Tag Archives: cilantro

Chana Dhal and Courgette Curry

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My brother-in-law John is staying with us again this summer and expressed an interest in trying Indian food.

You mean John lived with us all last summer and I DIDN’T COOK INDIAN FOOD? What kind of a sister-in-law am I????

Plagued by the knowledge that if I didn’t rectify this–and fast–my head would explode in flames, I decided to make a vegetarian and meat curry pronto. This is the vegetarian recipe I chose, and it’s so good, you guys. I came home the next day hoping to eat the small amount of leftovers for a late afternoon snack, but lo and behold John had eaten them already.

I was slightly pleased, I can’t lie.

There’s no better proof of love than the disappearance of leftovers before they’ve even been in the fridge for 24 hours.

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Anyway, there are no words adequate enough to express my love for this curry.

Though this facial expression comes close to illustrating it.

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With no hard-to-find ingredients (you can use yellow split peas as I did, and the lime juice and brown sugar take the place of tamarind juice), there’s no excuse not to make it.

Unless you don’t like Indian food.

In which case . . . well, I just have to believe that you haven’t actually tasted Indian food yet.

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Not tasted Indian food?

You poor soul.

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Ingredients

Serves 4

2/3 cup chana dhal or yellow split peas, washed
3 cups water
4 TBS vegetable oil
2 green chilies, de-seeded and minced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 inch piece of ginger, minced
8 curry leaves (optional)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
3 medium winter squash or zucchini, chopped into quarter moons
2 TBS lime juice
2 TBS brown sugar
2 medium to large tomatoes, chopped
Salt, to taste
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
Cooked rice, to serve

1. In a deep pan, bring the dhal or split peas to a simmer with the 3 cups of water and a generous pinch of salt. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until tender (but not mushy), adding more water as needed and stirring every now and then.

2. In the meantime, heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion (and a pinch of salt) and cook for about 15 minutes, until starting to caramelize.

3. Add the chilies, garlic, ginger and curry leaves to the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add the chili powder, turmeric, and another pinch of salt to the onions. Cook for 1 minute, stirring so that the spices don’t burn.

5. By now the chana dhal or split peas should be tender, so add them to the pot with the onions, including any water that wasn’t absorbed.

6. Add the squash or zucchini, lime juice, sugar, tomatoes and cilantro to the pot. Simmer over medium heat until the squash or zucchini is tender, 20-30 minutes.

7.  Taste and season with more salt if needed. Serve over rice!

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Curried Red Lentil Soup

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This soup, another little number from the America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook, is so good and so easy. They don’t use the word “quick” in that cookbook title lightly–those folks mean business!

I originally decided to put this soup on the menu because we had some red lentils sitting around that have been in the pantry since we lived in Delaware (!). Why yes, we moved to Chicago going on 4 years ago. So yes, that would make these lentils at least 4 years old . . . if not 5 . . . or 6 . . . but I didn’t die, so case closed. Let bygones be bygones. Better a lentil saved than a lentil wasted. Let the old lentils rest in peace in their final place of digestion. Let anyone who has objections speak never and forever hold their peace, amen and amen. It is better to have eaten and loved than to never have eaten at all. Don’t take no wooden lentils. You can lead a mouth to lentils, but you can’t make it eat.

I just got completely lost . . . where were we?

Anyway, after looking at the short ingredient list I thought, “this will probably be okay. Not awesome, not bad–just okay.” And I was (heh heh) okay with that.

But my premature diagnosis was wrong. I LOVED it! The flavors are simple and clean but also deeper than you would expect considering the quick cooking time.

Make it! Especially after a cold day out and about.

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It will warm you to the very cockles of your feet.

What are cockles?

Nobody every explained.

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Ingredients

Serves 2-3

1 cup red lentils, rinsed
4 cups vegetable broth
2 TBS butter
1 onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBS grated fresh ginger
1 TBS curry powder
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 TBS minced cilantro
½ cup plain yogurt
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Microwave the lentils and 2 cups of broth about 8 minutes, until liquid is mostly absorbed.

2. Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes, until softened, stirring occasionally and adding salt and pepper as it cooks. Add the garlic, ginger and curry powder, and stir for 30 seconds.

3. Add the microwaved lentil mixture to the pot along with the rest of the broth and the tomatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and re-season as needed.

4. Serve the individual portions with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of cilantro. Enjoy!

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