North-African Spiced Dal with Lime and Curry Leaf Roasted Vegetables

Vegan && Grain-free && Very low fat

North African Red Lentil Dal w Curry Lime Roasted Veggies - top

Like the dish from the previous post, this started as two disparate recipes, but I realized they would probably go quite well together. I’m already a little bit obsessed with dal of any kind, and roasting is pretty much factually and provably the best possible way to cook a veggie. The spices and fresh leaves are the icing on the cake. When I first tasted this dal with the roasted vegetables together all in one bite I had a full-on Ratatouille moment. You know the one, where Remy the rat shows us the magic of two great tastes that taste even greater together. Somehow the result is more than the sum of its parts. Yeah, that was this, for me.

Fresh curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves can be a bit hard to source, but they are definitely worth seeking out. Especially fresh curry leaves; they’re one of my all-time favorite ingredients and I don’t think there is really any good substitute for them. Even dried curry leaves only have a tiny fraction of the flavor you’ll get from fresh or frozen. Fortunately if you can find fresh curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves, they usually keep for at least a couple weeks in the fridge, and for several months in an air-tight container in the freezer! (So stock up when you find them!) In Seattle I’ve found fresh curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves at H-Mart, though to be honest, the curry leaves there can be a little sad-looking (the leaves should be bright green, not brown). My absolute favorite place to get fresh curry leaves is a little Indian grocery in Shoreline called Indian Sweets & Spices. Definitely check them out if you can. They’ve got a nice selection of organic dals, grains, and spices as well.

Don’t be intimidated by the long ingredients list; half of it is just spices. Both parts of this dish are pretty easy. Most of the time to make the roasted vegetables is hands-off, so you can use that time to put the dal together.

North African Red Lentil Dal w Curry Lime Roasted Veggies - side

Adapted from KCET’s Red Lentil Soup with North African Spices and Yotam Ottolenghi’s Curry Roasted Root Vegetables with Lime from his (genius, amazing, beautiful) book Plenty More

Serves 6 generously, as a full meal (more if you add rice)

Prep and cook time: about an hour

Bits

– Roasted Veg

4 large carrots (about 900g), peeled and sliced into 1/2″ x 2″ batons
4 medium parsnips (about 750g), peeled and sliced into 1/2″ x 2″ batons
1 rutabaga (about 400g), peeled and sliced into 1/2″ x 2″ batons
Oil in a spray can (optional)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp curry powder
4 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves (2 stems), finely sliced
30-40 fresh or frozen curry leaves still on their stems
5 green onions, white and green parts, sliced on the diagonal
small handful chopped parsley

-Dal

1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2-inch thumb of ginger, finely diced (1 heaping tsp)
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 green chile / jalapeño, de-seeded for milder spice if desired, finely diced
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp rasam powder (or substitute 1 tsp curry powder)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 cups water
3 cups vegetable broth (I really like Organic Imagine Vegetarian No-Chicken Broth)
2 cups red lentils, rinsed in several changes of water, until water runs clear
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 sprigs (or to taste) fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

Algorithm

Roast the vegetables:
- Heat the oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toss carrot, parsnip, and rutabaga batons together and spray lightly with oil, if using. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice, and curry powder, and toss to evenly coat.
- Roast 30 minutes, tossing once half way through.
- Add lime leaves, curry leaves on their stems, and green onions. Roast about another 10 minutes until the green onions have softened, but remove from oven if the curry leaves start to brown.
- Remove curry leaves from their stems; discard the stems and add curry leaves back to the baking sheet with the vegetables. Sprinkle over the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice and cilantro, and toss everything together once more.
Make the dal while the vegetables are roasting:
- Add onion to a large sauce pan, or dutch oven over medium heat. Stir for about 5 minutes until onion starts to become translucent (moisture released from the onion itself will keep it from sticking and burning in the pot; no oil needed!).
- Add ginger, garlic, and chile; cook for 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally to keep anything from burning. Add the spices through the rasam (or curry) powder, and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant. Stir in tomato paste, and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add water, broth, and lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and partially cover. Simmer vigorously for about 15 minutes until the lentils are starting to fall apart.
- Stir in salt, lemon juice and the mint. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
To serve: Ladle the dal into deep bowls. Top with a generous serving of roasted vegetables. Sprinkle with any extra mint or parsley, as desired.

Fennel, Kale, and Chickpea Skillet with Citrus Baked Polenta

Vegan && Grain-free && Very low fat

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This is a harmonious mish-mash of two great recipes I came across recently, along with some changes of my own, of course. My partner always tells me to make a new recipe as written the first time, and then make whatever changes I want the next time around; it makes sense to experience the recipe as intended and go from there. Out loud I usually respond with a “Yeahhhhh, you’re right”, but then quietly I make my changes anyway. I have no regrets. I won’t judge if you want to take your own spin on any of my recipes the first time you make them either.

No regrets!

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Oven-Baked Creamy Polenta (my go-to polenta recipe!), and the Kitchn’s Couscous with Chickpeas, Fennel and Citrus

35 Minutes

4 Servings

Bits:

– Polenta

3/4 cup medium grind polenta
zest and juice (~1/4 cup) of 1 navel orange
zest and 1 Tbsp juice of 1 lemon
2 3/4 cups water
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp milk of choice, depending on preferred consistency

– Skillet

1 large fennel bulb, fronds removed and reserved
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp rasam powder, or curry powder
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 small bunch kale
3 cups chickpeas, canned or cooked from dried
1 Tbsp lemon juice, plus more to taste
Small handful of parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Algorithm:

First make the polenta. Preheat the oven to 425F. In big flat baking dish (mine is 10″x10″) with a lid, combine all the polenta ingredients except for the milk. Give everything a quick stir, and put in the oven with the lid on. Bake 15 minutes, stir, and bake 15 more minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes stir in the milk, using more or less depending on the consistency you like.
While the polenta is baking, make the skillet.
- Quarter the fennel bulb from top to bottom, and cut out the dense core from the bottom. Slice cross-wise into ~1/2-inch slices. Place into a large (10-12″) non-stick skillet and dry-fry for 7 to 9 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it starts to turn a caramel-y golden color; add a tablespoon at a time of water as needed if it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the ground coriander, rasam powder (or curry powder if you don’t have a good rasam), and salt. Stir and cook for about a minute until fragrant.
- Slice the kale greens off of the central stems, and slice cross-wise into 1-inch strips. Add these to the skillet; stir and cook about 3-4 minutes until they start to wilt.
- Add the chickpeas to the skillet and cook a couple minutes until warmed through. Take a taste and add more spices as desired.
- Add the lemon juice to the skillet, give everything a final couple stirs to mix through, and remove from heat.
Spoon cooked polenta onto serving plates or into bowls and top with the skillet mixture. Generously garnish with chopped parsley leaves (normally I’d say parsley is an optional garnish, but it really adds something to the finished dish here!).

Robot-Compatible Chickpea Flour Banana Bread

Grain-free && Very Low Fat

Beep bop boop. Banana bread ready for ingest.

I developed this recipe to be grain-free, almost-non-fat (the only fat comes from the natural fat in the chickpea flour), and only lightly sweetened, in order to be compatible with my many dietary restrictions. The challenge, after taking grains, fat, and most of the sugar out of a baked good, is ending up with something that doesn’t taste like cardboard.

One (perhaps surprising) trick I learned through trial and error when baking with chickpea flour is that including some roasted mashed sweet potato helps keep the final product moist (though too much and it can become stodgy), while tempering the beany flavor that can sometimes come through with chickpea flour. The second trick I learned is specific to banana bread (thanks to the Banana Bread recipe on Serious Eats, which I recommend for humans with fewer dietary restrictions!): a banana’s characteristic flavor comes from a chemical compound called eugenol, which is also found in clove and nutmeg. So including those spices in banana bread actually amps up the banana flavor and the flavor of the spices themselves conveniently fade in into the background!

The result is, at least to me, a surprisingly tasty, moist and crumbly, satisfying substitute for a traditional banana bread. If you can handle it, I’m sure it’d be even better with lightly toasted pecans and/or chocolate chips mixed it. Otherwise, this is probably the healthiest banana bread you’ll actually enjoy eating!

(Helpful tip, if you don’t already know: If those bananas sitting on your kitchen counter start to get riper than you like to eat fresh, throw them straight into the freezer! They’ll keep just fine, frozen in the peel, until you’re ready to thaw them out and use them to make this banana bread!)

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Makes one 9″x5″ loaf

Prep time: 30 minutes, Bake time: 1 hour

Bits:

– Dry:

1 1/4 cups (172 g) chickpea flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cinnamon)
1/4 tsp cloves

– Wet

12 oz (340 g) peeled VERY ripe bananas (about 4 medium; from frozen is fine)
2 Tbsp (41 g) roasted mashed garnet yam
2 Tbsp (30 g) egg whites
1/4 cup (75 g) nonfat greek yogurt
1 Tbsp (20 g) date syrup (I use The Date Lady‘s)
1 Tbsp (17 g) lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Algorithm:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9”x5” loaf pan with parchment paper.
Sift chickpea flour into a large mixing bowl (don’t skip the sifting, chickpea flour tends to clump!). Add remaining dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Measure out and mash ripe bananas in a medium mixing bowl. Mash in the yam, stir until mostly homogeneous.
Combine wet ingredients except the yam and banana in small mixing bowl and stir with a hand mixer or whisk until pretty much smooth. Add the mashed banana and yam and stir to combine.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Fold/stir until combined.
Bake ~60 minutes. A wood skewer / toothpick inserted into the bread where it splits WILL NOT come out clean; it should have some wet crumbs stuck to it. Check after 20 minutes and put a foil hat over the top of the loaf if the top is starting to develop dark spots.
Remove from oven and let cool fully in loaf pan. Remove and slice only when cool!