Sri Lankan Sweet Potatoes with Cardamom and Chiles, p 285

Cheryl Rathkopf's Sri Lankan Sweet Potatoes with Cardamom and Chiles
Bathala Theldala
Sri Lanka
Prep Time: 30 minutes (plus running to co-op to buy more onions)
Cook Time: 20 minutes
WW Pts (cutting oil to 4 Tbsp): 5
WW Pts (as directed): 6
Two pots (well, one pot and one pan)

I love love love curry leaves and think they give the most amazing flavor. Prior to my infatuation with curry leaves, I couldn't eat enough cardamom. How could I not cook this dish that combines those two fun flavors?

This recipe looks more complicated than it is. Well, to me it looks complicated because I'm lazy and I hate to use more than one pot/pan. But, if you are more organized than I am and do this right, it can take only 40 minutes from start to finish.

To the left are the onions browning in the pan with the spices. The photo on the right is the money shot of the finished dish, carmelized onions oozing off the sweet potatoes.



As Madhur Jaffrey suggested, I ate these sweet potatoes with the Tomato Sambal and they went very well together.

the to-go package I made for my mom

Tomato Sambal, p 302

Gwen Silva's Tomato Sambal
Takkali Sambola
Sri Lanka
Prep Time: 20-30 min
Cook Time: 20-30 min
WW Pts (cutting oil to 2 Tbsp): 2
WW Pts (as directed): 4

I couldn't find (well, I didn't try that hard) the chili powder called for, so I just used what I hoped was a good quality paprika. Also, it's not really tomato season in the Northeast, so the best tomatoes I could find were cherry tomatoes. They worked fine, but I would like to try this dish again in the summer when NJ is filled with fat, juicy, tomatoes - so sweet they can be eaten like apples. And, I'd find the correct chili powder, too.

I decided to make this dish to go with the sweet potatoes and I decided to make that dish because I love love love curry leaves. If you've never cooked with fresh curry leaves, you should try it. They have a very distinct flavor that can't be matched with anything else. I have a habit of always adding extra curry leaves to a recipe and I will not apologize for that. I also have a habit of eating the curry leaves out of my husband's sambar when we go out for dosas and I will apologize for that.
Dave, I'm sorry that I keep picking the curry leaves out of your sambar whenever you go back to the buffet.
Next time we go to Dosa Grill, I will not eat all your curry leaves.
love, Stacey

This dish is fairly straight forward and is quite tasty. There's only one pan needed and leftovers suffer no ill effects. This does go very well with the Sri Lankan Sweet Potatoes on p 285.

Village-Style Carrots with Potatoes and Peas, p 158

Mrs. Chancal Kapoor's Village-Style Carrots with Potatoes and Peas
Gajar Aloo Matar
India
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: almost an hour
WW Pts (cutting oil down to 1 Tbsp): 2
WW Pts (as directed): 3
Bonus: one pan; staple ingredients; filling; fairly simple; leftovers are good, if not better on day 2
Bummer: recipe is listed under carrots in vegetable section, which makes it difficult to find; makes alot of food

I've made this a kazillion (well, at least half a dozen) times, including once for a potluck (yep, it was all eaten). I was initially drawn to this recipe because it's an Indian potato recipe that only requires one pot and one cooking process, but I keep coming back to this recipe because it's so darn good.

This recipe calls for grated tomatoes, but I just use a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes. Canned tomatoes have several advantages over fresh tomatoes - they can live in the cabinet for many months, cheaper (even if both organic), less work, less clean-up, and the can makes a handy place to put the spoon during cooking.

The recipe specifies how to cut the potatoes and carrots, but I am a slacker with too-large chunks of potato and carrots sliced instead of neatly diced pieces. This will not change the flavor of the dish, but please don't expect your dish to look like my photo, unless you also blatently disregard cutting instructions.
It is possible that if you properly cut your veggies, your cooking time will be shorter than mine and more like the one in the book.

In the past, we have used cauliflower instead of peas. It is still a delicious dish, although you lose the magic of taking an ingredient straight from a bag in the freezer. On the bright side, you do have a dish made with cauliflower.


Someone in my kitchen has a heavy hand with the cayenne, so to counteract the heat, I enjoy eating this with Wildwood plain soy yogurt. It's the only soy yogurt, that I know of, that is tangy enough to act as a plain, cooling yogurt. If you (or I, even) so desired, the Wildwood soy yogurt would probably make pretty good raita.

Moroccan Carrot Salad with Orange Juice, p 621

Morocco
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes, depending on how long it takes to find the cuisinart attachment
Cook Time: a few hours in the fridge
WW Pts: 1
Bonus: make ahead, easy

This recipe calls for freshly squeezed orange juice, but I made this because I had some juice in the fridge that I wanted to use before it was too late. I also used dark raisins instead of golden ones.

This is a refreshing salad that could accompany almost anything and stands nicely on its own. One thing I generally don't like about eating salads is they take a long time to eat. Because of the shredded carrots, it's possible to scarf this down in no time at all, as I'm doing right now.

Broccoli Stir-Fried with Ginger and Garlic, p 146

Shiu-Min Block's Broccoli Stir-Fried with Ginger and Garlic
Chow Chia Lan
China
Prep Time: less than 10 minutes
Cooking Time: less than 10 minutes
WW Pts, with modifications (4 svgs): 1
WW Pts, as directed (4 svgs): 3

I made this because I had broccoli and wanted something to go with the sweet-and-sour potatoes. This dish is fine and goes nicely with the potatoes. It is superfast and supersimple. I used the cookbook to make this dish because of this project, but if you're not working on a fanblog dedicated to WV, just make that first broccoli stirfry you made after getting your wok in college. If you're still in college and just got a wok, make this, it's tasty.

With a few drops of tamari, it went well with the potatoes, which is what I was looking for, so I'm happy.

I modified by cutting the canola oil to 1 Tbsp, but I left everything else the same.

It may look like simple stir-fried broccoli, but it's really Chow Chia Lan!

Stir-Fried Sweet-and-Sour Potato Shreds, p 271

Shiu-Min Block's Stir-Fried Sweet-and-Sour Potato Shreds
Tien Suong Tu Do
Chinese-American
Prep Time: depends on how long it takes you to julinne 1 lb of potatoes
Cooking Time: less than five minutes
WW Pts, with modifications: 2
WW Pts, as directed: 4

I won't be posting photos because I didn't pay attention and didn't julienne the potatoes. Well, I was going to julienne the potatoes, but sometimes I get lazy in the kitchen and 1/16 inch slivers wasn't something I felt like doing, plus I was hungry. Despite that, it still came out pretty good. Not fabulous, but pretty good.

I'm not a big potato person, but since I needed to cook the potatoes, I chose this recipe. I'll probably make it again so my husband can taste it, and when I do, there will be some serious julienning action.

I cut the canola oil called for in the recipe by 2/3 (from 2Tbs to 2tsp) and I cut the sugar by 1/3 (from 1Tbs to 2tsp). Most importantly, I left the amount of sesame oil the same.

According to the book, when properly cut, the potatoes will cook in only 2 minutes. With my larger potato pieces, I added a little water and covered the dish to let it cook for a few minutes.

It's a fun, different potato dish, and other than the julienning, it's very simple and only calls for one pan.

Leftovers
It's recommended that leftovers are eaten cold. Although I was skeptical about cold potatoes, I ate them right out of the fridge, with a few drops of tamari and they were really good.

Mushrooms with Sesame Seeds, p 243

total time: 20 minutes
WW pts: 2.5 (2 svgs and modifying for only 1 Tbsp olive oil)
WW pts for original recipe: too many
bonus: super easy and fast, no ingredients

This recipe calls for three tablespoons of olive oil, I cut this back to 1, but if you can devour an entire cheesecake and still wear a size 4, by all means, use 3 Tbsp, but for the rest of us, 1 tablespoon is sufficient.

This is probably the simplest recipe in the entire book, but it is tasty and quick. It's a great side dish for almost anything.

mushrooms in the pan

it may not look like much, but the smell and the sizzling


ten minutes later


Leftovers
These are so good cold. Maybe better cold than hot. I ate them cold on top of sauteed chard.

Lentils in a Sauce, p 64

Lentils en Sauce - Morocco
prep time: 25 minutes
cooking time: about 70 minutes
WW pts: 2, as directed for 6 svgs
bonus: one pot, common ingredients, easy
1st time

This recipe calls for those snazzy little French lentils that I've never used before. The recipe has only a few ingredients, and nothing more exotic than cumin, so anyone can make this. My co-op doesn't always have the fresh herbs I need, but today's my lucky day - they had the herbs and the French lentils. I'm bringing this as the vegan entree for Shabbos dinner at a friend's house tonight.

I didn't alter the recipe at all, although I almost browned the onions, but since Madhur Jaffrey often calls for the onions to be browned, I figured this was intentional and that I should just cook it as is. I often brown things even when the author doesn't, but this time, I'm following instructions.

Here is the dish waiting for the water and heat

15 minutes after boil:
The lentils are cooking now and they smell really good.

50 minutes after boil:
I just tasted them. Yum. Not quite tender lentils, but yum. I don't think it's absolutely necessary to add the olive oil to the end, but because I'm not on a super-low-fat diet, I will. If you wanted, I'm sure it'd be fine without.

The final product

I brought this to a friend's house for dinner tonight and it was good. Not raving-to-the-point-of-embarrassment good or begging-for-the-recipe good, but it's a solid, easy, healthy, tasty dish that can be cooked, photographed and transported easily.

World Vegetarian - the fan blog

My absolute favorite cookbook is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

The book is divided into sections by main ingredient and then subdivided alphabetically. Each subsection starts with basic info about the food. She tells what to look for when buying vegetables, how to store them, the differences between different types of lentils, brief histories of the foods' use through the years, etc.

The recipes are clearly written and often have substitutes for less common ingredients, as well as a list of on-line retailers. There is also section on soups, salads & drinks, and a section on sauces and spice mixtures. Each recipe has a country of origin, and they are also listed by that in the index. There are over 650 recipes, nearly 200 in the vegetable section and many are, or can easily be made vegan.

I have cooked many dishes from WV, and trust that I can cook any recipe from this book
One of the best things about WV is there are only two "fake meat" recipes. Most of the recipes are for dishes that have always been vegetarian. When omnis are served meals like this, they don't even notice there's no meat.

As I cook recipes from WV, I will post my notes and changes, as well as dazzling photographs. Respecting copyright, I will not be posting recipes, but if you have the book, you can play along at home.

I will not go through the book recipe by recipe, because that would drive me nuts. I do, however, hope to cook most of the recipes (at least the ones that can easily be cooked vegan).

Even though I've cooked many of these dishes before, none of those count anymore, and if I say that I cooked something from WV, it means from this point forward.

When I post page numbers, it'll refer to the pages in my copy, which is the first paperback edition.

The prep times and cooking times are my times. I am notoriously slow in the kitchen. I wash onions, peel them and wash them again. I rinse my spinach many times. I am a bad chopper. I sometimes wash and dry the knife in between chopping onions & other veggies. I often don't have the heat on high enough to maintain a simmer (damn electric stove). I am not a bad cook, just a slow one. Others may find prep times 10-50% lower and cook times 5-15% lower.


(using game show announcer voice)
Now, it's time to play
Cook
That
Book