Monday, January 3, 2011

Applesauce, Garbanzo Lentil Soup, and Wild Rice Bread

Happy New Year!

We finally returned home to Brooklyn Saturday night and I made a few things for eating Sunday. The new thing: applesauce! The old thing: a version of my garbanzo/lentil soup. Yum. Oh, and one more new thing: wild rice bread.

Applesauce
We had a bunch of apples that were near the end of their lives, so I made them into applesauce. It was much easier than I had expected, and quite tasty. The recipe is easy: take the apples you have, peel, core, and chop them. Add them to a big pot (I had Aji do this step) and then add water, some vegan sugar, and cinnamon. For eight apples, we added approximately two cups of water, 1/4 cup natural sugar, and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Cook, covered, until the apples are soft. Then, puree with a handheld blender or mash with a fork. Et viola, applesauce!

Wild rice bread
wild rice breadI've been on a bread making kick lately. I dug out the breadmaker from storage and I've been making loaves at least once a week. I have a rye bread that I really like (but Jacqui doesn't). As soon as I figure out the water content for it, I will post that recipe. I've also been making a teff bread at my mom's that Jacqui loves. It keeps inverting though, so I need to work on it a bit. :) This bread turned out lovely and was relatively easy to make. Enjoy it sliced, with applesauce, with butter, with jam. :)

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups cold water
3 T canola oil
3 T agave nectar
2 tsp sea salt (finally got iodized sea salt!)
1/3 cup rye flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups bread flour (+4 T)
2 tsp bread yeast
1/2 cup wild rice
little bit of soy milk
4 T sunflower seeds

What to do
I made the dough in the breadmaker and then shaped the bread and baked it in the oven.
To make the dough, out the water, oil, agave in the bread maker. Then add the salt, rye flour, oats, whole wheat flour, and bread flour. Make two indentations for the yeast. Put it on the dough cycle. When it beeps to add ingredients, add the wild rice.
When the dough is finished in the breadmaker, if it is still wet, add the extra bread flour one Tablespoon at a time (I needed to add 4T) and knead. Shape the bread into a round or oblong loaf (or you could get fancy and make three strands and braid it together, but I didn't!).
Cover with a cloth and place in a warm spot to rise. Preheat the oven to 375F. (I put the bread on top of the stove to rise using the heat of the oven as it warmed up.)
When the bread has doubled in size, brush the top with the milk and sprinkle the sunflower seeds on top.
Bake it for 25-30 minutes (or longer, as needed) until it is golden, a knife or skewer stuck in the middle comes out dry and not sticky, and the bread sounds hollow if you knock it on the bottom. My bread took about 45 minutes because my oven never made it to 375. But it was delicious once it came out! :)

Garbanzo Lentil Soup
This is a version of this soup and this soup, made on the stove (instead of the crock pot) and with orange sweet potatoes and white/yellow yams. I love this soup.

Ingredients
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
6-8 tiny sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large white/yellow yam, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp tumeric
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 cup dried green lentils, picked over
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, with juice
2 1/2 - 3 cups cooked organic garbanzos (with liquid)
6 cups warm or hot water
2 low-salt vegan bouillon squares

What To Do
Heat the oil in the soup pot while chopping the onion. Saute the onion for 5-10 minutes, letting it brown a little. Chop the garlic, and add it for one - two minutes. Then, add a bit of water to de-glaze the pan (get all the good brown stuff off the pan). Let this simmer while you put all the other ingredients in the soup pot.
Add the water and bouillon. Add the cooked garbanzos, chopped sweet potatoes and yam, and green lentils. Add the ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamon. Stir everything well.
Cook and cook over medium-high heat; let everything come to a boil. Reduce the heat, and let the soup cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring every so often.
Serve warm with slices of bread (you can use the bread I made or any other bread). It's also good with rice or couscous.

Happy New Year!

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