beet hummus

I made beet hummus for the first time with a roasted beet I had in the freezer.

The deep pink/magenta color was perfect for the overcast weather.

1 roasted beet (about the size of a fist), peeled & sliced
1 can of garbanzo beans (380 grams), rinsed
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons olive oil

In a food processor, whiz everything together to the consistency of your choice.

NOTES: I didn't have sesame paste (tahini) so I used sesame oil instead. My hummus didn't get creamy or a light pink, which I think was due to not using tahini.

Still, I'm glad I tried this.

I froze half and we enjoyed the rest for several dinners over the weekend.

Yesterday, we had snow! for most of the morning.

I think this helped everyone stay at home.

Japan does not have any laws that allow the government to mandate everyone to stay at home.

Because of this, they can only "ask" us to do so.

Many of the surrounding prefectures also "asked" their citizens to stay at home.

Most parks for hanami (cherry blossom viewing) are off limits so no one gathers, benches blocked off as well as park entrances.

Hoping we can cut our numbers this week, though we need the cooperation of everyone.

Have a good week.

city bakery

I recently had lunch at City Bakery.

This particular day their daily sandwich was an open faced sandwich topped with hummus and grilled veggies (tomato, eggplant, asparagus, red and yellow peppers).

They also drizzled some balsamic vinegar and sprinkled lots of cheese. I think the cheese was either pecorino or parmesan.

I enjoyed the crisp edges of the toast.

I hope to recreate this one!

roasted red bell pepper hummus

Hummus is really easy to make, especially if you have a food processor.

I recently threw together a roasted red bell pepper hummus and we have been enjoying this as pupu (appetizer) for dinner and I also have been eating this for lunch.

This recipe is based on what I used...

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus makes about 1.75 cups

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 red bell pepper, washed
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
230 grams (8 ounces) canned chick peas, rinsed
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon cumin
1.5 tablespoon sesame paste
3 tablespoon olive oil
grinds of pepper to taste

Drizzle olive oil over garlic.
Roast garlic & red bell pepper in a 220C (425F) oven for 40 minutes.

Take skin off of bell pepper and de-seed. Peel garlic.
Whiz in food processor with chick peas.
Add sesame paste, cumin, lemon juice, pulse.
Drizzle in olive oil while running food processor.
Add grinds of pepper.
Whiz until you get the consistency that you like.
Enjoy on pretzels or pita.

NOTES: just the flavors that I remember! yummy!

sweet potato hummus

While the weather is trying to figure out whether it is Autumn or Summer, the markets are saying that it is Autumn.

Sweet potatoes are in season here. I love steaming them. The satsuma imo (sweet potato) turns a bright yellow.

In July, while I was in Hawaii, I found this recipe in "Body and Soul" for hummus using sweet potatoes.

Since I had some leftover sweet potato, I bought a bottle of garbanzos and tried this recipe.

I've put the amounts that I used in (italicized parentheses).

Sweet Potato Hummus from "Body and Soul" July/August 2009

makes about 4 cups (made a little over a 1 cup)

1 pound (about 453 grams) of sweet potato, steamed, cubed and peeled (150 grams sweet potato, steamed and cubed, I didn't peel all the pieces)
1 can (19.5 ounce) chickpeas, drained and rinsed (220 grams garbanzos about 7.5 ounces)
1/4 cup lemon juice (3 tablespoons lemon juice)
1/4 cup tahini (2 tablespoons tahini)
2 tablespoons EVOO
2 teaspoon cumin (1 teaspoon cumin)
1 clove garlic, chopped (1/2 clove garlic, chopped)
salt & pepper (I didn't add salt nor pepper)

Steam the cut sweet potato about 10 to 12 minutes
Whiz everything in a food processor
Add water if necessary (I added 1/4 cup of water)
Serve with pita and/or veggie sticks

NOTES: I think if I used more sweet potato, the flavor of the hummus may have turned out a little sweeter. While peeling the steamed potato, I thought it was a waste to throw out the skin, so I left the rest of them and found that it added some nice purplish flecks here and there.

My food processor is quite small, so there were a lot of "unprocessed" bits. Still I liked this, and would definitely make it again, maybe adding more sweet potato the next time, just to see if the flavors would be different. I served this with carrot and celery sticks.

spring veggies

With Spring, there are the "new" veggies...like shinjagaimo (new potatoes), these are tiny fingerling type (the photo shows the difference).

And shintamanegi (literally new onions), these are tender and sweet. I tried making caramelized onions (more on this in a later post). Both are great for roasting.

With the weather sort-of warming up, we've been eating more veggies as salads lately.

We also had hummus with tandoori chicken wraps.

Greek salad.

Roasted veggies with grilled chicken.

A small rant on asparagus. Would you pay 258 yen (about US$2.58) for 3 asparagus stalks from Japan or 99 yen (about US$.99) for 8 asparagus stalks from Mexico? I know neither is really a choice, but I really like to buy Japan when I can, but 3 versus 8....price wise and amount wise, I chose the Mexican asparagus.

Dark beer beef stew.

I found the recipe for the stew in a gas pamphlet at my MIL's.

500 grams gyumomo (beef top round)
salt/pepper
flour to coat
oil to brown
250 grams onion, sliced
150 grams carrot, chopped
1 celery, chopped
1 package shimeji (tricoloma)
celery leaf
350 ml dark beer
******************************
(a)
2 cup bouillon
100 grams tomato puree
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon sugar
1 bay leaf
******************************
40 grams butter
salt/pepper
Italian parsley

1. Cut meat into 4 cm cubes, salt and pepper and coat with flour, brown in oil.
2. Cut vegetables, wash shimeji
3. After browning beef, add veggies and coat with oil, add beer and let alcohol burn off (about 10 minutes).
4. Add (a), celery leaf, scrape off scum.
5. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
6. Add butter, turn off heat.
7. Top with parsley.

NOTES: this is rich and delicious, I used 1.5 onions, 1 carrot, 250 grams meat and only 12 grams butter (40 grams of butter seemed too much). I also used Yebisu black beer.

flying tandoori

No it is not a new airlines...but I do have to tell you about the disaster(s) I had yesterday in and out of the kitchen.

It started in the morning, trying to get my toast out of the oven, I branded my finger with the element. My reflexes were not quite awake yet and I left it to sizzle a bit (Ssss)...itai (ouch, now I kind of know how those cows must feel)!

Then when I went to the market and tried to pick out a lemon, 3 of them flew off the shelf....sigh...I ended up not buying any.

And then the disaster of all disasters was trying to prepare tandoori chicken for dinner, I used this recipe. As I was measuring out the spices into a ziploc container to marinade the chicken, my unzipped jacket somehow went into the container and proceeded to drag the container off the counter. I tried to catch it, which ended up with me volleyball bumping it instead and spices flying everywhere...of course, I screamed...

I walked carefully to the bath area to brush myself off. Spices were on my sweats and house slippers....afterwards, I noticed there was also a nice "spice trail" to the bathroom...

I took out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed everything (hopefully everything) that spilled, then I started measuring the spices again.

I guess I should be thankful it happened with only the dry spices and not with the yogurt and other wet ingredients.

After marinating the sasami (skinless chicken breasts) for about 4 hours, I baked it for 10 minutes in a 350F (180C) oven then put it under the broiler for another 17 minutes, turning once halfway.

I also made some hummus using a recipe that I had printed out from the Food Network (the recipe is no longer on their site). It was a recipe by Mina Newman, executive chef of Layla Restaurant (not sure if she or the restaurant is still there in NYC).

I toasted a handful of pine nuts, then cut up half of a carrot, cucumber, red pepper & green pepper. I added 5 or 6 teaspoons of the hummus and mixed it well.

Then I took out 1 graham pita from the freezer and toasted it. I cut it in half and filled one half with half of the hummus mixture and a sliced tandoori chicken breast.

The results...a great dinner and a nice way to end all the madness in the kitchen (for now).