Measure sesame seeds, olive oil and 1 Tbsp liquid into blender. Blend until pureed. Add chickpeas, about 1 Tbsp liquid, lemon juice, garlic cloves, salt, and chili powder or red pepper flakes. Puree again in blender until smooth. Add additional liquid if necessary to blend, but should be thick. Taste and adjust if necessary, adding extra garlic, lemon, chili powder, or salt. Garnish with a pinch of paprika powder and drizzle a tablespoon or so of olive oil over the top. Serve with pita bread or vegies.

(or use a 6oz can of tomato paste and equal amounts of water)

sprinkling of garlic powder
sprinkling of Italian seasoning (or use oregano and basil, plus marjoram, rosemary, thyme, if you have them)
sprinkling of red pepper flakes or ground black pepper (opt)

Stir tomato sauce and paste together until smooth. Seasonings can be stirred into sauce or sprinkled over the top of the sauce after it has been spread on the pizza crust.

Or, if you have a little extra time, bring your sauce to a simmer on the stove, in which case you can use fresh minced garlic instead of powder, and add onion powder, too, if you like. You may need to add extra water to compensate for the evaporation that happens during simmering, especially if you simmer for more than a few minutes.

Or, saute fresh sliced onions in a bit of olive oil first and then add minced garlic, sauce, herbs and seasonings.

You may also wish to sweeten the sauce with a little sugar or honey, or thicken and oomph up that flavor with a little parmesan cheese.

If time allows, let sauce sit for a half hour or so to cool and for flavors to blend before using on pizza. You could also let sauce sit in the fridge overnight.

We had our first taste of Prickly Pear Syrupe after buying a small bottle at the Tucson Botanical Gardens a year or two ago (for $8), and that is what inspired us to try our own.

Prickly pear fruit is a little unusual and exotic in flavor. When raw it is very mild taste (some say ‘insipid’) a little reminiscent of watermelon. Cooked into a syrup it is a little different taste yet, still mild, a little like berries.

Prickly pear in bloom.

There was a big bunch of prickly pear cactus the kids and I kept walking by on our way to volleyball and it had lots of fruit on it. We kept forgetting to bring something to pick them with, and because they are so prickly you can’t do it without help (found out that the hard way!). I finally remembered and we used the hotdog tongs – it worked great. We picked about 15 of the fruit (also called ‘tuna’)and then the next day I made the syrup.

Prickly pear with most of fruit already gone. Wild animals and birds love ‘em!

1. Locate a prickly pear with ripe fruit. The fruit will be magenta purple in color, and plump. A clue that they are good to eat is that there are signs that the little desert critters and birds have started to sample them. Pick the best looking fruit. Avoid any fruit that are leaking juice, have been nibbled on, are starting to get mishapen or shriveled, or otherwise look not-so-good-to-eat.

A closer look at ripe prickly pear fruit, or tuna.

2. Pick fruit using metal hotdog tongs, grasping and twisting gently off of the cactus pad. Place in a bag or bucket to carry home. Although you may wish to use leather gloves, don’t bother trying to actually grasp the fruit with them, the prickles will just stick into the leather and aren’t that easy to remove.

3. Wash fruit well and scrape off any remaining prickles.

4. Cut fruit in half and scoop out the insides with a spoon. Put the fruit pulp and juice in the blender and blend. (Alternately, you can just mash it, like with berries.)

5. Strain through a wire strainer (twice if you need to make sure you didn’t miss any seeds).

6. Measure the amount of juice you end up with, and add an equal amount of sugar.

7. Add a couple little squirts of lemon juice and bring to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Make sure you use a saucepan that is plenty big enough to handle boiling syrup – which can rapidly increase in volume – without boiling over.

8. Boil for about 10 – 15 minutes, stirring fairly frequently, until syrup is slightly thickened.

Ta-da! You have prickly pear syrup. Pour into sterilized jars and store in fridge.

If you’ve never seen prickly pear juice (or syrup), it is the most vibrant magenta purplish hue. It will temporarily stain your fingers and the counter, but does seem to wash out alright from clothing.

I like it on ice cream, and it is great on pancakes, too, along with a little regular syrup.

fresh mint leaves – 1 big bag
2 onions (medium size)
2 tsp tamarind concentrate (more if you like it sour)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 hot green chili peppers (opt) – to taste

Blend in blender.

Following this basic recipe on a smaller scale and with what I could readily get ahold of ingredient-wise:

1 – 0.66 oz pkg mint leaves, big stems removed
1/2 large onion, chopped (at least 1 cup)
1/2 jalapeno pepper, including seeds
scant 1/4 tsp salt

I didn’t have any tamarind concentrate, so I substituted:
1 tsp brown sugar (approx.)
1 good squirt lime juice or about 1 tsp (you could also use lemon juice)

And because it was such a small batch, I had difficulty blending it, so I added:
a little water (as necessary) for blending – but not too much or it will be watery

Puree in blender. Serve fresh. Store leftovers in fridge.

This was my first attempt at mint chutney, and it turned out a little watery (Note to self: add more onion and less water next time). But it tasted good! Served with fresh samosas.

An abundance of beautiful, sweet peaches this summer inspired me to make jam again. I hadn’t made cooked jam in quite awhile and had forgotten just how easy it is, albeit a little time-consuming. I think the hardest part was sterilizing the jars and bottling!

Peach Jam
Makes about 5 half-pint (1 cup) jars

8 cups cut up or crushed peaches (about 12 peaches), blanched and skinned first
5 cups sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Sterilize jars and lids
Place folded kitchen towel in the bottom of a large pot. Check jars for cracks and chips. (Don’t use any jars that have cracks or chips.) If not already clean, wash jars and lids in hot, soapy water and rinse well.
Either fill pot with several inches of water to come at least half way up jars, and place jars upside down on the towel, allowing to fill part way with water, or completely cover with water (in which case it doesn’t matter if they are upside down or right side up).
Bring to a boil and boil gently at least 15 minutes. Turn off heat, cover pan and let jars sit in hot water until right before filling.

Prepare peaches
Meanwhile, wash peaches. Bring another pot of water to boil in order to blanch the peaches. In small batches, place peaches in boiling water for about 1 minute (30 – 60 seconds) making sure all sides of the peach are reached as evenly as possible. Lift out with slotted spoon (or use metal strainer). Rinse in cold water and slip off the skins. Cut peaches up, removing pits, until you get to 8 cups of cut up peaches (you can measure by cutting peaches up into a Pyrex glass measuring cup and then dumping into large bowl or pot every time it gets full). Mash with a potato masher.

Cook the jam
Mix mashed peaches with sugar and lemon juice in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven. Bring to a boil over medium high to high heat, stirring frequently. Boil about 25 to 30 minutes, continuing to stir frequently, until jam is thick and translucent. Skim foam off the top (this is somewhat optional if you are using lids, rather than paraffin wax).

Pour the jam and seal the jars
Carefully lift sterilized jars and lids out of hot water. Don’t touch the insides of the jars and try to handle lids by edges. Make sure you have a clean surface such as a clean plate or dish towel to place them on. Fill with hot jam to about 1/4 – 1/2 inch from the top, run a finger around the rim to clean, place lid on and screw tightly. Work quickly.

Checking and storing
After jam jars have cooled, check lids to see if they have sealed by tapping on the top. (The lids should also look very slightly depressed or concave.) If a lid sounds hollow, or there is any popping up and down or ‘give’ in the lid when pressed in the center, it has not sealed. (Sometimes a lid will seal right when you are checking it, and that’s okay.) Place any unsealed jars directly in the fridge and eat them first.* Otherwise, if jars have sealed well, they can be stored in a cool, dry cupboard. Your last jar will likely end up only partly full. Don’t bother trying to seal it, just put a lid on it and put it in the fridge. Or pour into a dish and eat right away on fresh, buttered bread.

*When in doubt, store in the fridge. Or pour into freezer safe containers and freeze.

Variations:
Strawberry, Raspberry, Cherry…
Substitute cut up or crushed strawberries, raspberries, cherries….

Fruit Sauce

2 cups fresh or frozen fruit (approx.) – eg. peaches, blueberries, or strawberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Bring to a boil, then simmer until fruit is soft and liquid is thick and syrup-y, about 30 minutes. This is a really basic recipe that you can play around with – a little more or less sugar or water.

Here’s another Blueberry Sauce recipe I came across that you might like to try (I haven’t tried it yet):
2 Tbsp butter
2 pints blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp lemon juice or juice from one lemon

Combine all ingredients in pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries are very soft. When the sauce cools, it will thicken up even more. Serve over vanilla ice cream.

Peach Sauce on Buttermilk Pancakes

Blend with a whisk until smooth.  Refrigerate. 

Variation: Add a handful of boondi (little fried dough balls) and refrigerate overnight.  Or, if you’re in a hurry (and this is how I alwasy make it), pour boiling water over boondi in a bowl to soften.  Let soak 1-2 minutes, drain, then add to cuttha and refrigerate.

Note: This is a pretty flexible recipe. I don’t usually make quite a full batch and just eyeball the measurements: about 2/3 of the quart of buttermilk and approx 3/4 cup sour cream – or just enough to thicken the buttermilk to a nice consistency.

Heat oil in pan, stir in flour, chili powder and cumin.  Heat for about 1 minute, and then add remaining ingredients.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Makes approximately 3 cups sauce.

1 loaf French bread, or sourdough bread

Mix first 6 ingredients (all except bread) in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Slice off top one-third of bread loaf and cut into bite size chunks.  Hollow out the remaining loaf to make a bowl and fill with spinach dip.

Place on a tray or serving dish and surround with bread chunks and crackers for dipping.