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| Pumpkin patch brownies made by my daughter |
On a cooking forum, I saw a mention of black bean chili mole from the popular cookbook Bean by Bean by Crescent Dragonwagon, published in 2011. I have plenty of black beans in stock (10 lbs purchased at Costco, a staple in my pantry) and it is good to find new ways to use them. And I found the cookbook on the shelves of my local public library, although this recipe can be found online too.
Mole (mol-ay) is the famous, and famously elaborate, Mexican sauce (or family of sauces) with complex flavors of dried chillies, fruit, nuts, and chocolate. This particular recipe has a mile-long ingredient list and a multi-step process, but when you get right down to it, it isn't such a heavy project after all.
Here's how I made it:
- Soak black beans for several hours.
Cook black beans in the Instant Pot (15 mins on HIGH pressure) with dried Mexican chiles, salt and pepper and bay leaves.
Chili mole in lunchboxes - Meanwhile, in olive oil, saute onion, raisins, spices, bell pepper, poblano pepper, garlic.
- Add the sauteed veg, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste to the cooked beans and simmer.
- Meanwhile, in a food processor, make a thick paste of peanut butter, tahini, unsweetened chocolate, along with some of the simmering paste including the cooked chiles. Add it to the black beans
- Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed, fish out bay leaves, cool and refrigerate.
Bean by Bean is a great cookbook in general, and very vegan and vegetarian-friendly as you can imagine. The recipes span several global cuisines and include soups, salads, casseroles, stir-fries, desserts and more. There's a Tanzanian black-eyed peas soup with bananas (unusual combo, but I love that savory-sweet flavor profile myself), and green gram payasam (I had some recently in Chennai- divine) and Boston baked beans, to name a few recipes that caught my eye. I might have to try another recipe or two before I return this book to the library.
A recent NYT veggie newsletter discussed least-loved vegetables. It is predictable how eggplant is always featured at the top of such lists. I have many friends who say they love all vegetables except eggplant. It is something about the texture, they shudder. I LOLed at some of the funny comments in this article ("evil little cabbage"), but I happen to love all the vegetables mentioned in there- eggplant, okra, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, zucchini...
Meanwhile, eggplant is my favorite vegetable of all time. V and I go out to lunch on the occasional Friday, and this month I chose a newly-opened restaurant in town for our lunch date, solely on the fact that it had an eggplant cutlet sandwich on the menu-- advertised as Breaded & Fried Eggplant, Tomato Jam, Fresh Mozzarella, Arugula on Focaccia. Sounds great, but it turned out to be a disappointment. The focaccia was somehow cake-like, the fresh mozzarella wasn't melty and the eggplant was undercooked and leathery. womp womp. (V's pizza with green olive tapenade and mushrooms was good, though.)
I had better luck with my menu choice when I went to dinner at a Thai restaurant with two of my good friends/ former colleagues. This time I got the eggplant basil stir fry with tofu- Down home cooking, Thai Style. Tender Eggplant, Stir fried in a Basil Chili sauce with Bell Pepper, Onion, Green Beans, Mushroom and fresh aromatic Thai Basil. It was fantastic and it satisfied my eggplant-loving heart.
What is your stance on eggplant? What is your least favorite vegetable?
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Other bits from this month so far--
- The kids had a five day fall break from school, but I am all traveled out and unwilling to leave town with the bickering duo. There's plenty to do in town! V and I went with friends to a new-to-us trivia night. It was a lot of fun and also a total disaster- the theme was "slasher movies"- not our forte. Our team placed dead last. The venue had all the halloween decor and themed drinks, including some very bizarre/ inventive cocktails. I forget what I got but it was good!
- Speaking of trivia, I discovered a new game called catfishing. Weird name, great game. Fun and addictive, even if I score miserably. This is a fresh addition to my early morning line-up of wordle, strands and connections. Games plus a cup of tea, is there anything better?
- I am in major home improvement and repair and decluttering mode. Nesting season and all that. To psych myself up, I listened to an episode of the podcast Ologies with Alie Ward, where each episode focuses on a field of study, an "ology". This particular episode is about Oikology, the scientific study or systematic management of houses, homes, and housekeeping. I am giving away stuff left and right.
- We had a jigsaw puzzle out on the table after a long gap. This one is Buzzy Bouquets by Galison and was a gift from my daughter, who brought it back from a beach vacation she took with her friend's family. It was delightful. I'm coming to realize that the 500-piece puzzles are perfect for me.
- All four of us got our annual flu and covid shots. My arm was very sore for 48 hours but I'm happy to have this over with.
- I voted early!!
- There is stack of good books on my nightstand, but I haven't been reading much this month. My son and I have been doing some nice bedtime reading together. We read two of Rebecca Stead's books- When You Reach Me and Liar and Spy. Now we're reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. He's visited museums in NYC and has watched Night at the Museum, so he's enjoying this story about two kids who run away from home and live furtively in the Met museum. My son commented that he sleeps better when he reads before bed, and I was like yessss!
- I went to the store to buy a three-pack of reading glasses and shoe inserts for plantar fasciitis and had a good laugh at myself. My age is showing.
- I'm thinking of doing a retrospective on One Hot Stove. The plan is to read my own posts slowly starting from February 2005, and see how my perspectives and cooking tastes have changed. I'm sure I will rediscover lost recipes and forgotten memories.
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| Tired after a long day of being a nuisance |
Max now has a car harness (that he always manages to wriggle out of, somehow), and a new no-pull harness that is only partially working as advertised!
How is October shaping up for you?
