Come to Vegetopolis @ Pig Island This Saturday

poster by Ali Seitz 

This Saturday, I'll be giving a South Indian cooking demo using seasonal vegetables at Pig Island which will take place on Governor's Island.  That's right, this vegetarian is going to Pig Island!  Historically, Pig Island, the brainchild of Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy's No. 43, was all about celebrating local and sustainable pig, but now thanks to my friend and fellow locavore, Cathy Erway, it's about celebrating local vegetables too!

Cathy, who is the author of The Art of Eating In and host of one of my favorite talk radio shows on Heritage Radio, Let's Eat In, is spearhearding Vegetopolis at Pig Island.  She's put together a fun program of events including vegetarian cooking demos by myself, Lukas Volger, author of Veggie Burgers Every Whichway and herself, in addition to a "Name That Plant" Raffle Giveaway!

Here is the schedule for Vegetopolis on 9/1:

1-2pm: Lukas Volger, author of Veggie Burgers Every Whichway
2-3 pm: Chitra Agrawal, blogger of The ABCD’s of Cooking
3-4pm: Cathy Erway, author of The Art of Eating In
4pm: “Name That Plant” Raffle Giveaway

In addition, Pig Island will be featuring 25 of the best chefs in the NY area, local craft beer from Sixpoint, wine and ciders from the area and live music.  It's also on Governor's Island, which is an interesting and beautiful place to explore if you have not already been.  Tickets are $85 and you get unlimited food, beer and access to some pretty cool cooking demos I hear;)

Egg Curry

I've been getting a half dozen eggs from my farmshare each week. 

I love to hard-boil them because it's one of my most favorite snacks but at times I have a few of them left at the end of the week.  

This time, I decided to make a quick egg curry with the leftovers, which is really nice for this time of year because tomatoes are in season.  I got these heirloom tomatoes in my share this weekend.  They are a variety called Orange Russian and look all heart-shaped like this:



There are many variations of egg curry or also called anda curry found in India.  Some recipes use coconut milk, tamarind, cream, etc, but whenever I have fresh tomatoes I like them to be the main base of this curry.
















And instead of cream, I use Greek yogurt because its lighter and healthier, plus I think it does the trick for making the sauce thicker and a bit richer.



This dish should have a bit of sourness to it and I've found that if the tomatoes I have don't give the dish enough sourness, I add in some amchoor, which is dried mango powder, so that's why I've made it optional in the recipe.  You can find this powder in any Indian grocery store.

I served this egg curry over brown rice with a little bit of Indian pickle.

Egg Curry
serves 2

Ingredients
3 eggs, hard-boiled and cut in half
2 tablespoon ghee or vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds

pinch of asafetida/hing

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, grated

2 large tomatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/3 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon amchoor powder (dried mango powder) - optional
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
salt
cilantro for garnish

Method
Hard boil 3 eggs, peel, cut in half and set aside.

Heat ghee or oil in a pan under medium heat.  Add in mustard seeds, asafetida/hing and cumin seeds.  When the mustard seeds start to pop, add in the onions and cook until they are translucent and fragrant.

Add in the garlic and ginger and stir them around.  Fry for 30 seconds (you should be able to smell the garlic).

Add in the tomatoes and mix up well and mash them down a bit.  Then add in the garam masala, coriander powder, chili powder and turmeric.  When the mixture starts to bubble a little, turn the heat down so it is simmering.  Simmer the mixture until the tomatoes break down and becomes a pulpy sauce ~ 6-7 minutes.

Add in the amchoor and mix.  This is an optional ingredient that adds a nice sour taste to the dish.  Mix a tablespoon of Greek yogurt in very well and add salt to taste.  At this point, you can drop the eggs in gently and spoon the gravy over them.

Simmer with eggs for 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with rice.

Breaded Eggplant Pakoras Over Greens

Pakoras are a North Indian appetizer, made out of vegetables that are battered in chickpea flour and water and then deep fried.  I wanted to make a variation of this recipe that was not deep fried out of a few ingredients I had leftover from my farmshare: Japanese eggplant, eggs, parsley and Romaine lettuce.

I ended up making the batter out of an egg, some Greek yogurt, chili powder, cumin, salt, and parsley.  I coated the eggplant first with some chickpea flour, before dipping it in the batter and Panko.  Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs which give you the most crunch, but you can use any bread crumbs that you have. Then I shallow fried the pakoras until crisp and browned.  The recipe worked and I made it for my dear friend Julie who was leaving town:(

I served them over some greens, coated with a little oil and sherry vinegar.  I feel like this would be a great way to cook the eggplant for eggplant parmesan - kind of like an Indian version of it. Stay tuned for that recipe once I make it!

Ingredients
Eggplant Pakora
2 tablespoons oil
1 Japanese eggplant, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 egg
2 heaping tablespoons of Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder (depending on how hot you like it)
1/3 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
salt
3/4 cup Panko or other bread crumbs
1/2 cup chickpea flour

Salad
half small head of Romaine lettuce, roughly torn
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Slice eggplant into 1/4 inch discs. Place on a plate and sprinkle with salt.  Let the eggplant sit for a half hour.  The eggplant will have given off some water.  Wipe the water and salt off of the eggplant when it's time.

In a bowl, beat the egg.  Mix in the Greek yogurt, chili powder, cumin powder, parsley and salt.

In a plate lay out the bread crumbs and in another spread some chickpea flour.

Put the eggplants in the plate with the chickpea flour and coat them all with the flour.

In a non-stick fry pan, heat oil under medium heat.

Take each eggplant piece one at a time and dip them in the batter, then the bread crumbs and then place them in the hot oil.  Try to do this as quick as possible so they all cook for the same amount of time.

Turn down the head to between medium low and medium.  Cook until browned on one side (4-5 minutes) and then flip them over to cook on the other side (3-4 minutes).  If they start cooking too fast on the outside, just turn the heat down and cover them with a lid.

When cooked, place the eggplant in a bowl lined with a paper towel.

Assemble greens in a bowl or plate and lightly toss with olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper (Depending you may have some dressing left).  Place eggplant fritters on top and serve.  If you have any dressing left, you can drizzle a little on top.

My Upcoming Cooking Class for The School of Kitchensurfing @ Ger-Nis

I'll be teaching a South Indian, vegetarian cooking class on Wednesday, 8/15 at Ger-Nis for the School of Kitchensurfing, a Skillshare group featuring Kitchensurfing chefs like myself.

This should be a fun class and I'm excited to be doing it in the kitchens of Ger-Nis, a Brooklyn cooking school that advocates for local chefs, farmers and artisans and ingredients that are organic and fair trade.  There are only 6 seats so be sure to sign up here if you are interested.

Lettuce Wraps with Curried Tofu and Coconut Basil Chutney

For some time, I've wanted to make an Indian recipe using lettuce wraps and the opportunity showed itself on Sunday! I remember the first time I was introduced to the idea was at Koryo, a Korean restaurant in Berkeley that my friend Mia had taken me to.  The concept is quite foreign in Indian cooking so I thought it would be fun to try it out.

My friend Lauren (whose beautiful plate that I want to steal is above:) had invited me over on Sunday and asked if I'd bring an appetizer; the challenge being though that there were a number of dietary restrictions in the group: no milk products, no gluten, no nuts or avocado.  I'm always happy to accommodate dietary restrictions because I've been a vegetarian all my life and know how it feels when you can't eat something so I was excited to come up with something that everyone could enjoy.

When thinking about what I could make, the idea of lettuce wraps popped in my head. I had just learned that tofu usually has gluten but this one brand, Nasoya makes gluten-free tofu so I decided to make my curried tofu curry recipe and a chutney out of the basil that I just had gotten in my farm share. 

 

Basil is not usually used in chutneys, but thinking of how well basil and coconut go in Thai food, I made up this chutney recipe using the leaves, coconut, lemon and ginger.  I'm happy I did because now I have another alternative to pesto when I get basil leaves in my farm share.

For these wraps, I used butter or Boson lettuce, which I think is maybe the most tasty of lettuces:

 

Lettuce Wraps with Curried Tofu and Coconut Basil Chutney 

Ingredients
1 head of butter lettuce, washed and dried
curried tofu recipe
coconut basil chutney

Method
Place a tablespoon of curried tofu in one lettuce leaf and top with a teaspoon of coconut basil chutney.  You can also just have all three in 3 separate dishes for people to assemble on their own.

Coconut Basil Chutney Recipe
Ingredients
1 bunch basil leaves, washed
1 cup frozen fresh grated coconut, thawed
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 green chills
1 tsp ginger grated
1 small onion
1 small tomato
salt to taste
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt (optional)

Method
Combine all ingredients in blender and puree.  Fold in Greek yogurt optionally.