Get Your Food On Issue 16

Chopped Falafel Salad + Aloo Gobi Traybake

Aug 06, 2021

Welcome to Week 16 of "Get Your Food On" - my weekly Meal Prep Newsletter! A big hello to all new subscribers. Just like last week, I am running a day late. My work has ramped up as we head into the second half of the year and Spring/Summer recipes are being tested for clients in my kitchen(grateful for that!). But that means lots of extra hours spent sourcing, cooking and cleaning. I still try and stay on top of blogging/newsletters as this falls under my hobby and not work. The sourcing is crazy right now with our Sydney lockdown headed into week 7. Oftentimes, I place an order for produce and it is a week before it gets delivered. But hey, it's all good! Improvise is my middle name. :)

A quick reminder that I am working on converting 600+ recipes to the new plugin that will allow you to scale recipes up and down and also print without annoying ads/images, so please bear with me. Right now, all Print Pages are ad-free now!

And finally, if my meal prep sessions are helping you, I would LOVE to hear your experiences! Please keep the feedback coming, it really helps me plan more content for you! Now let's begin ..

Sneh x

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NEW THIS WEEK

CHOPPED FALAFEL SALAD

Love a loaded Falafel Wrap but can’t be bothered to cook all the elements separately? Then this Chopped Falafel Salad is going to become your best friend. A big spoonful of this in your mouth is like a bite out of a legit loaded falafel wrap – you get the perfectly spiced chickpeas, the creamy tahini sauce, the punch and texture of the tabbouli, and the crunch of fresh veggies. Absolutely delightful and delicious!

A Deconstructed Falafel Salad

One doesn’t always have the time to fry falafels, make tabbouli, blend some tahini sauce and make some pickled veggies on the side. Deconstructed salads were created by some genius chef somewhere to address the laziness of the masses with surprisingly fabulous results. I like to call my deconstructed falafel salad – A Chopped Falafel Salad. Because chopping is the main exercise involved in creating this absolutely delicious salad.

I wanted this salad to not only taste like falafel but a loaded falafel wrap or falafel plate with all the individual elements that make a complete meal. A typical falafel wrap would have

flatbread
falafel
tabbouli
pickled cabbage
tahini sauce/hummus
chilli
salad leaves/ cucumber / tomato

Deconstructing the above elements and simplifying them into ingredients not only for the taste but also the texture was the most fun part of creating this Chopped Falafel Salad. I cooked the chickpeas with some caramelized onion, aromatics and spices to create the perfect falafel taste. This is the hero of the salad and if you don’t end up making the entire salad, these pan-fried chickpeas and onion are a dish in itself.

Next, I added freshness with chopped cucumber and tomatoes. The tabbouli texture and flavours were introduced via a small amount of cooked burghul/bulgur and lots of parsley. The tahini and lime sauce with its unusual ingredient list actually ....

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ALOO GOBI TRAYBAKE

Lovers of cauliflower rejoice! Your favourite Indian curry Aloo Gobi has been transformed into an easy, one-tray, oven-baked wonder! Aloo Gobi Traybake is such a fabulous way of cooking this famous cauliflower and potato dish. Just mix veggies and spices in a bowl, spread out on a large baking tray and bake to golden roasted perfection.

Oven Roasted Aloo Gobi

I love putting a spin on traditional recipes and my favourite method is oven baking/roasting risottos and curries. Like this fabulous Oven-Baked Mushroom Curry or A Baked Thai Green Chicken Curry or this delicious Oven-Baked Mushroom Risotto. I make Aloo Gobi at least once a week. This delicious, dry, spiced cauliflower and potato curry from Northern India is more-ish, filling and great to have in the fridge for adding to your meal bowls as an extra veggie boost. And because it is supposed to be dry-ish like a stir-fry, I decided that baking it in the oven would not only add an extra layer of roasted perfection but would also make my life easier.

Using my tried and tested Aloo Gobi recipe as the base, I experimented with quantities, baking time and added a few extra ingredients. The result was so fabulous, I don’t think I will ever cook Aloo Gobi the traditional way. Oven-roasted cauliflower and potatoes are magical as is, but when you add the spices the flavour explosion is unbelievable. The recipe couldn’t be easier. You just gather your ingredients, mix them up in a bowl, spread them on a large rimmed baking sheet and bake away. A great way to start a meal prep session. This recipe will yield enough to feed 8 people. Hence would make a good recipe to ...

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Today's Meal Prep is different from previous weeks and will make you feel like a seasoned meal prepper (no pun intended!). We will be cooking/making 10 complete recipes in just about 1 hour 40 minutes. And this will give you at least 2 dinners, 2 lunches, 3 breakfasts and desserts. That is 2-3 whole days of no cooking and plenty of time to Netflix or read a book or do whatever it is that you never find time for. All the dishes go really well together especially in line with the "This And That Bowl" philosophy of filling your meal bowl with a variety of colourful, nutritious items to make a complete meal. See my extras & serving suggestions for quick ways to boost this already great list of 10 recipes. Let's start!

RECIPES PREPPED (10)

legend / the above meal prep yields the following for four people - 2 DINNERS + 2 LUNCHES + 2 DESSERTS + 3 BREAKFASTS

extras & serving suggestions /

Add extra protein to your breakfast banana bread slice and smoothie with boiled eggs.
Steam a piece of white fish or salmon along with the chickpea salad for lunch.
Mix a fresh green leaf salad with chopped toasted nuts, chilli, coriander, lemon juice and olive oil to serve with the Thai fishcakes.
Add a quick 10-minute Sweetcorn Egg Drop Soup as a side for a complete meal.

Things To Do This Week (Friday)
1. Print out all the recipes you plan to cook /
Direct Print Links - Aloo Gobi Traybake | Chopped Falafel Salad | Thai Green Curry Fishcakes | Olive Oil Banana Bread | Vegan Strawberry Milkshake | Green Pineapple Smoothie | Blackberry Chia Pudding
2. Make a shopping list of things you don't already have and buy them before the weekend.

WEEKEND MEAL PREP SESSION (1 hour 40 minutes)
>> Before you begin, get a large plastic/enamel tub to catch all your scraps and rubbish (multiples if you are saving scraps for chooks/compost). I cannot stress how much time you will save and keep the bench tidy if you are not going to the rubbish bin every few minutes.

>> For Part II of the meal prep, I make sure the kitchen sink is clean and empty. This allows me to quickly wash my Vitamix which is easiest to clean right after making the smoothies. I also have 6-8 300ml capacity lidded glass jars ready.

>> Some essential oils bubbling away in a diffuser where you are prepping is a great mood booster.

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RECIPE // PICKLED RED ONION

2 red onions, peeled and sliced and cut into ½ cm rings
1 teaspoon raw sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
¾ cup rice wine vinegar
6 peppercorns
4 sprigs of thyme
½ teaspoon red chilli flakes (optional)

Place onion rings in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over the onion. Make sure onions are covered. Drain after 2 minutes.

Place sugar, salt, vinegar, peppercorns, thyme and chilli (if using) in a jar and mix well. Add onion pressing down the rings in the liquid. Pop the lid of the jar on. Place in fridge. Ready to eat in 30 minutes. Will keep for 1-2 months in the fridge.

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Part I
1. Put a kettle of water to boil. Place bulgur in a bowl (for the chopped falafel salad). Wash rinse drain and put a pot of Basmati rice to cook (for the Turmeric Lemon Rice). Pre-heat oven to 190°C. (5 minutes)
2. Chop all veggies for Aloo Gobi Traybake. Mix all ingredients, spread on a rimmed tray and pop in the oven to bake. (10 minutes)
3. Blend ingredients for Blackberry Chia Pudding in the blender. Mix and make Chia Pudding. (5 minutes)
4. Use the boiled water to soak the bulgur and make the Pickled Red Onions. (5 minutes)
5. Chop tomato, cucumber, parsley and coriander. Gather all ingredients for Chopped Falafel Salad and put it together. (10 minutes)

Pack away falafel salad, chia pudding and pickled onions.
Active Time - 35 minutes

BREAK 10 minutes - Time for a break. Make yourself a cup of tea/coffee or pour a glass of wine. I like to load the dishwasher, put away ingredient jars and wipe down the counter at this point to reduce my work later.

Part II
6. Gather and prep ingredients for Vegan Strawberry Milk, Green Pineapple Smoothie, Pina Colada Smoothie (10 minutes)
7. Make V egan Strawberry Milk (5 minutes)
8. Make G reen Pineapple Smoothie (5 minutes)
9. Make Pina Colada Smoothie (5 minutes)
10. Mix the batter for Olive Oil Banana Bread. Bring the Aloo Gobi out of the oven, reduce temperature and pop in the banana bread to bake. (10 minutes)

Pack away milk and smoothies and aloo gobi. The actual juice and smoothies only take a couple of minutes to make but I am allowing time for clean-up and washing of the appliances. I use my Nutribullet to make the strawberry milk and my Vitamix to make the smoothies.
Active Time - 35 minutes

Part III
11. Chop ingredients and make Turmeric Lemon Rice (10 minutes)
12. Make Thai Green Curry Fishcakes (20 minutes)

Pack away rice, fishcakes and banana bread when it is done.
Active Time - 30minutes

FINAL CLEANUP - Refill your cuppa or glass. Wash and wipe the last bit of the prep. Make a list of all the RECIPES you have cooked and allocate days to when you will use them up.

Well done guys!! You are now set for the next 3 days!

" To eat figs off the tree in the very early morning, when they have been barely touched by the sun, is one of the exquisite pleasures of the Mediterranean.

~ Elizabeth David, An Omelette And A Glass Of Wine

I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!

Buy Signed Copy (Australia)

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