Tag: tomato

Everyday Red Lentil Dal

Everyday Red Lentil Dal with pickled carrots and peppers and a boiled egg. YUM.

Vegan && Very Low Fat && Oil-Free && Grain-Free

I called this “Everyday” dal not because it’s mundane; actually the opposite, I love it so much I am excited to eat it almost every day. Like most dals I’ve ever met, it’s filling, satisfying, and (perhaps strangely?) soothing. It feels almost like a cheat to call it a recipe and make a post about it because it’s so simple and essential, it feels a little like making a recipe post about corn flakes in milk.

One thing I love about this recipe is that it’s extremely adaptable. It’s hard to make it taste bad if you are just adding ingredients you like, or omitting ones you don’t. This is the combination of my favorites, but I also frequently change things depending on what spices strike my fancy at the time, or what green vegetables have been sitting neglected in my fridge longest.

This recipe also has the benefit that the cooking part has enough hands-off downtime between adding ingredients, that you can prep while you cook, which I think saves time and energy. Making a big batch, as written, usually takes me 30 minutes or less from start to finish (including cleaning up my mess while it finishes simmering on the stove), so I feel like that’s pretty time and energy efficient, especially for so many servings.

The other great part about this dal (there are so many great parts!) is all the options for toppings. I try to make and keep a jar of picked carrots and hot peppers handy at all times to eat with my dal (I’ll make a separate recipe post for that; they are good on lots of other dishes too)! I also love adding a soft/medium boiled egg. Depending on the day, I may add a handful of cubed roasted potato or sweet potato. And DO NOT get me started on Dal Mix from Indianlife, that stuff is crack. It’s pretty low-ish fat, and grain free (yay!), so I enjoy small portions on *many* dishes, most especially this dal.

Dal is really hard to photograph. Also I am not a food stylist. But, trust me, this dal tastes way more amazing than any photo could convey.

Everyday Red Lentil Dal

Makes about 13-14 cups (about 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 quarts) — *freezes and reheats very well*

Depending how hungry you are and what else you’re eating at the time, one serving is one to two cups.

Hardware:

  • Deep bowl or mixing bowl that’s easy to pour from
  • Sieve for straining water from the lentils
  • Stock pot with at least 5.5 quarts capacity
  • Wooden spoon

Bits:

  • 3 1/4 cups red lentils
  • 1 (human) thumb of fresh ginger
  • 2 serrano peppers
  • 2-3 tsp salt (start with 2 tsp and add salt at the end to taste)
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • optional: 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek seeds
  • optional: 20 fresh or frozen curry leaves, chopped into small bits
  • optional: 1/2 tsp Berbere Ethiopian spice mix (for added spice)
  • 4-5 large roma tomatoes
  • 1-2 bunches of lacinato kale (or collard greens)

To serve: pickled carrots and peppers, pickled okra, boiled egg, hot sauce, cubed roasted sweet potato, Indianlife Dal Mix

Algorithm:

  1. Wash the lentils (do not skip this step or your dal will taste gross!): Measure out the lentils into a mixing bowl that’s easy to pour from. Fill the bowl with cold water, swishing the lentils around with a spoon or your clean fingers. Skim the foam off the top, and then pour into a large sieve to drain the water. Dump the lentils back into the bowl and repeat until the water running through the sieve is clear, usually after 4 or 5 changes of water. This method is more effective and wastes less water than just putting the lentils in a sieve and running tap water over them.
  2. Put the lentils in a large stock pot. Add 10 cups water and turn the heat onto high. When the water gets near a boil, skim off the foam that bubble up; don’t worry about getting it all, but try to get most of it. Once water comes fully to a boil, reduce heat to medium, enough to maintain a gentle simmer.
  3. While you’re waiting for the water to come to foam and boil, mince the fresh ginger and serranos. If you’re using them, chop up the curry leaves.
  4. After the water boils, add minced ginger, serranos, salt, spices, and chopped fresh/frozen curry leaves if you’re using them. Give everything a good couple of stirs.
  5. Dice the tomatoes. When they are all diced, add them to the pot. Stir again to make sure the lentils are cooking evenly and nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.
  6. Slice the kale leaves off the stems, and chop into 1- to 2-inch squares/strips. When they are all chopped, add them to the pot. Stir to incorporate the kale, and again make sure the lentils aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pot.
  7. Leave the dal to simmer uncovered for at least 5 minutes, until the kale is cooked and soft. Add water if the dal to achieve your desired consistency. Optionally, let the dal simmer up to 10 minutes more to let the flavors meld further, stirring occasionally. (This is a good time to clean up any mess remaining in the kitchen).
  8. Take off the dal off the burner. Optionally, add more salt to taste.
  9. Enjoy as is, or garnished with pickled veggies, egg, Dal Mix, or any toppings you like!

Tomato Cobbler with Buttermilk Chickpea Flour Biscuits

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Grain-free    &&    Very Low Fat    &&    Vegetarian

The summer weather is really getting into swing now, but I am lucky to live in Seattle where it almost never gets too hot to turn on the oven. Even if it got super hot, I am probably crazy about cooking and baking enough that I’d turn on the oven anyway.

This recipe is an adaptation of one found in Hetty McKinnon’s beautiful and amazing new book “Family.” I know I’ve said I love her before, but it’s worth saying again; check out all of her cookbooks if you can. Of course I changed this recipe to make it robot-compatible (grain-free and practically non-fat), and I amped up the spices a little bit. The recipe calls for a lot of tomatoes, and would be great for using up those soft wrinkly tomatoes in the back of the fridge that got just past their prime before you could eat them fresh. Or if you can, go to your local farmer’s market, look for someone selling tomatoes and ask them if they have any “seconds”; I get seconds of organic tomatoes at my farmer’s market fo $1/lb, and usually there’s barely anything wrong with them! To be honest, I cut back on the amount of tomato filling when I made this because I just didn’t have the tomatoes, and I thought it was fine.

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The real star of the show here is the buttermilk biscuits! Because of the chickpea flour, they’re not quite as light and flakey as traditional buttermilk biscuits of course, but they’re still full of warm, soft, savory biscuity goodness, without the grain or fat!

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Tomato Cobbler with Buttermilk Chickpea Flour Biscuits

Adapted from Hetty McKinnon’s “Family” cookbook (p.163)

~45 minutes prep, 40 minutes to bake, 10 minutes to cool (total: 1 hour 35 minutes)

Serves 4 to 6

Bits:

Tomato Filling:

  • 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 jalapeño, diced fine
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed with the flat side of a knife and diced fine
  • 4 fresh thyme sprigs (or 2 tsp dried thyme)
  • 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp chickpea flour
  • 4 lbs tomatoes (any variety), cut into about 1″ chunks
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • Hot sauce to taste (optional, if like me, you like everything to have a little kick)

Buttermilk Biscuits

  • 120 g (about 1 cup) chickpea flour
  • 110 g (3/4 cup) fine-ground corn meal
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 100 g (about 1/2 cup) yam, roasted or boiled until flesh is fully softened
  • 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Algorithm:

  • Adjust oven racks so that one is in the center of your oven, and the other is any distance below that. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC).
  • Make the tomato filling:
    • In a large non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat, add the red onion, and cook about until caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes; add a tablespoon or two of water if the onion starts to stick to the pan.
    • Add the jalapeño, garlic, thyme, and balsamic vinegar to the pan and immediately add the chickpea flour. Cook for one minute, while stirring continuously; don’t worry if the chickpea flour soaks up all the liquid and looks a little dry.
    • Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and hot sauce if you’re using it. Give everything a few good stirs. The chickpea flour should dissolve into and thicken the liquids in the pan to make a nice sauce. Add water a tablespoon at a time if it’s still to thick, or turn up the heat and cook it down for a couple minutes if it looks too watery.
  • Make the biscuits:
    • In a medium bowl, add the chickpea flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, paprika, and cumin in a bowl, and stir to combine.
    • Treat the yam just like you would butter; add it to the bowl, and using your fingertips, rub it into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
    • Stir in the nutritional yeast and chopped chives. Pour in the lemon juice and buttermilk; whisk with a fork until no the buttermilk is incorporated.
  • Put it all together and bake:
    • Lightly grease the sides of an 9″ by 13″ baking dish with reduced fat butter or vegetable oil spray (this adds a negligible amount of fat to the dish).
    • Pour in the tomato mixture. Loosely form 12 balls of biscuit dough (or drop 12 large spoonfuls of biscuit dough) and place them evenly on top of the tomato mixture.
    • Place a baking sheet (or large bit of aluminum foil) on the bottom rack to catch any drips, and place the tomato cobbler on the top rack. Bake for 40 minutes; check halfway through and loosely place an aluminum foil hat over the baking dish if the biscuits start to get too dark.
    • Remove from the oven and dust lightly with extra nutritional yeast. Let rest 10 to 15 minutes. Serve while still warm. Pairs well with a fresh arugula salad.