Curried Indian-Style Burritos, Drink on the Side

Cooking is a highly customizable art. It's not like baking, where if you mess one thing up, your entire product comes out deflated or overflowing (I may be speaking from experience). But with cooking, you can't really screw up (except if you misread a recipe and add 2 tablespoons of ginger instead of 2 teaspoons...again, I may be speaking from experience [not a huge fan of ginger]).

I had always heard such grand stories of Kurban family members throwing together a meal minutes before guests arrived with just what they had in the fridge (loljk more like 4 hours in the kitchen the day before). So, attempting to live up to the family name, I tried making a meal with what I had in the pantry. My first attempt ended up being quite successful--a pumpkin enchilada casserole. I was so proud. I had wanted to reach this moment and finally gain my papa's culinary approval--not following a recipe, just 'winging it' (he tends to chastise me when I stick too closely to a recipe).

Anyway, tonight was one of those nights. We were originally gonna go to this delicious-sounding restaurant on Mass Ave called Annapurna, but mom was a little loopy from the painkillers (poor mama!) so my papa and I decided to take over dinner for the night. Now, since our kitchen is always well [over]stocked, it wasn't as much of a challenge as it usually is at school. But, since I made a drink for the both of us before we began (don't worry, recipe for that below), it became more challenging. Just a little.

We started throwing a bunch of things together (well, I did--he was really intent on making brussel sprouts, for some reason). We tried cooking quinoa and TVP (textured vegetable protein--great meat sub) in the same pot--that didn't really work out--we ended up with little quinoa grains in the filling but whatever. And then, the best feeling came over me. The feeling of pure spontaneity. Every time I tasted it, I thought of something new that would go well with it. And every time I announced it, my dad pinched my cheeks and said 'lik ana 7ebbo inti!!!!! ana I love cooking with you!!!' My cheeks were quite sore by the end.

By the time we were done, the original meal (TVP + kidney bean burritos) turned into Curried Indian-Style Burritos (at least that's the name I just came up with right now). They were really good. They even got mom-on-painkillers's approval! (although I feel like that wouldn't be difficult to get...)

As I said, I kind of just threw everything together, but cooking's all about improvising! I shook the spices into the mix so just shake until you find a taste you like (disclaimer: my dad and I love spicy foods).

"It's like a cross between Anna's and Punjab" -what my dad would've said if he knew the names of any restaurants around here

Curried Indian-Style Burritos
Ingredients

• 2 red onions, chopped
• 1 c TVP (textured vegetable protein, Bob's Red Mill makes it)
• 1 c canned pumpkin
• 1 15oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 c chopped walnuts
• 1 T mild curry paste (or more, to taste)
• feel free to add quinoa--that's what we had originally planned to do
• spices (we used cumin, curry powder, chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper)
• tortillas, curried salsa

Instructions

1. Cook TVP according to instructions (if you like, add a bouillon cube to the water)
2. Cook red onions in a bit of olive oil--once halfway cooked, add TVP, spices, and the curry paste and cook with onions.
3. Add pumpkin and mix together with TVP and onions. Cook on low heat.
4. Mix in kidney beans and add more spices to taste. Cook on low heat for a few more minutes.
5. Start heating up your tortillas on a skillet. Once mixture is done, spoon about 1/4-1/2 c (depending on the size of your tortillas/size you want your burrito) along the middle starting from about a quarter of the way down from the top. Fold it. I was lazy and just kinda messed around until the filling didn't fall out (it did about 5 seconds later).
6. Mix in some curry paste with the salsa if you want and drizzle onto or dip with burrito.

Now, this would not have been possible without my awesome cocktail-making skills. My dad's golden rule is "One drink an hour, with food," so while he's cooking, he'll usually indulge a bit. But since I/my dad had just painted my nails (see facebook photo) and couldn't open any of the food ingredients we were using, I was in charge of the nightly cocktail. The theme of the night, I was feeling adventurous. Also my dad had a huge Arab party on Friday and all the mixers/alcohol were gone. I had to improvise. So improvise I did. These are all approximations (except for the alcohol), so don't blame me if the drink is too strong or weak.

'Summer in March' Coconut Mojito (serves 2-3)

• 3oz. Malibu Rum
• 1oz. lime juice
• 2.5 T sugar
• 4oz. lime-flavored seltzer

1. Pour everything plus ice minus the seltzer into a cocktail shaker. I'm serious, do not put the seltzer in the shaker. It will go everywhere. (I am definitely speaking from experience).
2. Shake. Add seltzer. Drink. Eat burritos. Be merry. (get it?)

Recovery quote of the day--one of my favorites.

Song of the day--Milk and Honey by Hollie Cook

Okay, time for me to write an essay on Queen Noor. Enjoy the gorgeous day while it lasts!

-Carina

Spicy Black Bean Coconut Soup with Quinoa and Homemade Dairy-Free Baileys

Anger management is not my strong suit.


Controlling emotions well in general is just...not a skill of mine. So when something goes wrong in the kitchen, I go a little crazy--90% of the time with good reason, though. One of these times was Saturday night, when my dad and I were coming back from Lowe's (lol) and had the urge to eat something that was not leftovers for dinner. I decided on spicy black bean and rice burritos. He suggested we replace the rice with quinoa. And since I love the fluffy texture of quinoa, I went with it.


We stopped at the supermarket and returned after picking up a slew of spicy, canned ingredients. Also, since it was also St. Patrick's Day, I figured I should treat myself to some Baileys. I love Baileys. Loving Baileys, however, has proven to be difficult as of late, seeing as I am lactose intolerant (woo!). So, I thought of this awesome dairy-free Baileys recipe I found on Angela's blog, Oh She Glows, and got to work. I mixed the coconut milk and Sucanat together and started the quinoa.


I put my dad on the burrito-filling duty while I cooked the quinoa and the Baileys. I wanted to mix in the quinoa with the beans before it had fully cooked, so while I was cleaning up, I told my dad to scoop the quinoa into the bean pot. My back was turned for probably two seconds and when I turned around, the bean pot (filled with onions and all sorts of chiles and spices and sauces) looked like a milky soup. Yes, my dad had poured the Baileys mix into the beans.


Naturally, I started flipping out, especially since we were out of most ingredients we needed for the burrito filling. But Papa, trained to always act on his feet (or maybe it's just his ADHD), told me to calm down and that it actually smelled good. Which it did. And whaddya know! It tasted delicious. Like a Thai black bean quinoa soup. I guess this was one of the times where a mistake turned out to be a good thing.

"See?? This is how new recipes are made! Now apologize to your dad." -Andrew Kurban

Spicy Black Bean Coconut Soup with Quinoa
(serves 4-5)


Ingredients

• 1.5 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 can full-fat coconut milk
• 15oz. Almond Breeze coconut milk
• 3 T Sucanat (or brown sugar)
• 15oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 medium onion, diced
• chiles in adobo sauce (we used a small can, it was pretty spicy)
• salsa verde (to taste)
• diced green chiles (again, to taste)
• spices (we didn't use any this time around, but I'd recommend cumin and curry powder)

Instructions

1. Follow instructions to cook quinoa.
2. Shake the coconut milk and add to a medium pot. Stir in the Sucanat and bring to a low boil. Let simmer for 6 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Fry the onion in a bit of olive oil--once cooked a bit, add the chiles+adobo sauce, salsa verde, and green chiles. Cook for a few minutes.
4. Add beans to onion mix and stir-fry.
5. Pour the coconut milk mixture into the bean pot and let cook on low for 4-5 minutes. It should now look like a soup (....).
6. Two minutes before quinoa is done cooking, scoop it into the soup pot and stir. Cook for 2 minutes and add spices to taste.
7. Feel free to blend half of it with an immersion blender. I preferred it this way, but my dad liked it with all the different textures.

Anyway, once the soup was deemed quite edible, I got back to the more important project at hand. I redid the first two steps for the dairy-free Baileys drink (thank God we had more coconut milk) and made sure my dad didn't pour it into some other spicy mixture. A quick 10 minutes later, the drink was done and was taste-tested by 5 people. It gained approval from all, especially my mom, who said she'd put it in her coffee the next morning.


The original recipe for the delicious drink can be found here. I made a few adjustments/didn't have the right ingredients/didn't read the recipe correctly/I hate coffee.

"If everybody agreed with me, they'd all be right." -Lucy Van Pelt

Homemade Dairy-Free Baileys
adapted from Oh She Glows
(makes approx. 4 cups)


Ingredients

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk
• 1 can's worth Almond Breeze coconut milk
• 3/4 cup Sucanat
• chocolate syrup, to taste (I used about 3/8 c)
• cocoa powder, to taste, one tablespoon at a time
• 3/4 - 1 cup Irish whiskey (my dad insists it can be any kind of whiskey...)

Instructions

1. In a medium pot, add the coconut milk (make sure to shake the cans first) and stir in the Sucanat. Bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. Simmer for 8 minutes until it thickens slightly.
2. Remove from heat and add in the chocolate syrup/cocoa powder, to taste.
3. Add a cup or however much you want of the Irish whiskey and stir well (this makes it pretty strong, but hey, it's St. Patrick's Day [at least it was...]).
4. Serve and drink.

Man, that Baileys was good. Thank you, Angela, for coming up with that delicious recipe. Okay it's 4:21 in the morning (hi mom!) and I don't think I should post this before going to sleep and looking at it again. But yes! First post. Hope you all enjoy!

-Carina