Tag Archives: spicy

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes-Indian Inspiration

Yesterday

snowdayz

Today

spring

Erm…happy spring?

Let it snow (or not).   I’m eatin’ good.

top

That sweet potato is overflowing because it just can’t contain the FLAVOR!

Flavor blasted, Indian inspired, sweet and spicy, creamy and crunchy, oh and HEALTHY!?  I’ll take two.

nom

This blog post brought to you by: roasting.

I can’t stop, won’t stop roasting allll of the things.

Garlic?

garlic

Bam. Roasted.

roasted2

Jalapeno?

jalapeno

Roast city.

jalroast

Chickpeas?

chickpea

Roastalicious.

RCProasted

Sweet potato?

sweetpotato

Obviously roasted.

sproasted

Cauliflower?

cauli

Yes.  The cauliflower too.

cauliroasted

Nothing is safe.

GINGER!?

ginger2

Ok…not roasted.  Just grated.

gingergroundPeas, please!  Leave them alone.  They stay fresh.

peas

Scoop the middle of your potatoes into a large bowl

peel

Get your act together

setup

Aaaaand go

readymixitreadytobroil

DO NOT leave out the crispy chickpeas!  The crunch is a must.

necessary

I also highly recommend you stir some roasted garlic into some plain yogurt.  It’s a flavorful way to tame some of that heat.  It really made the meal.

yogurt

By the way you don’t actually have to roast all of the things.  This could be a super super quick meal.  If you microwave your sweet potatoes and saute all the filling this whole thing could be done in 20 minutes.

stuffed

A word of warning, however: never ever ever ever ever saute jalapeno seeds ever never ever.

I accidentally did that once.  I actually thought I might die.  My lungs were on FIRE and the oils in the air wouldn’t go away.  Daniel and I were crying and gasping and laughing and opening windows in the middle of winter and crying.  Learn from us.

And with that….

enjoy

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

Indian Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Recipe slightly adapted from Culinary Colleen

**NOTE: This meal could take ages (roasting each individual thing) or it could be ready in 20 minutes.  You could microwave the sweet potato, saute all the other ingredients together, mix them up, stuff the potatoes and broil.  OR you could roast each individual ingredient and it’ll take hours.  Another option is to prepare ahead of time.  Roasted garlic is a good thing to have on hand.  Sweet potatoes and jalapenos and be roasted a day or two before which leaves just quick assembly.  Choose your own adventure!

You’ll need:

3 small-medium sweet potatoes
about 1 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower florets (about 1/3 of a head)
Salt, to taste
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, roasted, minced (I left all the seeds in and it was very spicy.  Remove seeds for less heat!)
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons ground cumin
small squeeze of lime juice
3/4 cup peas, (defrosted if frozen)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 15 oz. can chickpeas

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Pierce your scrubbed sweet potatoes with a fork a couple of times and place on a foil lined baking sheet.  Bake until the sweet potatoes are completely soft inside and are easily pierced with a fork.  Mine took 1 hour and 10 minutes.  The time will vary depending on the size of your potatoes.  (OPTION: you could poke some holes in your potato, wrap it in a paper towel and microwave for about 4-5 minutes.  Time varies with size)
  2. While the potatoes bake, prepare the cauliflower to roast.  Roughly chop the florets and toss with a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and about a teaspoon of salt.  Spread evenly on a foil lined baking sheet.
  3. While the potatoes and other veggies roast, roughly chop and saute the onion in coconut oil until they get soft and start to brown.  Add grated ginger to the pan and cook about 1 minute. Add the coriander, cumin and garam masala, let toast for about a minute and remove from heat.
  4. When the potatoes are soft, remove from the oven and set aside to cool.  Place the prepared cauliflower in the 400 degree oven and roast until it is soft and starts to brown (about 15 minutes for me).
  5. When it is finished, remove the cauliflower from the oven, set aside to cool and place the whole jalapeno on a baking sheet.  Roast at 400 degrees until soft and slightly charred, turning at least once during cooking (about   15 minutes for me).
  6. While the jalapeno roasts, drain, rinse and thoroughly dry chickpeas.  Spray with a light coat of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and maybe some cumin if you’d like and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Roast for 15-20 minutes or until as crunchy as you want (longer=crunchier..they could be just like corn nuts).  More detailed directions for roasting chickpeas can be found here.
  7. Slice the cooled sweet potatoes in half lengthwise.  Scoop the filling out and place it in a large bowl.  Mix and mash the sweet potato with the cooked onions, spices, cooked cauliflower, peas, cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice and more salt (to taste…you’ll need it)
  8. Evenly distribute the sweet potato mixture among the empty skins, place on a baking sheet and broil until the tops just barely start to brown.
  9. Top with crispy chickpeas, more cilantro and either plain yogurt, sour cream or garlic yogurt (directions for roasting garlic here.  Mix a few roasted cloves with a couple of spoonfuls of yogurt to taste.  Amazing.)

6 Comments

Filed under Main Dish, Sides, Uncategorized

Cheesy Spicy Corn Muffins

ENOUGH with the cookies and sweets!!

We’re going the opposite direction now….

We’re going spicy.

Also cheesy.

Yes, salt is involved.

Sugar plays a minor role.

Make mini muffins for an awesome appetizer tonight!

They’re spicy and fun.

Don’t worry, though, you can control the heat level-from none at all to “help my face is on fire”.

I made pleasantly sneakily spicy!

We’re talking thin crunchy outer layer, moist, cheesy inside, just the right amount of heat to finish it off…

You want these. Let’s do this thing.

The requisite bowl o’ flour

Oil, sugar, eggs in a different bowl.  Then cornmeal comes to play! Man I love cornbread.

Now…let’s talk about peppers.  Peppers can be tricky.

I used serrano because that’s all they had at the store and let me tell you what…I was nervous.

I was nervous because I’m used to jalapeno peppers. I know how spicy they are, I know how much seed-age to include so my muffins are nicely spicy instead of flaming little balls of lava.

I looovveee spicy food. But you know…there’s a limit.  At some point it’s just not enjoyable.

Luckily, we have this thing called the internet.  You’re on it right now in fact.

So I did a little research and kind of took a guess..

and it was a winner!

Spicy levels are tricky because something that is flaming out of control spicy to one person could be barely anything to the next person.

I found a site that uses a little chili pepper rating system.  I like it because I can compare spicy levels of peppers I’m familiar with.

Jalapenos got 3 little peppers.  Serrano got 4. Habanero (the crazy ones) got 5.

Got it.

Peppers get their heat from their seeds.  If you take the seeds out you take the heat out.  I needed 4 serrano peppers to make 1/2 cup but including 4 peppers worth of seeds would have been straight up batty.  I included only 1/2 of 1 pepper’s seeds in the batter.  That gave the muffins a hint of heat that kind of sneaks up on you.  Totally manageable.

Honestly…I like things spicier…I would have liked a whole pepper’s worth of seeds.

Half a pepper is a good crown pleaser, though.  Choose your own adventure.

(Side note: I hate those choose your own adventure books.  I used to get so overwhelmed because I wanted to read every possible version of the story and I would lose track of what decisions I had already made.  Terrible. Also not at all relevant.)

Now that you’re finished agonizing over your pepper seeds (sorry to do that to you)…throw them in your batter with some cheese.

This is another choose your own adventure situation.

The specific amount of cheese I added comes to about “2 big handfuls”

I should have measured but…I didn’t. Sorry.  1/2 cup is skimpy I’ll tell you that.  You need at least a cup.

Also, I used sharp cheddar.  You can use whatever you want! Or none at all! Or green onions instead of peppers! Or herbs! Or just cheese! Or shoot…throw some honey in there instead of savory! Add in some bacon! Chop up a hot dog and make them corn dog muffins!

Whoa…things just got weird.

Anyway…fill some well greased muffin tins about 3/4 full, bake and voila!

Mine aren’t mini but yours could be!

Savory muffins tonight then sweet muffins tomorrow morning?

I think yes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May all your resolutions come true.

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

Cheesy Spicy Corn Muffins

Recipe slightly adapted from here

1½ cups King Arthur unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup whole or 2% milk
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup diced serrano pepper, including 1/2 of 1 pepper’s seeds
1- 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

**Oven 400 degrees F

  1. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and set aside
  2. In a large bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs and milk.
  3. Add  cornmeal and flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined.  The batter will still be lumpy, that’s ok.
  4. Fold in the pepper and cheese (or whatever you’re adding if anything)
  5. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full and bake at 400 degrees F for 17-20 minutes until cooked through and lightly brown on top

Enjoy as an appetizer or with a hot cup of chilli or soup! Makes 1 dozen regular sized muffins

14 Comments

Filed under Appetizer, Sides, Snacks, Uncategorized