Recipes

Vegan Richa's Instant Pot Lentil Keema with Peas

20 min

Keema recipes are found throughout India. This tasty recipe uses lentils and walnuts in place of ground meat that is usually used in making keema. Including spices such as Sage, Cassia Indonesian Cinnamon, Cardamom Seed, Nutmeg, and Indian Cayenne, along with garam masala and Baharat, give this easy-to-make dish complex flavors. Keema is very versatile, and can be used in tacos, sandwiches, burritos, or just served with rice. Richa Hingle is a longtime World Spice Merchants customer, as well as a prolific and award winning recipe developer, blogger, and photographer based here in Seattle. The recipes she has on VeganRicha.com are easy to follow, with step-by-step photos so that even the novice vegan cook can make delicious food. She loves to show people how easy it is to cook vegan Indian or other cuisines, which are allergy friendly and have gluten-free and soy-free options. Her latest cookbook isVegan Richa's Instant Pot™ Cookbook which has many adaptations, swaps for allergies and special diets, full nutritional information, and will become your go-to guide for healthful, flavor-forward meals that are a breeze to get to the table.

Rhubarb Rugelach

1 hr

This recipe is a true keeper, with a surprisingly easy-to-make dough that relies on the magic of whipped butter and cream cheese. While the soft dough chills, prepare a luscious jam with a classic pairing of strawberries and rhubarb. Cook it down to the perfect consistency, ready to be spread and rolled between the dough. For a tantalizing twist, we chose the concentrated flavor of ginger and added a secret ingredient—mace. This lighter and peppery spice complements the tangy fruit, enhances the lemon zest, and fills the jam with a sweet and aromatic spice allure. Get ready to savor each bite of these heavenly treats.

Pink Pepper Cardamom Bars

Rhubarb is a perfect flavor combination with strawberries. To jazz it up, we added spices! Piney Cardamom Seed and lime zest accent and elevate the fruit base. Crunchy walnuts add texture and to the oat crumb topping and Pink Peppercorn give a tingly pop of flavor. These fragrant bars are citrusy and have fruity sour layers, and the spices really bring something new to the table.Rhubarb and strawberries are delightful in these bars, but you can try other fruits and berries too, like raspberries, blackberries or blueberries. The recipe is endlessly adaptable. If you're feeling decadent, top the bars with whipped cream!

Garam Masala Meatballs with Mango Chutney

These meatballs are sweet, spicy, fruity and tangy. We seasoned our meatballs with an all purpose blend, Indian Garam Masala. For the chutney, we used some over-ripened mangoes and chopped dried tart cherries, although dried cranberries would be delicious, too. Making it the perfect sauce adding warmth and bite from nigella seeds and cayenne. Chutney has a lot of uses and is normally used to add sweet and sour tang to Indian dishes. Next we strewed the meatballs in the chutney. After 45 minutes of simmering these meatballs melt in your mouth! We used beef here, but lamb would be delicious, too! Add a toothpick to them for an easy appetizer or serve over basmati rice.

Vegan Cardamom Strawberry Creamsicles

As the summer heats up, it's nice to have some cold treats on hand to keep you cool. These strawberry creamsicles are fruity and sweet, with just a hint of floral flavor. This taste of summer vacation is vegan, so they can be enjoyed by all.Fresh strawberries do the heavy lifting in this recipe, with coconut milk and cashews teaming up to keep the cold treats creamy. Their addition makes the strawberry base almost like custard. Cardamom Seed, commonly used in both coconut curries and fruity pastries, brings the flavors together with a delightful twist.

Down South Goat Biryani

From My Two Souths and Chef Asha Gomez, we get this stunning recipe for Down South Goat Biryani. With her love of Deep-South cooking as well as her southern Indian roots, this recipe is sure to please all of those experimenting with biryani for the first or the tenth time. Don't worry if you can't find goat - Chef Asha says it's just as delicious with beef or chicken. If you're looking for a stand-out dish for fall entertaining, this dish is for you. From the author: "Biryani is a celebration dish. Weddings, birthdays, festivals, and other times of good cheer are the usual occasions when this iconic dish of rice with meat or vegetables graces our table, with almost the entire spice cabinet having been invited into the cooking vessel. Across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, countless renditions of this festive dinner abound, as do the many names by which it is known. I think the following recipe is my favorite version to make at home, though it is wonderful made with beef chuck roast or chicken thighs. I love the tender goat layered between saffron-spiced rice and baked, then dressed with roasted shallots, cashews, raisins, and a confetti of cilantro. As I fluff the flavored rice, I always remove the star anise, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and bay leaves - counting the fifteen spice hulls as I go - and set them aside to use as a garnish. Alternatively, you can tie all the spices except the saffron and cumin seeds in a piece of muslin to make a bouquet garni, which makes a quick job of removing the spice hulls. Or, if no muslin is available, but them in a tea ball and hang the ball over the side of the pot."

Southern-Style Pork Vindaloo and Green Bean Verakka with Cardamom Cornbread

If you've never had vindaloo, you don't know what you're missing. From My Two Souths and Chef Asha Gomez, we get this recipe for a Southern-Style Pork Vindaloo and Green Bean Verakka with Cardamom Cornbread. Tangy, spicy, garlicky pork goes perfectly with the Cardamom Cornbread. The Green Bean Verakka is the perfect flavorful complement to both dishes. If you're not one to eat pork, lamb will also work perfectly as a substitute. Here's one dish that you'll make over and over again. From the author: "Vindaloo is a recipe that best represents Kerala's diverse culinary influences, and it also reflects many of my own. My first encounter with tongue-searing pork vindaloo served in many Indian restaurants in the US was a bit jarring. I remember thinking how vastly different it was from the pork vindaloo I grew up eating in Kerala. Like many dishes traveling across the seas amid many interpretations, I feel vindaloo got lost in translation. Vindaloo was originally inspired by a Portuguese dish, carne de vinha d'alhos (meat with wine and garlic), with the wine substituted with palm wine vinegar. This dish was introduced to Kerala and Goa by Portuguese who stored chunks of meat in wine barrels on the ship; the wine would turn to vinegar and thus preserve the meat for long journeys. When they got to shore, the sailors would add local spices to the meat and cook a stew. This dish has many nuances: your palate experiences the tang from the vinegar, sweetness from the sugar, heat generated more from garlic than chiles, and a touch of bitterness from ground mustard seeds. Here, sugar, hot paprika, and a generous amount of garlic transport the pork roast to a faraway land. Choose a nice fatty pork shoulder, or Boston butt, to ensure lusciousness. I particularly enjoy the flavor of the rich sauce once it seeps down into the Cardamom Cornbread. Serving it this way brings to the plate a little something extra; my Louisiana friends refer to this as lagniappe."

Sheermal (semi-sweet saffron and cardamom-enriched bread)

Summers Under The Tamarind Tree: Recipes and memories from Pakistan showcases a full-flavored cuisine with Arabic and Far East Asian influences on many dishes. Author Sumayya Usmani uses this contemporary Pakistani cookbook to celebrate the flavors and traditions of Pakistan that she learned from spending time in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother when she was growing up. This gorgeous Sheermal, a semi-sweet and cardamom-enriched bread, would be a delicious addition to any brunch...or the afternoon cup of chai.From the Author: "This saffron-flavored semi-sweet leavened bread has its roots in Persian and North Indian cooking." They can be made in advance and they freeze very well - to defrost, simply toast."

Japanese Chicken Curry

The Flavour Principle: Enticing Your Senses With Food And Drink contains recipes from around the world, focuses on the fundamentals of flavor and suggests pairings to complement the unique tastes of each dish.  This Japanese curry recipe which balances sweet and spicy flavors for a wonderful, balanced taste, and has become a staff favorite.From the Author: "You can buy Japanese curry powder but it’s just as easy to make your own with our recipe. Serve the curry with rice or udon noodles and Japanese pickles (recipes follow). The grated apple gives sweetness to the sauce.This curry powder gets its traditional deep yellow colour from the turmeric. It is not a hot curry; it is more textured, with layered flavour."