Instapot Mung Bean and Brown Rice Stew

Back again! Been a while but never mind.

I want to try to make meatless meals using our Instapot as much as I can and try to make them as low fat as possible.

If you are on WW purple, this whole pot has 1SP from the oil only. If you are on WW blue, you need to add the brown rice to your SP count.

This recipe is an adaptation from kneadtocook.com.

Mung Bean and Brown Rice Stew

3/4 cup dry mung beans
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala or curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder (or to taste)
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp salt
1 bottle tomato passata (675ml or so)
4 cups water

Before starting anything else, put the rice and mung beans into a bowl and cover them with water. You can leave them to soak overnight or all day or 15 minutes. Just as long as they soak a bit first.

Turn the Instapot onto sauté (medium heat) and add the oil. Let it heat and fry the onions until beginning to brown. Add the garlic and fry until aromatic, making sure to stir so that it doesn't burn.

Add all the dry spices and fry them with the onions and garlic. Add the ginger.

When the spices have coated the onions and garlic and are starting to stick to the bottom of the pan, add the full jar of passata. Add some water to the jar (about 5cm) and swirl it around to get all the tomato sauce out of the jar and add it to the pot. Stir and scrape the bottom to get all the spices mixed into the tomato. Stir in the salt. Stir occasionally so that it doesn't stick and let it bubble for about 5 minutes. Press cancel on the Instapot.

Drain the mung beans and rice. Add them to the pot. Add the 4 cups of water and stir it all together, making sure all the rice and beans are stirred into the water and none are stuck on the side of the pot.

Lock the lid on the pot making sure it's set to "sealing". Press manual and increase the time to 15 minutes. Make sure it is on high heat. Leave it to cook.

Once the 15 minutes is done, leave the pot to vent on its own for about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with the side of your choice.

Masala Fusion Cuisine of India Restaurant Review

When I was in Uganda, I did a few restaurant reviews because I often looked for reviews when we were going to be out for the day. My blog got lots of hits so obviously restaurant reviews are popular! I decided to add a few to this blog as well.

I doubt this restaurant is vegan as Indian food uses ghee, clarified butter, but as a vegetarian option, it was amazing. Lots of choices for veggie and carni lovers.





We had one order of veggie samosas. There were two samosas and a dish of tamarind chutney. The pastry was flaky and the filling was mostly potato with peas and onions. Served piping hot.





We then chowed down on kadai paneer, chana masala. We ordered one dish medium and one dish hot and the chana masala (chickpea curry) was HOT! Not so unbelievable that we couldn't eat it but certainly hot enough to make us both sniffle and appreciate the yoghurt cucumber that I had ordered.





We also had one order of basmati rice and one plain naan. Both of those were plenty for the two of us.





We were stuffed and took leftovers home for lunch. We added two more orders of naan to bulk it up a bit but there was plenty of food for us both for both meals.

Total, including tip: $40. No drinks, just water.

We will certainly go again.

Address: 103 - 2106 Harvey Avenue, Kelowna, across from the mall, next to A&W.

They are closed on Mondays.

11.95$ Buffet lunch from 11:30-2:00 the rest of the week.

Website: masalafusionkelowna.com


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Cinco de Mayo Taco Salad

Corn, black beans and rice. What a perfect combination. You could make this mixture and use it in tacos, wraps or on a salad as the recipe intends. Use whatever you like in the salad: taco chips, lettuce, avocado, tomato, cucumber, salsa, cilantro... This is adapted from the Eating Well website.

Taco Salad

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cup corn kernels
1 large tomato, chopped
1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 1/2 cup cooked beans (black, pinto, kidney)
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp oragano
1/4 tsp salt

lime wedges for the salad dressing

Heat the oil. Add onion and corn and cook until the onion starts to brown. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the tomato breaks down. Let cool before adding to your salad or serve hot in the taco shells. Squeeze the lime over the mixture when you mix it with the salad.

Yoga Slow Cooker Curry

When I got home today, I needed to make something that would be ready to eat when Corey and I returned from yoga. I didn't have a lot of time before we left and I didn't want to leave anything simmering on the stove so I decided a "quick" curry in the slow cooker would be ideal. Easy to make and leave and yummy when we returned. Nice and hot to warm us up after our walk home in -7 degrees. Beautiful night with a clear sky and a fabulous full moon.

I used a Chinese eggplant and green beans but you could use any veggies like broccoli and cauliflower, carrots, frozen peas and corn, but nothing that will become too soft. Potato wouldn't cook long enough to be ready.

Brown, green or blue lentils are best because they keep their shape. Red lentils will make a mush.

Yoga Curry

1 cup brown rice (mine is mixed with a wild rice blend)
1/2 cup lentils (Check these for rocks. I have seen how they are dried in China. Don't skip this step.)
4 cups veggie stock
2 cups coconut milk (one can with water added to make 2 cups or one package powder with 2 cups boiling water)
1 tbsp curry powder
2 cups chopped raw veggies
1 chopped onion in cubes
salt
pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice

In the slow cooker, mix the rice, lentils, stock, coconut milk, curry powder, veggies and onion. Cover and let cook on high for 3 hours (or on low for 6-8 hours if you have all day). Just  before eating, stir in the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and add more boiling veggie stock if necessary just before eating to make it as you prefer for texture. Depending on how long you let it cook, it might be a bit tight. You may even want to add more salt and lemon juice.

We ate this with a squeeze of HP sauce which is like a chutney but in a sauce form. It was delicious!

My Search for the Perfect Vegan Pad Thai - Recipe #1

I LOVE pad thai. It is my favourite dish at the Mon Thong by the movie theatre. I always ask for no shrimp and extra tofu (and no green onions either - yuck) but I am sure that there must be shrimp paste lurking in there anyway. Almost all my vegan recipe books have pad thai recipes. It was my goal to have a pad thai week over the Christmas break where we would eat nothing except pad thai until I found the ultimate recipe but I never ended up even making one. Finally tonight I decided to try. I was going to be lazy and use a bottle of vegan pad thai sauce that I had bought at the Asian supermarket but (1) it had expired 2 months ago and (2) there was more sugar than anything else. I decided to not be lazy, cooked a package of flat rice noodles, and went in search of my first pad thai recipe in my cookbooks.

Pad Thai #1 - Modified from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein

1 package of dried, flat rice noodles cooked according to directions then drained and rinsed in cold water. These cook fast so don't leave them for more than 5 minutes.
1/2 tbsp tamarind paste mixed with 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp ketjap manis (if you have none then add another 1/2 tbsp each of soy sauce and brown sugar)
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
1 tsp minced ginger
1 pkg firm or extra firm tofu cut into 1/2" cubes
1 cup snow peas or cabbage or peppers or carrots or a mix of them all
1 cup bean sprouts rinsed and blanched in boiling water to wash off any salmonella yuckies
1 green onion (yuck - this is entirely optional)
1/4 dry roasted peanuts

Mix the tamarind, water, soy sauce, ketchup, lime, sugar, sesame oil, and ketjap in a bowl and set aside.
Heat oil in a wok and when the oil is hot, toss in the chili flakes and ginger. Stir that around a few minutes then toss in the tofu and let the sides brown a bit. Add the veggies, toss, cover and let them steam cook themselves until they are of your desired crunchiness. If water develops in the bottom of the pan, let that evaporate before adding the tamarind liquid mixture. Mix into the veggies and bring that up to a boil. Toss in the noodles and mix it all together.

In your individual bowls, place a pile of bean sprouts. Serve the Pad Thai on top. Garnish with green onions (yuck - really, you don't have to) and the peanuts. Eat with a fork. The Thai don't use chopsticks.


My review... yummy but not the pad thai taste I am searching for. It's the right texture although it's a little too wet. I could have let the sauce cook down more. I would certainly make it again and Corey really liked it. He isn't a pad thai fanatic so his ability to compare to restaurant versions is limited.