Afghan Sweet and Savory Pumpkin or Butternut Squash (Borani Kadoo) & A Giveaway!

This giveaway is closed. Random.org  has picked a random winner!

Winner is comment #98 Shriya!

Please email me your mailing address! veggiebelly@gmail.com

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The wonderful ladies behind the amazing Afghan food blog, www.afghancooking.net, say this dish is “America’s favorite Afghan dish”. And Mousa Amiri of Bamiyan Restaurant says this is “one of the most requested” dishes at his restaurant. I can see why. This sweet and spicy pumpkin or butternut squash dish is simple to make, and the flavors are incredible.

This wonderful sweet and savory braised pumpkin or butternut squash recipe is spelled many ways – borani kadoo, borani kadu, brony kadoo, brony kadu, bouranee kadu, bouranee kado, or halwaiy kadu. Whatever you call it, this vegan, vegetarian recipe served with naan makes a great fall or winter time main dish.

Kadu or Kadoo means pumpkin. But because pumpkin is so seasonal, you can use butternut squash instead, which is what I did today.

And now for a giveaway I know you are going to love. You can win Mousa Amiri’s Classic Afghan Cookbook! See details below..

Win a Copy of Mousa Amiri’s Classic Afghan Cookbook!

Mousa Amiri of Bamiyan Afghan restaurant is giving away a copy of  his book  ’Classic Afghan Cookbook’ to one lucky Veggie Belly reader! The recipes in this book are easy, simple, and just yummy!

- To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below (make sure you enter your email address so I can contact you if you win)

- Last day to enter is March 1st 2011

- A random winner will be picked and announced on March 2nd 2011

- The book will ship to anywhere in the world. Thankyou, Mousa!

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Afghan Sweet and Savory Braised Pumpkin (Bouranee Kadu or Borani Kadoo) Recipe

adapted from Katie Sullivan Morford’s Borani Kadoo recipe in the San Francisco Chronicle
serves 2-3
One 1 pound butternut squash or pie pumpkin
1 medium yellow onion
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder or according to taste
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste or 1/2 cup tomato puree
1 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
salt
Dried or fresh mint for garnish
Peel the squash or pumpkin. Using a spoon, scoop out the inner membrane and seeds. Cut into 1 inch cubes and set aside.

Peel and place the onion in a food processor and puree.

Heat oil in a medium heavy bottom pan or wok. Carefully add the onion puree and cook on medium-low heat untill it is golden, about 10 minutes. Then add ginger, garlic, turmeric, coriander powder, and chili powder and stir for 1 minute or untill fragrant.

Now add tomato paste or puree, water, sugar and salt, bring to a boil, while stirring.

Add the chopped butternut squash or pumpkin pieces. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered till the squash is cooked, but still holding its shape, about 20 minutes. Add more water while cooking, if needed.

Garnish with mint and serve with garlic yogurt (vegans can use cashew cream instead) and naan.

Garlic Yogurt

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 clove galic minced
Salt

Whisk everything together.

Easy Cream of Red Lentil Soup

This easy red lentil soup recipe comes together in 15 minutes. Add a touch of cream, greek yogurt or coconut milk (for vegan red lentil soup) and you have a satisfying, easy soup in no time. Serve with crusty bread or over brown rice.

We’ve all had gloopy lentil soup before and hate it! So make sure you dont over cook the lentils. They should be cooked through, but still holding their shape. Their texture and taste is so much better when you dont over cook lentils and make them mushy.

The ingredients are simple for this fuss free soup – carrot, celery, garlic, onion, and red lentils. Then you add a pinch of paprika for heat, if you like, and a little drizzle of cream, greek yogurt or coconutmilk for creaminess. Thats it!

I used masoor dal from the Indian store, which is usually cheaper than other local brands of split red lentils. If you dont have an Indian store near you, Bob’s Red Mill brand red lentils are great.

More lentil soup recipes

Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup recipe with cumin

Giada De Laurentiis Lentil Soup recipe with pasta

Lentil soup recipe from 101 cook books using beluga lentils

Lentil soup recipe  with Cajun flavors on Food Mayhem

Red lentil soup recipe with curry on New York Times

Red lentil soup recipe by Aarti Sequeira

Red lentil soup recipe with sumac on eCurry

Cream of red lentil soup Recipe

serves 2 as a main dish

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and chopped finely (about 1/2 cup)
1 celery rib, chopped finely (about 1/2 cup)
1 small onion, chopped finely (about 1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup dry split red lentils (either Bob’s red mill red lentils or masoor dal from Indian store)
1/2 teaspoon paprika or to taste, optional
salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream or greek yogurt or coconut milk for vegans
For garnish – chopped cilantro or parsley or dill

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add the carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Stir on low heat for about 3 minutes, or till the vegetables are soft. Dont let them brown.

Add the red lentils to the vegetables, and stir for about 1 minutes. Add paprika, salt and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low, place a lid on the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes or till the lentils are cooked but still holding their shape. Dont let the lentils get mushy. Add more water during cooking, if needed.

When the soup is done, stir in your choice of heavy cream or greek yogurt or coconut milk and turn off heat.

Serve hot, garnished with chopped cilantro, or parsley or dill. Drizzle more cream or yogurt or coconut milk – whichever you are using - over the soup if desired.

Gado Gado – Indonesian Vegetable Salad with Peanut Sauce

 

I fell in love with the flavors of gado gado when I first tasted it in Indonesia. It is a quick, easy, healthy salad that you can serve as an appetizer, as a salad course, or pack for office lunch. Typically, the vegetables and peanut dressing are tossed together, or the peanut sauce is poured over the vegetables. Here, I serve it deconstructed on a platter, with the peanut sauce or sambal kacang on the side for dipping.

In Indonesia, the peanut dipping sauce is prepared by pounding together roasted peanuts, garlic, palm sugar, chillies, and shrimp paste. I left out the shrimp paste to make the gado gado vegan. I used peanut butter instead of roasted peanuts – a great shortcut!

The gado gado I had in Indonesia was served with tomato wedges, beansprouts, tofu and boiled eggs. You can use absolutely any vegetable you like. For this recipe, I served the gado gado peanut sauce with steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, baby radish and rice balls.

Lontong inspired rice balls

These rice balls are inspired by Indonesian lontong (or Ketupatin some parts of Asia). Lontong is cubes of compressed, cooked rice, that is sometimes served with gado gado. Traditional lontong is made by half cooking rice, packing it into a banana leaf lined mould, steaming the rice in the mould, and then cutting it into cubes or discs.

I love the taste of lontong, but wanted to make something quicker but similar for the gado gado. So I simple rolled cooked sushi rice into balls, and coated the rice balls in sesame seeds. Simple, and delicious!

Oil your hands, and scoop a tablespoon of cooked sushi or sticky rice. Using your palm and fingers, gently squeeze the rice into a ball.

Roll the rice ball into a nice round shape. Roll ther ice ball in toasted sesame seeds.

More Gado Gado recipes

Indonesian Sambal Kacang recipe (peanut sauce for gado gado) from the book Indonesian regional cooking

Agado gado recipe from Rasa Malaysia

Gado gado surabaya style on Indonesia eats

Street sidegado gado making in central Java, Indonesia

Gado Gado with Peanut Sauce Recipe

serves about 6

for Peanut Dipping Sauce (Sambal Kacang)
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 fresh green chili chopped, (use 1/2 for milder sauce, or leave it out)
Salt
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon jaggery or palm sugar or regular white sugar
2 tablespoon lime juice
2 cups hot water

Place the garlic cloves, green chili and salt in a mortar and pestle and pound into a paste.

In a small bowl, add the garlic paste, peanut butter, sugar and lime juice. Pour in hot water a little at a time, while whisking the peanut butter. Stop pouring the hot water when the peanut butter forms a smooth, dippable sauce. You may not need to use all of the hot water.

Taste the peanut sauce and adjust salt, sugar and lime juice if needed. Serve with vegetable crudites.

for Rice Balls with Sesame Seeds

makes about 6 balls

1/2 cup sushi rice (or other similar glutinous, sticky rice)
1 cup water
salt
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Place rice, water and salt in a pan. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to simmer, place a lid on the pan, and cook till rice is done, about 15 minutes. Let the rice cool a little.

Spread sesame seeds on a plate.

Rub a little sesame oil on your hands (so rice doesnt stick). Scoop about 1 tablespoon of cooked rice, and using your palms, form the rice into tight balls. Roll the rice balls in sesame seeds. Rub your palms with more sesame oil if needed. Repeat till you use up all the rice.

Serve rice balls with peanut dipping sauce.

the vegetables
Choose 5 items from this list, and serve about 1 cup each on a platter, along with peanut dipping sauce (recipe above)

Cubed, fried tofu
Pan fried Tempeh pieces
Tomato wedges or cherry tomatoes
Cucumber slices
Green and red pepper strips
Bean sprouts
Baby radish
Carrot sticks
Celery sticks
Boiled potato
Blanched green beans
Lightly steamed broccoli
Rice balls (recipe above)
Boiled egg
Tortilla chips
Pretzel sticks

Chocolate Beet Cake – a Ross Burden Recipe

This is the ONLY chocolate cake I ever make. After the first time I made this cake, I threw out every other chocolate cake recipe I had. This easy, moist beet and chocolate cake recipe comes from Chef Ross Burden.

The cooked beets (beetroot) in this recipe keep the cake incredibly moist. And if you didnt tell your guests there are beets in this cake, they will never guess! My favorite trick is to serve this cake, and after everyone has eaten it, ask “guess whats in it”?!

To cook the beets, peel about 3-4 large beets. Chop them into chunks. Place in a pan with just enough water to cover them. Put a lid on the pan, and simmer till the beets are fork tender. Add more water while cooking if needed. But make sure you cook away all the water, you dont want the cooked beets to be watery. Then place the cooked beetroot in a blender and puree. Weigh the amount of beets needed, and proceed with the recipe below.

You wont find a picture of the whole chocolate beet cake here because it was all eaten up, and I struggled to even save this one piece so I could photograph it!

Ross Burden’s Chocolate frosting recipe is so easy and decadent. Make sure to use the best quality chocolate you can afford!

The only change I made to Ross’ original recipe is to add a little vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. If you wish, you could also add a couple of tablespoons of brewed espresso to the batter, for depth.

Make sure you use a kitchen weighing scale and measure the ingredients in the recipe by weight.

Ross Burden’s Beet (Beetroot) Chocolate Cake Recipe

original recipe is here

serves about 8

for the cake
85 grams dark chocolate
3 medium eggs
300 grams sugar
240 ml sunflower or vegetable oil
300 grams cooked beets (see post above for how to cook the beets)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
30 grams cocoa powder
200 grams flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

for the chocolate ganache
250 grams dark chocolate, broken into pieces
250 ml heavy cream

Pre heat oven to 350 f.

Melt the chocolate (for the cake) over a double boiler. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and oil. Slowly add the cooked beet puree , the melted chocolate and vanilla into the egg mixture. Beat just untill combined.

Sift the cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt. Add this to the beet batter. Fold just untill everything is combined. Dont over work or over mix the batter.

Spread a teaspoon of butter or oil over the surface of a 10 inch cake pan. Sprinkle some flour all over, and tap out the excess. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake for about 30 minutes, or till a tooth pick or skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Baking time may vary depending on the pan and oven you are using.

While the cake is baking, work on the ganache frosting. Place the chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream in a sauce pan, just till it starts to barely boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk till it forms a smooth sauce.

When the cake is done, cool it on a wire rack. Then pour the chocolate ganache over while the ganache is still warm. Let the ganache topping cool and set a little before serving.

Serve with Ross Burden’s burnt caramel icecream. Yum!

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