Butternut Coconut Red Lentil Dal

I cheated. The picture above is the nicest picture I think I’ve taken of dal/lentil soup. It’s actually not the dal for the recipe, but… it’s lentils and squash, you get the idea. It’ll look similar. Dal is really hard to photograph nicely, so this is what you get, at least for now.

This recipe makes about 3 to 3.5 quarts of dal. I usually store it in quart mason jars, and put two in the freezer right away. Cut the recipe in half or a third if you don’t want a lot of leftovers. As written, it uses the whole squash, though.

Bits

1 large sweet winter squash, such as butternut or kabocha, about 4.4 lbs or 2 kg
3 cups dry red lentils
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp salt, more to taste
Coconut oil for pan-frying, optional
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
20 to 25 curry leaves – You can get these on Amazon in big bags, but they freeze really well in air-tight jars, and if you have some frozen, you can add them to recipes straight from the freezer. Dried curry leaves have so little flavor compared to fresh or frozen, I don’t think they’re worth it.
2 serrano peppers, if you want a little spice; omit if not!
1 tsp cumin powder
1 ½ – 2 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp Berbere spice mix, if you want some more spice, or a little spice and don’t have serrano peppers. If you don’t have Berbere spice, use chile powder to taste
½ can lite coconut milk (or if tolerated, use regular coconut milk and use the whole can)

Algorithm

Roast the squash – This can be done up to a few days ahead. If you roasted your squash and it’s been a few days and you’re still not ready to make dal, just put the squash in an airtight container in the freezer until you’re ready to use it.
- Preheat the oven to 425
- Cut the top stem and any bottom knob off the squash, and then slice in half from top to bottom
- Scoop out the seeds and strings from the middle and discard them
- Place each half of the squash open side down in a large baking dish (such as a 9×13” glass dish)
- Add about an inch of water to the dish.
- Place the dish in the oven and let bake about 30 minutes, until the squash is baked all the way through, and there is almost no resistance when you push on the top with your finger or a spoon
- Dump out the water, turn the squash halves over in the dish so the flesh is facing up, and let sit until cool enough to handle.
- When cool, use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. You should have between 3 and 4 cups.
- If you’re using a kabocha squash, the skin is edible and delicious. Discard any of the skin that has hard bits / “scars” but the rest is good to eat. Optionally, you could slice it up into small squares and add to your dal when it’s finished.
Clean the lentils. If you don’t wash them, your dal may taste gross!
- Add the lentils to a deep bowl.
- While filling the bowl with cold water, swish the lentils with your fingers to help clean them faster. When the bowl is full, skim off the bubbles/froth. Then use a strainer to drain the water. Repeat until the water in the bowl is clear and there is minimal froth.
Cook the lentils
- Add the cleaned lentils to a large stock pot
- Add 9 cups of water to the stock pot, and bring to a simmer
- When the lentils start simmering, they’ll generate some foam; scoop out as much of the foam as you can, but don’t worry about getting it all.
- Add the turmeric and salt, and let the lentils simmer while you do the next steps
Pan-frying
- If you’re using it, add about a teaspoon of coconut oil to a small frying pan over medium heat. Otherwise, just put a small frying pan over medium heat.
- Add the mustard seeds to the frying pan
- After a few minutes when the mustard seeds start to pop, put a lid on the pan and take it off the heat.
- Once the mustard seeds stop popping, add them to the stockpot with the lentils
- If you’re using it, add more oil to the frying pan and add the curry leaves and serranos (if you’re using them).
- Stir fry the curry leaves and serranos a few minutes until they become fragrant. Then add them to the stock pot with the lentils as well.
Finish the dal
- After about 10 minutes of simmering, the lentils should start to fall apart. When they’re just starting to fall apart, add the roasted squash flesh and the coconut milk.
- Once all the ingredients have been added to the stock pot, let everything simmer together for about 15 more minutes. Be sure to keep the heat low, and stir every few minutes, to prevent the dal from burning on the bottom. Have a lid ready to partially cover the pot if the dal starts to sputter (that’s probably a sign it needs a good stir, too). Add more water if it’s starting to look too thick, and sputtering a lot.
Serve and enjoy! Some totally optional things I sometimes like to top my dal with are:
- Dal Mix! (https://www.indianlife.com/product-page/snacks-dal-mix-8pkts-x-7oz-200g)
- A medium-boiled egg
- Boiled (or roasted) broccoli
- Pickled carrots and jalapenos (other Indian pickles would be good too, I’m sure)

Everyday Red Lentil Dal

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Take off the dal off the burner. Optionally, add more salt to taste.
Enjoy as is, or garnished with pickled veggies, egg, Dal Mix, or any toppings you like!

Robot Pizza with Roasted Garlic Sauce

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Grain-free && Low Fat && Vegan Option

Hey. So, I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus. I will catch you up later. But I’ve been thinking a lot about resuming my food blogging! Also, I just saw this perfectly good post I wrote up **PRE-PANDEMIC** sitting here. I didn’t post it right away for reasons, which I will include in the catch-up post. For now, I’ll just say: Thanks for sticking with me. I plan to be back soon. In the meantime, please enjoy some pizza!

Original post:

This was a bit of a project, but so worth it when you want to kick back with some comfort food (and possibly your spouse has been making you super jealous with real pizza that comes in a cardboard box with a tiny plastic table in the middle and is delivered by a guy wearing a cap who inevitably rings the doorbell when the husband’s in the bathroom, leaving you to get the door. Ahh, the true American pizza experience).

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Robot Pizza with Roasted Garlic Sauce

Makes two 11″ pies; serves 3 to 4

60 minutes (including about 45 minutes for roasting garlic. Use extra between-time to cook a vegetable, or throw together a salad to make a complete meal! Let’s be honest, a few leaves of basil on a pizza does not count as a serving of vegetables.)

Bits

– For the crust

Corn flour for dusting
315g chickpea flour
65g Greek yogurt (or substitute vegan yogurt for vegan option)
20 g yam
1+ tsp salt
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp turmeric
pinch of asafoetida (or garlic powder)
4-5 Tbsp water

– For the roasted garlic sauce:

Dry:

¼ cup chickpea flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp dried thyme (or Italian seasoning or ground sage)
¼ tsp cumin
½ tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp nutritional yeast

Wet:

1 head garlic
½ cup water
¾ cup milk of choice (skim cow milk to keep the dish nearly non-fat, or alternative plant-based milk for vegan option)
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
2 tsp tamari

– Suggestions for the topping (or use toppings of choice):

2 medium slicing tomatoes
4 sliced peppadew peppers
Handful of basil leaves
¾ cup low fat cottage cheese, strained/drained of excess liquid (omit to make vegan)

Algorithm:

Adjust oven racks to top and bottom thirds of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 450ºF. Sprinkle a couple good pinches of corn flour over two baking sheets.
Slice the top off of your head of garlic and wrap it tight in aluminum foil. Bake it in the pre-heated oven for 40 to 45 minutes until garlic is browning and soft throughout.
Combine the crust ingredients except the water in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add 4 Tbsp of water and stir to bring it together into a rough dough. Knead with your hands, and add the remaining little by little until the dough just comes together, but is still dry and kneadable. Knead a few times in the bowl until the dough is smooth. Set aside.
Put the dry ingredients for the garlic sauce in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
Prep your pizza toppings of choice: slice fresh tomatoes, tear some basil leaves, slice some peppers, put some cottage cheese in a cheese cloth and squeeze out the excess liquid… etc.
When the garlic is done roasting, use a knife to remove the soft garlic cloves from the papery encasements in the bulb, and place in a small food processor or blender. Add ½ cup water, and blend until smooth.
Add the blended garlic to a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining wet ingredients for the sauce to the saucepan and stir to combine.
When the contents of the saucepan are hot but not boiling, pour a small amount into the bowl with the dry ingredients to make a paste. Continue pouring the wet ingredients little by little into the mixing bowl holding the dry ingredients, stirring in between additions, until you get a thin sauce. When most of the wet ingredient mixture has been incorporated, pour the contents of the mixing bowl back into the saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring continuously for about 3 minutes until the sauce thickens noticeably. Remove from heat and set aside to cool until ready to use.
Split ball of dough in half. Spread a pinch of cornflour on a smooth surface or cutting board and use a rolling pin to roll one of the halves into a flat circle (or a rough approximation of a circle) of desired thickness. I rolled mine pretty thin, about ¼-inch thick. Repeat with other half of the dough.
Divide the garlic sauce between the two pizzas and spread into a smooth layer. Add other toppings of choice (except basil; that’s best added after baking). Bake pizzas in the oven and bake for about 12-15 minutes until the edges of the crust start to brown.
Remove baking sheet from oven and let pizzas cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet. Scatter reserved basil leaves on top of the pizzas. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and/or chili flakes as desired. Cut into slices and serve!

Banana Bread Recipe for COVID

Ingredients:

Vegan butter or coconut oil for greasing
10 oz flour, plus extra for dusting
5.25 oz sugar (vegan)
¾ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cloves
4 large peeled overripe bananas (about 1 ¾ cups)
6 Tbsp / ¾ stick vegan butter (such as Earth Balance) or coconut oil, melted and cooled
¼ cup vegan yogurt
¼ cup vegan sour cream
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed, mixed with 2 Tbsp cool water
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cups chocolate chips (vegan)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F. Your heating bill is already sky high from having to heat the whole house all day every day while you work hunched over your computer at your desk wrapped in a blanket on weekdays, and while you sit hunched over the news on your tablet wrapped in a blanket while slowly rocking back and forth on weekends, so the inefficiency of warming up a big oven to bake a single little loaf of banana bread won’t even register.
Use vegan butter or coconut oil to grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf tin.
Keep thinking that Americans don’t call it a tin, but loaf “pan” just sounds wrong now, especially after having binge-watched every season of The Great British Bake Off (all the ones they released in America, anyway). Dust with flour and tap out the excess.
In a large mixing bowl, sift in 10 oz of flour, because you don’t measure flour in volume anymore, perish the thought. Since you’ve been doing a lot more cooking in the past year than you expected, naturally you now have a reliable kitchen scale and wonder how you ever survived without it.
Sift in the sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cloves, and stir to combine. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the peeled bananas and mash with a fork. Mash, and mash, pulverize those suckers until they’re destroyed, until they’re nothing but an unrecognizable lumpy goo, just like 2020 pulverized your now gooey heart.
Realize you didn’t already melt and cool the butter, in fact you haven’t even gotten it out of the fridge yet, and kick yourself because you know about mise en place, and you’ve made this recipe a hundred times before, but you never remember to prep the butter ahead of time. But why should this time be any different. Put the butter in a dish in the microwave and nuke it until it’s melted. Probably didn’t need to microwave it for quite as long as you did, now it’s pretty hot. Set it aside, and try to remember it at the end when it’s hopefully a little cooler.
Add the vegan yogurt, sour cream, flax eggs… damn. Ok, grind up some flax seeds in the coffee grinder, measure out two tablespoons of meal, and combine with water. Stir for a minute, and wonder if it needs to sit and thicken for a while. It looks pretty thick, so it’s probably good enough. Add them to the bowl, along with the vanilla. Stir everything to combine.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Fold with a rubber spatula until just mixed. Suddenly remember the butter is still cooling on the counter, and pour it in now. No one will know. Mix to combine.
Stir in the chocolate chips. It’s been a rough year. There should be chocolate chips stirred into two, if not three, foods you consume daily. Pour some extra chocolate chips into your hand and eat them straight. You’ve survived this long, and you deserve some chocolate chips for your trouble.
With a spatula scrape the batter into the prepared baking tin. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Set on the counter to cool for ten minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Wash your hands while counting to 20-mississippi for the 1000th time today. Carefully wrap the banana bread in plastic wrap and thank fuck for the one measley consolation that it’s still safe to give food to your family who only live ten minutes down the road, because it’s an excuse to see them in person even for just two minutes while wearing masks, standing six feet apart, outside in the cold, since you usually only see them on Zoom anymore and they might as well be living on the other side of the country, and you miss them in a long-distance way. Hope that a little loaf of banana bread can make their winter just slightly less dark and lonely, and feel a little better because you were still able to reach out and show them you care in a small way.
Go back home and do your dishes, because they haven’t been clean all at once since last March. Keep doing dishes, because they are somehow all dirty again now, all the time. Long for the day when the dishes will once again all be clean.

Carrot Chickpea Flour Pancake with Charred Green Beans and Tomatoes

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Grain-free && Low-fat && Vegan option

I have been a bit obsessed with pancakes lately. Of course they need to be made with chickpea flour, and be low- to no-fat, but beyond that, anything goes! This pancake is something I’ve been making for dinner; it’s a little sweet as it’s made with grated carrots, but it’s not sweet like a breakfast pancake (there’s no additional sweetener). It’s topped with spicy, savory charred green beans and cherry tomatoes. I am going to be very sad when those bright plump cherry tomatoes go out of season (in about two seconds from now), but maybe I’ll find something else for the fall or winter to substitute that goes just as well.

For now, I’ve been making extra green beans and cherry tomatoes (about 1 ½ times the amount given in the recipe below) and using the extra to top a good red lentil dal.

The recipe for the pancake is roughly based on Anna Jones’s carrot pancake in her excellent book “A Modern Way to Cook“. The charred vegetable recipe is adapted from the recipe “Blistered Green Beans and Tomatoes with Honey Harissa and Mint” from the New York Times Cooking.

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Carrot Chickpea Flour Pancake with Charred Green Beans and Tomatoes

Bits:

Carrot chickpea flour pancake:

150g chickpea flour
½ tsp salt
⅛ tsp pepper
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp curry powder
¼ tsp baking powder
1 cup milk of choice
2 medium (~200g) carrots, peeled and grated (you should have ~125g, or 1 ½ cups after peeling and grating)

Green beans and cherry tomatoes: (hint: make extra to eat on top of your favorite dal!)

1 lb green beans
10-12 oz cherry tomatoes
2 tsp berbere spice mix (use extra if you like extra spice; substitute a mild curry powder if you don’t like much spice)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lime juice
½ tsp honey

To finish:

Plain Greek yogurt (optional) for serving
Fresh chopped parsley for garnish

Algorithm:

Move oven rack to highest position, and preheat broiler on high.

First start the pancake cooking: Combine all pancake ingredients. Preheat a 12” non-stick frying pan / skillet on medium-high. When hot, if your pans have lost a lot of their non-stick-ness like mine have, add a teaspoon of reduced fat butter, or oil of choice and swirl it around the pan as it melts to create a better non-stick surface. Pour the batter into the frying pan and smooth it around with a spoon or spatula. Cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium-low. Let cook undisturbed for at least 20 minutes. The pancake is done with when the top is dry all the way across. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, start a medium saucepan of water boiling. Chop ends off of green beans and cut into desired size pieces. Boil green beans for 4 minutes and refresh in cold water.

Halve the cherry tomatoes (unless they’re already tiny).

Combine the berbere spice mix, salt, lime juice, and honey in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the green beans and cherry tomatoes on top. Pour over the berebere mixture and toss until the beans and tomatoes are evenly coated. Spread the beans and tomatoes out into a single layer on the baking sheet and place under broiler. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Check the contents of the baking sheet often, as the difference in time between nicely charred and burnt to a crisp is surprisingly short under a hot broiler.

To serve, slide a spatula under the pancake to loosen it from the pan. Once it’s loosened place a large dinner plate or serving plate over the pan and quickly and carefully flip the pancake onto the plate. Top with charred green beans and tomatoes, or alternately, slice the pancake like a pizza and let individuals top their portions with their desired amount of vegetables. For non-vegans, a dollop of plain greek yogurt is nice. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

Red Lentil Rasam with Tamarind Roasted Red Cabbage

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Hot weather be damned, this is one recipe that I will cook and eat happily all year, regardless of the temperature outside (or in the kitchen).

This is one of those magical simple recipes that somehow makes more than the sum of its parts. Amazingly, the best part is really the roasted cabbage with tamarind. It’s just two simple ingredients (plus water), and somehow it completely steals the show! (And that’s hard to do when lentils are the other half of the show!) I think cabbage prepared any other way has now been ruined for me.

Now that I’ve totally talked it up, there’s probably no way it will live up to your expectations. But still, go make this right now, and I don’t think you’ll be sad with the result.

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Red Lentil Rasam with Tamarind Roasted Red Cabbage

Adapted from Meera Sodha’s recipe in The Guardian

Makes about 6 cups of rasam + 1 roasted cabbage; serves 4

Bits:

1 small head red cabbage (about 1 1/2 lbs / 700g)
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
10 – 15 fresh curry leaves
5 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 ¼ tsp ground cumin
1 ¼ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground black pepper
3/4 tsp rasam powder (if needed, substitute 1/2 tsp curry powder + 1 tsp lemon juice)
400g canned/boxed chopped tomatoes
1 ¼ cups (250g) split red lentils, washed in several changes of water until the water runs clear
2 cups vegetarian stock
2 ½ cups water
1 ½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp tamarind paste, divided (I like Aunt Patty’s Organic Tamarind Paste)

Algorithm

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Slice the cabbage into quarters from top to bottom (or into sixths or eighths if you’re using a much bigger cabbage. Sprinkle lightly with water (or a couple drops of olive oil if you can handle it in your diet). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and put the cabbage wedges on the sheet, and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until they’re looking roasty and the stem is soft and cooked.
While the cabbage is roasting, make the rasam. In a large stock pot over medium heat, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the garlic to the pot and stir for about a minute or two until the garlic starts to turn golden. Add the spices (cumin through rasam powder) and stir for 30 seconds until the spices become fragrant.
Pour the canned tomatoes, lentils, stock and water into the stock pot, and stir to combine. Bring rasam to a simmer, partially cover, and let simmer about 20-30 minutes until the lentils have fallen apart completely. Stir occasionally, particularly toward the end of cooking time to ensure the lentils don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
When the cabbage has cooked for 30 minutes, mix 2 Tbsp tamarind paste with 2 Tbsp of water. Drizzle the tamarind-water mixture over the cabbage wedges generously, and bake for a further 10 minutes.
When the rasam is cooked, add salt and remaining 1 Tbsp tamarind paste to the pot. Stir to combine, taste, and add any extra seasoning as desired. Simmer for another minute or two for the flavors to meld. The texture of the final product should be between a soup and a dal.
To serve, ladle rasam into separate bowls. Cut each wedge of cabbage into 4 or so slices, and place slices on top of rasam. Serve with cauliflower rice, or chickpea flour flatbread if desired.

Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in air tight containers for at least a week!

Fresh Mint & Snap Pea Pasta/Chickpea Bowl

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Grain-free && Very low fat && Vegan option && 30 minutes or less

I know I already posted this dish with a rough algorithm for the recipe on Instagram, but I seriously CANNOT stop eating this dish! (Why do mint and peas go so well together?!? Apparently the British already had this figured out, but it’s news to me!) I was hesitant to post yet another pasta recipe, but my continuing love for this one is too great to contain. So, I figured it’s time to get serious about it, write down exactly the recipe I’ve settled on (instead of just winging it every time as I had been), and share it with the world.

23C09841-B3E2-4833-99AA-4225C3166877 — The Insta pic that got this whole thing started.

As I said on Instagram, I saw a recipe in The Irish Times by Nigel Slater from his new book Green Feast (Dear Seattle Public Library, Please add this book to your collection so I can check it out. Sincerely, Robot Recipes) for a pea, paparadelle and parmesan dish. The recipe was super simple, and screaming to be made, but with several twists to make it more robot friendly, and give it a little more zip. The result is a great seasonal recipe; I don’t know about you but my garden is currently in danger of being overwhelmed with fresh mint, and to my delight every other stall at my local farmer’s market has plump, crisp sugar snap peas that taste amazingly sweet even raw. It’s also super fast to throw together for lunch or dinner (or perhaps a pre-dinner snack!).

If you don’t have grain-free pasta on hand, this recipe also works well with canned chickpeas substituted instead. If you don’t have fresh sugar snap peas, just use extra frozen peas.

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Fresh Mint & Snap Pea Pasta / Chickpea Bowl

Serves 4 (makes about 2.5 cups mint pea sauce)

Ready in 30 minutes or less

Bits:

8 oz. box of grain-free pasta (I used Tolerant Red Lentil Rotini in the Instagram pic, and Tolerant Green Lentil Penne in the other two pics); or substitute two 14oz. cans garbanzo beans, rinsed
4 1/3 cups (1 lb. + 1 cup) frozen peas
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (such as Imagine Organic Vegetarian No-Chicken Broth)
2 – 3 cups sugar snap peas, stemmy ends cut off, and chopped in half if desired for more bite-sized pieces.
1/4 cup (7g) chopped fresh mint leaves; plus extra mint leaves for garnish
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp salt
Black pepper (or lemon pepper) to taste
Optional for non-vegans: 1 cup low-fat/non-fat cottage cheese

Algorithm:

Cook grain-free pasta according to package instructions. If you use a similar chickpea and/or lentil based pasta like the one I used, after boiling, strain out the cooking water from the pan, and fill the pan (with the pasta still in it) back up with cold tap water. Rinse and strain out the cold tap water. This not only to stop the cooking when it’s done, but also will remove extra starch and prevent the pasta from sticking together.
In a small saucepan, combine the frozen peas and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Strain out the peas, reserving 3/4 cups of the broth. Set peas and broth aside.
If using fresh sugar snap peas: Using either the same small saucepan or a second one, fill half full with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the fresh sugar snap peas and boil for 2 to 3 minutes, until soft, but not mushy. Strain out the water and refresh with cool water to stop the peas from cooking further.
In a blender (bonus if you have a high-speed blender!) combine the reserved 3/4 cup broth, 3 1/3 cups (equivalent of 1 lb bag) of the peas boiled from frozen, 1/4 cup (7g) chopped fresh mint leaves, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.
Divide pasta, reserved peas (from frozen), and the sugar snap peas (if using) among four deep bowls. Add 1/4 of the mint pea sauce to each. Garnish with chopped fresh mint leaves and extra pepper (or lemon pepper) as desired. I love to top my bowl with about 1/4 cup low-fat cottage cheese as well. Serve and enjoy!

Grilled Tofu and Bell Pepper Salad with Tamarind Miso Dressing

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Grain-free && Low-Fat && Vegan option

Now that it’s officially unofficially summer (that’s what Memorial Day marks, right?) you may want to have a good grilling recipe in your back pocket, and I’ve got just the one for you!

Grilling and barbecues often conjure images of lots of meat, or vegetables marinated in oil, and heavy “salads” laden with mayo, which can be problematic or just plain unappetizing for vegetarians, vegans, and cyborgs with a digestive intolerance for much fat. But we also don’t want to be left out of the whole outdoors summer food scene either. This recipe combines grilled marinated tofu and grilled bell peppers and onions in a crunchy, fresh green salad with a distinct savory, tangy dressing. The dressing (which also doubles as the marinade for the tofu) may be a show-stealer here. I hadn’t even originally planned to blog this recipe, but I made it for my brother-in-law’s birthday barbecue on Memorial Day weekend, and had several people ask me for the dressing recipe, so I figured I might as well share it more widely here.

It’s nice to have a good recipe on hand whenever someone’s grilling, but if all you want to do is make a meal, getting out the grill and firing it up definitely feels like overkill. In that case, just roast the tofu and vegetables in a hot oven instead (see note below).

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Grilled Tofu and Bell Pepper Salad with Tamarind Miso Dressing

Serves 6

Adapted from Crispy Tofu Salad in Bazaar by Sabrina Ghayour

Note: This recipe works best if you drain the tofu for 30 minutes to an hour, prepare the dressing, and let the tofu marinate at least one hour ahead, or as early as the night before you serve the salad. (This makes it a pretty good make-ahead recipe.)

Also note: If you don’t want to grill, just follow the recipe up to the point you would grill, but then cut the tofu, bell peppers, and onions into bite-sized pieces and stick everything in the oven on a couple parchment-lined baking sheets for about 20 minutes at 425ºF instead.

Bits:

Salad:

14 oz. extra-firm tofu
2 red/orange/yellow bell peppers, or a combination of smaller bell peppers totaling about 1 lb
1 large or two small sweet onions, sliced into 1½-inch squares, and skewered
1 small head curly green or red leaf (looseleaf) lettuce, roughly chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 large carrots, shredded or julienned
3 green onions (green parts only), sliced thinly
½ oz parsley leaves and small tender stems, roughly chopped
1 stem (about 7-8) fresh mint leaves
6 fresh chive flowers (or 6 chives, if flowers not available)
Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Dressing:

4 Tbsp unsweetened tamarind paste (I love Aunt Patty’s Organic Tamarind Paste)
4 Tbsp white miso paste
1 Tbsp honey (sub equal amount maple or agave syrup for vegan option)
zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp peanut butter powder (Anthony’s is my favorite; substitute regular peanut butter if your digestive system doesn’t throw an error when you ingest fat)
1 tsp rasam powder (substitute a good chili powder if you don’t have rasam powder)
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
2+ Tbsp of water (enough to get desired consistency)

Algorithm:

Drain the tofu and wrap in a paper towel, and then wrap that in a dish cloth. Place wrapped tofu in between two dinner plates, and put something heavy like a big cookbook on the top plate to gently weigh down on the tofu, pressing out the water. Leave to drain for 30 minutes.
Combine all the dressing ingredients except the water in a pint mason jar, or other similarly-sized container. Add 2 Tbsp of water and stir until the mixture is homogeneous and smooth. Add more water a tablespoon at a time until you have something that is the consistency of a thick-ish salad dressing. A pepper and lemon juice to taste.
After the tofu has drained for a bit, unwrap it, and coat it with about 1/3 of the dressing mixture. Put it in a ziplock bag or an airtight container and then into the fridge to marinate for as long as possible before you’re ready to grill, ideally the night before.
Cut bell peppers from top to bottom into 3 to 4 long slabs. Remove any stems, ribs, and seeds.
Add remaining salad ingredients (from lettuce to chive flowers / chives) to large serving bowl and toss to combine.
When your grill is ready, put the marinated tofu slabs, the bell pepper slabs, and the skewered onions directly onto the grill and cook several minutes on each side, until heated through and just starting to get char marks on the outsides. Set aside for a few minutes until cool enough to handle.
Cut the tofu and bell pepper slabs into bite-sized cubes, and cut the onion squares into smaller bite-sized pieces if desired. Add these to the salad, and toss again to combine.
Drizzle dressing over salad and toss to coat, or (my preference) let others serve themselves salad and add their own dressing to taste (leftovers will last a lot longer if you store the salad and the dressing separately as well).

Spring Pea, Asparagus, and Beluga Lentil Bowl with Mint-Pea Yogurt Dressing

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Grain-free && Fat-free && Vegan Option && 30 minutes or less

I’m really getting into spring produce now that spring is in full swing! This bowl is a perfect edible way to celebrate the season. It’s actually a mix of a couple different very spring recipes I came across recently, adapted to what I had in my fridge at the time. It definitely isn’t the most photogenic dish, which made me hesitate for a second about posting it, but it was so delicious, I thought it would be a big shame not to share.

The mint-pea yogurt dressing is a slight adaptation from Hetty McKinnon’s new book “Family“, which is a gorgeous treasure trove of creative and delicious recipes, most of which can be made in under an hour; suitable for a weeknight dinner. I adore Hetty’s first book “Community“, which earned her the reputation in my mind of being the “other” Ottolenghi (plus she’s vegetarian!). Her books are worth seeking out.

Spring Pea, Asparagus, and Beluga Lentil Bowl with Mint-Pea Yogurt Dressing

30 minutes or less

Serves 4

Bits:

4 medium yukon gold potatoes (or any good roasting potato, or 1 lb cauliflower)
Sprinkle of olive oil for roasting (optional)
1 cup beluga lentils (or sub Puy / French lentils)
1 cup vegetable broth
1 lb asparagus, woody stems removed and chopped into 1½” batons
2 cups fresh or frozen peas
4 cups arugula
Salt and black pepper
Fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped, for garnish
Fresh chives, finely chopped, for garnish

For the Mint-Pea Yogurt Dressing:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1/4 cup packed (10 g) fresh mint leaves
1 cup (250 g) non-fat Greek yogurt (sub vegan yogurt to make the dish vegan)
1 tsp honey (sub maple syrup to make the dish vegan)
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
black pepper, or to taste

Algorithm:

Roast the potatoes: Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Fill a medium sauce pan half way with water and set to a boil on the stove. Rinse and chop the potatoes into 1″ cubes. When the water is boiling, add the cubed potatoes, bring back to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Drain the water and spread potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Toss potatoes with a couple drops of olive oil and a generous dusting of salt. Roast for 25 minutes until potatoes just start to brown.
Boil the lentils: In a small sauce pan, add the lentils, 1 cup of vegetable broth and 1 cup of water. Bring the contents to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover with a lid, and let simmer 15 to 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender but not mushy. Drain any remaining liquid.
Boil the asparagus: Fill a medium sauce pan (rinse and re-use the pan used to boil the potatoes) half way with water, and bring to a boil. Add the chopped asparagus and bring back to a boil. Boil the asparagus for 2 minutes. Strain out asparagus with a slotted spoon and set in a colander or sieve to drain and cool.
Boil the peas: Bring the water used to cook the asparagus back up to a boil. Add the peas for both the main dish and for the dressing (2 ½ cups total), cover, and reduce heat to medium. Boil fresh peas for 2 minutes, or frozen peas for 4 to 6 minutes, until warm through. Strain out the water and set aside.
Make the mint-pea yogurt dressing: Combine ½ cup of the cooked peas and the remaining dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt and pepper as desired.
Put it all together: Combine the roasted potatoes, lentils, asparagus, the remainder of the cooked peas, and the arugula in a large serving bowl, or portioned out into smaller dinner bowls, and toss to combine. Drizzle generously with the mint-pea yogurt dressing, and sprinkle with chopped fresh mint leaves and chives. Enjoy!

Note: The dish without the dressing will last a lot longer in the fridge than if you combine it with the dressing and chopped fresh mint and then store it. If you anticipate the possibility of leftovers, have people add dressing and the chopped fresh mint and chives to their individual servings just before eating. Store the salad and the dressing separately in air-tight containers in the fridge, where they will keep for a week. Chopped fresh herbs may or may not last as long, depending on their freshness, so store any extra by themselves.

Surati Toor Dal with Broccoli and Roast Potatoes

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Vegan && Very low fat && Grain-free

I think I could eat some form of dal for at least one meal every day. Actually, I probably do. I’ve even been known to eat it for breakfast. (Really, why *not* eat it for breakfast?) Even now that the weather is starting to warm up here, there’s still nothing (well, almost nothing) more comforting and appealing to me food-wise than having a hot bowl of dal with some roasted potatoes and green veggies scattered on top. (Especially broccoli. Why am I obsessed with broccoli??) There are so many variations of dal and lentil soup recipes, and any simple roasted or boiled veggie makes a great topping, so it’s easy to change things up and keep these kinds of recipes interesting. I’m sure I’ll be posting more like this in the future.

This is a complete meal in a bowl that is vegan, filling, healthy, and above all tastes amazing. I had this for dinner last night, and actually opted for seconds instead of dessert (dessert for cyborgs is greek yogurt with seasonal fresh fruit on top… hard to beat, even if ice cream weren’t off limits.)

I think I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, my absolute favorite place to get dal and other Indian groceries is Indian Sweets & Spices in Shoreline, Washington, just about a 20 minute drive north of Seattle. They have a great selection of organic dals, organic besan (chickpea) flour, organic spices, and plenty of non-organic everything else (including the best fresh curry leaves I’ve been able to find in the greater Seattle area, including the International District). You can also get organic dals and ingredients from Amazon of course, but I find everything costs at least twice as much on Amazon (even with free shipping) as it does at Indian Sweets & Spices, or any local international grocery store I’ve been to. So, particularly in this case, it really helps your community AND helps you to save a bunch money if you can shop local, wherever that may be.

(NOTE: This post is not sponsored, nor is any other post sponsored; all of the opinions expressed are solely mine. I feel strongly about what I like, and want to encourage people to use good quality ingredients and support their local economies whenever possible.)

Surati Toor Dal with Broccoli and Roast Potatoes

About 45 minutes start to finish

Serves 4 as a complete meal

Bits:

For the dal:

1 ¾ cups toor dal + ½ cup mung dal (or use all toor dal, or all red lentils, depending on what you have)
3 ½ cups vegetable broth (I use Imagine Vegetarian No-Chicken Broth)
1 tsp turmeric
2 large or 3 medium roasted red peppers from a jar
1 jalapeño (or other preferred chili)
1″ finger of fresh ginger (~ 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp after mincing)
20 fresh or frozen curry leaves
2 Tbsp peanut butter powder, reconstituted with 3 Tbsp water (Anthony’s is my favorite)
1 tsp jaggery (a.k.a. gur) (or 1 tsp honey or maple syrup)
1 ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp asafoetida (a.k.a. hing) **See note below.
1/2 to 1 tsp dried red chili flakes, depending on desired spiciness

For the veggies:

3 to 4 medium potatoes (I use yukon gold or red potatoes, as they’re less mealy than russets), cut into ¾-inch cubes
~ 1 tsp olive oil (optional, use a good drizzle more if you’re not fat-intolerant)
1 ½ tsp salt
2 heads of broccoli

Algorithm:

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
Start the dal:
- Put the dal into a medium-sized deep mixing bowl and fill the bowl with water to the top. Skim off / pour out the foam and then strain the dal into a fine-mesh sieve. Repeat 3 or 4 more times until the rinsing water is just about clear.
- Tip the dal into a large sauce-pan or stock pot. Add the vegetable broth and 3 ½ cups water. Bring to a boil. Skim off as much froth as you can, then add the turmeric powder.
- Turn the heat down to a vigorous simmer, cover partially, and leave to simmer. Set the timer for 30 minutes.
Make the potatoes:
- Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil, add the cubed potatoes, and boil for 1 minute.
- Drain the water from the pan, and spread the potatoes on the parchment-lined baking sheet (rinse out the pan and set aside for now. Sprinkle the olive oil over the potatoes and sprinkle over the salt. Toss it all together to coat the potatoes as evenly as possible, and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Add ingredients to the dal:
- Cut the roasted red peppers into small dice, and stir into the dal.
- Mince the jalapeño and fresh ginger and stir into the dal.
- Roughly chop the fresh curry leaves and stir into the dal.
- Stir in the reconstituted peanut butter powder and jaggery (or sweetener of choice)
- Check the dal and add more water about a ½ cup at a time if the dal hasn’t started to fully fall apart and it’s starting to look a little dry.
Make the broccoli:
- Fill the pot the potatoes cooked in with water and bring to a boil. While it’s coming to a boil, cut the broccoli tops into small florets and the stems into bite-sized (about ¾”) chunks.
- When the water is boiling, drop in the broccoli and boil for 4 minutes until easily pierced with a fork.
- Strain out the water, and refresh in cold water to stop them cooking.
Finish the dal:
- When the dal is done cooking (after about 30 minutes, when the lentils are falling apart), put the heat on low and stir in the salt and lemon juice.
- Put a small frying pan on over medium heat and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, and dried chili flakes. When the seeds start to pop, tip them into the dal and stir through.
Add dal to each serving bowl and top with broccoli and potatoes. Enjoy!

Leftovers keep in the fridge for a week; dal can be frozen in an air-tight container for several months.

**Note: Asafoetida is another one of those ingredients that is helps make Indian dishes taste authentic and amazing, and it’s really tough to find a good substitute for. If you’re gluten-free, you have to watch out because it’s often mixed with wheat to help with processing it into a powder. A couple brands I’ve seen use fenugreek (and other fillers) to help with the processing, which makes it gluten-free, but you lose some of the intended flavor, and get a bunch of fenugreek instead… which is probably not bad, but I can’t imagine it’s quite as good. It can be tough to find, but pure asafoetida is naturally grain-free (and therefore gluten-free), and of course will have undiluted flavor. I’ve searched high and low for pure asafoetida powder, and Nature’n’Me is the best I’ve found so far (but sadly I’ve had to feed the monster to get it). If you really have to, you can try substituting ½ tsp garlic powder and ½ tsp onion granules instead.