veggie – Agapi.Style

Baked French fries with homemade ketchup

Who doesn’t love French fries? I don’t know, honestly))) That’s just a classic recipe too fatty for me, so I make potatoes in the oven. It turns out with a crispy flavorful crust and tender middle. Not sluggish, not wet, not too dry.

Cool to cook fries in the oven need to know a few nuances. They have happened empirically, and not fail in 99% of cases:

• Selection and preparation of potatoes. Remove the starch.

You need a dense potatoes and a little starch. That is not too young, and the non-starchy varieties. But, I usually don’t bother and buy the potatoes, which like visually, and then just soaked it in the water.

My brush (this is optional), cut into sticks or slices, in water for 20-30 minutes. So any varieties of potatoes, a large part of the starch will be released into the water. Then it was washed, dried on a towel and then baked.

• Cutting.

If you’re a fan of straight crunch, slice the potatoes more thinly. If you like the softer core (like potatoes “country style”)– cut the slices thicker. And try to cut all pieces roughly the same thickness, otherwise the cooking will be uneven. I usually cut into bars with a width of up to 1 cm.

• Oil, salt, spices.

Spread prepared potatoes on a baking sheet with parchment and salt straight drop (it is better then to add salt), vegetable oil literally 1-2 tsp on a baking sheet, just to make the crust more appetizing spices (optional) and mix thoroughly. If oil and salt will be a lot when baking, the potatoes will turn out limp, boiled. All the spices to your taste and color.

I like to add paprika, turmeric, nutmeg, thyme, rosemary, oregano and other Italian herbs, parsley, dill, coriander, chili, chopped onions and garlic. Not simultaneously, of course, and the mood and depending on what potato dish to serve.

• The baking.

Put the potatoes must be strictly in a single layer and preferably not right next to each other, and then again get lethargic sticks, not fries))) Bake in a preheated(!) the oven on the middle shelf to the top and bottom are baked evenly with a fan at 220 °C. the baking Time will be about 20-25 minutes, it depends on oven and size of potato pieces. At the end of baking closely follow her that did not burn.

If your oven bakes unevenly (somewhere hotter, somewhere colder), it can be seen by the color of the potatoes, in the middle of the process just flip the pan 180 degrees. Ready potatoes salt, stir and serve.

Finally, I want to say that sometimes, observing all these details – so sad Spud. At the same time, sometimes not respecting any of my tips – all of it, because in addition to technology much also depends on the type of potato from the oven, and your mood while cooking;)))

As for the ketchup. For the potatoes I use as ketchup – my tomato sauce for the pizza, or the sauce for shakshuka, punched in a blender.

The main sauce base (tomato, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, sweetener), but the flavors you can create the mood. In addition to the spices mentioned in the recipes above, I also like to use cinnamon and cloves. The most important thing is to add the spices when the sauce is already Uvarov not to overdo it.

Mind-blowing Shawarma with falafel

This dish is perfect for parties because it can be requested to procure parts and then just twist Shawarma with ease.

You need to prepare the babaganoush was, hummus, falafel with yogurt sauce (click on a word and go to the recipes).

You will also need: pita bread, lettuce, any what like, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, if you like red sweet onions. It is good to wash. Lettuce and onion slice, carrot and cabbage finely shred. Tomatoes to cut and it is desirable to remove the seeds to reduce the moisture. Cucumbers cleaned and cut into strips.

How to make Shawarma:

1. Preheat the grill pan well, or a regular non-stick pan, preferably with a thick bottom. I put the fire 7 of 9.

2. While it heats, take the pita, spread the entire surface of the yogurt sauce, leaving a clean distant edge, so that when you minimize the sauce does not leak outside of the gyro.

3. Next, put some lettuce and other vegetables, then spread a thick strip of babaganush, hummus, put in a row falafel, pour more yogurt sauce and turn the Shawarma more elastic.

I edge not wrapped on the sides, the filling is in principle not particularly falls. You do as you wish. Plus, at its discretion, can add tomato sauce, hot sauce, who he loves. But I have such a recipe, no extra sauces, because then all the ingredients are pretty spicy.

4. Put the Shawarma in a very heated pan and fry until crisp lavash with 2 sides. If you have a grill pan, the pita bread should appear Golden stripes.

5. When ready put in a plate, cut in half and enjoy the juicy Shawarma. Well, it turns out very tasty!

Rice for sushi + life hacks on cooking sushi rolls

To make sushi rolls at home is fun, delicious and healthy because you can put in them only what you think is right. The main thing here is to buy the sushi rice and cook it properly.

Ingredients (6 sheets nori):

• 1 Cup sushi rice,

• A little more than 1 Cup of water,

• 4 tbsp rice vinegar (you can at least replace with white wine vinegar),

• 3 tbsp sweetener (I have Jerusalem artichoke syrup),

• 1 tsp. salt,

• 0.5 sheet nori (optional).

How to do:

1. Thoroughly rinse the rice until until the water is clear. The water should be at room temperature, the capacity for washing is quite large. Wash need hands, raking the palm of the water from bottom to top. Not in a colander under the tap. Why so much detail was written in this post. Put the rice in a colander to dry while you boil water.

2. Pour water in a thick-walled bowl with a lid (ideally, if it is transparent, so you can see it boiled off the water or not). Bring water to a boil and cover the rice, put the nori. Bring water with rice to a boil, take out the nori, turn down the heat to low (if you have an electric stove, a better move pan to another burner preheated to low) and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the rice absorbs all the water. Remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes. Cover during cooking, do not open.

3. While preparing the rice, make the filling. Mix the vinegar, salt and sweetener. If you use sugar, then it needs to dissolve completely, as, indeed, and salt. You can heat the dressing on low heat, stirring constantly and without leading up to boiling, to speed up the process.

4. After the rice has rested, you need to put it in a large bowl. Accurately and quickly divide the rice spatula to from a coma, he has become a more or less crumbly. Spread the filling over rice. Try to do it evenly. Can slightly povoroshit rice shovel, but not to mix, and then get a sticky mess.

5. Cover the rice with a towel and allow to cool slightly, so that it can be taken by hand. Now he’s ready for sushi/rolls. You need to use it immediately, then it will become too dry and hard.

Life hacks on twisting rolls:

1. Nori should be placed shiny side down.

2. For laying out rice on nori, you need to prepare tezu to wet hands. Pour into a bowl with a little water and 2 tbsp of rice vinegar. Rice spread on nori it hands dipped in this mixture.

3. To roll had the form of a snail, and looked correctly, the figure you need to lay out stepping back from the edge about 2 cm, and fill to the middle of the sheet. That is, the side which to you should be filled with rice from the edge and at a distance of 2 cm, and then the rice is laid out to the middle of the sheet.

4. To nori stuck to each other, and roll together, edge of the sheet lubricate tezu.

5. Roll to cut you need a very sharp knife dipped in tezu.

Quinoa and water pizza crust

I already told you about unconventional the pizza crust from cauliflower. Today I’ll tell you about another unusual and very easy to prepare recipe with quinoa.

Ingredients to form about 26-28 cm, the layer turns the thickness a little less than 0.5 cm:

¾ Cup quinoa (I make the usual white),
¼ Cup water
Salt about 1/4 tsp., herbs to taste,
Olive oil for greasing the form.

How to do:

1. Quinoa rinsed and soaked for at least two hours (can be overnight), then rinse well again.

2. Preheat the oven to 140-160C.

3. Quinoa punch in a blender with water and salt until a homogeneous consistency of liquid sour cream. If you want you can put in the dough Basil/paprika or any spices to your taste.

4. Split form lay baking paper, grease it with vegetable oil and pour the batter. If you don’t have a split form – nothing terrible, just pour out the dough on baking paper and immediately remove the pancake into a preheated oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done, which I think is necessary. I recommend using the convection, so the crust will be more crispy.

5. Slightly cool the cake, and you can do pizza directly on the form. Personally, I make pizza not according to the rules – I don’t leave the empty edges, I put a lot of toppings, and everything rests before baking only because of the bumpers shape;) So if you do too little dough and lots of toppings, then this is for you. But keep in mind that the cake quinoa still loses the crunchiness from it. So, if you want thin crispy dough – do not put a lot of ingredients, especially wet (sauce, cheese, vegetables, mushrooms).

In this case, I made homemade tomato sauce for pizza (recipe already wrote), top with grated cheddar, then pre-cooked chicken breast, mushrooms, roasted zucchini, blue cheese and some cheddar. It’s got delicious! Bake about 10 minutes until cooked mushrooms and melt cheese. Gently remove the top of the form, and the pizza turns you on baking paper in free access. Cut it with pizza cutter and enjoy.

Bon appetit!

How to cook chickpeas

1. The most common method that I usually use:

Chickpeas are sorted, washed and filled with clean water in a ratio of 1:3 and leave for 8-12 hours (I usually do this at night). After that, drain the water, rinse the chickpeas, pour fresh water above the chickpea level by 5 centimeters. Bring to a boil, then cook for 5 minutes and drain the first water. This is recommended to avoid problems with the gastrointestinal tract, or rather with the appearance of gas formation after eating legumes. I didn’t do this before, but then I realized that it’s not difficult and really helps. Some people change up to 3 waters, but I don’t do this)))

Then again fill the chickpeas with fresh water, also with a margin of 5 cm, add a little salt water, add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil (it prevents the formation of a large amount of foam) and cook over low heat until ready. This is about 1-2 hours on low heat under a slightly open lid, removing the foam. Chickpeas are ready when they’re soft, but haven’t started to fall in half yet. Put the finished chickpeas in a colander. The cooking time of chickpeas depends on the quality of the chickpeas and on the dish, for example, for hummus, chickpeas can be made more boiled.

2. Express method (without soaking).

If you do not have time to soak the chickpeas, then cook it for 10 minutes on high heat, then about 1 hour on low heat under the lid.

3. Cooking chickpeas to get aquafaba.

If you want to get aquafaba from cooking chickpeas, then you need less water-1.5-2 cm above the chickpeas and cook for 2 hours. So the broth will be more concentrated. Then drain it in a jar, cool it and put it in the refrigerator. Store for 5 days or pour it into a ladle in portions (3st. l. – 1 egg) and store in the freezer.

Important. The weight of boiled chickpeas is about 2.5 times the weight of dry chickpeas.

And separately, I want to tell you that different varieties of chickpeas are very different in appearance, taste and cooking time. It is highly recommended to buy chickpeas from Turkey, Greece, Israel and other countries where it is an integral part of the national cuisine.

For example, here is a comparison of chickpeas produced in Russia and chickpeas from Greece:

My favorite recipe for grilled vegetables + dip vegetables

Tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, corn, shallots and any other vegetables to your taste cut coarsely. You can also add garlic without peeling.

Put in an airtight container for food, sprinkle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chop a couple of cloves of garlic, season with pepper salt and favorite herbs (I have fresh chopped parsley, cilantro, basil). Stir, taste a little sauce and adjust its taste if necessary, it should be spicy with sourness.

Important. If the tomatoes are too soft, put them after the above manipulations. Or you can use cherry tomatoes.

Close the container, and let marinate for 30 minutes.

If there is no time for marinating – it’s okay. Vegetables will not be so fragrant, but still very tasty.

Then under the grill in the oven (180-200 C) or on the fire until ready.

Life hack. You can always make a very tasty dip/sauce from these vegetables simply by grinding everything in a blender, adding your favorite spices and herbs. This is very convenient when the vegetables are not eaten and there is no mood for them, but in the form of a dip they have a second life;)

How to prepare rice for cooking

There are sooo many recipes for cooking rice. The technology depends on its variety, and on the dish itself (sushi, risotto, pilaf, porridge, etc.), but the preparation of rice is always about the same for me.:

Rice is always washed until the water is clear.

Since this cereal rapidly absorbs water, then you need to wash it in high-quality water (definitely not from the tap) and you need a lot of water.

If good water is not enough. Then 1-2 times wash the rice with it, then rinse in the water that is available. The taste of the dish directly depends on the taste of water

The water temperature should be at room temperature. Cold and hot water mercilessly destroy the seeds.

Wash in a colander in any case can not, for the same reason – the rice is damaged. And you need a large enough container, hand, raking rice from the bottom up.

If the rice is soaked, the cooking time and the amount of water used is significantly reduced, unlike the original recipe.

Roasted rainbow carrots served two ways (with lemon tahini sauce and with goat cheese and pecans)

This is a very simple and elegant vegetable side dish. Love it! It’s all about the spice rack for baking and serving. Both of these points are very important.

Ingredients:

1 kg mixed carrots (you can substitute a regular orange)

2-3 tbsp olive oil,

0,5-1 tsp sea salt (or to taste),

1 tsp ground dried garlic (or to taste),

1 tsp ground dried ginger (optional)

A couple of pinches of freshly ground pepper (or to taste),

2 branches of rosemary

1 branch of thyme,

1 tbsp lemon juice.

Ingredients for the feed are specified in paragraph 4 below.

If some of the ingredients you have available – it does not matter, main thing is to have oil and salt. But you understand that the taste will be completely different, so whenever possible, use all these spices.

How to do:

1. Carrots wash, peel (optional) and a little dry. Leave a tail or not is a matter of taste, but this side dish looks prettier. If the carrots are very large, cut it into pieces of approximately equal size. But not melchite, this is important.

2. Mix all spices and herbs, sprinkle over the carrots, top, pour olive oil and mix well.

Place carrots on a baking tray with baking paper, 1 layer, preferably on the distance between the slices, and bake for 30-40 minutes at 180C until brown, stirring occasionally so that the pieces brown on all sides. Cooking time depends on oven and size of carrots.

3. Once the carrot is ready, remove the branches of thyme and rosemary. Try it, add spices if necessary.

4. Flow 1.

Carrots sprinkled with lemon juice, sprinkle with chopped parsley or cilantro (2-3 tsp finely chopped leaves) and serve. For even more interesting flavor combinations, I recommend to garnish tahini sauce for this recipe.

Flow 2.

Carrots sprinkled with lemon juice, curd randomly on top spread goat cheese or feta (50 g), and conclude with a handful of chopped nuts (for my taste here, more suited to the pecan, walnut or almond petals). Nuts should be roasted.

Don’t even know which version tastes better, both is perfect!

PS As experience has shown, yellow carrots – the sweet, orange and purple – slightly less interesting to taste, white – virtually no. This is raw. In the prepared – all about the same;)