Christina Najjar

Zucchini Fritters: A protein rich snack (vegan)

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I tried making zucchini fritters when I had a bag of ten zucchinis from Costco in the fridge. I used a recipe that I found online, but found it quite disappointing. So, I decided that I wanted a better recipe. I improvised a recipe using some of my favourite ingredients instead. These turned out quite tasty the second time around – I put too much garlic salt in my first batch. These would go well with a tahini sauce.

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that’s underrated. While it’s not as nutrient dense as, say, broccoli or kale, it does still contain essential nutrients. It’s a great way to boost your daily intake of vegetables in subtle ways. For instance, it can be added to smoothies and juices without adding flavour, can be spiralized or julienned to use as noodles, or can be integrated into chocolate cakes to make them moist and dense.

A little known fact about zucchini is that it’s mucilaginous. Big word! What it means is that it has a “slippery quality”. This makes it easier to digest for those who have digestive issues. Additionally, those who suffer from ulcers may find mucilaginous vegetables soothing.

Zucchini fritters

Zucchini Fritters (vegan)

Ingredients
1 zucchini
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp water (optional – see directions)
Oil for frying

Directions
Shred the zucchini using a julienne peeler or a mandoline. Then, add the other ingredients and let sit for a few minutes. The salt will “sweat” the zucchini to provide the needed liquid. If it’s not enough, add one or two teaspoons of water to blend the ingredients.

Heat a bit of oil on a frying pan over medium heat. Drop patties by tablespoonful and flatten them a bit. Cook the patties for a few minutes, and then flip them. Cook for a few more minutes, then remove from the heat.

Pudla (Vegan Chickpea Flour Pancakes With Veggies)

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When I went to see my naturopath last week, she told me that I need to eat more protein with breakfast. Because breakfast is a rare occurrence around here, I wasn’t surprised to hear that. While I do try to make overnight oats for any day that I start work at 8 or earlier, I always seem to think I’ll have time for breakfast with later shifts. But who am I kidding… I did do some research and found this thing called “pudla”.

Forums are loaded with good ideas, though those ideas don’t all work for me. Pudlas, however, seem to work well for me. They’re chickpea flour based vegetable pancakes from Indian origin. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned how much I love Indian food, but I LOVE IT. Oh what? Half my recipes are Indian food? Oh, I guess I must have mentioned it before!

To be honest, I have no idea if my pudla recipe is anything close to the real thing. I found guidelines for making these pancakes and I added the spices with inspiration from onion bahji. If you don’t have fennel seeds, you can skip them, but it brought these savory pancakes to a whole new level.

Chickpea flour pancakes (pudla)

Pudla (Vegan Chickpea Flour Pancakes With Veggies)

Ingredients
2 cups chickpea flour
1 tsp each: baking soda, salt, turmeric, cumin powder
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 medium sized white mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
Oil for frying (optional)

Directions
Combine the dry ingredients. Mix in the wet ingredients. Add the veggies.

Heat a bit of oil (if using) in a frying pan over medium heat. Pour a quarter of the batter into the pan and spread evenly. When the top looks like it’s not liquid anymore, flip the pudla over and cook for another couple of minutes. Makes 4 pancakes.

Another Vegan Chickpea Curry

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It’s that time again. Exams. That period of time when I forget to eat. Or maybe I forget to cook. I’m not really sure. What’s worse is that my birthday is always right around the beginning of exams. I’m one of those people who like to celebrate their birthday on the day of. Since it’s during exams, I have a little dinner with my friends at a restaurant or pub every year, followed by a little dessert. I just finished baking a batch of lemon cupcakes. Yes, sadly, I have to make my own birthday treat this year. I also thought I’d tackle a new recipe for a vegan chickpea curry.

I know I already posted a chickpea curry a couple of months ago. That one had a veggie broth base with coconut milk. This one here has a tomato paste base, similar to a chana masala. You would usually find recipes for chana masala with actual tomatoes. Since my belly monsters were getting bored, they decided to start rejecting tomatoes, in addition to all the usuals. For some reason, I can still digest tomato paste. So while this won’t be your authentic chana masala, it’s still quite tasty.

This is one of those meals you can make out of your pantry, unless you add cilantro. The cilantro is optional, but if you like its taste, I do recommend adding it. It really adds *something* to the curry.

Another vegan chickpea curry

Another Vegan Chickpea Curry

Ingredients
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger paste – you can find this in a jar in the spice section of grocery stores (or blend ginger with a bit of oil)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups water
About 1 small can tomato paste (or less)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
2 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or about 3 1/2 – 4 cups cooked chickpeas
Salt to taste
1/2 – 3/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

Directions
Heat oil on medium heat. When it’s hot, add cumin and toss around for about a minute to make it fragrant. Add garlic and ginger paste and toss around for another minute. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add water, tomato paste, lemon juice, turmeric, and garam masala. When it’s well mixed, add the chickpeas. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to low. Simmer until the chickpeas are cooked to your liking. I like mine soft, so it takes about 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, wash and chop the cilantro. When the chickpeas are cooked to your liking, remove from heat. Add in the cilantro and serve.

10-Minute Creamy Chickpea Salad (vegan)

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I’m a fan of chickpeas. They’re a tasty frugal option. They’re also really versatile. They can be used as snack, a dip, a main course, or you can turn them into a quick and easy chickpea salad.

Really, your imagination is the limit. Maybe my next kitchen challenge will involve turning whole chickpeas into some kind of dessert. I have no idea if that would be any good.

If you want solid avocado pieces in this chickpea salad, make sure that the avocado you use isn’t too ripe. I used a really ripe avocado when I made it this time, and it disappeared into the dressing. It did contribute to the creaminess, but the dressing is already plenty creamy. I think I’d rather have actual pieces of avocado to provide more texture and to offer different flavour options in different bites. I find it makes my meals more interesting.

10 minute vegan Creamy Chickpea salad

10-Minute Creamy Chickpea Salad (vegan)

Ingredients
1 large can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or about two cups cooked chickpeas)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 avocado, chopped or mashed
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water
2 tsp coconut aminos
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground ginger
Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions
Combine the chickpeas and veggies in a large bowl. In a small or medium bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and mix well before pouring in the large bowl. If you want the dressing to be extra creamy, opt for mashed avocado.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Makes 3 servings.

Chickpea curry (vegan, slow cooker option)

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Not having a car is usually not a problem, since I don’t have to worry about exorbitant insurance costs, and I feel like I’m being green. I do, however, wish I had a car when my food stock starts to deplete. I barely ever go for groceries in the winter because I’m a wuss when it comes to the cold. When I do buy groceries, I make sure to buy canned, frozen, and fresh veggies that I can chop and freeze myself. That way, I can avoid going shopping for longer. Then, I make meals like this chickpea curry.

The only fresh produce I use in this chickpea curry are the potatoes and the onions, which last practically forever when stored properly. It takes me all of three minutes to chop them, and the rest is either taken out of my freezer or requires opening a can. I like to make this curry in my slowcooker because it literally takes me 7 minutes of work. You can, however, make this on the stove top.

If you want a more traditional chickpea curry, try my other recipe.

Chickpea curry (can be made in slowcooker)

Chickpea Curry (vegan)

Ingredients
1 can green peas, drained and rinsed – or about 1 1/2 cups frozen
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Large potato, cubed
2 small or 1 large onion, chopped in large pieces
1-1/2 cups frozen carrot and green bean combination
About 4 cups veggie broth
2 tsp each: turmeric, ground ginger, ground coriander, ground cardamom
1 tsp each: cumin, garam masala, cayenne pepper
1 can full fat coconut milk

Directions
Slowcooker: Combine all the ingredients except the coconut milk in a 6 or 7 quart slowcooker. Make sure the contents are completely submerged in broth. For crunchy veggies, set on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. I like my veggies soft so I set it overnight on low for 10 hours. About 20 minutes before it’s done, add the coconut milk. I like my curry really coconutty so I add the whole can, but you can definitely put less. Serve over rice.

Stovetop: In a soup pot, combine all the ingredients except the coconut milk. The veggies don’t need to be completely submerged for this method, so if you like less liquid in your curry, you can reduce the amount of broth. You’ll need at least 2 cups of the broth, though. Cook for about 40 minutes on medium or low heat. You want it to be boiling, but not boiling over. A few minutes before the end, add desired amount of coconut milk. Serve over rice.

Note: If you like your curry to taste really strong, you may need to increase the amount of spice. I keep the amounts of spice low so that I don’t end up smelling like curry.

Roasted Chickpeas (vegan)

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It’s easy to find gluten-containing snacks with a crunch. Chips, pretzels, crackers, you name it. While there are gluten free versions of all of these items, they’re not always as good. Not to mention that they’re not the healthiest snacks in the world either, and they tend to cost a fortune. Some also replace the gluten with other allergenic grains. Roasted chickpeas to the rescue!

When I made these, this time, I had a bit of a cold and was looking for a vegan source of zinc. While pumpkin seeds fit the bill, I wasn’t in the mood. Unless they have the shell (i.e. when you dig them out of a fresh pumpkin), they lack the crunch I wanted. The only thing with roasted chickpeas is that they’re kind of dry, so it’s almost necessary to have a beverage handy while eating them.

I’ve provided you with a recipe to dress them up, but essentially, you can season roasted chickpeas however you please.

Roasted chickpeas

Roasted Chickpeas (vegan)

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas
1/2 tsp each: salt, black pepper, chili powder

Directions
Preheat oven to 425F.

Drain, rinse, and dry the chickpeas as much as possible. I run a paper towel over them to absorb some of the water. You can add the seasoning to the chickpeas in a bowl, but I do it all directly on the baking sheet and toss them around to cover them evenly.

Bake until the chickpeas are crunchy and toasty looking. For me, that’s about 45 minutes, but it depends on the brand of chickpeas you use and how well you managed to dry them. Remove from the oven every 15 minutes to toss and then put them back in the oven.

Update: my friend followed the recipe and said that his chickpeas burned, so I suggest keeping a close eye on them after half an hour.

Hummus in 5 minutes (vegan)

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When I was little, my mom used to make authentic Lebanese hummus regularly. I’m not going to lie. I hated it. I’d put up a fight every time she’d try to feed me the smallest amount of hummus. Then, when I became a vegetarian in high school, I discovered store bought hummus. It doesn’t taste like the authentic stuff, but hell, it’s so much better!

Until recently, I didn’t know that I had a functional food processor. How is that possible, you may ask? I had a food processor sitting in a box in my apartment, but when I had tried to use it in the past, I hadn’t assembled it properly. So, when I tried turning it on, nothing happened.

Every time I wanted hummus, I would dish out the $5 for a small container of store-bought hummus. Then, last week, it dawned on me that I keep all the ingredients for hummus on hand. No need to do groceries to make it, and it’s super healthy! And this time, when I used my food processor, it worked!

I like to use canned chickpeas because it’s so effortless, but you could just as well cook them from scratch. I decided to adapt this recipe to make it taste like the store bought stuff. More lemon, less tahini. More yummy, less icky.

Homemade hummus

Hummus in 5 minutes (vegan)

Ingredients
1 large can chickpeas (19oz/540mL)
1/3 cup reserved chickpea water
5 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Drain the can of chickpeas into a cup so that you can add some chickpea water to the humus. In a food processor, add all the ingredients and process for 1-2 minutes, stopping at least once to scrape down the bowl.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Falafel Patties (vegan, sugar free)

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Balancing school, work, and other life demands is usually quite time consuming. This is one of the many reasons I’m a fan of out-of-the-pantry recipes. I suppose they’re the equivalent of “Just add [insert select ingredients]!” mixes for those not afflicted with Belly Monsters Syndrome. Falafel patties are great for those days when I just don’t have time to get to the store.

Homemade falafel patties

I like to know I’m not eating all kinds of weird chemicals, and I have to do it on a budget. When I go to a health food store, I stock up on gluten free flours that I buy in bulk to save money. I always have lemons on hand for my daily lemon-hot water, but you could just as easily use bottled lemon juice if that’s what tickles your pickle.

While this is not your traditional falafel, you can treat it as such. I like mine with lemon tahini dipping sauce, but do as you wish. You can shape them into smaller patties or cut them up to add them to wraps.

Falafel Patties

Ingredients
1 cup chickpea flour
2 tsp parsley flakes
3/4 tsp garlic salt (or garlic granules and salt)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp lemon juice
Oil for frying

Directions
Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium or large bowl and mix well. Mix in lemon and hot water. Let sit for about ten minutes for the water to get absorbed a little. The batter should be fairly thick, but not solid.

Lightly oil a frying pan. Over medium heat, drop batter by tablespoonfuls and spread it a bit with the back of the spoon. Cook for three minutes. Flip and cook for an additional two minutes.

For my lemon tahini dipping sauce, I just mix tahini and lemon at a 2:1 ratio, but experiment and see what you like.

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Christina Najjar - Natural Nutrition

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