Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Recipes: Spreads!

I love experimenting with spreads. Since we don't use butter or cheese, and jam doesn't make a filling meal, we need something creamy and flavourful to eat bread with! We've discovered that all kinds of ingredients lend themselves to delicious spreads: the base could be different kinds of beans, chickpeas, tofu, nuts, cauliflower, brinjal, coconut, or avocado, along with herbs, fruits, vegetables, etc for flavouring. Throw an assortment of ingredients into a blender and voila! You have a quick, wholesome meal! The perfect dish for innovation.

Tofu-Olive Cream Cheese

Blend together a pack of tofu, 3 olives (green preferably), 1 tbsp dried oregano, 2 tbsp fresh onion, 5-6 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt, jaggery (we use a home-made syrup), and 1 tsp vinegar. This is so quick and tastes so special that it is a regular with us. When in a rush, I skip the onion, and it tastes just fine.

Double Bean and Greens Super Spread

We came up with this super healthy spread last night.

Cook 1 cup of double beans. Cut one or two tomatoes into large chunks and cook them well, along with 3-4 cloves of garlic. If you have the time and energy to remove the peels of the tomatoes first, do. Add 1 bunch of greens (spinach, amaranth, etc), cook until they just wilt. Blend together with 1 cup of cooked double beans, salt, jaggery syrup, dried thyme (or other herb), 1 tbsp oil, natural vinegar.

Rajasthani women in Goa: just to add a bit of colour to this post :)

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