Sunday, May 12, 2013

Swiss chard, chickpea, and tamarind stew (Plenty)

  • 4 tbsp seedless tamarind pulp [Too lazy to seek this out in some crazy market.  Super 88 if they have any is too much of a trek.]
  • 1 lb Swiss chard (stalks and leaves), cut into 3/8-inch slices
  • 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp caraway seeds
  • 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish
  • 1 tsp tomato paste
  • one 14-oz can chopped plum tomatoes, with their juices
  • 1 1/2 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups freshly cooked chickpeas (or a 14-oz can, drained)
  • salt and black pepper
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt (optional) [Nope]
  • generous handful cilatro leaves
  • 1 3/4 cups short-grain rice
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 3 cups water
Toasting the coriander seeds.  I'm sure I could've easily just whizzed them in the coffee grinder, but I decided to do what Ottolenghi said and broke out the mortar and pestle.

Mise en place.

Blanching the chard in salted water.

There were some steps in here, but it seems like I figured to only photograph very few of them.  Basically this is a bowl with practically everything in it except for the cilantro and lemon and...

Rice pilaf.  Which strikes me as far more foolproof a way of cooking rice on a stovetop than normal rice.  Not like I do that since I have a rice cooker.

Very good dish.  I only added the juice of half of a lemon since I thought the dish was quite sour enough as is.  I guess I didn't have cilantro this time around.
This is also a weird culinary mash-up since I'm pretty sure they don't use tamarind in the middle east.

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