Pumpkin curry with wined chestnuts, cilantro falafels

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A deliciously flavored soup curry, with kabocha, wine flavored kuri chestnuts and hanamame giant beans. And a side of cilantro falafels. Some people are genetically designed to hate cilantro/coriander and it takes a really bad taste in their mouth. That’s really sad. I have to luck to appreciate this herb and I never have enough of it.

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Soaked chick peas, mixed with onion, coriander (root, stalk, leaves), chili flakes, Sichuan pepper, salt.

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Served with a dip of harissa… well it’s mixed with tomato sauce. Cucumbers, cilantro (the leaves) and shikwasa citrus salad.

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Mmm… a dream if you love both falafels and coriander.

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Kabocha pumpkin curry :
A cut of steamed kabocha, steamed with skin. Pasted with 1/2 block of tofu, 1 tbs of Japanese curry spice mix, 2 tbs of sakekasu sake lees, salt, water. I simmered the mix till it became thick. Garnished with hanamame beans and wined chestnuts :

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White wine chestnuts :
That’s ideal if you have chestnut that start to dry a little.
Soak them 2 hours, then you can easy cut out the hard shell.
In fresh water, soak overnight, you can then take away the inner skin. Most of it. A large part of it. Actually, you want to leave a small amount for flavor. Break them in 2 or 3 parts.
Then I’ve drained the chestnuts, put in rice cooker, added a glass of white wine, a little sugar, a pinch of salt, 1/2 glass of water (to cover). Switched on. That stopped when the liquid had evaporated. You can do it in a pan or a crock-pot, simply simmer very gently.
They are good to add to sauces and dishes, just a few to pinpoint. You will discover the refined taste.

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A nice meal, rich in legumes and fragrances.

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Red bell pepper falafels

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The falafel-mania is not over… Summer is just starting. Today with flashy red bell pepper.

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It’s a base of pasted soaked chick peas, with onion, green and red pepper additions. To texture it, I’ve used oatmeal. Pan-fried.

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Served them with grilled bread, shredded red cabbage, lemon, a little harissa and tahini sauce.

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Freshly made tahini (pasted sesame), that I dilute with lemon juice and a little water to make the sauce.

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Tahini sauce on the falafels and…

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…on the side-dish of red bell pepper and wakame flavored sashimi konnyaku.

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For dessert, green melon and a few drop this product that is a sweet reduction of balsamico vinegar. That magically enhances fruit flavor.
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Chickpeas three ways for a casual Summer lunch

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Transforming a bowl of freshly boiled chick peas into 3 dishes.

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Falafels. It’s better to make them from raw chick peas, but I’ve mashed boiled ones with a little potato starch for binding, added randomly spices, mint, lemon balm, and the brown thing is the ground of sobacha.

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Pan-fried.

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Chickpeas in a tomato tabouleh with… what was in the fridge, sweet corn, ninniku no me (garlic stalks), bell pepper, green soy beans, mint too. And harissa.

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Served with salad spinach.

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Chick peas with lemon juice and lots of tahini (sesame paste) to make a creamy hummus. It’s a sauce for the falafels.

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Purple falafels

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Colorful falafels and a creamy sour sauce today…
Quick and fun.

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Yes, red cabbage brings the color.

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I blended the cabbage, then added the soaked chick peas, some onion, cardamome seeds and ajowan (a little), salt.

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They become pink in the pan…

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The sauce is soy yogurt, with lemon juice, coriander seed, salt and pepper.

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Mmm, purple pillows…

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Simple 10 minute falafels

I was in a falafel mood…

… and I had the appetite to devour several falafel sands.

1 minute :soak chick peas over-night,
3 minutes :mash them with some water, add flavoring, make balls,
6 minutes : pan-fry.
I flavored with nutmeg, salt, pepper, negi leeks.

I soak lots of chickpeas when I buy a back. I boil half and I freeze several bags of either cooked CPs and raw-soaked CPs ready to be used for falafels.

A batch of hot falafels…

Graham flour flat breads.

Ribboned zucchini.

Sprinkled with ground coriander seeds.