Ham and Vegetable Pot Pie

This is most definitely a 1 pot/1 dish weekend recipe!!

Ham & Veggie Pot Pie

Prep Time: 1 to 1.5 hours with store-bought pie crust.

Ingredients:
1) 1 box of Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie crusts
2) 1 lb ham - diced into 1/2 inch cubes
3) 1 big bag of Baby spinach
4) ~1 cup peas (fresh, or frozen)
5) ~1 cup carrots (sliced)
6) ~1 cup celery (diced)
7) ~1 cup fresh onion (diced)
6) 1 egg, whipped, mixed in 1/3 cup water (egg wash)
7) 2 to 3 tbsp all-purpose flour mixed in water (for thickening veggies)
8) 1 tbsp McCormick's Italian seasoning
9) butter, salt and pepper to taste
10) 1 tbsp Wyler's poultry seasoning.

Directions:

Let both pie crusts in the box sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before unrolling the first one. I used a 2" deep dish for this pot pie, so I used a rolling pin to make the crust a tad larger. Lay the pie crust in the dish, roll and crimp the edges if desired. I didn't roll or crimp mine as I am a novice at this ;) and also because I planning on using the second crust as a topping. Make sure to use a fork and poke a lot of holes on the bottom and sides of the pie crust to prevent it from rising away from the sides of the dish during baking.  I pre-baked the pie crust alone for about 10-12 minutes using red kidney beans as pie weights. Thanks to Nupur (http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/) for this idea. Check out her November 25, 2010 post for some pictures on how to use the beans (http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html).  Just like her, I now have a jar of dry red beans that are used again and again as pie weights. 

For the filling, in a large deep pan, melt the butter, and fry diced onions and celery until transparent.  Then i slowly added in the baby spinach a little at a time until wilted and then added more. All 3 items added so far, onions, celery and spinach will sweat enough to make the mix pretty wet. Add the rest of the vegetables, and spices and mix well. Finally add the ham. I tend to leave adding the meat until the very end to prevent it from becoming too chewy. Lastly, I mixed in some of the flour water mix to thicken the whole mixture and give it some a white-saucy appearance.  Transfer the mix to the pre-baked pie crust being careful not to damage the crust. 

For the top crust, I had big plans of making a weaved top crust. My attempts failed miserably so i simply placed the strips of crust I'd made in a overlapping pattern resembling a weave. The kids didn't care ... ! You can also leave the top crust whole, with just a few cuts across the top to allow the steam to escape. I used my fingers and a little bit of the egg wash to stick the sides and top crusts together. 

Bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Allow the pie to rest of at least 10 minutes before cutting into it. Despite the spinach, all 3 kids loved it.  This one was a success and will definitely be made again in the Coder household!

Punjabi Chhole (Garbanzo Beans, or White Channa)

Chhole Chawal

I tried this one in the beginning of December. I haven't made Chhole in forever and managed with a pretty good end result. Nothing like what my mommy makes ... but passable with my modifications to the original recipe.

Prep Time: 20-30 min with canned beans

Ingredients:

1) 2 cans of garbanzo beans - if you use dry beans you may need to soak these in hot water for at least a couple of hours (or overnight at room temperature) and use a pressure cooker to soften the beans

2) 1 large diced tomato

3) 1 large diced onion

4) 1 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves (dhania leaves)

5) 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste

6)  1 tbsp channa masala

7) 1 tbsp cooking oil

8)  2 -3 pieces each of the following whole spices - cloves, green cardamom, black peppercorns,  small stick of cinnamon, bay leaves

9) 1/2 tbsp garam masala

10) salt to taste.

Directions:

A potato masher!! 

In a deep pan, heat up the oil and fry up onions until caramelized around the edges. Add ginger garlic paste, blend it in really well with the fried onions, and then add all the whole spices, fry for a few more minutes and add the tomato. Add about a half cup of water and bring to a rolling boil. If you used dry beans and pressure cooked these, use the water the beans were cooked with, instead of fresh tap water. Once the whole mixture is boiling really well, add the drained beans and turn the heat down to a good simmer. About 10 minutes later, use a potato masher (see pic) and mash some of the beans to the bottom of the pan (this was a trick my G'ma taught me and it makes all the difference in how your dish turns out!!). Then add the spices (chana masala, garam masala) and the cilantro leaves and simmer for a few more minutes.

Chhole are served best over plain white steamed rice, or over a slice of thick white bread .. or if you want to be particularly unhealthy ;-) .. with puris ...  which is basically deep fried bread. Yummy!

Cajun Red Beans & Rice

So i tried quite a few new and old recipes on li'l Nik Coder this December. I just haven't gotten around to posting all of them. Am trying today, as we wait for the ball to drop .... Happy New Year, everyone!!

Cajun Red Beans & Rice

Total Prep Time: 20 minutes with canned red beans.

Ingredients: 

1) 1 lb spicy sausage - italian, andouille etc.
2) 1 can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed. 
3) 1 medium onion, diced.
4) 1 large diced tomato
5) 1 tsp Zatarain's Creole seasoning (more if you want it spicier)
6) salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
Fry up the sausage until almost done and then slice thickly. drain almost all of the drippings so the pan is just barely greased. Fry up onions in the drippings, add tomato and spices and bring to a nice simmer. Then add the sausage back in and add water, or V8 juice, for some extra flavor. Bring to a boil. Add drained and rinsed kidney beans. Cover and let simmer for the rest of the time. In a separate pan, steam white or brown rice. I served mine with steamed white rice, with some peas for a splash of color ... !!