You are what you eat

Indian-spiced split-pea soup

A wonderful alternative to traditional split-pea soup, this recipe adapted from Lorna J. Sass's Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure is a boon for those vegetarians who miss the smoky flavor of pea and bean soups flavored with ham or bacon. It's not that the spices add smokiness--they don't--but that the intense, deep flavor makes comparison not only impossible but irrelevant. And if you like Indian spices but can't find the traditional Indian dals at your supermarket, this will satisfy your cravings.

I haven't tried it, but I think some finely chopped jalapeno or other hot pepper would be great in this.

2 T. canola oil
1 tsp. whole fennel seeds
1 tsp. whole cumin seeds
1 tsp. black mustard seeds (if you can find them)
1 T. finely minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. finely minced garlic
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups green split peas, picked over and rinsed
2 tablespoons sweet (mild) curry powder
3 large carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 quarts water

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Sizzle the seeds over medium-high heat just until they begin to pop, about 5 or 10 seconds. Stir in the ginger, garlic, and onions; continue to cook, stirring frequently, until onions are glazed and softened. Add the peas, carrots, curry powder, and water.

Bring to a boil (watch carefully--they foam a lot if allowed to boil much). Turn down the heat and simmer until the peas have fallen apart. Don't add salt until the soup is thick and the peas have broken down. This should take a couple of hours on low heat. If the soup gets too thick, add a little water or vegetable stock, but you don't want it too thin.

Enjoy incredible aroma while soup is cooking.

Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Mmmmmm.

Guinness Barley

This dish combines two of my husband's favorites: barley and Guinness stout. The recipe calls for fried leeks as a garnish for the barley. Jim thought it made the dish, but you could leave them out if you're worried about fat. I find that proper deep-frying of such a tiny amount of vegetables really doesn't add much fat (comparing the amount of oil before and after frying, and draining the leeks well on paper towels), but if it's a concern, leave them off. Just adjust your seasoning accordingly.

Note that this dish requires pearled barley, not quick-cooking. Pearled is the only kind we buy, as it is less processed and retains far more of its nutritive value--and tastes better, too.

3/4 to 1 C. chopped onion
3/4 c. diced carrot
3/4 c. diced celery
1 T. canola oil
3/4 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste
1/2 C. Guinness
1 C. pearled barley
3 C. stock (I use vegetable broth; you can substitute beef broth if you like)
1 C. frozen peas
1/4 c. minced fresh Italian parsley
1 C. leeks in fine julienne
2 T. cornstarch
oil for deep frying

Saute the onions, carrots, and celery in canola oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Stir in the Guinness, salt, and pepper; cook another 5 minutes. Add barley and stock, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Check the barley. Mine wasn't done in 20 minutes. It should be tender and most or all of the liquid should be absorbed. Add green peas and parsley, mix in, and heat through.

While you're waiting for the barley to cook, rinse the leeks in a bowl of cold water; lift them out of the water to allow any grit to fall to the bottom. Pat dry. Bring a pot of oil to 375 degrees. While that's coming up to temperature, dredge the leeks in cornstarch. Fry them until crisp, drain well and pat off excess oil, and salt.

Serve the barley with the leeks sprinkled over the top.

Chinese Vegetable Soup, Fried Rice, and Chinese-Style Broccoli

Chinese Vegetable Soup

This is from Mollie Katzen's wonderful Still Life with Menu Cookbook. I recommend it if you are looking for good meatless or low-cal dishes. This particular soup is fat-free unless you use the tiny amount of sesame oil for drizzling on top.

The first 6 ingredients are simmered to make stock. While that's simmering you can clean and prepare the vegetables. If you can't get the dried black mushrooms, try to get shiitake; if you can't get those, do without or use more fresh mushrooms. The flavor won't be quite the same, but the soup will still be good.

1 large onion, chopped
6 to 8 large cloves garlic, peeled and halved
2 oz. dried Chinese black mushrooms
4 or 5 thin slices of fresh ginger
7 C. water
1 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
12 fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 8-oz. can sliced water chestnuts
2 T. soy sauce
4 to 6 stalks bok choy, stems and leaves chopped separately
1/2 lb. firm tofu, cut in small cubes
1 C. fresh or frozen peas
1/3 lb. fresh or frozen snow peas
4 scallions, minced--keep whites and greens separate
small amounts of rice vinegar and sesame oil for drizzling on top (opt.

Combine onion, garlic, black mushrooms, ginger, water, and salt in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, partially cover, and let simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain the broth and discard the solids, then return the broth to the pot.

Add fresh mushrooms, water chestnuts, soy sauce, bok choy stems, and tofu. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer partially covered for about 10 more minutes.

Heat gently 10 or 15 minutes before serving time. When the soup gets hot, add chopped bok choy leaves, peas, snow peas, and scallion whites. Simmer another 5 minutes, then serve. Top each bowlful with finely minced scallion greens and, if desired, a light drizzle of rice vinegar and/or sesame oil

Basic Vegetable Fried Rice

For this dish you need leftover chilled rice, so if you don't have any lying around, you may want to make the rice the night before or early in the day and then chill. This is a necessary step or the rice grains will not separate properly. I used brown rice, but you can use plain white rice. I don't recommend converted rice for this dish--it doesn't fry right.

You can use whatever vegetables you like in the rice, cut into small pieces, including greens like spinach or kale. I used much more soy sauce than the recipe calls for, so be sure to adjust to your taste. I also used a tad more ginger and garlic. The peanut oil and sesame oil really add flavor, but you can make do with other vegetable oil if need be.

Recipe makes 4 or 5 generous servings; you can easily halve it.

1 C. carrots, diced
1 C. zucchini, diced
1 C. mushrooms, chopped
1/2 to 1 C. frozen peas
3/4 C. celery, diced
3/4 C. onion, diced
1 T. peanut oil
1 T. minced fresh ginger
1 T. mince garlic
4-5 C. cooked rice
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 1/2 T. soy sauce
salt to taste
sliced scallions
toasted sesame seeds

Blanch the carrots, zucchini, celery, and zucchini in boiling salted water; cool; drain well and set aside. Saute the onions in peanut oil over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for another minute or two. Add mushrooms; turn the heat up, as mushrooms lose a lot of liquid and you don't want the vegetables steamed, but sauteed.

Add the blanched veggies to the pan and saute for 2 minutes. Add frozen peas. Add the rice to the pan and sprinkle with sesame oil and soy sauce. Mix the rice and vegetables, breaking up the rice with your spoon to separate the grains. Allow to brown a bit to develop flavor. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and scallions, if desired, and serve.

Chinese-Style Broccoli

1 lb. fresh broccoli
1 1/2 tsp. slivered garlic
1 1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp. peanut oil
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp. water
1 T. (or more) soy sauce
salt to taste
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. sugar

Trim off the woody stems of the broccoli. Peel the stems, split lengthwise, and slice diagonally into bite-size pieces. Break or cut the broccoli tops into bite-sized florets and set aside.

Saute the garlic and ginger in peanut oil over medium-high heat for about 30 seconds or until they barely begin to brown (do not burn the garlic--it will become bitter). Add broccoli and saute another minute. Combine cornstarch with water and set aside. Add remaining ingredients, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes or until broccoli is bright green and just tender. Stir the cornstarch mixture once more and then stir it into the pan to thicken the sauce. Season to taste and serve.

Black Bean Burritos

Here's a recipe some of you will know from my cookbook. It's a staple at our house. Hard to believe this rich-tasting meal is so low in fat. If you're not concerned about fat, top the burritos with shredded cheese and heat in the oven, or sprinkle the filling with cheese before wrapping. You can heat the burritos all at once in a 350-degree oven, tightly covered with foil, or you can heat them in the microwave, one at a time, covered with plastic wrap.

1 large onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 or more jalapenos, minced
2 T. vegetable oil
3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
2 tsp ground cumin
12 8-inch flour tortillas, warmed
salsa, if desired

Cook the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in oil over moderately low heat until the onion is softened. Make sure the rinsed beans are well drained. Add the beans to the pan and mash about half of them with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon. Add the tomato sauce, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer the mixture, stirring often, for at least five minutes (I usually let it simmer for 10 or 15 minutes). Warm the tortillas one at a time in the microwave, 5-10 seconds or until they are soft and pliable. Take the warmed tortilla and spread about 3-4 T. of the filling down the center of it; roll up tightly, enclosing the filling but leaving the ends open. Now you can bake them for ten minutes in a lasagna pan, with or without cheese but tightly covered in either case, or you can heat individually in the microwave. Top with salsa, if desired (and/or sour cream, if you're not watching your fat intake!).

Basque Skillet Beans

This is from Moosewood Restaurant: New Classics and is quick to make, no exotic ingredients, just good food.

Instead of canned tomatoes, I used a pound of frozen ones, since that's what I had on hand. You can use white kidney beans (cannellini) instead of garbanzo. I used 1 can of garbanzos and one of black-eyed peas because I didn't have enough garbanzos. It tasted great!

1/4 tsp. crumbled saffron threads
1/4 very hot or boiling water
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 C. chopped onions
1 minced fresh green chile (I used jalapeno)
1 14.5-oz. can tomatoes with juice
1/2 C. dry sherry
3 C. cooked chick peas (two 15-oz. cans, drained and rinsed)
10 oz. fresh spinach, rinsed, stemmed, and chopped
2-3 T. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt, or to taste
ground black pepper

In a small bowl, cover the saffron with the hot water; set aside.

In a 12-inch skillet, warm the oil over medium heat and then saute the garlic, onions, and chiles for 5 minutes or so. Crush the tomatoes into the skillet using your hands or break up the tomatoes in the skillet with a wooden spoon. Add the juice from the can, the sherry, and the saffron in its liquid.

Stir in the chickpeas and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Arrange the spinach on top and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, maybe more, until the spinach is wilted but still bright green. Remove from heat, stir to mix in the spinach, add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, stir again, and there you are. Only 229 calories per 10-ounce serving!