Spinach Raita

Raita is one of my all time favorite foods. As a kid my parents used to take me to an Indian buffet, where I would proceed to only eat raita and naan. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the other dishes, but why eat other things when that would just take up precious raita storage space. As an adult I rarely (but not never) eat raita only meals. But adulthood hasn’t dampened my love of the dish at all. Sadly, eating seasonally means no cucumber raita in the winter. So I was intrigued when I found this recipe for spinach raita in Indian Vegetarian Cooking at Your House.

The recipe is described as a seasoned salad with yogurt and spinach, which is accurate. The veggie to yogurt ratio is much heavier on the veggie side than traditional raita. This recipe has about 3/4 cup of liquid to 1 cup of spinach plus extra veggies. I looked up other Palak Raita recipes and found they usually had a one to one ratio of raita to spinach with no extra veggies.

I really enjoyed the spices and the spinach went well with the yogurt. However, I thought the chopped carrots took away from the blended flavor of the dish. Next time I’d leave them out. I might also add an extra 2-3 tbsp of yogurt. Not as good as cucumber raita, but intriguing, healthy, and easy to make. I might make this again with a few tweaks. I’d like to try a different Palak Raita recipe first though.

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Cilantro Walnut Tapenade

Ian made this one night as a sauce for shrimp. I only got to taste the residue on the bowl he made it in, but I was hooked. So he made it again for me, this time putting on an egg scramble. Oh my gosh is it good. We spent a long time trying to figure out what to call it, and finally settled on tapenade, which still isn’t quite right but is the best option we found. Put it on tofu, put it on eggs, put it on pita. It doesn’t matter. It will be delicious. Just remember it has like a gallon of oil, so control yourself.

In a bowl combine:

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

2/3 cup diced chives

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup diced walnuts

5 roma small tomatoes diced

2/3 cup diced chives

1/2 cup diced walnuts

5 cherry tomatoes diced

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

Salt to taste

Hummus with Fennel and Golden Beets

I was looking for a recipe that would feature my homegrown beets without overpowering them. I saw this recipe from page 76 of The Greek Vegetarian Cookbook and was sold immediately. I love fennel and the pomegranate seeds sounds yummy too. Since I’m lactose intolerant I left out the fennel and didn’t miss it. The recipe came out really well. I’ll definitely be making it again. It was super yummy, healthy, and looked pretty too. The only issue was that I ran out of beets before everything else. Next time I make it I’ll add an extra beet. The recipe is intended to be paired with chickpea hummus. I used a the walnut hummus recipe from Fresh Food Fast. The pairing was very good.

Lemon Walnut Hummus

I’ve made hummus at home tons of time. It’s always good, never great. Then I ventured into this walnut hummus recipe from page 35 of Fresh Food Fast and…oh I couldn’t get enough. No more hummus leftovers growing mold in the back of my fridge. I think the secret of the amazing flavor is in toasting the walnuts before adding them to the hummus. It creates a surprising warmth of flavor that I don’t get in standard sesame hummus. I try to avoid using the oven in summer. I used the toaster oven to toast the walnuts and was happy with the results. I’ll definitely be making this again.