Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup with Fried Scallions

This soup reheats well, so I make a large batch and store whatever I won’t eat within a weeks’ time in 2 cup containers in the freezer. This makes it easy to take for lunch or reheat for a quick weeknight meal. It is delicious served over brown rice or with whole grain bread, crackers or pita.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil*

1 large, or 2 medium onions, ¼ to ½-inch dice

2 stalks celery, ¼ to ½-inch dice

4 medium carrots, ¼ to ½-inch dice

1 cup diced sweet potato, potato, or winter squash

1 cup ¼ to ½-inch diced summer squash or zucchini

6 tablespoons finely minced cilantro stems and roots

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

28-ounces tomato sauce (low-sodium, if possible)

2 cups red lentils

2 small limes, juiced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

8 scallions, sliced thinly on a bias

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a 6 to 8 quart stock pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, stirring occasionally. If onions begin to cook to quickly and stick or become deep brown in spots, turn heat down to medium.
2. While onion is cooking, chop and add celery, carrots, sweet potato, summer squash and cilantro stems, 1 teaspoon salt, turmeric and cumin to the pot, continuing to stir occasionally. If the vegetables begin to brown or stick, cover with a lid. Cook for 5 min.
3. Add tomato sauce, 8 cups of water and lentils. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and cover with a lid; soup should be simmering (lightly bubbling). Cook for 30 minutes. Stir frequently for the first 10 minutes or lentils will stick to the bottom of the pot.
4. When the soup is nearly done, heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over high heat. When oil just starts to smoke, add in scallions and stir-fry until the edges crisp and brown slightly. Remove scallions from pan and set aside for garnishing.
5. Season soup to taste with lime juice, salt and pepper.
6. Serve soup sprinkled with scallions. Stir remaining scallions into the soup when you’re putting the soup away after dinner.

*If you prefer crunchy scallions, heat enough oil to truly fry the scallions (about 1 cup) and cook the scallions in 2 batches. You can scoop the scallions out of the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Reserve the leftover oil for other uses; it is great for salad dressings, pastas, and drizzled over baked potatoes or roasted vegetables.

Makes: 18 cups (9 bowls)

Udon with Shiitakes & Braised Baby Bok Choy

Inspired by some beautiful baby bok choy that I found at the farmer's market today, here is an Asian noodle recipe that would be right at home in any homestyle Chinese, Japanese or Taiwanese meal. If you can only find full-sized bok choy, they will also work for this recipe.

Udon with Shiitake Mushrooms & Braised Baby Bok Choy

Two different styles of baby bok choy commonly available at farmer's or Asian markets:

Dry, thin, flat (top) and fresh, large, round (bottom) and  udon noodles:

Udon with Shiitakes

Cooking notes: The flavor of the noodles is best if you have a very high heat burner to use with wok cooking. I, unfortunately, do not have this at home. To try to achieve a bit of caramelization on the noodles, I preheat a large cast iron skillet instead. Even if you aren't able to caramelize the noodles, this dish is delicious. In the picture, above, I have used the flat, thin, dried udon noodles but the dish is best with the fresh, fat, round noodles.

Ingredients:

½ pound dried (or 1 pound fresh) udon noodles (large, round are best but any will work)

1 egg, beaten (optional)

1/4 cabbage, shredded

1 medium carrot, shredded or shaved into long strips

8 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly

1 shallot or ½ small red onion, chopped (1/4-inch dice)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons untoasted sesame or peanut oil

Sauce Ingredients:

2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons vegetarian oyster sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt, optional

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoon mirin

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

2 Tablespoons water

Directions:

1. If using dried udon noodles, cook in boiling water for 2/3 the amount of time recommended on the package, then drain and run cold water over the noodles to stop the cooking. If using fresh noodles, just untangle noodles with your fingers (do not pre-cook). Set aside.
2. Mix together sauce ingredients; set aside.
3. In a hot wok or cast iron skillet over high heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil, shallot and garlic; stir briefly for a couple of seconds being careful not to let them brown. Add cabbage, carrot and mushrooms, stir-frying for 1-2 minutes.
4. Remove vegetables from pan and wipe out pan. Return to heat and add remaining tablespoon of oil. When hot add egg (if using) and noodles, stir-frying until heated through. If the noodles begin to stick add another teaspoon or two of oil.
5. Add veggies back to the pan along with the sauce and stir-fry over high heat until noodles just start to caramelize or until all ingredients are hot. If using a low-power burner, the noodles may never caramelize, but the dish will still be delicious. Do not cook more than 2 minutes.
6. Serve immediately. Great with braised baby bok choy. 

Serves: 4

Braised Baby Bok Choy

Ingredients:

1 pound baby bok choy (or full-sized if you can't find baby*)

Sauce Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon untoasted sesame or peanut oil

1 cup water

Directions:

1. Fill a large bowl with water and soak the whole baby bok choy fully submerged for about half an hour; swish the bok choy vigorously to remove as much dirt and debris as possible. Lift bok choy out of the bowl and into a colander; discard the soaking water.
2. Cut the very end of the stem off and then cut bok choy in half through the middle of the stem (the long way) so that all of the leaves remain attached.
3. In a Dutch oven or 6-8 liter stock pot*, bring sauce ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and add bok choy placing the stem ends directly into the liquid and standing the leaf ends up like flowers. Cover the pot and cook for 7 minutes*.
4. Serve immediately while hot.

Serves: 3-4

Serving suggestions: Goes well with any Chinese, Japanese or Taiwanese meals. I like to top Udon with Shiitakes with these Braised Baby Bok Choy to add some greens to the dish.

*Note: if using full-sized bok choy, cook in slightly smaller diameter pot (so that the bok choy will stand up) and cook for 10 minutes instead of 7.

Sweet Potato Greens—the undiscovered green (and cheap eat!)

Think spinach – but cheaper. Much cheaper. 

Sweet potato leaves as you might find them at a store or market*

At my local farmer’s market, I can get a full plastic grocery-sized bag of these sweet potato greens (which are literally just the green, above-ground part of the sweet potato plant) for $1.00.  When I compared the volume of plant-to-cost ratio of $2.99 per bunch spinach at Whole Foods, I would guess that I got 5 times the volume of plant. So, 5x $2.99= $14.95 at Whole Foods vs. $1 at my farmer's market.

That’s a savings of nearly $14 off the bat!

But wait, there’s more! For fully-grown adult spinach, you generally have to eat the leaves and either discard or separately cook the more fibrous stems to get something edible. The allure of spinach for most people is the leaves – a quick wilt in some olive oil, salt, and pepper—maybe some chopped garlic and crushed red pepper flakes with a squeeze of lemon at the end—and you’re done! Most people I know toss out the stems. They’re just not worth the extra effort to the non-foodie who’s not on a tight food budget.

Sweet potato greens are different. I took my kitchen shears and cut the stems midway. Basically, I cut off the largest, thickest part of the bottom of the stems, but left about 6 to 8-inches of stem attached to the leaves. I roughly chopped this (stems with leaves) and cooked as above for simple spinach. This is excellent with an over-medium egg (or sautéed tofu) and sprouted-grain toast for a complete and healthy breakfast.

What are SWEET POTATO GREENS?? Sweet potato greens are literally just the top of the sweet potato plant. The orange part in the picture is what you're used to seeing in a traditional market; it grows under the ground as a root. The greens that I talk about in this post are the green parts you see in this picture; they grow above ground. The greens are often discarded in the United States and most other countries who eat this prized tuber. In other places, like Thailand and Northeast China, they also eat the greens.

Sweet potato plant right after being pulled from the earth**

Taste is where it’s at!

The results were very similar. If you didn’t tell someone, they’d never know. By my palate, they have a little less bitterness than spinach. This is due to the lower oxalic acid content. Oxalic acid is compound found in many greens that contributes bitterness and inhibits calcium absorption. Bonus – get more of that calcium from the sweet potato greens! In a hearty portion, you’ll also get 3-4 grams of protein, some iron, fiber, vitamin C and vitamin A.

Price check in: You can chop and cook the thicker stems, just like adult spinach and have little to no waste.

Recipe Recommendations: Use anywhere you’d use spinach leaves

o   Salads

o   A couple of handfuls raw into smoothies

o   Spinach enchiladas

o   Pasta

o   Cooked first then added to wood-fired pizza

o   Simple Sautéed spinach

o   Palak recipes (Indian recipes using spinach)

o   Quiche

o   Soups

o   Wilted/Warm Spinach Salads

o   Casseroles

o   Spinach Dip

I ate my breakfast too quickly to take a pic! Another delicious sweet potato greens saute pic #

Wrap-up:

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why more people don’t eat these greens! Clearly, availability is a big issue in the United States, but we have plenty of sweet potatoes. All it would take to get greens more widely available would be for people to start asking for them at grocers and farmer’s markets. Who wouldn’t want to make money on something that they generally throw away?

Next time you’re at a farmer’s market or Asian market, look out for sweet potato greens, try something new, improve your health and save some $$!

*Photo credit: Thaifoodandtravel.com

**Photo credit: ces.ncsu.edu

#Photo credit:  www.greenthumbish.net