I advanced to Round 2 of Project Food Blog! The second Challenge is to cook a classic dish from another culture.

If you read my entry for the first PFB Challenge, you know I came down with a nasty case of clogged arteries before I hit 45.  Up to that time, I was obsessed with Indian food. Not cooking it, just eating it – at restaurants from San Francisco to London and points in between.  Pork vindaloo, samosas, creamy chicken korma … I ate it in all its ghee-filled, deep fried glory.

Today, Indian restaurants are off-limits to me – my cholesterol just can’t take it. But now I’ve discovered that home-cooked Indian food can actually be remarkably healthy, as long as you choose carefully and use the right ingredients.

For this Challenge, I wanted to make a dish that was both classic and nutritious, and I found it in Chana Masala (aka Chole Masala): a traditional Punjabi favorite featuring chickpeas, tomatoes and spices. This is a perfect recipe for me (and you!) because chickpeas contain soluble fiber, the same substance that’s in oatmeal. It grabs onto cholesterol and carries it right out of your body.

I developed this recipe based on several sources, including this recipe adapted from a Madhur Jaffrey recipe, and this recipe. It includes crushed toasted coriander seeds, amchur (unripe mango) powder, anardana (dried pomegranate powder), fresh hot green chiles and of course chickpeas cooked from scratch. As a result, this chana masala has it all: it’s spicy and fragrant, and has a wonderful slightly sour bite thanks to the amchur powder. Lowering your risk of heart disease never tasted so good.

Chana Masala

3/4 pound dried chickpeas

1 earl grey tea bag

4 large cloves garlic

3 medium onions, chopped, divided in half

2-3 fresh green chiles (such as serrano), stemmed

1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

2 teaspoons turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (less if you don’t want it so spicy)

1 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons amchur powder (dried mango powder)

1/2 teaspoon anardana (dried pomegranate powder)

2 tablespoons high-oleic safflower oil

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 cups finely chopped tomatoes (if using fresh tomatoes, peel them)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Soak the chickpeas overnight.  Drain, return to a large pot and cover generously with water.  Add the teabag, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 1-2 hours depending on the age of your chickpeas.

Place 1 cup of cooked chickpeas, half the onion, garlic, green chiles, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, paprika, amchur and anardana in a food processor and process until very smooth.

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven. Add the cumin seeds and cook for 30 seconds, then add the remaining half of the onions and cook over medium heat until starting to turn golden brown. Add the spice paste and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the tomatoes, ground cumin, coriander, garam masala and salt, and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the cooked chickpeas and water.  Cook 10 minutes more, adjust salt to taste, then add cilantro and serve.

But I didn’t stop with Chana Masala on my healthy Indian cooking adventure. The very same day, I also made:

Baked Samosas (with this filling and this dough)

Spicy Butternut Squash

Ghobi Matar (cauliflower and pea curry – my own recipe)

Dal with Cinnamon, Cardamom and Cloves

Chicken Saag

Cucumber Raita

Beet Raita (made with my  homemade pickled beets – recipe coming this week!)

Cilantro and Mint Chutney

Tamarind Chutney

Onion relish

Whew!  Oh, and did I mention that 15 people came over that night for a healthy Indian feast?  Yeah, I never do things halfway.

P.S. Don’t forget to vote for me here. I think you have to register to vote, but … c’mon, it’s fun!

There are dozens of recipes for kale chips on the internet  – so why hadn’t I tried them yet?  As much as I love kale, I guess I was a little skeptical. Would they really taste like chips, or would they just taste like dried up kale?

Well, I finally got around to making them, and I was delighted to find that my doubts were way off-base. Kale chips are as crunchy and delicious as people say –in fact, it’s hard to stop eating them.  No wonder some bloggers have dubbed them “kale crack.”  I made mine with Tabasco sauce and chili powder – spicy kale crack! Whatever you call it, this is one addiction that you won’t have to go into rehab for.

If you can’t handle the heat, you can leave out the Tabasco and other spices. The chips are great with just olive oil and salt, too.  I have a feeling that kale chips would be an ingenious way to get kids (and adult kale haters, like my friend Mark) to eat their greens. Watch out Mark, I’m coming over to try out my theory on you!

Spicy Kale Chips

1 large bunch kale (I used lacinato, aka dinosaur kale), stems and center ribs removed, leaves torn into large pieces
2 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder (I used New Mexico chili powder)
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 300 degrees.

Mix kale and other ingredients in a large bowl (note: kale must be bone-dry). Massage lightly with your hands to make sure the leaves are coated.

Place in a single layer on two large baking sheets, and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until crisp.

There’s something magical about caramelized onions – I think it’s because they turn into something totally different than what they started out as. So the idea of a caramelized onion tart really appealed to me. At the farmer’s market in Kingston, NY I spotted some beautiful leeks and fennel, plus the hugest peppers I’ve ever seen. So I picked those up and cooked them up with my onions for an “end-of-summer but not-quite-fall” tart.

Alas, as much as I love caramelized onions, I was worried about the tart being overly sweet, so I tossed on some pitted oil-cured black olives. The contrast between the sweet vegetables and the salty, slightly bitter olives really made the tart. Sure, you could use kalamata olives instead, but I really recommend the wrinkly, oil-cured gems here.

This crust is low in fat compared with a standard tart crust made with up to a stick of butter. The edges are a bit harder than something like a pizza crust, but I kinda liked the contrast with the soft center. I can’t wait to experiment with this recipe, and I hope you will too. I think it would be good with onions, leeks and mushrooms, or with onions and apples. Or maybe a thin layer of pureed butternut squash topped with onions and sage. Go crazy!

Caramelized Vegetable Tart with Olives

Crust:

2 cups flour (I used half all-purpose, half whole wheat pastry) + 1 extra tablespoon if needed
3/4 teaspoon salt
¾ cup cold water
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Topping:

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, main bulb part thinly sliced with a mandolin
2 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
2 large leeks, white and green part halved lengthwise then thinly sliced (about 2 cups
2 large red or yellow bell peppers, cut into thin strips
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
12 oil-cured black olives, pitted and halved

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet or dutch oven. Add the fennel, onions, leeks, peppers and herbs. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have browned a bit. Uncover and cook for 15-20 more minutes, until the vegetables are deeply colored and extremely soft.

Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk the water and olive oil very vigorously. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. If the dough feels super wet and sticky, add one more tablespoon or so of flour – but it should still be slightly sticky.

On a well-floured work surface, roll out the dough to a rectangle approximately 9 x 15”.  Transfer to a rimless, lightly-oiled cookie sheet.  (You may need a pastry scraper or spatula to get the sticky dough off the counter.)  Pinch in the edges of the dough to make a raised edge.  Let it rest for 5 minutes, then use your hands to spread it out a little thinner if you’d like.

Spread the vegetables over the dough, and top with the olives. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown on the edges.

Serves 8-10

I’m trying to be more spontaneous in the kitchen, and this black eyed pea and sweet potato salad was a happy result of my experimentation.

I needed a dish to bring to a Labor Day BBQ shindig in the Catskills. I started out with the idea of making Texas Caviar – a dish where black-eyed peas are marinated in a vinaigrette with hot peppers and onions, with some versions also including corn and/or tomatoes. It’s delicious, but like many bean salads, tends to be extremely oily. Now I’m not opposed to oil (as long as it’s a heart-healthy type), but I find oily bean salads a little one-note, and I end up feeling kind of gross after eating a normal-sized portion. So I wanted to come up with a black-eyed pea salad that was less oily, but not dry.

I spied an almost overripe tomato on the counter and on a whim threw it into the food processor along with my vinaigrette ingredients. Stuck my finger in (without the blade running, don’t worry) and it was pretty yummy. But I wanted to spice things up, so I ran out to the garden and yanked a jalapeno off the vine. Into the food processor it went, along with a bit of chili powder, and my tomato-chile vinaigrette was born.

But I wasn’t done experimenting. I decided to go a big step further away from Texas Caviar by adding roasted sweet potatoes for another layer of flavor. Bingo! The completed salad was great – and it was good to be able to eat it without feeling weighed down by tons of oil.

Fans of my black bean and sweet potato salad – seriously, I have a few readers who make this every single week – should try this one for a nice change of pace.

Black-Eyed Pea and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Tomato-Chile Vinaigrette

1 large ripe tomato, peeled seeded and chopped (about 1 cup)
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (ancho if you have it)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 cups peeled, cubed sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds of sweet potatoes)
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cups black-eyed peas (cooked from 1 1/4 cups dried, or use two cans, rinsed and drained)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup minced red onion
1 teaspoon lime zest

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Put the first 9 ingredients (through black pepper) into a food processor and process until smooth.

Combine the sweet potatoes with 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and spread in a single layer on a large baking sheet – or use two sheets if necessary. Shake a little salt on the potatoes and roast for about 25-30 minutes, or until just tender and starting to brown. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.

Combine the sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas, onion, cilantro, lime zest and dressing.  It might seem like a lot of dressing, but I found that it gets absorbed. If you’d like, start with less and then add more as necessary. Season to taste with additional salt and/or lime juice as you see fit.

Serves 8-10

This outrageously delicious apple raspberry pie marks a first for my blog – the first pie recipe!  Long overdue – especially since the statement to the right clearly says “I do eat pie.”

That means this is also the blog debut of my practically legendary pie crust made without shortening or butter. Here’s the backstory:

After heart problems forced me to stop eating saturated and trans fats, I thought I would never make or eat pie again (and believe me, I cried myself to sleep over that one).  Then I saw a crust recipe in Saveur made with white flour, vegetable oil and whole milk.  The old Cathy would have scoffed at this idea, but I had to give it a try – especially considering that a pie with this crust won the Iowa State Fair pie contest!

I gave the recipe a bit of a health makeover by using half whole wheat pastry flour, plus organic canola oil and fat-free milk. The result was shockingly good, and I was a Pie Queen once again. Not a good thing for my waistline, but great for my happiness level.

Don’t be skeptical, you butter lovers. This crust is so tender and flavorful, people will shake their heads in disbelief when you tell them it’s made with oil. My mother-in-law proclaimed it as good as her grandmother’s lard crust, and that’s about the highest compliment I could receive. A few people who commented on the Saveur site had problems with the crust, but I think it’s nearly foolproof if you follow my instructions and these three rules of thumb:

1. Measure everything accurately. A tablespoon means right to the top of the measuring spoon!

2. Measure the flour by spooning it gently into your measuring cup rather than scooping, then level off with a knife.

3. Never refrigerate the dough.

Got that?

Apple Raspberry Pie

Filling:
5 cups peeled, thinly sliced apples (about 5 apples)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries (about 12 ounces)

Crust:
2 2/3 cups flour, half all purpose and half whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup organic canola oil or high-oleic safflower oil
6 tablespoons fat-free milk or soy milk
1 teaspoon milk and 1 teaspoon sugar, for brushing top crust

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the apples, lemon juice, spices, sugar and corn starch in a large bowl, then gently fold in the raspberries.

Whisk the flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Pour the oil in a glass measuring cup and add the milk, without stirring. Pour this mixture into the flour and stir briefly, just until combined. Divide the dough in half and form two balls.

Place a 15″ long piece of wax paper on your work surface, putting a few drops of water under the paper to keep it from sliding around. Put one ball on the paper and press it into a 6-inch circle. Top with another piece of wax paper and roll it out with a rolling pin to a 12-inch circle (the edges may extend beyond the top and bottom of the wax paper slightly, but you can loosen it with a knife when you lift the dough.)  If your circle is uneven, simply tear off a piece from one part and add it to another – it’s easy to make repairs.

Remove the top sheet and turn the dough over into a 9-inch pie pan, pressing to remove any air pockets. Pour in the filling. Roll out the second disc between fresh wax paper and place it on top of the pie. Fold the top crust under the bottom all the way around, and crimp the edges. Cut some slits in the top, then brush very lightly with milk and sprinkle on a little sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake about 45-50 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden. Cool 3 or more hours before serving.

People concerned with heart health (or who are cooking for me!) often ask me about which foods to avoid. So it seems like high time for my personal list of top 10 foods to stay away from. I’m not including obvious things like heavy cream, cheesecake or bacon. Instead, my list includes common supermarket foods that many people buy without considering the health consequences. I know I did, before a 90% blocked artery quite literally stopped me in my tracks.

10 Supermarket Foods to Avoid for Heart Health

1. Packaged baked goods. Trans fats should top your banned food list, and many cookies, cakes, pie crusts  – and even flour tortillas – are made with partially hydrogenated oil. And don’t let a “0 grams trans fat” label fool you – those products can still legally contain up to a half gram of trans fat, or may be made with palm oil (high in saturated fat) or soybean oil (too high in Omega-6 fatty acids.)

2.  Margarine and vegetable shortening. Most butter substitutes contain trans fats, and the more “natural” types contain palm oil.  You can find many recipes on this blog for baked goods and desserts made with heart-healthy oils. And for your toast, try some high-quality extra virgin olive oil, almond butter or just a touch of jam.

3. Non-baked tortilla chips. People are often misled by chips with natural sounding names. No matter what kind of oil your chips are cooked in, fried is fried. Instead, buy baked chips like Guiltless Gourmet brand, or better yet, cut up fresh corn tortillas and bake your own.

4.  Frozen entrees. These highly processed foods represent some of the most unhealthy choices in the supermarket aisles. Even most of the vegan and organic ones are laden with salt and fat – like Amy’s Macaroni and Non-Dairy Cheeze, with 22 grams of fat.  Make Fat Free Vegan’s lowfat version instead

5. Soda and other sweetened drinks. Whether sweetened with high fructose corn syrup or real sugar, most bottled drinks are just empty calories that contribute to weight gain. Why not stick to water and save your sugar quota for an occasional homemade treat?

6. White bread and white pasta. Refined flours are quick-digesting carbs that raise your blood sugar – and that’s not a good thing for your heart or weight. With lots of whole grain pasta choices on the shelves, and with all the delicious 100% whole grain artisan breads available these days, it’s easy to make the switch.

7. Standard supermarket meat. Corn-fed factory meat has a higher risk of e. coli, likely contains growth hormones and has more fat and fewer Omega-3 fatty acids than organic chicken and grass-fed beef.  If you’re a meat eater, seek out the good stuff – it tastes better, too.

8. Energy and granola bars. I’m always amazed to see people pick up bars based on a cool label, without reading the nutritional information. Most are far too high in sugar and saturated fat, and contain little nutritional value. Read the labels carefully and avoid any bars made with high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils. Chose bars with more than 2 grams of fiber, fewer than 1 gram of saturated fat, and under 10 grams of sugar. Or skip the bars and get your energy from an apple and some almonds.

9. Bottled salad dressings. These are generally made from unhealthy oils like soybean, and are loaded with sugar and sodium (fat-free dressings are the worst offenders when it comes to sugar). So pour on some extra virgin olive oil and vinegar instead – your salad and your heart will be better off.

10. Tilapia. I saved the most surprising one for last. Tilapia is very low in Omega-3 fatty acids, and very high in Omega-6. As I explained in my last Nutrition Tip, that’s not the balance you want – so go for a healthier fish choice like salmon, sardines or trout.

Uber-important disclaimer:  I am not a nutritionist or health professional.  My dietary advice is based on my own research and personal experience with heart disease. The information on this blog is not intended to treat or diagnose. Please consult your doctor or a nutritionist if you have any questions about dietary issues. Thanks.