Dinner Bowl #78

 

One of my better efforts lately: Amaranth pea fritters (recipe from Journey Kitchen) on a bed of lettuce with an improvisational smoky chickpea salad and a quasi-cucumber-yogurt raita.

These amaranth pea fritters are on the list I made toward the end of last year as a way of using and enjoying what I had. My unusual ingredients have been dwindling, but so has my resolve to keep at this project. Summer zaps all of my interest in such things sometimes. But these were relatively quick and pan-fried, so I mustered the energy. They were really good! Somewhat soft and delicate, but quite tasty. I used a jalapeno for the chili pepper and it was just the right amount of spice. Although this used amaranth, I give it bonus points for also using peas, because when I was dedicating my energy to my freezer, I realized I had somehow ended up with a ridiculous quantity of peas.

The chickpea salad was remarkably good, though it was just something I improvised with what I had on hand. It had chickpeas, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. I do enjoy my various episodes of self-imposed "mystery box" challenges, or what-have-you, sometimes. They're also useful to me from a psychological perspective.

The dipping sauce was non-dairy yogurt, cucumber, cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper. It was really nice with the amaranth fritters.