recipe

Recipe: Curried Green Peas and Yams

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My latest creation – a curried meal of green peas and yams.  it came out nice and tasty, though I think I need to slightly reduce the curry poweder, and I may add soy sauce for more depth of taste, and/or a tomato for depth of taste and a thicker sauce.

You can also scale this recipe – at it’s core each serving is one cup of peas, one cup of diced yams, a little under 2 tsp of curry powder, a dash of cayenne pepper, a dash of black pepper, and 1/8 tsp of salt.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups of green peas (frozen or thawed)
  • 4 cups of diced yams (depending on the yams available, this could take 2 or take 4-5).
  • 2 tbsp curry powder
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, ground.
  • 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • Clinatro to garnish

Directions

  1. Dice the yam and place them in a lidded pot with a thin layer of water on the bottom. Bring to boil and simmer with lid cover, stirring and adding water as needed to keep the bottom fully covered. There should be enough to really steam the yams as opposed to boil them.
  2. When the yams start to soften (about 5-7 minutes) add everything else. Mix thoroughly, adding water if needed to mix the spiced. Blend so everything is coated – heat through.
  3. Serve with cilantro.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Canal House Lentils

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Yep, been on a cooking roll lately.  Three good recipes in one week!

This is actually a kind of breakfast lentil, originally a Japanese one. It’s pretty satisfying while being light. You can use it for more than breakfast – I had it for dinner with some polenta and cowpeas.

The 3 servings proposed are hearty servings more akin to a dinner. For a light breakfast break it into 4-6 servings.

Makes 3 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium leek, white and light green parts, chopped.
  • 3 cloves garlic (1 tbsp) crushed.
  • 1 medium tomato, seeded, finely chopped.
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup green or brown lentils.
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • black pepper
  • scallions
  1. Place leek, garlic, and tomato in pot and dry sauté, mashing the tomato as you stir. Add water as needed to keep ingredients from sticking.
  2. Continue sauté and mashing until the leeks are soft and the tomato is well mashed.
  3. Add water and lentils. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.
  4. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally until lentils soften (depending on the kind you use it can be 25-40 minutes), but are still al dente.
  5. Remove from heat. Stir in soy sauce.
  6. Serve. Sprinkle with scallions and black pepper to taste.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Cocoa Peanuts

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(Yeah been on a roll lately)

This is a simple recipe – and you can substitute any kind of nuts or seeds in for the peanuts. I like it as a healthy snack – the maple syrup doesn’t add many calories unless you’re really slamming it (keep it to about ¼ a cup or so).

You can scale this one up easily – just multiply the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup peanuts, unroasted, unsalted
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
  1. Preheat oven to 325
  2. Mix peanuts and maple syrup in a bowl until peanuts are coated.
  3. Sprinkle cocoa powder into syrup/nut mixture gradually, stirring until it is mixed in with the syrup, and the peanuts are coated thoroughly. It will form a thick brown liquid that covers the peanuts.
  4. Pour mixture onto a cookie sheet and spread out.
  5. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes until the nuts are dry – the pan may be a bit sticky still, but the nuts will be dry.
  6. Remove sheet, stir one more time to unstick. Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container.

Notes:

• Make sure you use a good non-stick pan – the mixture bakes on, but it comes off with a bit of soap and scrubbing.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.