Indian Inspired Dinner, Part deux

This week has been a busy one, but then again, which one isn't?  Just wrapped up Week 2 of my Fall term and doing quite well so far.  Charlotte has had some creepy crud come back up and I feel like she's never going to be completely well again.  Eli, well, he's Eli.  I love that kid more than I could ever put into words but, to put it nicely, he drives me up a fucking wall.

I made a great, quick, Indian inspired dinner a few nights ago, one of the recipes I already posted.  I did not have time to get the others up that night, so here they are!

"Grilled" Okra

I love okra in some of its forms:  pickled, fried, roasted, or grilled are the only ways that really do it for me.  Every now and then I pick up okra at the store and then come home wondering what in the world I'm going to do with it.  I wanted roasted okra, but my oven was taken up by brownies and curried tofu pockets.  What's a girl to do??

Well, I pulled out the amazing Cuisinart Griddler that my husband purchased for me last Christmas and I did not start using until about 3 months ago.

1 lb. okra
1.5 Tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I put the okra in a gallon sized ziploc bag and added the remaining ingredients, like this:

Give it a couple of good tosses around to coat all the pieces.  I added about 1/2 a lb. to the griddler at a time.

Cook on high heat for about 10 minutes and they'll come out looking like this:

It's definitely not roasted okra and still retains a little of the inner sliminess, so if you aren't  a fan of okra because of that, you may want to try roasting in the oven instead.  For a quick and easy side dish, however, these were great!

I also cooked an Indian spiced collar green dish, mainly because I like lots of green foods on my plate  but also because I had half of a large bag of collards in my freezer

1 lb. frozen chopped collard greens

2 medium onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1  c. vegetable broth

1 Tbs. coconut oil

1 1/2 tsp. Garam Masala

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat and add onions; cook about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, red pepper flakes, and garam masala and cook for about a minute more.  It should look like this:

Add  the frozen collards, vegetable broth and salt to taste.  If you're using frozen collards, the addition of the broth after adding the collards will help loosen up the frozen clumps.  I used a wooden spoon to break apart the rest.  Cook on medium-high for about 5 minutes, then reduce to low and simmer for 5 more.

I love that spoon!

Both of these sides can be prepared while the curried tofu pockets are in the oven, making this a super quick weeknight meal to throw together before the inhabitants of the house start to revolt.

Of course, what's a blog post without the gratuitous Tootie shot?  Eating, of course