Spicy Garlicky Pumpkin Seeds

I found this little recipe from a spicy-foods cookbook called Red Hot. I had huge hopes for it when I saw the ingredients... it came out fine, but not as special as I'd hoped
Prepare:
-1 cup pumpkin seeds
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 tsp dried chili flakes
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp caster/icing sugar
Cook:
-In a fry pan on medium heat, cook the pumpkin seeds for a couple minutes till they swell and brown a little bit-Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes more-Add red pepper flakes and salt and cook for 1 or 2 more minutes
-Turn off heat, sprinkle with sugar
Tips:
-The book also states that you can sprinkle lime juice on it and eat right away; otherwise, store in an airtight jar

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Noodles, Corn and Brussel Sprouts

I know I've posted a pumpkin soup recipe before but I wanted to post anew since this one is a bit different. That and a friend told me that this was "fanfuckingtastic" (thanks Claire).

Prepare:
-Chop up and peel half a large pumpkin
-Lightly coat with olive oil and place in a roasting tray
-Thinly slice 1 large yellow onion
-~5 dried dates
-Dekernel one corn
-Halve about 7 or 8 brussel sprouts
-Get about 1 cup of cooked chick peas
-Dice 1-3 hot chili peppers
-1 cup dried pasta (I used wholemeal spirals)
-Spices and seasonings... bay leaf, salt, pepper, honey, cinnamon, cloves...

Cook:
-Roast at ~ 400F/200C for about an hour, putting about half a head of garlic still in the peel in the tray after 30 min-Once the pumpkin is ready, lightly sautée onion for about 5 minutes -When onion is translucent, add pumpkin and roasted garlic (remove the peel!) to the pot, cover with water and stock powder or stock
-Bring to a boil, add bay leaves and chili
-Turn heat to a simmer, cover and leave alone for about 15 min
-Once pumpkin starts falling apart, add the chickpeas and dates, mix through and then puree using hand-blender and attain even mixture
-Keep heat at a simmer
-Add pasta and brussel sprouts
-Add 1-2 tbsp honey
-About 5 minutes later, add the corn kernels
-Mix 1 tsp of cinnamon and cloves each through
-Once pasta is done, take off heat. Serve immediately with toasted breadTips:
-I added the chickpeas mainly to give a bit of protein and thicken it up without using cream or anything - I couldn't really taste them, though. If you wanted a more beany taste, using a stronger bean like butter beans or borlotti beans would be best, as would upping the amount used and perhaps reserving some for after blending
-The corn and brussel sprouts worked quite well... the corn gave a sweet crunchiness and the sprouts a nice green solid feel. Broccoli or cauliflower would work quite well, put in a bit after the pasta
-The dates, honey, cinnamon, and cloves helped to make the soup a bit sweet and really complement the roasted pumpkin taste. The chili gave a bit of a bite that worked quite well with the the mellowness of the rest of the soup. It wasn't too sweet by any means; just had a nice richness to it
-Cream (coconut, especially) would not hurt this soup
-Make a large batch! This freezes quite well (almost better the 2nd day)

Spicy Lentil and Veggie Tomato Soup

This hearty vegetable soup is tasty, filling, and fairly healthy. Takes a bit of time to cook but really isn't that bad for what you get. The extras freeze quite well.

Prepare:
-Chop 1/2 onion, 1/2 zucchini, 1 cup mushrooms, 1/2 a bell pepper, a couple chili peppers,and mince some garlic
-In a saucepan, put 1 cup lentils and enough water to barely cover. Cook covered, on medium-high, for about 10 minutes. Drain and keep
-Ready 1 can peeled tomatoes, as well as 2 cups of stock (or water with stock powder)
-Drain and rinse 1 can of beans (borlotti is good, or canellini)

Cook:
-In a large pot, saute onion, garlic, and pepper in some olive oil on medium heat-After 3 minutes, add zucchini and mushrooms and cook for about 2 more minutes
-Add and crush the tomatoes in the pot and add the stock. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to simmer
-Simmer for 20 minutes, then add lentils
-Simmer for 10 minutes and then add beans
-Simmer for 5 more minutes and then garnish well with salt, pepper, dried basil and rosemary and serve hot

Tips:
-Fennel, broccoli, and others would go well in this soup
-Cook longer to reduce the volume and thicken up the soup
-Goes great with a simple garlic-bread: Peel one small clove of garlic, toast bread and as soon as it's out of the toaster, rub the raw garlic up and down. Garnish with olive oil and black pepper

Spicy Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

I've had this bottle of 'ginger refresher' sitting on my shelf for a while. It's basically a cordial, a syrup, that you mix with soda water to get very tasty ginger ale, or as they call it in Australia, ginger beer. The syrup is very strong and not too sweet and every time I helped myself to a drink I wondered if that syrup could be used as a marinade/sauce for cooking. So I tried.
Prepare:
-Chop stir fry vegetables. I used: cauliflower, broccoli, onion, pepper, hot pepper, zucchini, carrot, green beans, green onion, bok choy-Chop chicken
-Crush several cloves garlic and some fresh ginger
-Find some ginger ale syrup
Cook:
-Cook some rice, separately
-Heat a large wok, medium heat, and add some olive oil
-Throw in the chicken with half the crushed garlic and half the onions
-Add some salt and pepper
-Cook for about 3-5 minutes or until there's no pink on the outside of the chicken-Add the rest of the vegetables (include the other half of onions and garlic... don't include the green onion and bok choy) and turn up heat to medium-high
-Stirring constantly, add Asian sauces and spices (I did soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, Korean pepper powder and another Korean thing) and add about 2 tbsp of the ginger syrup and the crushed ginger
-Continue stirring and cooking for about 7 minutes, adding another tbsp of ginger syrup, until vegetables are reduced and chicken is cooked through. Add bok choy and green onion
-Turn off heat, stirring for 5 more minutes until greens reduce a bit-Serve with rice
Tips:
-Have everything ready before you start cooking, as it cooks quickly and stirring a lot is optimal to have the taste homogeneous and prevent sticking to the wok
-Adding an egg after the veggies have been cooking for a couple minutes could thicken it up a bit and add some more protein/taste
-If not saucy enough, add 1/4-1/2 cup of water with a bit of stock powder and let simmer for 5 minutes. This should be done after the veggies have cooked in the spices for a bit

Turkishish Eggplant Stew

My mom and little brother went to Turkey recently and returning, they raved about the eggplant dishes. They are now on an eggplant-fix and constantly cooking with it. Being away from home as I am, I googled some Turkish recipes with eggplant and found this lovely stew on an interesting website. Similar to ratatouille, this hearty stew was flavorful for being vegetarian and great on its own for dinner.
Prepare:
-Peel one large eggplant. Cut into large slices, salt, and store in the fridge for 20min-several hours - this is to excise the bitterness. You don't have to do it, I think, with the long thin eggplants, but I'm not sure
-Chop 1 large onion
-Crush several cloves of garlic, the more the better-Chop 1 zucchini, 1 potato, and some hot peppers-Open a can of diced or peeled tomatoes
-Ready either 2 tbsp tomato paste or pepper paste (I used Korean hot pepper paste)
-1/3 cup stock
-salt, pepper, other spices such as cumin, turmeric, Moroccan seasoning, etc
-Chop some fresh parsley (optional)
Cook:
-In a large wok, medium heat, lightly fry garlic, onion, and eggplant in olive oil for about 15 minutes-Mix in the paste until it's all the way through-Add the remaining ingredients (except the parsley), turn to low heat and simmer for about 45 minutes (until potatoes are thoroughly cooked), stirring every 10 minutes or so and making sure you crush and tomato pieces-Add seasonings to taste, garnish with fresh parsley
Tips:
-I thought this was nice, but a bit bland with the original ingredients, which is why I added those other seasonings (cumin, hot pepper, etc) . In the future, I think I might even add more garlic, just to ensure that loveliness
-I think pumpkin, added at the same time as potato, would be an excellent addition, as would sweet potato
-Grated Parmesan would also work well with this dish
-Eat with nice flat bread or some rice

Sweet Potato and Pea Tomato-Curry

This recipe was on the same page as the Spicy Chickpea recipe from before. I liked that other recipe so much, I figured I'd give this one a try.
Prepare:
-Chop up a bunch of sweet potato - around 2 cups worth
-Defrost/peel about 1/2-1 cup of peas
-Slice 2 medium onions
-Peel and crush 4 cloves of garlic-Dice 1 or 2 hot peppers
-Prepare 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp freshly grated ginger, 1 tsp chili powder, 500ml stock/water, salt, 3 tbsp tomato paste
Cook:
-In a large saucepan/wok, fry 2 cloves of garlic, onion, and sweet potato in olive oil for about 15 minutes (on low-med heat)-Once onion is tender, add spices and the rest of the garlic, fry for 1-2 minutes-Add stock/water, tomato paste, and bring up heat
-Once boiling, turn down heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes-Add peas and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until peas are cooked-Sprinkle some fresh cilantro, salt, cracked black pepper and enjoy
Tips:
-This works well with some naan or Lebanese bread. Also, some couscous or rice or lentils on the side would have worked but I didn't attempt any
-Some cheese would have worked well, I think, but am not sure about "Indian-style" cheeses
-This would work as well with regular potato if that's what you had lying around

Schug (Spicy Cilantro Paste)

This is a purportedly Israeli spicy sauce that my dad would always make. Schug (the 'ch' is the back of the throat, hard sound) is an amazingly delicious paste that works wonders on sandwiches, meats, etc. It's also easy to make and freezes quite well.
Prepare:
-Buy 1-2 bunches of cilantro, chop off only the bottom 1/3 of the stems-Get several spicy peppers. I used Thai chili peppers since that's easiest to find where I live, but a good variety of Thai, Jalapeño, Habanero, etc will add to the depth of the paste, roughly chopped but not seeded (1-4 peppers per bunch of cilantro pending on how spicy you like it)-Peel several cloves of garlic (1 if you don't like garlic, 3-4 if you like the taste)Cook:
-In a food processor, pulse cilantro, garlic, peppers, a bit of olive oil (only enough to make the paste liquidy), and some salt. If it doesn't blend properly, add a bit more olive oil, slowly (you don't want it too oily), taste and adjust pepper or cilantro to taste-Store in a jar and refrigerate/freeze
Tips:
-If you don't like it spicy, make sure to put in some flavorful but not spicy pepper, otherwise the sauce will only be cilantro
-I've never tried this but I reckon a bit of red onion might add to the flavor