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Read this article in the Atlantic yesterday and decided to give it a try. The article doesn’t give a precise recipe, so I’ve deciphered it the best I can below (making a minor substitution and leaving out the semolina). I just made it. It’s really damned good.

I really have no idea whether this can be properly called “zdir” since I’ve been unable to locate an actual recipe (or any other information) about it. Either way, it’s crazy tasty with a good solid spicy punch. If you don’t care for spicy food, skip the harissa and chilis. If you do like spicy food, you have to try this.

• 2-3 dried red chilis (I used 2 Sanaam chilis)
• 1 oz olive oil
• 3-4 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tsp harissa (this is a lot, I might halve this next time…it’s potent stuff)
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp ground caraway
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tin diced tomatoes + juice (28fl oz)
• 1/4 c water
• 1 tbsp preserved lemon, chopped
• 1 tbsp capers, chopped
• 1 tbsp olives, chopped
• 1 tbsp sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp dried mint (or to taste)

1. Soak chilis in a bit of water for 15-20 mins. Chop finely.
2. Pour olive oil into a pot and heat over med-low, when warm add garlic + let steep for 5 mins or so. Don’t saute the garlic…just let it warm through and flavour the oil.
3. Turn up the heat a bit and add tomato paste, harissa, and a bit of the tomato juice. Whisk together well and simmer for a few mins.
4. Add chilis, caraway, and coriander to the paste. Simmer another few mins.
5. Pour in diced tomatoes with their juices and the extra 1/4 cup of water. Add chopped sundried tomatoes, and mix well. Simmer over low/med-low for 20 mins or so. Add more water if needed.
6. Optionally, if you have an immersion stick blender, use that now to chop up the tomatoes a bit. If you prefer a chunkier soup, or if you don’t have an immersion blender, just skip this part.
7. Quickly rinse the chopped preserved lemon, capers, and olives (just to get rid of the excess vinegars/etc). Stir these into the soup. Let sit on low to heat through for another 10-15 mins.
8. Remove from heat, stir in dried mint, serve.

I’m not going to post the recipe for last night’s dinner because it basically amounts to: make an omelette with fewer eggs and more stuff, the end. The sundried tomatoes were disappointingly tasteless, unfortunately. I need to find a new source. Otherwise, yum! Super easy.

Dinner this evening, sticking with the “meatless” theme, is a very simple soba noodle salad topped with grilled tofu.

Grilled Tofu

• 2-3 1/2″ slices of extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin (sweet sake)
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• Splash sesame oil

1. Mix soy, mirin, vinegar, and oil in a shallow bowl. Add tofu slices and marinate for 15-30 mins or so. Note: mirin is optional — it adds a notable hint of sweetness which may or may not be wanted. I’ll probably skip it next time.
2. Heat a ridged grill pan over med-high heat until hot enough to instantly sizzle water. Grill tofu 3-4 mins per side (it will smoke and should develop good grill marks). That’s it.

Soba noodle salad

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Splash sesame oil
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 oz soba noodles (uncooked)
• 1/3 c frozen edamame (out of pods)
• 1/4 c thinly sliced carrot
• Small handful baby spinach

1. Whisk together olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, and ginger. This is a simple lemon/ginger vinaigrette.
2. Cook soba noodles in boiling water for 4 mins. Before draining, add edamame and let cook for another minute or so, then add carrot slices and baby spinach and let stand for 20-30 seconds. Drain well and rinse with cold water until cool. Drain for 4-5 mins.
3. Put salad in a shallow pasta bowl, top with grilled tofu slices, and pour over vinaigrette.

Very tasty and very filling. This is what I made for one (me) and I couldn’t finish it.

Sort of made this up as I went. Serves four or so? We have leftovers.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 small onions, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, but tasty)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 med carrots, sliced into 1/2″ rounds
• 2 lg stalks celery, sliced
• 6 small potatoes, quartered
• 1 md zucchini, sliced
• 1 c cabbage, sliced
• 1 19oz tin diced tomatoes, including juice
• 1/2 c water or vegetable stock
• 1 14oz tin white kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 c cooked barley (hulled, not pearled)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over med-high heat. Add onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes and saute for a couple of minutes. Add carrots, celery, and sliced cabbage, and saute for a few more minutes. Toss in potatoes, saute for a little longer.
2. Pour in diced tomatoes and juices, and add water. Heat to just boiling, then turn down to med-low and simmer for 30 mins or so (until everything is cooked through).
3. Add drained and rinsed kidney beans and cooked barley, stir and leave on low for another 10-15 mins to heat everything through.
4. Salt & pepper to taste. Optionally serve with freshly grated parmagiana cheese (it’s yummy).

I just went back through my archives, adding a “Meatless” category to the meatless recipes I’ve already posted. They’re not all mains, but here’s the list:

• Soba noodle salad with edamame and tofu
• Chickpea & spinach curry (Channa Masala)
• Double oatmeal cookies with cranberries and walnuts
• Leek + potato soup
• Wild rice and quinoa salad
• Black bean and sweet potato soup
• How to make a yummy vinaigrette
• Basic arrabiata sauce
• Tzatziki sauce
• Blue cheese, walnut, and apple salad
• Sweet potato and chickpea curry
• Spinach-Hummus recipe
• Easy asparagus soup
• Sunday veggie soup
• Pasta with savoy cabbage
• White Bean Soup
• Pasta with Baked Tomato Sauce
• Wicked Bean Salad
• Nutty Brown Rice

I’ve developed a basic stirfry prototype that we use regularly and have tweaked over time. It includes all four of the “hot, sour, salty, sweet” flavour bases, is super simple, and never fails to produce a tasty result.

It’s a “prototype” because you can use this recipe and include whatever combination of vegetables, meat, and carb you like, but the foundation stays the same. Here it is.

Ingredients

• Static
• 1-2 tbsp peanut (or other) oil for frying
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1″ or so of fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tsp (or more) of hot red pepper flakes
• 3 tbsp soy sauce (the regular stuff, lower sodium is better)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp mirin (japanese sweetened sake)

• Variables
• 6-8 oz meat (enough for 2 people, trimmed and thinly sliced)
• 4-6 c sliced/chopped vegetables
• Some sort of rice or noodles, cooked

1. Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, and mirin in a small bowl and reserve.

2. Pour oil into a wok or big saute pan and heat to medium-high. Toss in garlic, ginger, and hot pepper flakes and fry for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add meat to the pan and cook through, stirring frequently.

4. Once the meat is just about done, add the vegetables. If you’re using more than one type of vegetable, add them separately and in order of how long they will take to cook. Broccoli will take a minute or so more than spinach, and so forth.

5. When the vegetables are basically done (it won’t take long), pour in the soy/vinegar/mirin mixture and fry for another minute, stirring well. If you have noodles, you can dump those in now as well so they heat through and absorb some of the sauce.

6. You probably don’t want all the sauce in your bowls, so lift the food out of the wok with tongs or a slotted spoon rather than pouring it out. If you didn’t use noodles, serve over rice. And that’s it.

Flavour Combinator
Pick two or three ingredients from cols I + II, and serve with a carb from col III.

Mark Bittman did something like this in his Minimalist article a while back, but his version was a little weird and involved entirely too much lime juice. I modified it for a second attempt and it was pretty tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 4 oz soba noodles (uncooked)
• 1 c edamame (out of pods)
• 1-2 tbsp peanut oil
• 1/2 package of firm tofu, cubed
• 1/2 c green onions, sliced
• 1/2 c baby carrots, sliced
• 2 tsp white or black sesame seeds

1. Whisk together oils, vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce, and ginger. This is really just a basic vinaigrette with soy and ginger. I just dump it all into a mason jar and shake like hell. Taste and adjust as necessary.¹

2. Cook soba noodles until they’re at the texture you want. When done, rinse under cold water to stop them cooking any more.

3. Cook the edamame — I just cook it in boiling water (from frozen) for 2-3 minutes. Rinse under cold water until cool.

4. Put peanut oil into a shallow pan and heat. Dump in the tofu and fry ’til a bit crispy (this part is optional…you don’t have to fry the tofu, but it adds to the texture). Let cool.

5. Divide noodles into two big ol’ bowls, top each with edamame, tofu, green onions, and carrots. Pour 2-3 tbsp of the vinaigrette over each and a tsp of sesame seeds.

Eat!

¹ = I don’t actually remember the precise ratios for the vinaigrette, so this might not be quite right. Feel free to modify to taste.

A friend sent along a recipe for Garam Masala and I’m posting it here so I don’t lose it.

• 1 tbsp cardamom seeds
• 1 2″ long cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp black cumin (shahjeera)
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp mace powder (javantari)
• 1 piece star anise
• 1 long bay leaf

Roast all the above spices lightly on low-flame for about 2 mins. Now powder them in a clean, dry spice grinder until smooth. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

Modified a recipe for chana masala and came up with this. It’s really yummy and very easy. Almost no prep work, about 15 mins to get started, and 20-30 mins to simmer.

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 4-5 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tin diced tomatoes, including juice
• 5oz or so baby spinach

1. Heat oil over medium in a 4qt pot. Saute onions and garlic for a 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Add spices and stir well. It’ll be weird and a little lumpy, but don’t worry about that. Cook for a few more minutes.

3. Add lemon juice, stir well, then add the chickpeas and tomatoes. Bring to a low simmer, and cook uncovered for 20-30 mins. Remove from heat, and stir in the baby spinach until it wilts. Serve with brown rice or a tasty grain medley.

Ingredients

• 3 fresh hot italian sausages
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 medium leeks, green + white parts only, chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1 tsp hot pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1.5 cup mixed cooked grains*

Method

1. Cook sausages in a 4 qt (or so) pot until done. Remove to a plate and slice into bite-sized pieces. Set aside for now.
2. Add oil to the pot and heat over med. Toss in the leeks, onion, garlic, celery, pepper flakes, and thyme. Saute for 7-8 mins.
3. Return sliced sausages to the pot, and saute for another 2-3 mins.
4. Add diced tomatoes with juice. Heat until simmering then turn down to low. Simmer on low for 30 mins or so.
5. Add beans and grains and continue to simmer for at least 20-30 mins. Longer is better.

That’s it. Excellent vehicle for cholula sauce and crusty buns.

* I do a 2:2:1 combo mixed grains of quinoa:hulled barley:wild rice. It’s crazy yummy and useful for lots of things.