Red Lentil Dal

Every time I see red lentils I want to buy them, but I'm paralyzed by my inability to determine how to cook them. On my last trip to the grocery store, however, I threw caution to the wind and got a giant bag full. More than I intended since they came out of the bin faster than I anticipated. Fine with me.

Evidently red lentils are amazing with curry since that's what most of the recipes I found were. I settled on one that at least allowed me to tap into separate spices instead of my curry powder (which I love). The Red Lentil Dal recipe is from Epicurious, though mine is slightly modified.

Red Lentil Dal

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1.5 onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
  2 cups water
• .5 cup dried red lentils
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  
• .5 cup bulgur, cooked in 1 cup water until water is absorbed
• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• Salt and pepper

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add half of onions and 2 minced garlic cloves and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Combine water, lentils, remaining onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, turmeric, cumin and ginger in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. Purée have of the mixture until smooth. Mix in sautéed onion mixture. Simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon bulgur into bowls. Spoon dal over. Top with tomatoes and add fresh pepper to taste.

My first dance with red lentils was pretty good, only it really could have used some additional flavor, mostly cilantro. It made 2 good servings and was pretty easy to make, except I dirtied 3 pans in making it. Overall, I'm not as scared of the red lentil and will hopefully enjoy them again soon.

Chocolate Cherry Pudding

I make pudding all the time because it's just so easy. The fun part is deciding what else to mix in- nut butter, maple syrup, cocoa powder, etc. This week I bought an amazing assortment of fruit that included a bag of delicious cherries (and some green bananas that took a week to ripen, boo). So I've been making this simple, delicious dessert all week.

Chocolate Cherry Pudding

• 1 cup cherries, chopped
• 1 cup soy milk
• 2 TB cornstarch
• 2TB cocoa powder
• 1tsp maple syrup (you'll probably want more)

Add cherries, cocoa, and milk to a small pot and let flavors mingle as long as you'd like (an hour is enough). Add corn starch and stir until it mostly dissolves. Add to medium-high heat (not too hot or it'll burn) and stir constantly until it boils. Once boiling it should quickly thicken up. Remove from heat and stir in maple syrup. Enjoy hot or cold.

Curried Roasted Beet Soup

Today was the first evening this week that they predicted evening rain, so I actually had time to cook a good dinner instead of rushing to the dog park. I opted for the beets since I actually had time and they take forever to cook. This recipe came to me as I rode the Metro home, newspaperless because I was stuck in the Metro for 30 minutes this morning and already finished the sudoku, crossword, and all of the articles. So maybe this morning's fiasco was a good thing.

Curried Roasted Beet Soup

• 8 beets
• 1 red onion, sliced into half-rings
• Olive oil
• 1 ear white corn, uncooked with kernels sliced off
• 2 cups soy milk
• Curry powder
• .5c bulgur, uncooked

Fork holes in the beets and bake on 375 until tender, about an hour. Toss onion in olive oil and bake about 25 minutes (so 40 minutes after the beets go in). Meanwhile, cook the bulgur in 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt for 15-20 minutes until water is absorbed.

When beets are soft, let them cool down (I put mine in the freezer for a couple of minutes). Remove the skin, which will be soft and easy to take off. Chop the beets and add to a large pot or blender along with onions, curry, half (or all if you want it smooth) of the corn, and the soy milk. Blend to desired consistency. Spoon into bowl and top with bulgur.

This is one of my favorite dishes I've ever made! Since the onion and beets had cooled and the corn and milk were cold from the fridge, I chose to eat the soup cold. Usually I like my meals hot, but this was so good. It was sweet from the roasting and the corn, but the curry gave it a nice spice and flavor. The color was a beautiful magenta, and the chunks of veggies were delicious. I'm definitely making this again. And again...

Chocolate Bread

For some reason I just had to have chocolate bread tonight, despite it being 9:15 and close to my general bed time. I scoured the internet- surely there is a quick and easy recipe? Finally, in the depths of vegweb.com I found Cocoa Applesauce Bread. I wasn't sure I had enough flour or sugar, then I double checked and I was good to go. Until I got almost through and realized I only had, maybe 1/4 cup applesauce. Ooops. I made several changes to the recipe, partly to cover for my lack of applesauce and partly because, well, that's what I do.

Chocolate Bread

1 2/3 cup flour (can use 50-50 whole wheat)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
2 TB flax in 6TB water

Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Add wet, being careful not to overmix. Bake in loaf pan on 350 for 50 minutes. Let cool.

Well, all my substitutions/changes could not exactly save this bread. It didn't really rise so it came out log shaped. But the taste is delicious- it's not cakey or overly sweet (probably because I cut the sugar in half), but it's definitely chocolatey.

I'll try it again when I have all of the ingredients.

Eggplant Green Bean Pasta with Tomato Lentil Sauce

It's the end of my food week so I clearly needed to get rid of some veggies. This is a meal that dirtied a ton of dishes and was not really quick. But it was fun and delicious.

Eggplant Green Bean Pasta with Tomato Lentil Sauce

• .25c lentils
• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped/diced

• 1-2TB olive oil
• 1 eggplant, cubed
• 3-5c green beans, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces

• 3/4c dry rye pasta, cooked

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a pot, cover with water, and boil until lentils become very tender, adding water as necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend 1/2 of it together.

Heat oil in skillet or pot. Add eggplant and cook 5-10 minutes until starts to become tender. Add green beans and cook to desired consistency. Add salt to taste.

Mix pasta and eggplant/green beans together. Top with sauce. Sooooo good.

Millet (Take Two)

Last time I tried to cook millet, it turned into a mush even though Dr. Andrew Weil claimed it would come out like rice. So this time I made it with less water. I dry toasted .25 c millet and added 2/3 cups of water along with a half a yellow onion. It came out delicious, fluffy, and amazing. I also had a roasted ear of corn and roasted carrots.

But I'm happy I conquered millet. Now maybe I can conquer pan-frying...