Vegetarian

Black chickpeas have a slightly different flavour to the regular, beige-coloured chickpeas – a little nuttier, perhaps – and their texture is more robust, so they don’t become completely soft during cooking, and they don’t break down and crumble apart. They are cooked with just a few basic spices in this simple dish that’s full of flavour. In India, it is often eaten with deep-fried puris, but I suggest serving it with chapatti or rice, with chutney and salad.

Cooking it with love, slowly over a low heat, brings out the flavour of the black lentils and black cardamom and results in a rich, intense, deep taste.

I am obsessed with this technique of baking sweet potato halves cut side down on parchment paper. After about an hour in the oven, you will literally peel the sweet potatoes off the parchment paper and be rewarded with a crispy-skinned, caramelized, golden, sticky potato. No mess, no fuss. Thank you to Oz Telem, author of The Book of the Cauliflower, for this awesome technique. You can try it with other root vegetables as well such as onion, fennel and squash.

This is what I make when I feel like eating something green and vibrant, but the green tide of spring hasn’t yet arrived. I use frozen peas and fava beans. (I double-pod mine, which I know takes ages, so there is no need to if you are in a hurry. To double-pod the frozen ones you’ll need to leave them in a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes before you can pop them out of their little pods.)

The Palestinian kitchen is filled with a variety of meat, fish and vegetable kefte, which are balls of seasonal ingredients that have been molded, stuffed, baked or fried. This is my interpretation of a vegetarian kefte, using the region’s ubiquitous eggplants married with fresh, fragrant herbs and tangy white cheese. These are perfect for picnics and keep well for a few days in the fridge.

We started with the garnish, frying sliced shallots until they were crisp and golden. Then we tossed diced tofu with sriracha and honey and left it to marinate while we quickly pickled some red cabbage and roasted some broccolini and carrots on the same baking sheet. Bulgur, the base of our grain bowl, was supereasy to make: We just poured it into plenty of boiling salted water and cooked it like pasta. We combined a portion of the pickling liquid with the shallot-infused oil, some mayonnaise, and a bit more sriracha to make a zippy dressing. We stirred some into the drained bulgur to ensure that every bite was flavorful. Topped with pickles, roasted vegetables, and marinated tofu; drizzled with extra dressing; and sprinkled with crispy shallots, this grain bowl makes a satisfying hot dinner or great packed lunch.

 

The perfect light lunch or appetizer, kuku sabzi differs from a typical frittata in two important ways. To begin with, the ratio of greens to eggs is heavily skewed in favor of greens—in fact, I use just enough eggs to bind the greens together. And kuku isn’t kuku without a deeply browned crust to provide a textural and flavor contrast to its bright, custardy center. Eat kuku warm, at room temperature, or cold, with feta cheese, yogurt, or pickles to offer the balance of acidity. Washing, chopping, and cooking down all the greens for a kuku can be overwhelming if you’re not used to staring down a mountain of produce, so feel free to prep the greens a day in advance.

I hated cooked carrots growing up and refused to eat them. My mom was a doctor, and though she might not be the best cook, she always made sure I never missed out on any nutrition. She would shred carrots and cook them with my favorite breakfast crepes, so I couldn’t pick them out. I still dislike cooked carrots, so I include additional vegetables with this pancake. They are crispy on the outside and tender inside, with crunches from the fresh veggies, and the carrots to add some sweetness. I won’t pick them out this time for sure. These pancakes are great as breakfast, and they also make the best side dish.