Tag Archives: 15 minute meals

Tangy meets spicy in this apricot chutney

I bought a batch of apricots from the farmers market and while they were yummy, they had a level of “new to the season” tartness to them.  Contemplating a variety of baking projects to use up the apricots, I hit upon an idea; could they take the place of tomatoes in a favorite, spicy chutney?

My excitement kicked up a couple of notches when I saw the farm fresh red onions waiting to be invited to this party.

Quickly, I assembled the ingredients.

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A few quick steps and out emerged a chutney which was fiery, tangy and super yummy!

Ingredients:

  • 4 farm fresh apricots, seeded and cut into small chunks
  • 2 farm fresh red onions, leaves removed and finely chopped
  • 3 green chilies, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 inch piece ginger, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 dried red chilly
  • 1 heaped teaspoon hot curry powder
  • 2 tbsps oil (I used avocado oil)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 heaped tsp cilantro leaves for garnishing

How To:

1. Heat the oil in a flat-bottomed pan or wok and when hot, add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and dried red chilly.  When the mustard seeds stop crackling, add the onions, green chilies, ginger, and garlic and fry till the onions turn brown.

2. Add the chopped apricots, toss with the onion mixture and cook covered till the apricots are close to done.  They should be easy to smash with a spatula.

3. Add the salt and curry powder, mix well, turn off the stove and garnish with fresh cilantro.

4. The chutney is ready in 15 minutes and goes beautifully with steamed rice, flatbread, as a spicy condiment with eggs and more!

PS: Everyone’s spice tolerance varies, so please feel free to adjust the chilies and curry powder to suit your palate.

Transforming a head of broccoli into a lovely dish in 15 minutes!

By Lakshmi:

Today I was craving roasted veggies with dinner and as I looked into my trusted resource, a.k.a my fridge, a nice, firm head of broccoli peeped out seemingly to invite itself to its place on the dining table.  So I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, picked up the broccoli, chopped it into florets, and let my mind flip through the possibilities to prepare it.

Step 1:  I tossed the cleaned florets with a tablespoon of olive oil, a crushed garlic clove, a teaspoon of crushed red pepper and some salt on a baking tray and stuck it in the oven for 15 minutes.

Step 2: I mixed a teaspoon of tahini with a couple of tablespoons of yogurt, a pinch of salt and a tsp of berbere spice and created the sauce to drizzle over the roasted veggies.

Step 3: I simply tossed the roasted broccoli into a bowl, drizzled the dressing on top and just dug in!

PS.  You really don’t need to have berbere spice to do this.  You could use a combination of cumin/coriander powder or simply chilly powder or any other spice that could go with yogurt.  If you are vegan, you could skip the yogurt and simply use a teaspoon of peanut butter with a couple of tablespoons of toasted sesame oil and have a lovely dish as well!

 

An empty mason jar provides inspiration for a meal!

By Lakshmi:

I’ve got to admit, I’m a little behind on the mason jar craze.  But when I saw one on clearance (yes, I love bargains!), I picked it up and started thinking of ways to fill it.

Browsing through ideas, I came upon this whole phenomenon of salad in a jar.  What a brilliant way to always have a healthy, go to, ready meal in the fridge!

I watched a few videos, looked at a few recipes and decided to turn to my trusted refrigerator for ingredients to assemble my first salad in a jar.  Since most of the salads I looked at for inspiration appeared to have a bit of a formula, I created a little sheet to serve as a reference.

Salad in a jar

And as you can see from above, the possibilities to have a colorful, interesting, healthy meal are endless.

Here’s what I created with a very light dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

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I have to admit, it was so pretty that I did not have the heart to sink a fork into it.

I’d love to hear about your combinations for jar salads.  Please do write in and let us know of your experiments.  I’ll remember to take more pictures of my creations as well:)