Cilantro Archives | Strength and Sunshine

Vegan Mexican Street Corn Salad (Gluten-Free, Allergy-Free)

June 29, 2020 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 10 Comments

This Vegan Mexican Street Corn Salad is everything you love about grilled Mexican street corn without the mess! Fresh, grilled corn on the cob (elotes), sliced off the cob (esquites), and paired with a cool, creamy, and tangy gluten-free, allergy-free mayo-based sauce with cilantro, lime, and a dash of spice! An easy summer side dish recipe!

Sure, it’s “fun” to eat corn on the cob, but it can get messy and difficult for serving a crowd. Grilled corn is an essential summer food, a must! So why not make it just a bit easier, but slicing off those slightly charred sweet kernels and toss them in a salad with ALL the classic flavors of Mexican street corn! Yes! The creamy, cheesy, slightly smokey, and spicy street corn, but let’s make it vegan too!Read More

Chili Lime Tuna Fishcakes (Gluten-Free)

March 19, 2018 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 94 Comments

Elevated fishcakes with a zesty twist! Chili Lime Tuna Fishcakes that are gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, & soy-free, without the oil and baked in the oven. With a secret nutty ingredient for a super flavor-packed & healthy recipe your family will love for dinner or lunch!

Fishcakes, but not just any fishcakes. Chili Lime Tuna Fishcakes with a pretty awesome and unique ingredient. Chili Lime Almond CrrrunchBites! You know how much I love Mozaics popped chips; well they came out with a new fun snack that basically is a Mozaic chip wrapped around an almond. Whole roasted almonds wrapped in a crunchy rice cracker shell, is how they describe it. Sounds odd, sounds interesting, but let me tell you, they are DELICIOUS!Read More

African Spiced Carrot Millet (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Allergy-Free)

March 14, 2018 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 28 Comments

A quick & easy whole grain side dish that packs in the flavor! An African Spiced Carrot Millet recipe that’s gluten-free, vegan, and top 8 allergy-free. Fluffy millet with carrot puree, carrot greens, cilantro, and fragrant savory African spices!

A whole grain that I’ve always loved is millet. Soft and fluffy, with a slight nutty bite when you toast it in a dry pan before boiling. Its gluten-free heartiness is satisfying to say the least. As a blank slate, it’s perfect for really dressing up with flavor and serving as a perfect side dish. I remember being so excited about this recipe, in love with it, and then…never posted it here for y’all! We’re ending the madness right now!Read More

Middle Eastern Twice-Baked Baby Eggplants

February 15, 2017 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 86 Comments

Flavorful Middle Eastern Twice-Baked Baby Eggplants make a delicious gluten-free, vegan, paleo, and allergy-free appetizer or side dish. An easy plant-based recipe that will wow the tastebuds with new exciting flavors!

Ah, those recipes where I get to be fancy with simple ingredients and flavors; I love them most! When we take the time to learn about other cuisines, we realize we had all the beautiful foods, spices, and herbs that we needed, just lacked the knowledge of how to make them work together. That’s where we tap into the beauty and wonder of cooking.Read More

Levantine Socca Pizza

May 25, 2016 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 132 Comments

Combining Levantine flavors to create a delicious gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, vegan pizza recipe baked in a cast iron skillet! Levantine Socca Pizza is the healthy exotic twist you need to spice up pizza night!

It’s here! The final pizza to celebrate unofficial pizza month! I’ve given you a bunch of new gluten-free and grain-free crust ideas and this one is yet another to add to the list! This one took a little bit of before-hand prep, which I showed you on Monday. The Baba Ghanoush Hummus is only one of the spreads you’ll need to top this Levantine Socca Pizza!

You may have noticed right away that I baked this luscious pie in one of my favorite kitchen appliances, my cast iron! It creates the perfect browned and flavor-infused bottom to this socca crust! And it comes off clean and easy (which is what we all want!) We don’t want to lose any part of our chickpea flour crust because it gets stuck in some terrible tragic pan!

Before I get too ahead of myself and assume y’all know what socca is, let me give you the rundown. Socca (also called Farinata) is a chickpea flour “flatbread” or large pancake. Originally from France (I know!), but seen mostly in Middle Eastern cuisines now-a-days. You just need chickpea flour and liquid to make socca, but of course, that’s just the “basic”. We will be making a much more stellar, heartier, and “pizza-crust-worthy” socca today!

What makes this socca more than just a thin flatbread is…..sweet potato! Sweet potato puree to the rescue for making a perfect pizza worthy crust that will stand up to all the luscious sauces and topping that grace this pie! The crust comes out soft and bready and the perfect thickness.

To make this pizza really shine, through a few different layers, here’s what you get. Layer 1: socca crust, layer 2: harissa, layer 3: baba ghanoush hummus, “layer” 4: eggplant strips and fresh cilantro! Is your mouth watering? Yes! You get to bite through all those lovely layers. It really is a pie of bliss! You can eat this whole thing yourself if you have a super appetite, or share it with a very trusted and loved friend (because you know…it’s PIZZA)!

I didn’t know what cuisine this pizza fell under, so that’s why I’m using the regional term, Levantine. This encompasses the Middle Eastern area of Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. It covers all my bases for this pizza creation.

I hope you’re as excited as I am about this pizza! I think it may be my proudest “pie” creation to this point. It may have to do with the magic of the cast iron, the chickpea flour, the harissa, or maybe that baba ghanoush hummus. Well, I guess it’s just a combination of it all! So here you go; let’s get pizza making!

Levantine Socca Pizza

Levantine Socca Pizza

Author: Rebecca Pytell
Cook Time: 18 mins
Total Time: 18 mins
Yield: 1 Pizza 1x
Category: Main
Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Scale

Ingredients

Socca Crust:
1/2 Cup Chickpea Flour
1/2 Cup Sweet Potato Puree (or butternut squash)
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Tsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
Toppings:
2 TB Harissa (I use mild)
1/4 Cup Baba Ghanoush Hummus
1 Small Eggplant (cut into thin strips)
2 TB Chopped Cilantro

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425°F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the chickpea flour, potato or squash puree, water, and spices. Mix to combine a smooth, thick batter.
In a well greased cast iron skillet, spread the socca batter in a 10 inch diameter circle (about 1/4 inch thick).
Then spoon on the harissa and spread it around, next spread on the hummus, and finally layer on a few thin eggplant strips and sprinkle on the chopped cilantro.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes (mine was done in 18).
Remove and allow to cool before removing and slicing!

Yes guys, I used baby food yet again 😉 That stuff is just too handy and has the perfect consistency! Now, I hope y’all join me in grabbing your cast iron and making some delicious, mouth-watering, “omg-flavor!” Levantine Socca Pizza today!

So tell me:

+ Have you ever made socca? Funny story, I few years ago I tried to make a socca crust and it was such a huge fail! The entire thing just stuck to the baking dish and it was a mess. I made this pizza in its place. Lucky me, I finally conquered the socca pizza!

+ Do you have a pizza stone? I think I might want to get one. We have one, but it’s so “gluttened” that I obviously can’t use it 😛

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