Don’t you love a bowl of thick and hearty soup as a meal when the weather is cold? You cannot go wrong with this black-eyed pea soup…

How could I go by this winter without sharing a soup recipe? Don’t take me wrong, I have cooked many pots of soup however did not document therefore no posts were shared.

Can you believe that this is my first time cooking black-eyed pea soup? My initial question was why is this called pea as they share similar shape as beans? This is where internet comes handy…apparently peas and beans are legumes and seeds from a pod. Some suggest that when the seeds are round they are called peas and when the seeds are elongated are called beans. Regardless of what you want to call these black-eyed seeds (avoiding conflicts…) this is the first time I had used black-eyed seed in soup. Like most of the beans or peas, the cooking time will be greatly reduced if they are soaked overnight.

In this recipe I treated the black-eyed peas as I would use any other bean when making soup. You can add whatever “meat” you want, especially from pork such as ham, bacon and sausage, but feel free to use any kind of protein, or if you prefer you can make it vegetarian as well, it is totally up to your preference.

I choose to use Kitchen Accomplice Chicken Broth Reduced Sodium to add an extra flavor to the soup. Before I go on…I got many products from Kitchen Accomplice free of charge and I did not receive any compensation for this post and all the content and opinion in this post are solely mine. The squeezable bottles are very neat and super easy to use, just squeeze the amount you need and it will add lots of flavors to your soup/dish. Kitchen Accomplices carries many products to enhance your dishes just by adding a little squeeze…I yet have to try the other products, but it they are like the chicken broth I used in this soup, I will definitely be using it in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup dried black-eyed peas
• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 zucchinis, diced
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Kitchen Accomplice Chicken Broth Reduced Sodium
• ½ lb sausage of your preference
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Baby spinach leaves

Method:

Wash the black-eyed peas and cover with water, approximately 2in above the beans. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight; drain well.

In a large pot add the water and the peas, cook for approximately 40 to 45 minutes until the peas are tender. Alternatively you can use thermos cooker, pressure cooker, or any other method you like.

In another pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir fry the sliced sausage, remove and set aside. In the same pan add onion and garlic, cook until they are fragrant. Add the peas, carrots and chicken broth, cook, stirring occasionally. Once boiled add zucchini and sausage. Season with salt, pepper to your taste.

Just before serving, place a desired amount of spinach in the serving bowl, scoop the hot black-eyed soup on it. Stir gently and serve hot.

If you enjoy this hearty black-eyed pea soup you might want to try an Asian inspired soup…Kabocha with Miso.

Did you know that ½ cup of dry black-eyed peas are low in fat and provide more than 20% of the daily recommended amount of fiber?

Thank you for visiting Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!

This is simple salad recipe using mainly blanched celery and tossed with San-J organic soy sauce.

This is a very simple and easy recipe using mainly blanched celery, yes blanched celery…this way the celery still crunchy and yet somehow delicate.

I accepted the invitation to try more San-J sauces, they were sent to me without charge, and I did not receive any compensation for this post and all the content and opinion in this post are solely mine. I decided to use the gluten free organic tamari soy sauce in this recipe, and I love it, especially because this is a reduced sodium version of soy sauce. You can look for more San-J sauces here and pick your favorite one.

In Asian cuisine, salad is not very common, most of the so called vegetable “cold dishes” are either blanched or somehow pickled. Therefore I used similar method to make this celery salad. I hope you get to try, because the texture of this blanched celery is very different from the fresh cut ones. The addition of soy sauce and sesame oil gives this salad an Asian twist.

Ingredients:

• 6-8 celery stalks, cut into strips
• San-J Tamari organic soy sauce to taste
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• Chili oil, to taste
• Cilantro, chopped

Method:

Boil water in a medium pot. Add the celery and blanch for approximately 1 minute.

In the meantime prepare a bowl with cold water and ice cube.

Drain the water from the celery and immediately place the celery into the ice bowl of water.

Once the celery strips are ice cold drain well and place them in a bowl.

Add on the celery strips San-J soy sauce, sesame oil, chili oil. Toss gently until all the celery strips are coated with the sauce.

Finally toss in the chopped cilantro. Serve cold.

If you enjoy this simple recipe of celery salad you might want to check on Spinach Salad with Ponzu Sauce.

Did you know that celery is an excellent source of vitamin K in spite of its low-calorie content?
Moreover, celery contains sodium, therefore the slightly savory flavor.

Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!

This is an Asian inspired recipe for pumpkin sandwich bread loaded with chia seed. This bread is great for sandwich, French toast or simply toast.

Yes, I had made numerous variation of bread and rolls using chia seeds and the same with pumpkin, but this is the first one where I mixed pumpkin and chia seeds all in one dough…the pumpkin give its nice deep yellow color and it packed with the goodness of chia seeds.

The recipe is pretty simple, similar to the other bread recipes that I have been using…

I use the water roux or tangzhong method to accomplish the Asian bread texture, and adjusted the liquid content since the seed were soaked in water before being used in the dough. The texture of these sandwich bread are awesome, light, springy and cottony…not to mention that stay soft for many many days.

When baking sandwich bread, I love using my Pullman loaf pan, the sandwich loaf comes out perfectly square…just slice it to your thickness preference…

Oh! I will be on vacation as this post goes live…so please forgive me if I cannot make my weekly visit to you, I will be literally trying to do “nothing”, which seems kind close to impossible due to my personality…nevertheless, I will just try to relax and enjoy the environment…

Ingredients:

Water Roux or Tangzhong

• 40 g bread flour
• 200 g water

Main dough

• 8 teaspoons chia seed
• 1 cup water
• 300 g pumpkin puree
• 800 g bread flour
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons dry milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons dry yeast
• 50 g butter

Method:

Water roux or Tangzhong

In a small pan, mix all the ingredients of water roux, place in a low heat and stir constantly until the temperature reach 650C (150F), or if you do not have a thermometer, cook until ripples form. Set aside to cool by covering with a plastic film.

Dough

Soak the chia seed in the water for at least 15 minutes.

In the mixer bucket, add the water roux, and all the other ingredients, except for the butter.
Turn the mixer on the stir mode and increase to speed 2 until forms soft dough. The dough will be very sticky initially, and less sticky as the gluten forms.

Add the butter in and let it knead until the butter incorporates to the dough. Make sure that the dough is soft and elastic. I used speed 2 for approximately 30 minutes.

Remove the dough and place in a bowl by covering with a plastic film.

Let dough proof in a warm place until the dough tripled to its original size.

Knock back the dough and split into approximately 8 little balls and let it rest for 5 minutes on the counter.

Flatten the ball making sure that the air is removed and fold into thirds, then roll it like a Swiss roll.

Place the Swiss rolls into the Pullman (4 each) pan and let it rise until almost 90% to reach the rim of the pan. Cover the pan and bake in a preheated oven of 350F for approximately 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and flip the bread into a wire rack to cool. Slice according to your like.

Store the bread in an airtight container.

I hope you enjoy this Asian Inspired bread recipe with chia seeds, for more, please check Chia Seed Dinner Roll recipe.

Did you know that chia seeds not only contain omega-3 fatty acid but it is a good source of fiber and minerals?
In case you are wondering…yes, these are the same seeds that were very popular as “chia pets”, which sprouted chia seeds were used to produce the terracotta figures.

Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!

This is one of my husband favorite dishes…he claims that he could eat this curry everyday…I still have to test this statement.
Actually it is very simple and yes, it is very tasty, but I could not see myself eating this everyday…
This time I served with udon noodles, but you can serve over rice, pasta…in another words, any kind of carbs.
In this recipe I added extra curry powder for flavor and spiciness enhancement. You can use only the curry cubes if you wish, especially if you are serving to kids.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, cut in big chunks
6 small red potatoes, cut into quarters
5 carrots, cut in big chunks
2 zucchinis, cut in big chunks
8 oz crimini mushroom cut in half
1 tablespoon Madras curry powder
4 cubes of curry
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 ½ to 3 cup water
1 small onion, cut into big chunks

Method:

Sauteé the onion in the olive oil, once the onion start to soften, add the curry powder, continue to cook until a nice fragrance comes out. Add the chicken breast, and brown the chicken. Once the chicken pieces are slightly browned, add the water and let it boil under high heat.
Add the potatoes, cook for a couple of minutes. Add the carrot, until slightly soft, then the mushroom and finally the zucchini. Make sure that you do not overcook the zucchini. Once the vegetables are at the consistency of your liking add the curry cubes. Stir gently so the cubes are all dissolved in the broth. Boil for a minute or two and it is ready to serve.

If you like udon, you might want to check on stir fry udon noodles.

Did you know that curry is a leave? It is confusing since that the curry that we know is a combination of spices and herbs , which may include curry leaves and its mixture varies by countries and regions.

Okay, so here are some more pictures from our vacation in Beijing…Ming Dynasty Tombs and the Great Wall.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes and have a great week!

I recently started to add chia seeds to our morning oatmeal…and decided to make a loaf of Asian bread with chia seeds.
I used the water roux method for the bread dough, therefore the crumb of the bread is soft and cottony, and the texture of this bread will not change for a few days.

This is simple since I did all the kneading of the dough in the Zojirushi bread machineand just let it proof out and molded into the Pullman loaf pan.

Ingredients:

Water roux or Tangzhong
75 ml of water
15 g of bread flour

Dough

4 teaspoons chia seeds in 1/3 cup of water for at least 15 minutes

2 ¼ cups bread flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk
1½ tablespoon butter
1½ teaspoon dry yeast
1 large egg and complete to 100 ml with water

Method:

Water roux

In a small pan, mix all the ingredients of water roux, place in a low heat and stir constantly until the temperature reach 65oC (150F), or if you do not have a thermometer, cook until ripples form. Set aside to cool by covering with a plastic film.

Dough

In the bread machine bucket, add the water roux, and all the other ingredients, except for the butter.

Turn the machine to knead mode until it forms soft dough. Add the butter and let it knead until the butter incorporates to the dough.

Remove the dough and place in a bowl by covering with a plastic film.

Let both dough proof until the dough double to its original size.

Knock back the dough and split into 4 balls and let it rest for 5 minutes on the counter.

Flatten the ball and shape like a Swiss roll, flat again and roll it again like a Swiss roll.

Place the Swiss rolls into the Pullman pan and let it rise until almost 90% to reach the rim of the pan. Cover the pan and bake in a preheated oven of 350 for approximately 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and flip the bread into a wire rack to cool.

If you enjoy the Chia Seed Sandwich Bread you might to check on the Asian Style Sandwich Bread or Red Bean Buns.

Did you know that chia seed is from the mint family? The chia seed is rich in omega-3-fatty acids, the healthy fat found in fish.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes and have a great week!