Vietnamese Pickles, Homegrown Goodies, 400 Calorie Dinner and more

Lady Sally wants me to start marking items in the blog that make great 400 Calorie Dinners or Entrees. This week check out the Falafel Burgers. 

 I have for years, used the online site Nutrition Data, to calculate the nutritional values of recipes: http://nutritiondata.self.com 
 

Vietnamese Pickles

I was reminded of these the other day, and how tasty they are. Not the same as pickled cucumbers at all. Simple to make too. Just do up a couple jars at a time. The amount of pickling liquid here will make 3 pints of pickles.

9" to 10" length of 2-3" diameter Daikon, scrubbed

1/2 cup or so of julienned Carrots

4 cups hot water (tap hot, not boiling)

3 Tbsp Sugar

2 Tbsp Kosher Salt (less if you use table salt)

6 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar

Cut the daikon into thin disks and then slice into a nice julienne cut. You can do the same with some large carrots, or buy a bag of pre-cut julienne carrots (which I did for other purposes).

In another bowl mix the water, vinegar, sugar and salt, and stir until everything dissolves.

Take three pint jars and fill them with the daikon/carrot mix. Pour the liquid overall and screw on the tops. Refrigerate, and wait at least 3 days before consuming. Will last in the fridge at least a month or so.

The same brine solution can also be used with any cut veggies -- onion slices, green or wax beans, slices of bell pepper, okra, baby corn,cauliflower, etc. 

Falafel Burgers

Well, I created a much better falafel this time. The recipe makes 3 giant patties 4" in diameter and over 3/4" thick. Half a patty would fill half a pita, as a sandwich. Or make a bunch of mini patties as an hors d'oeuvre/snack.

1-1/2 cup Garbanzo Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1/3 cup Diced Onion

1/3 cup minced Parsley

3 large cloves of Garlic, minced

1-1/2 tsp ground Coriander

1-1/2 tsp ground Cumin

1 Egg, beaten

1 Tbsp Lemon zest (about half a lemon worth)

1/3 cup Panko

3/4 cup hot but not boiling water

Mix the flour, salt, soda and spices. Add the onion, zest and parsley, and mix again. Stir in the water and egg to form a wet dough, then stir in the panko to tighten things up so it's not too sticky when you form the patties. Pan fry in some EVOO until GB&D. Serve with hummus or tomato slices or lemony Greek yogurt or any number of other goodies.

One of these patties is about 270 calories, making a great tasting, very filling entree for an Under 400 Calorie Dinner.

Homegrown Pigeon Peas

We planted several bushes of pigeon peas around Sally's yard last summer and got a handful of seeds by fall. Saved those in the fridge, and we got a second flowering and a ton more pods this spring. I let thosepods dry on the bushes, then cracked the peas from the pods (much easier than shelling green peas from soft pods, believe me!)   Then I soaked the dried peas overnight in plain water to plump them up, and cooked them in water for about 30 minutes until tender. Dusted them with a little Arhar Dal Indian spice blend after they cooked and drained. These were the side dish for my Falafel Burgers.  Yuuummm!

Moringa Pods

We planted a Moringa a year ago and have been harvesting the leaves to make healthy tea.  I have plenty for sale if anyone is interested.

We finally go some pods on, this spring, and I'm harvesting them now, as well. Almost everything on the tree is edible.

When boiled/steamed like green beans, the slender (pencil sized or smaller) pods are very tasty, with overtones of artichoke. Simply cut the 12-16" long pods into 1-2" lengths and cook.

The large pods, up to 1/4" diameter or so, can also be boiled/steamed, but their outer skin is harder. These are best eaten like artichoke leaves - after cooking, split the pod pieces lengthwise, bite down, and rake the goodness in with your teeth.   The taste a bit like asparagus.

I'm also experimenting with pickling the Moringa pods using the Vietnamese Pickle recipe. Will let you know next week how that turns out.

Mom's Mac & Cheese 

I don't make this very often - otherwise I'd weigh 300 lbs!  But Sally needed a potluck dish for work, so I made a large batch and baked it in two containers.  This is not your usual "cheese soup with macaroni" kind of Mac & Cheese!

1 lb box Elb0w Macaroni

1 lb Colby Cheese (or a mild Cheddar)

1/4 cup shredded Colby or Cheddar for topping

Black Pepper to Taste

1 pint Whole Milk

Cook the macaroni according to package directions for 'firm'.  While that's going on cut the block cheese into cubes.

Put about an inch deep layer of macaroni in a 10" loaf pan.  Dust with a little black pepper.  Add  about half the cubed cheese.  Add a second layer of macaroni and top again with cubes of cheese and the shredded cheese.  Pour about 1 cup of milk overall.  Bake at 375F for 45 minutes.  Let it rest for 20 minutes or more so the cheesy crust hardens.   Slice and serve.

I never get this quite right.  As you can see, I've either added too much milk, or not cooked it long enough or hot enough.  The milk is supposed to cook up through the first cheese layer, which it did, but not all of it got absorbed.  Guess I'll have to try again.