Sweet Potato Roti

Indian flatbreads often make their appearance on my dinner table and truly I could eat them everyday, anytime of day. They are perfect for breakfast or brunch with some chutney and they're an ideal accompaniment to curries — as I eat a lot of dal and vegetable curries, it's no wonder I crave savory breads such as these roti as often as I do. In this case, I wanted a wrap for some spicy jerk chickpeas and with the sweet potato filling in these flatbreads, the combination was perfect. Rotis are not only enjoyed in India and throughout Asia, but are also popular in the Caribbean. To my delight, the roti rolled up perfectly without breaking apart. Feel free to add more spice to the breads if you want to heat things up further.

Jerk Chickpeas

Growing up I never did much care for chicken even before I became a vegetarian, and my parents generally did not prepare ethnic dishes, so I never did try the classic Jamaican jerk chicken. But now with plenty of ethnic cooking behind me, I found that the seasonings that are commonly used in jerk spicing — Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg — appealed a great deal to me, and I thought I would try a vegetarian version with cooked chickpeas instead of chicken. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as generally I am more at home with Indian spicing, but I went with my instincts after a bit of research and was surprised and pleased with just how good the result was. Hot, sweet and sour, tangy and zesty, this chickpea recipe is now one of my top favorites.

Mung Dal Kitcheree

A kitcheree is a traditional dish originating in North India that consists of legumes and rice and often vegetables. For those who enjoy Indian creations, this is a one-pot meal that won't take you long at all to prepare. Split mung beans are an especially easy legume to digest, making this a nourishing and restorative meal. I've always enjoyed the distinctive sweet and earthy aroma and flavor that these little gems impart to a dish. Here they are all nestled in with rice after simmered together with some spices and coconut milk.

To fill out the meal, serve with a vegetable side and some Indian savory flatbreads. I served it with butter paneer masala and a spicy potato and green bean salad.

Creamy Herbed Potato and Green Pea Salad

Spring is toddling into summer with faltering steps this year, but the respites of warm sunny weather along the way bring to mind the comforts and pleasures of summer eating. Soups and hearty meals give way to salads and light fare that can be transported to the patio, warming foods give way to refreshing plates, and dried and canned goods give way to fresh herbs and produce. This simple salad of steamed baby potatoes, green peas and fresh herbs tossed in a creamy and vibrant Dijon mustard dressing is just the thing to give you a taste of summer comfort food — especially if you can get your hands of fresh garden peas, although frozen peas will also make for a lovely salad.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites

I found the idea for these easy, soft and moist, and healthy gluten-free peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies while browsing on Facebook one day and eventually found out that the recipe was created by Erin at Texanerin Baking. Egg-free and flour-free too, they contain cooked chickpeas that end up like a flour-based dough after they are whizzed up in a food processor with other ingredients. The dominating flavor is the peanut butter combined with the chocolate resulting in a pleasant rather unstated sweetness from the presence of the raw honey. Do I really need to note that one of life's sweet pleasures is peanut butter paired with chocolate?

Mung Beans in a Golden Karhi Sauce

One of my favorite dishes from Yamuna Devi's gospel of Indian cooking, Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking is her tender chickpeas simmered in a golden karhi sauce. I've more than a few favorites from the book that often appear on my table, yet each and every time I browse through the 800 pages of culinary Indian bliss, I find yet another recipe that I can't believe I haven't tried … I have owned this treasured cookbook for about 20 years. Then there is the pleasure of revisiting some of my favorites from the book and tinkering with the recipes and my initial adaptations.

Rich and Creamy Raw Mushroom Soup

As the temperature rises, raw creations occupy a shining spot on the dinner table. My dear friend Susan thoughtfully sent me a gift of raw in the form of an elegant cookbook that celebrates the beauty of vibrant raw creations that can be made with ease. Everyday Raw Express by Matthew Kenney is certainly worth your attention. The presentation of the dishes within the covers is gratifying, but even better is using the ideas as a template for vibrant nourishment. And the book uses only vegan friendly ingredients too.

As I am a mushroom fiend, one of the first recipes I tried was this raw mushroom soup. I never can resist nibbling on raw mushrooms as I prepare a dish, so why not a soup with humble seasonings and some nuttiness? This rather unusual earthy soup was a lovely starter for my Asparagus Pesto Lasagna.

Asparagus Pesto Lasagna with Mushrooms

After such a long and dreary winter, spring seems like even more of a treat this year than usual. Spending time outdoors is nearly impossible to resist. It's a time of renewal. Everything is so fresh and lush. The sunshine warming and pleasing to the body, mind and eyes. The fresh foliage and exploding blossoms and spring flowers are still displaying much of their earliest glory and new delights await.

Tamarind Chutney with Coconut, Mint and Parsley

Chutneys and sauces are pretty much a necessary and staple pairing for many savory Indian appetizers and flatbreads. Store-bought chutneys really pale in comparison to the freshness and flair that homemade chutneys can impart to your snacks and meals. This chutney is incredibly easy to prepare and will keep in the fridge in a well-sealed glass container for up to a week. I will note that this is one of the most interesting and unique chutneys I have ever made. Vibrant and zesty, with some spicy kick from fresh green chilies, sweet tamarind mingles with toasted coconut and fresh herbs for a special palate pleasing experience.

Mushroom, Lentil and Spinach Risotto

Warm, creamy, elegant, earthy and sweet, risottos are comfort food to me. And although people are often intimated by the idea, I love cooking them too. They're actually very simple to make, and although risottos do require pretty much constant attention, they're only really fussy toward the end of the cooking time when you want your rice grains cooked just to a perfect creamy and toothsome or al dente texture. But with a careful eye to this last step, risottos are actually a snap to make.

Potato and Green Bean Chaat Salad

I wasn't quite sure what to call this spiced up vegetable stir-fry, but it really is rather like a dry side salad, so a salad it is. I cooked up a three course Indian meal and this delightful little dish made up the vegetable component of the dinner. It's incredibly easy to make, and if you want to save time, roast or boil your potatoes the evening before or in the morning before you really get down to kitchen business.

Chaat — or chat — masala is essential in this dish, and can easily be made in your own kitchen (see this recipe here) or purchased from Indian grocery stores. Overall, this dish is rather mild on the heat side, making it a lovely and tempering accompaniment with some zesty flare to a spicy butter paneer masala. I also served a split mung and basmati rice kitcheree. It was a fine meal that was rather a homage to the culinary traditions of northern India.

This would be a good salad to take along for an outdoor outing as it contains no dairy and won't spoil as quickly in the hot sun as many other potato salads do that are dressed with mayonnaise or include cheese.

Raspberry-Banana Oat and Chia Seed Smoothie

I haven't entirely jumped aboard the chia seed bandwagon, but even if they're not the universal panacea as has been suggested, I don't mind taking advantage of the omega-3 acids, fiber, iron, calcium, protein, vitamin C, potassium and antioxidants that chia seeds provide. Apart from delightful chia seed puddings, chia seeds are easy to incorporate in smoothies, which I frequently enjoy for a healthy, easy-to-digest and quick and easy no-cook breakfast pick-me-up. And since chia seeds benefit from the same soaking and fermentation method that make the proteins in rolled oats digestible, they're a simple addition to the oat and yogurt mixture that I prepare the night before my smoothie in a variation of the traditional muesli technique — simply stir oats and chia seeds into plain whole-fat yogurt and leave overnight at room temperature, and the next morning you've got a nourishing, tangy and delicious base for adding any variation of fruits and natural sweeteners to make a smoothie.

This combination of yogurt, oats, chia seeds, raspberries and bananas makes for a particularly refreshing and substantial breakfast smoothie — so tasty, in fact, that it felt like I was drinking a fresh dessert!

Pineapple Upside-Down Pancakes

I love making pancakes for a special weekend breakfast, so I'm always looking for new and creative ideas to liven up the treat. One of these ideas occurred to me when I was looking at my recipe for a pineapple upside-down cake in which butter, brown sugar and rings of fresh sweet pineapple are baked at the bottom of a simple white cake, after which the cake is inverted so that the cooked pineapple sits on top. Well, what could be simpler than pineapple upside-down pancakes, since the pancakes have to be flipped anyways? So this recipe was born, with the fresh rings of pineapple fried in butter and brown sugar until golden-brown and then placed on top of pancakes right before they're flipped. These turned out to be a delicious weekend treat.