vegetarian food...

let me share with you my dhal recipe, simple and tasty it is:

put 1 cup of red lentils in a pot and add 2 cups of water.
bring it to the boil and let it cook until the water has absorbed and the lentils are nice and soggy.  at this point i sit them in a strainer in the sink while i reuse the pot for the next stage.

now at this point you can either take a few decent size potatoes and chop them up, not too big, but sort of potato wedges size.  this lets them cook faster and start to dissolve in the final process.

or...

and this is a bit of a cheat but works well.

1 535g tin of heinz very vegetable potato and spinach soup.


now in the pot you cooked the lentils in, give it a bit of a clean and add a generous splash of ghee (although you can use oil if you don't have it).

heat this up and add the following:

1 chopped onion (or a leek if the onion is too strong)

1 chopped clove of garlic (optional)

a teaspoon of turmeric
a teaspoon of cumin
any other spices you feel like adding

once the onions are starting go clear (don't burn them), throw the lentils back in and add the potato (or soup) and add enough water to give it the consistency of a nice thick soup.  don't be afraid to smoosh it a bit but not too much, we don't want a puree.


now to this we add our curry ingredients.

for those with the time and skills to do so, you could make your own curry paste, but for the lazier amongst us, go to the shops (supermarket or indian grocery store) and pick up a jar of each of the following:

1 jar of korma paste.  i use pataks, but ferns is also really good.

1 jar of pickle, eggplant pickle or lime pickle both work well, again in the same brands.

1 jar of chutney, mango or tomato both work well.

so then...

add one third to 1 half of a jar of korma paste, 1 tablespoon of pickle, and 2 teaspoons of chutney, and mix them in thoroughly.

let it all simmer, but you can also add the following as the mood seizes you.

vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans all work well, and you can buy them frozen and just use as many as you need.

tomato, chopped whole tomato or tinned diced tomato both work well, but if you like an extra hit you can also add tomato paste.


once again let it all simmer, serve with boiled rice with turmeric (add a spoonful of the powder when you cook it), which has a lovely golden colour and all the health benefits of turmeric.

most importantly, this stuff just tastes better after 2 or 3 days in the fridge, so you may want to store it, it also freezes well.


happy eating :-)

i was going to ask why the hell i am choosing to revive this blog. i last posted in november 2007, so it has been 2.5 years more or less. nevertheless, it does seem to provide a more expansive medium than facebook for the occasions when i feel particularly verbose.

and hopefully this time i can post when i am sober as well...