Three Grain Passover Stew

Yesterday, Daniel, Claire, Sean, and I headed back to my parents' house for Seder. It was a nice meal, and then afterwards we all got food poisoning. Or possibly I got food poisoning, Daniel got the flu, Claire had a hangover, and Sean had...a migraine? Food poisoning? Who knows.

My illness began first (perhaps because I have this dumb, souped-up metabolism), and luckily this meant that I felt better first too, so by evening (and following a five mile run) I was ready to eat something. The only problem is Passover.

Luckily, I have my own take on how to keep kosher[1], and this recipe works well. It was meant to be kind of a "stash killer", using up a bunch of partial vegetables in the fridge, but I went down to the co-op and bought a whole bunch of other veggies, so that was not totally a success.

Three Grain Passover Stew

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion
• 3 large mushrooms
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 4-5 baby carrots
• 1/2 sweet potato
  
• 1/3 c. lentils
• 1/3 c. brown rice
• 1/3 c. red quinoa
• 1/2 cube bouillon
• 1 tin tomatoes (diced, 15 oz.)
  
• ~ 3 c. water

Methodology

1. Chop vegetables and throw into a medium sized pot over high heat with about a tablespoon of oil (I use garlic oil). Throw in some garlic as well, and season with chili powder and paprika, salt and pepper.

2. After a bit, put in the lentils, rice, and quinoa, the bouillion, two cups of water, and the tin of tomatoes. Stir everything together and cover. Let it boil over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water as necessary.

3. When cooked, put in a little more water and about half a teaspoon of garam marsala. Serve with buttered matzo.

Notes

1. I used to keep a really rigid sort of kashrut during Pesach, down to even high-fructose corn syrup, and all it did was give me an obnoxious superiority complex. Honestly, if you are vegetarian and do not care for eggs, Pesach can be really difficult, especially when you are running a lot (32 miles last week).

In Vietnam I ate one meal per day and kept Sephardic kosher, which-- I don't know. Generally my family keeps Sephardic kosher despite being Ashkenazim, which I think is okay. Lentils and rice are therefore acceptable in this soup, provided you feel vaguely guilty about eating them.

Anyway, my personal rules for Pesach, in case you were curious, are:

1. No bread, muffins, cookies, etc.
2. None of the five grains (wheat, oats, barley, spelt, rye).
3. Avoid as best I can corn and corn syrup. Other kitnyot like beans, rice, and lentils are okay. Peanuts are also okay.
   
4. Try to eat enough calories, because I will be really miserable if I don't.
   

Regardless of your interpretation of the rules, this recipe is Sephardic kosher and parve (depending on your bouillon, I guess).

2. This came out really full of tomatoes. It was wonderful. Be careful putting the carrots into the pot, as they roll and may try to escape from the cutting board in the wrong direction.

3. 1/7 on the disaster scale. \o/

Quinoa Squash Stew

From Epicurious, somewhat.

Ingredients

Stew
2 tablespoons olive oil or margarine
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
\1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup water
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups 1-inch cubes peeled butternut squash
2 cups cubed peeled carrots

Quinoa
1 cup quinoa (a grain, available at the grocery store) 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil or 2 T. margarine, etc.
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped peeled carrot
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups water

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
a few T. fresh basil, chopped

Methodology

1. Quinoa: put garlic, spices, and oil in a biggish pot. Add onion and carrot and saute until it begins to brown. Add quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Stew: Put garlic and oil in. Add spices. Add onions and carrot and saute briefly. Add squash, tomatoes, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until cooked, about 15 minutes.

3. Mix about half the cilantro and basil into the stew. Serve stew over quinoa and sprinkle with more herbs.

Notes

*Healthy, tasty, and looks pretty on a plate. Win on three levels. For best effect, I'd use a green plate.