Ginger infused cauliflower dal December 8, 2008

This is another recipe I stashed away during VeganMoFo and hadn’t had time to try yet. Since I’ve stopped getting my organic vegetable box, there are some vegetables that just don’t seem to find their way into my trolley, and cauliflower is one of them. I really like it but since giving up cheese the only way I ever eat it is in Indian food. Any other ideas for it, anyone? If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know that I’m a sucker for any kind of dal dish (and that I still haven’t decided how to spell it), so I was delighted to spot the two things combined in a very different looking dish to the one I’ve tried before.

Anyway, I’d never used French (or puy) lentils before in dal but I would do again. They are nice and earthy but they keep their shape nicely. The ginger  and cardomom are both lovely with the lentils and the cauliflower. I would recommend that you add the lentils before the cauliflower is quite tender because it carries on cooking for a bit longer and mine was just on he edge of being a bit overcooked. It would definitely have been nicer with some fresh coriander too but I didn’t have any this time.

The rice is my favourite way to serve a simple Indian spiced brown rice which I think came from Jamie Oliver in Sainsbury’s magazine, but I grate some carrot in it for colour, sweetness and vitamins.

I’ve said before that one of my favourite combinations for a nice, filling, easy midweek meal is brown rice+spiced lentils+vegetable, and this dish is another one to add to my list of regulars.

Getting on with VeganMoFo recipes November 3, 2008

The best thing about VeganMoFo was all the other great blogs that I didn’t know about before, or that were even started simply for MoFo. I’d not come across Lady’s Vegan Kitchen before, but I’d starred an aubergine and spinach dhal on it a while ago and tonight was the night to try it. Lentils, spinach and aubergine are 3 of my favourite things so throwing them all together in one dish sounded really good to me.

I don’t really like frozen spinach so I used fresh. I also made a few other tweaks – my only chilli paste was distinctly chinese in flavour so I used some chilli flakes instead. I also didn’t peel the aubergine because I hate to waste the lovely smokiness of the skin. I used brown lentils as none were specified and I thought they’d go best with the other flavours.

You’ll notice there’s no picture of this dish. I think I perhaps used too much spinach because the dish was distinctly green, and maybe I over pureed, because it was also distinctly sloppy. Green slop does not make for attractive food photos, even when served with carrot and mustard seed rice…

However, I’m still blogging about the dish because it tasted fantastic and was perfect comfort food weather, especially served with my favourite Geeta’s garlic pickle on the side. And yes, I’m extremely jealous that the recipe author is basking under the Australian sun while I’m shivering in the dark! Thanks for the recipe though; it’s a good one!!

Cauliflower dal with panch phoran January 29, 2008

I can take or leave cauliflower. Most of the interesting ways to cook it depend on cheese, so when I get one in my organic box I usually turn to Indian recipes.

I read Susan’s fat free vegan blog avidly and am a great admirer of her writing and her photography skills. But somehow, I don’t make too many of her recipes. Maybe my brain subconsciously kicks back at the thought of fat free food? Anyway, this recipe for cauliflower combines it with dal, which is one of my favourite things. For once I was delighted to see a cauli in the veg box!

I won’t go into panch phoran here as Susan does it very thoroughly on her blog. I bought some on a whim quite a while ago but it’s been in an airtight jar and still smelt nice and fresh – just to be sure I added a little more than the recipe called for!

As per usual I upped the chili level a bit and could have added even more. But overall I was very pleased with the dish. I stirred in a bit of chopped coriander and added some toast sliced almonds to give a little crunch. So don’t look at that cauliflower in despair next time!

Everton v. Larissa October 29, 2007

I spent the 2 days before this match at a conference in Milton Keynes. (It was about the popular open source VLE, Moodle, if you’re interested). Being vegan at a conference is never thrilling and this was no exception. To be fair to the caterers, they had not received the notification that I was vegan. Lunch on the first day was pretty much just plain salad. Dinner was melon, then roast vegetables with vegetables, and lunch the following day was stir fried vegetables.

So it was a great relief that I ended up in Liverpool before the match with time to nip to Maharaja, the Keralan restaurant. I ordered a plain dosa with cabbage thoran, both of which were delicious.

Result – Everton 3 – Larissa 1 Man of the match – Mikel Arteta
Verdict – Lucky Maharaja

Home v. FC Metalist September 22, 2007

Left work early for this one. I’d spotted a South Indian restaurant called Maharaja near to Lime St station which I really wanted to try. When we got there we realised it was Keralan, which suited us perfectly after a wonderful trip to Kerala last year. The menu isn’t too long but there’s plenty of vegetarian options, and if you choose dishes without yoghurt, they’re vegan too. We had potato bondas and a battered aubergine dish to start with, then shared an onion rava dosa, a lentil dish and some tamarind rice. It was all extremely tasty and I’ll definitely be back.

Everton 1 – FC Metalist 1. We missed 2 penalties playing against 9 men. Man of the match – Leighton Baines.
Verdict – unlucky Maharaja!

Dal (dhal, dahl?) and green beans September 17, 2007

I love dal. I could eat it every day and I have lots of different versions of it. The only thing that I don’t like about it is all the different ways you can spell it. Usually it’s the dish I make when I haven’t been shopping and don’t have anything fresh in the house. If you serve it with brown rice you’ve got a complete protein and it’s very filling. Today I had some green beans to use up. I always like them when I eat them but can never think of what to do with them. I adapted a recipe from Das Sreedharan “Flavours of India” which I borrowed from the library. The dal I normally cook is made with coconut so I chose a different one here, adapted from World Food Cafe.

Green bean curry (amounts are all approximate)

Heat some oil in a frying pan. Add two green chillis, halved, a small chunk of chopped ginger, a few curry leaves, tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp turmeric and a touch of chilli powder. Fry for a minute then add half an onion, sliced.
Cook for a few minutes then add 1 chopped tomato, half a pack of halved green beans and a splash of water. Cover and cook until beans are tender. Add a few tbsps dessicated coconut and seasoning, and mix well before serving.

Dal

Rinse 125g moong dal until the water runs clear. Place in a pan and cover with 400 mls water. Bring to the boil and scoop off the foam from the top.

Add a chunk of chopped ginger and a touch of turmeric. Simmer until the dal is very soupy.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small pan and add 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced. When they start to brown (let them go browner thanyou normally would – you want the smokiness) add 1 tsp black mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds and a few red chillies. Heat until the seeds begin to pop then pour into the dal and mix well. Add plenty of salt and some chopped coriander.