Two yummy, cheap recipes

White Bean Hummus
1 can white beans (great northern or cannellini), drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp sesame tahini
juice of half lemon
1 clove garlic-minced or crushed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything in the food processor and puree. I really like this hummus. I used to make a much more complicated version of hummus that called for chickpeas and a lot of other ingredients. This is milder and quicker. We eat it with chips, carrot sticks, or in a sandwich with sprouts and tomato.

Vegetable Masala
This recipe is very versatile and it’s also cheap if you keep the spices it calls for on hand. I adapted it from a recipe on allrecipes.com. You can see the original HERE. I will give the way I made it-you could add chicken as well, but we didn’t.
5 or 6 small to medium baking potatoes, peeled and diced into about 1″ cubes
3 carrots thickly sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp brown mustard seed
2 tsp ground cumin
1 medium yellow onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and chopped (or sub. canned diced tomatoes)
2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 to 1 cup of heavy cream

I steamed the potatoes and carrots until tender but not mushy while making the rest of the recipe. While they were steaming I threw a couple of tomatoes right on top for a few minutes to blanch them. Once the potatoes/carrots were finished I removed from heat and just dumped the frozen peas on top of the hot potatoes and carrots and that thawed them.

While that was going on, I heated the oil and sauteed the cumin and mustard seeds over medium heat until the seeds began to pop. Then I added the onion and garlic and sauteed until the onion was soft. Next, added tomatoes, and the other spices and sauteed for a couple more minutes. Then I added the steamed vegetables and cooked for a few more minutes. I added cream in order to make this dish a bit more saucy so I could serve it over rice. We eat a lot of brown rice-but I served this over white rice-I think indian food is yummier with white rice.

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