Ingredients

10-12 whole wheat tortillas, cut into 3 inch triangles
12-15 corn tortillas, cut into 3 inch triangles
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
Juice of 1 lime
Salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut tortillas and place in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl mix the cilantro, oil, cumin seeds, lime juice and salt, mix well and then toss over tortillas. Lay tortillas flat on a baking sheet (lined with parchment) and place in the oven and cook for about 7-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1 white onion, chopped fine
2 zucchinis, chopped fine
1 portabella mushroom, chopped fine
1 red bell pepper, chopped fine
1 jalapeño, chopped fine
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon cumin
Salt
Tortillas, soft or hard, for serving
Monterey Jack cheese (optional)
Avocado (optional)

Directions

In a large sauté pan, over medium heat, add canola oil and avocado oil. Sauté onion until translucent, 5 minutes. Add zucchini, peppers and jalapeño and cook, about 3-4 minutes more. Add the portabellas and cook another few minutes (3-4). Add lime juice, zest, cumin and season with salt. Serve with tortillas. Garnish with cheese and avocado.

Ingredients

Directions

Heat oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and let them pop in oil for approximately a minute. This makes the oil very aromatic. Remove pan from heat and cool. Peel and seed cucumbers cut into small dice. Stir cooled mustard seeds into yogurt and whisk yogurt. Stir mint, cumin, salt and green chilies. Refrigerate for at least an hour, until the mixture is chilled.

Ingredient

Directions

Wash and soak the split yellow gram and rice together for 15 minutes. Drain till water is clear. Heat the water until it is boiling and keep aside. On medium heat, add ghee in a large heavy pot (cast iron will work) until the hot. Add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add the asafetida, turmeric, ginger, peppercorns and cloves. Stir for a minute or till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the mixture. Add potatoes and onion with salt. Cook until onions become translucent. Add the split yellow gram and rice, mix well. Add peas at the very end. Add the hot water to this and bring to a boil. Cover and keep on low heat for 25 minutes or till the mixture is slightly mushy. Taste to make sure dal is cooked all the way.

Khichdi is traditionally cooked in a pressure cooker which is much faster. If you happen to have one, in the last step after adding all the ingredients, cover and bring to maximum pressure on high heat. Pressure cook on high heat for 4 whistles. Put off the flame and set aside till all the steam escapes.

*Recipe Property of Palak Patel

Ingredients

Directions

Put the lentils and water into a pan, stir well and bring to the boil. Skim off any froth that forms on the surface of the water with a spoon. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer, stirring regularly, for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until the lentils are just tender, adding more water as necessary.

When the lentils have cooked through, remove the pan from the heat, and use a whisk to break down the lentils. Set the mixture aside to thicken and cool.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, and fry for 20 to 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the onion, chiles, and ginger, and fry for 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Blend the garlic and tomatoes to a puree in a food processor. Add the puree to the pan, and stir well to combine. Add the turmeric, garam masala, coriander, and 3 1/2 ounces of water to the pan, and stir well to combine. Season the mixture with salt, to taste, and simmer over a medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the oil from the sauce has risen to the surface of the sauce.

Add the cooked lentils to the sauce, and stir well, adding more water as necessary, to loosen the mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil, and season, to taste, with salt before serving. Stir in the chopped cilantro just before serving. If this dish is not sour enough for you, add a squeeze of lemon juice. If you are a garlic lover, you can add another 2 cloves of garlic.

*Recipe Property of Palak Patel

Ingredients

Directions

Heat oil and fry paneer cubes till they turn golden brown. Set aside. In a separate pot, heat ghee, cumin seeds, until they are aromatic, turn a slight brown color and sputter. Add chopped onions, ginger, chilies and garlic and cook until onions soften.Add tomato puree, salt, sugar, and cook till the tomatoes soften till fat separates. Then add garam masala, chili powder, turmeric powder coriander powder, cumin powder, and kasoori methi. Cook for another few minutes to release spice flavors. Add the water and stir it in, using your discretion depending on how dry the dish is. If you added too much water, just let it simmer away until much of it evaporates – you want your tomatoes soft anyway. Add the peas. Cook just until the peas are tender. Pour in the cream, mix, and add the paneer and let simmer on medium heat for the paneer to absorb the flavors.

*Recipes Property of Palak Patel

Ingredients

3 medium sweet potatoes
¼ cup fresh chives, chopped
½ tablespoon cumin
½ tablespoon Maldon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F

Partially bake the sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool and peel.

Cut potatoes into thin wedges or to desired size. In a large mixing bowl, gently toss the potatoes with the cumin and chives. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until desired crispness. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle with Maldon salt.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 heaping tablespoons shelled, skinless peanuts
2 tablespoons whole raw almonds
2 heaping tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds (green)
2 heaping tablespoons raw pecan pieces
1 ounce Ancho chili, cleaned, stemmed, seeded (reserve seeds)
1 ounce pasilla chili, cleaned, stemmed, seeded (reserve seeds)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons unhulled sesame seeds
1½” piece of canela (Mexican cinnamon)
¹⁄₈ teaspoon aniseed
¹⁄₈ teaspoon coriander seed
Pinch of dried Oregano
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of ground cumin
1 corn tortilla
1 recipe cooked pork (recipe follows)
5-6 cup chicken stock
2 Cups rise blackberries
3-4 tablespoons sugar
¾ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Have large bowl and sieve set over a small heatproof bowl.

Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers and fry the following ingredients one by one. As they’ve fried use slotted spoon and transfer to large bowl and hold.

-Fry peanuts and almonds together until golden
-Fry the Pecans until lightly colored
-Fry each chili on both sides, turning with tongs just until the flesh has turned a lighter color
-Fry the onion and garlic together until light brown

Mix together 1½ Tablespoon of reserved chili seeds, sesame seeds, canela, aniseed, and coriander and fry them until lightly toasted. Stir in the oregano, cloves, and cumin, then transfer the mixture including the oil to large bowl of fried ingredients.

Using tongs, hold the tortilla directly over the burner (set to medium) turning till brown on both sides. Crumble into fried ingredients.

Working in 2 batches, transfer HALF fried ingredients mixture into a blender and pour in 2 cups of stock, blend until smooth.

Heat the remaining 2 Tablespoon of oil in pan over medium high heat. Carefully pour in blended sauce and stir. Bring to simmer and reduce heat to low.

Add blackberries, 3 tablespoons of the sugar and ¼ cup of the stock to blender and puree till smooth. Strain through medium sieve into sauce, discarding seeds.

Bring sauce to simmer and reduce, stirring frequently and adding more stock as necessary maintaining a velvety consistency that thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Season with sugar and salt to taste. Sauce should only taste slightly sweet.

Add the pork to the mole, cook for about 15-20 minutes. Serve, sprinkled with sesame seeds.

This mole keeps in the fridge for up to 2 days and freezer for a month.

Cooked Pork and Stock

About 8-10 servings

Ingredients

4 pounds of pork shoulder, cut into 1½ inch pieces
8 cups water
1 medium white onion
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Put all the ingredients in a large stock pot and bring water to a boil over high heat then reduce (low) to a simmer. Skim any foam from surface if necessary. Cook until pork is fork tender (about 2 hours). Remove pork and set aside.

Strain the stock into a wide bowl. Use the stock to make mole. You can refrigerate stock up to 2 days and freeze up to 3 months.

Walnut meat

Ingredients

1½ cups raw walnuts (soaked and dehydrated)
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
¾ teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoon nama shoyu
¼ of dried chipotle, soaked
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ jalapeño, seeded and finely diced
1 green onion, sliced in very thin slices
½ cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, finely chopped
2-4 small collard green leaves
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
Tomato salsa

Directions

Take the walnuts, grind them in the food processor.
Put the ground walnuts in a bowl, add cumin and coriander and mix well.
Add nama shoyu and mix well.
Spread approximately ¹⁄₃ cup of the walnut mixture along the center stem of each collard green leaf, add a layer of shredded lettuce and some salsa and roll.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half or quartered depending on size
¾ cup cilantro, chopped fine
½ cup yellow onions, diced small
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
½-1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coriander

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well.

© Kristin Slaby All rights reserved

Ingredients

For the Coconut-Curry Sauce

2 cups of coconut meat
1½ cups filtered water
1 tablespoon coconut butter
1 thumb size knob of ginger, peeled and minced with micro plan
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 small chili peppers or other small red chilies, with seeds
1 tablespoons kaffir lime powder (take kaffir leaves, dehydrate over night, grind into a fine powder)
1 tablespoon of curry powder or paste
1 teaspoon sea salt
Black pepper

For Jicama Rice

4 cups jicama, peeled and chopped
2 cups coconut meat
½ cup pistaciho
¾ cups almonds (ideally they should be soaked, and dehydrated)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil or a little more
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
½ cup ground turmeric
Large knob of ginger, peeled and mince with a micro plan
1 handful cilantro leaves, minced
3 jalapeños, seeded and minced
½ small yellow onion, peeled and minced
1 handful golden raisins
Sea salt
Black pepper

Directions

Place the jicama in a food processor and pulse until the pieces resemble grains of rice.
Place the jicama in a fine sieve and squeeze out the excess water.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Take the coconut meat place in the food processor and pulse until it resembles grains of rice.
Transfer to the mixing bowl with the jicama.
Take the pistachios and almonds, put in the food processor and pulse until ground into crumbs.
Add to the jicama and coconut bowl and mix together.
In a high speed blender, combine the olive oil, coriander, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, and ginger. Blend until thoroughly combined.
Pour the oil/spices over the jicama/coconut and the nuts.
Add all the remaining ingredients. With a large spoon mix well seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve in a small bowl with the coconut curry sauce on top.

© Kristin Slaby All rights reserved