Madzoune Telamadj Abour 

(Armenian Yogurt Soup with Pasta)

This recipe is from Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. I kept thinking of this soup, but also needed to use up some older milk. I decided to make Paneer (Indian cheese) from the milk, and then to use the leftover liquid (whey) for the base of this soup. I'd heard you could use the liquid in soup, but never tried it before. (Whenever I make Paneer, I have to figure out, How am I going to use that liquid this time?) I thought it would be similar enough, and I wanted to make sure to use up the liquid.

The soup is supposed to be an onion-flavored base of stock and yogurt, with vermicelli, sprinkled with dried mint. Instead, after the Paneer was drained, I reheated the liquid and cooked the vermicelli in that. (This was very thin vermicelli from a Middle Eastern grocery store, which is similar to that found at Indian grocery stores.) On the side, I fried some frozen, chopped onions, in a little oil; when they were done, I added them to the soup. When I served myself some soup, I stirred in some whole-milk yogurt, and sprinkled on some dried mint. The soup was very warm and soothing, especially now that the weather has tuned cold.

I have included here below, links to a few recipes of Armenia yogurt soup, which are similar to the original recipe I used.

Diasporina Website, An Armenian Soup that I Don't Like: Spas Recipes

Tourism Armenia Website, Armenia yogurt & noodle soup (scroll down to find the recipe)

The Armenian Kitchen Website, 'Spas' - Madzoon (Yogurt) Soup with Grains

Heghineh Cooking Show YouTube & Website, Armenian Yogurt Soup video & recipe

Quinoa Flakes Granola, 

with Whole-Milk Yogurt

I was advised to add more protein to my diet with quinoa flakes. When I read about it, it seemed like it might be good for granola. After I bought a box, I realized that it listed its own granola recipe ... so it wasn't a totally crazy idea! I left some things out, and added tahini as well as date syrup; the recipe already included some honey. It was extremely easy to make, and is good with yogurt for breakfast. Yum! 

Ancient Harvest Website, Honey Nut Quinoa Flake Granola

Chickpea Sambousek

Sambousek are Middle Eastern turnovers, like samosas. Here they are featured with crunchy Indian snack mix, whole-milk yogurt, and applesauce, for a light meal the other day. The Sambousek were leftovers that I'd frozen unbaked a while ago. All I had to do, was put them on a baking sheet, brush them with egg wash, and then bake about 30 minutes. (At other times, I've just sprayed oil on them, instead of egg wash.)

Mango Ice Cream 

(no ice-cream machine required)

This recipe is from Hot Thai Kitchen. Contains mango, honey, thick yogurt, and lemon juice, and I added a pinch of salt. Pai of Hot Thai Kitchen recommends Ataulfo mangos for this. I found that the champagne mangos at the store, are the same as (or a subset of) these, and used them. The honey and lemon juice gave this frozen treat, a very refreshing taste. 

Hot Thai Kitchen Website, Epic Mango Ice Cream in a Blender

Baked Broccoli & Cauliflower Fritters

with Spiced Yogurt 

(Pakore Waali Punjabi Kadhi)

This recipe is from Vegan Richa. First, I made the Kadhi (spiced yogurt). The original recipe is vegan and calls for vegan yogurt for the Kadhi, but I must confess that I'm not a vegan, and so I used regular whole-milk yogurt. The Kadhi was very simple to make, yet smelled so yummy. Due to my own error it was too salty, but I ate it anyway, it was so good. 

Recipes for Kadhi call for mixing chickpea flour with yogurt, and cooking it. Unfortunately, it's too heavy for me to eat that way, and so I haven't made Kadhi in several years. I decided to try Kadhi again, this time adding some leftover Hummus (see recent post) instead of the chickpea flour. (This might help explain how I managed to oversalt the dish.) The smell reminded me of Kadhi from years past, so I think it worked well.

I made the Pakoras (fritters) separately, using frozen broccoli & cauliflower, that I defrosted in the microwave first. Once the Pakoras were baked, I just added some to the Kadhi for the meal. Mmm, I have extra Pakoras! which will make a nice, light meal themselves.

Vegan Richa Website, Baked Broccoli Fritters with Spiced Yogurt -- Pakore Waali Vegan Punjabi Kadhi

Boondi Raita 

(Yogurt with Crunchy Chickpea Puffs)

The other day, at the Indian grocery store, I got some boondi for the very first time. They are crunchy little fried puffs of chickpea flour, and these were spiced. I wondered what I could do with them, and found recipes for this kind of raita. I made the simplest version: Put some yogurt in a bowl, and stir until smooth; add some boondi and mix in; scatter some boondi on top, and sprinkle on a bit ground cumin. As I was eating this with leftover cheelas from yesterday, I didn't think it needed any salt or additional seasoning. (For more information on the cheelas, you can see my recent post, if you like .) I really enjoyed this raita with my meal. I put some leftovers in the fridge, and I also liked it later in the day. Very simple and tasty! 

Healthy Greek Spinach & Kale Dip 

This is from a recipe by Kouzouna's Kitchen. I started out by slowly cooking 2 chopped onions in some olive oil. Next, in stages, I added to it, the 16 oz of fresh spinach and kale leaves from the box at the store. It took a while to get them all in, as I first had to wait for one batch to wilt before adding another. After it had cooled a little, I processed it in my mini-Cuisinart. I took half, and stashed it away in small containers for another time. The rest of the mixture became the dip. 

As I have to be careful what I eat (which is why I process leafy greens like spinach), I did have to make some substitutions. I left out the Parmesan cheese, used creamy whole-milk yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, and used some leftover paneer (Indian cheese) instead of cream cheese. I put it away, and heated it in the oven the next day. Spectacular! It was so warm and comforting, whether with homemade pita chips or with the breadsticks from earlier.

Kouzouna's Kitchen Website, Healthy Greek Spinach & Kale Dip

Kouzouna's Kitchen Facebook

Buttermilk Pancakes with Wild-Blueberry Fruit Spread

I served the pancakes with the fruit spread, as I'd already used up the last of the maple syrup. The recipe for the pancakes was from Lauren Chattman's Mom's Big Book of Baking. Accompanying them is some creamy whole-milk yogurt that reminds me of the homemade yogurt I've had at friends' houses before. The yogurt combined with the blueberry spread, is like blueberries and cream. 

Wild-Blueberry Yogurt Mini-Cake

This is based on the recipe for Best Blueberry Muffins in Lauren Chattman's Mom's Big Book of Baking. I used frozen wild blueberries, and yogurt thinned with water as an alternative for buttermilk, with a little cardamom added (not in the recipe, but I thought it would be nice with the blueberries). After filling up the muffin tin, there was enough batter left over to make this little cake. I like this recipe, as it's very generous with the amount of blueberries!

Biscuits with Wild-Blueberry Spread

Now for something a little sweeter! Wild-blueberry spread on biscuits, with organic whole-milk yogurt. The yogurt is fairly creamy, so when I put a little yogurt on the biscuit, it tastes like blueberries and cream. The biscuits are from a recipe in Lauren Chattman's Mom's Big Book of Baking, except that I used oil in place of butter.