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Celery Root In Orange Juice and Watercress Pilaf

Ok before there is any confusion about this post that we covered the zuchini fritters part in a previous post. However the watercress pilaf recipe is not on that site anymore and I am coming up with my own recipe for now and yet it is still a Turkish recpie and the sultan’s jello I have covered too as well in a previous post. We are going to tackle now the watercress pilaf my way of course and also the celery hearts cooked in oj. By the way oj is slang for orange juice.

First the watercress pilaf goes like this you can use any grain on this one and before you add them especially you have to make the Pepper Paste right here from this link before we get started. I am not going to tell you which grain to use. Just use what is available in your house. Add 1/4 cup of either olive oil, grapeseed oil or sunflower oil. Add to this 3 tbs of either walnut oil, almond oil, hazelnut oil, 4 pats of butter or butter ghee which is the same amount as the other additions on high heat on stovetop.

Add 3 dashes of seasoned salt, 3 pinches of vegtea seasoning or bullion powder or 1 bullion cube. Add 1 handful of nuts or pine nuts of your choice, with 3 dates, dried apricots, dried figs or prunes chopped or 1 handful of raisins. Before you add the nuts and dried fruit in the oil add 1 onion or shallot and 4 cloves of garlic chopped, Brown the onions then add the garlic, dried fruit and nuts and let the nuts turn fragrent and brown. Add the grain of choice and it is 1 cup that is required. Add 5 cups of water and the pepper paste, 1 pinch each of paprika, 1 pinch each of cumin seeds and peppercorns in mortar and pestle. Add this to the pot and stir in between. Add 1 tbs of tomato paste. Stir to disolve and place the rest of the tomato paste in a zip baggie minus the can in to the freezer. The can gets thrown away. Never store things in a can in the refridgerator because it will go bad in a heartbeat.

Lower heat and let cook for 20 minutes, Harder grains like spelt, rye and wheat take longer about 40 minutes but I suggest that you check on the food every few minute especially rice if using and you may have to rinse your grain before cooking. I have checked my spelt, rye and other hard grains and checked to see how much water there is in the pot and I would let it cook for antother 20. After time is up then you can even put the watercress in after it has been washed. Use 2 handfuls of that stuff and shut off heat providing they are done. However with orzo then you have to add 1 cup of orzo to 1/2 gallon or 2 liters of boiling water with a tsp of oil and 1 pinch of salt added. this gets cooked according to package directions then you turn off the stove and drain and rinse it.

Do the steps that is done with the onions gets fried first then add the garlic and all of the seasoning and the dried fruits then combine it with the orzo by folding it over in the pot and then add the tomato paste and add a little hot an ounce will do just fine and it will make a great sauce then add the watercress at the end. Turn the stove off and cover and let sit for 10 minutes before consuming.

Now for the celerry root cooked in orange juice: you will need 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1 bullion cube or 2 pinches of vegtea seasoning, 1 celery root cut in to cubes, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 4 pats of butter, 1 cup of water, 1 onion or shallot, 1 green chili, 1 pinch of paprika. In an instant pot on saute function add the olive oil and butter, then green chili, onion or shallot and let cook until translucent. To turn this function you have to select saute for 4 minutes and then start. Add the vegtea seasoning or bullion cube, paprika and stir. press cancel, add the orange juice and the water plus the celery root and cover with pressure cook lid, set to sealing then select pressure cook on low for 5 minutes. Place steam diverter on the vent and tap the quick release button. if the celery root is still a little hard repeat the the pressure cook setting for another 5 minutes. It should be alright then and ready to eat.

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