Pesto, and Artichoke Lemon Pesto.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
¾ cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon peeled and roughly chopped fresh ginger
4 cloves peeled garlic
2 Serrano peppers, stemmed and roughly chopped, including some of the seeds
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ – ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
3 bunches (about 7/8 pound) fresh cilantro, including all but the very ends of the stems

Note: I like to add dry ground or finely chopped fresh turmeric (and freshly ground black pepper) wherever I can get away with it. It’s so healthy! Adding 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric to this recipe does not negatively affect the taste, in fact you hardly even notice the turmeric, so why not add it?!

DIRECTIONS

Food processor

Add all the ingredients to the food processor fitted with the metal blade and process to desired consistency.

Blender

Place the ingredients into a blender – in the order given above — but do not put all of the cilantro into the blender at one time. Blend and then add more cilantro and blend again. If needed, stop the blender; push the cilantro down toward the blade; then place the cover on the blender and blend until a lovely smooth sauce results.

HOW TO STORE

• Store in the refrigerator for a few days

• Freeze in 100% food grade silicone muffin pans. When frozen, just pop the frozen “muffins” out, and place them in a plastic freezer bag; store in the  freezer for use anytime.

A FEW OF THE MANY WAYS YOU CAN USE THIS CHUTNEY (SAUCE)…

• Use as a condiment to liven up almost everything, including fish, chicken, eggs, or tofu.
• Use as a hot or cold sauce to go with almost everything.
• Mix with ripe avocado to make a lovely dip or spread. I just put some of this Cilantro Sauce-avocado mixture on slices of daikon and it was fabulous. The next time I need to bring an appetizer to someone’s party, this is what I plan to bring – it’s delicious and a great conversation starter too!
• Sauté any vegetable in olive oil and mix some of this sauce in at the end.
• By the way, I just mixed some of this sauce with some sautéed greens. Superb!
• Add to soups — bean soups, chicken soups, vegetable soups, fish soups.
• Add olive oil to make this sauce into a salad dressing!

Lebanese-Style Lentil Soup with Kale and Spinach

The calendar says fall and the abundance of summer veggies has tapered off…so it’s time to start making hearty soups again! Yesterday my husband and I had lunch at the Lebanese Taverna where they serve a wonderful Lentil Soup (Shorba Addas) that’s rich in greens (spinach?) and spiced with lemon, garlic, and cilantro. With this soup on my brain today, I picked out a Food and Wine recipe to make a lentil soup like the Lebanese Taverna’s.

But instead of making the recipe as shown, I made the soup using Monamifood Garlic Flavors Cubes, Cilantro Sauce Flavor Cubes, and Zesty Citrus Flavor Cubes – which meant I didn’t have to run to the store for any ingredients; just open my freezer! It made it easier and faster to whip up this soup for a Sunday lunch…and, if you ask me, it made this wonderful soup even more delicious than it was when I made it by following the Food and Wine recipe!

This recipe makes a LOT of soup, so you will have plenty left over to give to friends or freeze – or both!

Ingredients

2 cups small green lentils, picked over and rinsed

* Small (really tiny) green lentils are available in our Whole Foods store in the bulk section. But this variety of lentils is not essential. I have used brown lentils before, with good results.

16 cups water (yes, 16 cups!)

3 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Organic Chicken Base (or Vegetarian No Chicken Base)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 very large onions, diced

2 pinches of crushed red pepper

4 Monamifood Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cubes

4 Monamifood Cilantro Sauce flavor cubes

1 Monamifood Zesty Citrus Flavor Cube

1 bunch organic kale (curly variety), stemmed and torn into small pieces

2/3 of a 16-0uncd bag of frozen chopped organic spinach

Directions

In a large stockpot, place the lentils, water, and Better Than Bouillon Chicken (or No Chicken) Base. Partially cover and cook over medium heat until the lentils are barely tender – about 25 minutes. (Do not over cook the lentils or they will split and the soup will be grainy!)

Note: Unless you have two, large (11-inch diameter), non-stick saute/frying pans, you will need to saute the onions in two batches. If you were to put all the onions in one pan, they would steam rather than saute.

While the lentils are cooking, heat 1 ½ tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a large 11-inch non-stick skillet. When the oil is hot, add half of the diced onions and one pinch of the crushed red pepper; saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to get lightly browned. Remove the onions from the pan and set them aside.

Cook the remaining onions with a pinch of crushed red pepper in the same 11-inch non-stick skillet. When the second batch of onions start to get lightly browned, add these onions — and also the reserved onions — to the pot with the lentils. Stir to mix.

Continue to cook the soup over medium heat. Add the cubes (Garlic, Cilantro Sauce, and Citrus) and stir the soup while the cubes melt. Taste and add a little more Better Than Bouillon Base, if desired.

Add the chopped fresh kale and cook for about 3 minutes. It will soften and turn a lovely deep green color. Then add the frozen spinach and simmer for another minute or two.

Individually season the soup at the table

Individually season the soup at the table! Just pass a small pouring container (creamer, perhaps) containing a few defrosted Monamifood Zesty Citrus Flavor Cubes and a small bowl with a few defrosted Monamifood Cilantro Sauce Flavor Cubes.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Instant, Healthy, and Delicious Lunch

I threw this lunch together at midnight last night because I needed to have SOMETHING to eat the next day at work. It looked so pretty I took a picture of it (above).  I wasn’t so sure I’d like it, but it turned out to be DELICIOUS. The only thing I would do differently next time is include two – not just one – frozen frozen mango ‘cube’.

I really loved the mixture of quinoa, wheat berries, and mango — which I just mixed together with my fork after the meal had been heated. This contrasted nicely with the smoky-salty bean soup.  And then the kale mixed with the cilantro sauce, was another delicious and interesting flavor.

So if you are looking for a light and healthy – and easy to throw together lunch – try this one yourself!

Ingredients

1 pre-frozen portion of Whole Foods Black Bean Soup

1 pre-frozen flavor Cilantro Chutney

1 pre-frozen cube of pureed champagne mango ( Just puree peeled and seeded mango in blender, freeze puree in  silicone mini muffin pan, and once frozen store in a plastic freezer bag in the freezer – just like you may already do for all your ‘flavor cubes.’)

1 portion of cooked quinoa

1 portion of cooked wheat berries

For details on how to cook wheat berries without soaking them overnight, see Eating Well.

1 portion of lightly steamed kale leaves (stems removed)

Note: Kale is a member of the cruciferous family so it has all the benefits that cabbage has!

Directions

To make this lunch, I just assembled these items. That’s it! It’s that easy!

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Curry and More – a partially-homemade lunch or dinner

I like a hot meal for lunch. My current favorite is Curry and More. I just don’t get tired of it!  It’s delicious and, of course, very healthy.  And, since I rely on some packaged frozen food, it takes no time at all to pack lunches for the entire week – which I put into the freezer so I can grab one anytime.

BASIC INGREDIENTS – use each of these ingredients

• Tandoor Chef Dal Rajastani

• Available in the frozen food section of Whole Foods and other grocery stores.

• Tandoor Chef Chicken Curry

• Available in the frozen food section of Whole Foods and other grocery stores.

• Turmeric

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Monamifood Cilantro Sauce

OTHER INGREDIENTS – choose those that you like best

• Frozen organic spinach

• Monamifood Roasted cauliflower

• Frozen peas

• Monamifood Lemony Dal

• Baked sweet potato, cut into thick rounds

• Quinoa

• Cooked brown Basmati rice

Directions

Defrost the Dal Rajastani: Plop it out of the plastic tray it was frozen in and put it into a glass container; heat it in the microwave until it’s soft enough to spoon out.

To the defrosted Dal, add plenty of turmeric (don’t worry, keep adding and tasting until you get the right amount) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; mix well.

Spoon one-third of the Dal into each of three glass containers. (For example,  I use a container that’s 7 x 5 x 1.5 inches.)

Now defrost the Chicken Curry in the same manner as you defrosted the Dal. If you like, you can add some turmeric and black pepper to the Curry too!

Spoon one-third of the Curry into each of three glass containers.

Place one frozen Cilantro Sauce flavor cube into the glass container.

Then fill the rest of the container with your choice of ingredients from the “Other Ingredients” list above – lots of veggies and some quinoa, rice, or sweet potato, too.

Put a lid on each container and put them in the freezer. Now you have a healthy frozen meal — ready and waiting.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni