Mock Chicken Salad Sandwich and Dal Makhani

This was a quick lunch during the week. Mashed chickpeas combined with vegan mayo, celery, carrot, a touch of mustard, garlic powder and onion powder makes a delicious salad filling. I livened up the whole thing with a layer of Piccalilli relish.


I got the recipe for this tasty vegan Dal Makhani from the Holy Cow blog. It's sooo yummy! I used Earth Balance margarine and plain soymilk in mine for creaminess. I ate it with lavash bread instead of rice. Can't wait to make this again. Recipe is posted here.

Nepali food, Indian food and cake.

Lunch today was this beautiful plate of Nepali food, namely the moong dal (split mung bean soup) in the little bowl and the hot and fiery tomato achaar (chutney) which you can see on the rice. The Indian element of my meal is the alu matar (potatoes and peas) which was the perfect curried accompaniment to the rice and soup. Just can't get enough of this good stuff.


This is a closeup of the roasted tomato hot and spicy achaar. It's basically roasted tomatoes, green chiles, garlic blended into a puree and combined with fresh garlic, ginger, timbur (szechuan pepper), salt, fenugreek and red chili. The recipe is from the book "Taste of Nepal" which I highly recommend!


This is a boiled raisin "depression era" cake that I've made before. This time I used brown sugar and added orange blossom water and cardamom.

Nepali dinner.

I was in the mood for Nepali food tonight so out came my Taste of Nepal cookbook. First up, Moong Daal (yellow split mung beans) with red chilies, lots of ginger and garlic! It's a must to eat daal with rice. Sorry for the really bad photos, they seem to be super yellow!


It's good to have a curry to go along with your daal and rice. I made this mixed vegetable curry which was missing potatoes because I totally forgot that I had some! Too late. But this is still very good. Made with mixture of spices: timbur (szechuan peppercorns), fenugreek, garam masala, turmeric, asafetida and cumin.


While everything was cooking, I whipped up the No-Cook Tomato Achaar (chutney). It has fresh tomatoes, garlic, fresh ginger, timbur (szechuan pepper), hot green chilis, salt and lemon juice. The best way to eat this is to generously pour it all over your plate on top of the daal, rice and curry!

Taste of Nepal.

I love the simplicity of Nepali food. I've never been there but I'm in love with the food. I got this recipe for Black Urad Daal from a book called "Taste of Nepal". Cooked with fresh garlic, ginger, turmeric and szechuan pepper.


Potato, onion and tomato tarkaari. A delicious curry simply cooked in it's own juices and garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric and green chilies.

Leftovers Burrito and Indian Dinner.

Lunch. Yesterday's leftover refried beans, tvp meat and rice got shoved into a tortilla and was then covered in red chile sauce. Absolutely yum.


For dinner I wanted something simple yet tasty and easy to prepare. The masoor dal with beautiful flavors of ginger and light spices simmered away while I sauteed the kale that was flavored with garlic, onion, cumin, cayenne and lemon juice. Both recipes are from "Flavors of India" cookbook.


Closeup of masoor dal.


Closeup of kale bhaji.

Nepalese Style Daal, Alu Matar and Achar

Yesterday I visited my dear cousin and her family. Her husband is Nepalese and he made the most beautiful lunch of lentil daal, vegetable curry and a fiery tomato achar which is a pickle that is served alongside the food. He packed for me a little container of achar to go. I was very excited to eat it again so I made a few things to eat with it.


This daal was based on this recipe that I found at Food-Nepal.com. I did not have any other kind of lentils like black lentils or yellow so I used green/brown. I could have used red but I wanted to see if the green lentil would work. I didn't have a couple of the spices like jimbu and asafetida either. I'm sure that the use of these would have made the daal more authentic. The step at the end where you fry the chiles, garlic and onions, I added a teaspoon of black mustard seed. I fried them in olive oil instead of ghee which is clarified butter which I do not eat.


This is the alu matar (potatoes and peas) from 'The Flavors of India' cookbook. I thought since a lot of the spices and flavors are similar to Nepalese cooking, I'd enjoy this with the daal and achar.


A beautiful feast. My cousin's achar is in the little bowl in front. I don't remember what's in it (except for roasted tomatoes!) but it's very special and very spicy! I have to ask for the recipe one day.

Edited to add: I found a tomato achar recipe here.
I don't know if it's the same as my cousin's recipe but a lot of the spices/flavors seem right.

Lentil Dal and Alu Matar

Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines. Today I made two dishes: Red Lentil Dal (adapted ppk recipe) and Alu Matar from "Flavors of India" cookbook.

Red Lentil Dhal and Peas Pillau

I was going to make a plain soup today for dinner but I wanted to use up the vast quantities of basmati rice and red lentils I have in my pantry. So what better meal to treat myself to than an indian feast? I adore the red lentil dahl recipe posted here. I was lazy and didn't grind up and toast the spices like the recipe says but I had a little taste and it was amazing, especially with a squeeze of lemon juice. To go with the dahl, I made the 'Peas Pillau' recipe from a lovely little vegetarian book called 'Flavors of India'. This rice is beautifully fragrant with the aromas of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and clove. I took these pictures in the afternoon to get the best light but I won't be eating until tonight after I get home from work. Can't wait!


Peas Pillau in all it's glory.

Cooking out of the Pantry: Red Lentil Dhal

While compiling my list of pantry staples yesterday I already had in mind the first thing I was going to make: Isa's Red Lentil Dhal. I had all the ingredients, so this afternoon I got to work. I've never made dhal before, I've only had it at indian restaurants. I was pleasantly surprised how wonderful, complex, rich and flavorful this dhal was! The first step of toasting and grinding your own spices really contributes to the tasty flavors.

Pantry staples used:
1 cup split red lentils
assorted spices
veggie broth powder
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste (I only used 2 TB and freezed leftovers)
white jasmine rice

Other vegetables/fruits etc:
1 lime
1" piece of ginger
1 onion
3 cloves garlic

Ingredients I had to purchase: none



Look at that rich color!


My little lunch serving. This recipe makes A LOT so I will be eating this for a while... Money has been saved!