Green Lentil & Dill Salad

1 cup raw romaine lettuce or kale, chopped 3/4 cup cooked green lentils
1 large tomato, sliced
1 large beet, sliced
1 small cucumber, sliced
1 small grilled eggplant
Handful of fresh dill, chopped

Makes 2 appetizer-sized servings, or 1 main-course serving.

Enjoy :)

Dal-Vegetable Stew

This is the 2nd post on this blog with a recipe from The Indian Vegan Kitchen.

I didn't have the mung beans and red pigeon peas recommended in this recipe, so I used romano beans and black-eyed peas instead. The combination of beans, lentils and vegetabels in this dish make it a more or less complete meal, but feel free to serve it over a bed of rice or with a side dish (such as stuffed banana peppers).

Dal-Vegetable Stew

1/3 cup toor dal (pigeon peas)
1/3 cup mung dal (mung beans)
1/3 cup pink lentils, rinsed
4 cups water
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 cups butternut/acorn squash or pumpkin, peeled & cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes

Ingredients for the paste:

1 tablespoon garlic, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, peeled & coarsely chopped
1 cup tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped

1. Pre-cook the toor and mung dal for about an hour, so they that are just slightly under-cooked.

2. In a deep skillet, combine the toor/mung dals with lentils, salt, turmeric, squash, eggplant, and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until the dals and vegetables are very soft.

3. In the meantime, prepare paste: in a blender, combine garlic, ginger, tomatoes, cumin seeds, garam masala, coriander, cayenne pepper, and water. Grind to a smooth paste. Set aside.

4. In a large frying pan, heat the oil on medium-high heat. Add onion and fry 1-2 minutes until slightly browned. Add the paste and fry until oil seperates, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Add the oil and paste mixture to the stew in the skillet. Add 1/2 cup water, or more as needed, for desire consistency (should be thick and stew-like). Bring to a boil, reduce heat a low boil, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Lentil-Barley-Tomato Soup

Although I was born in the former Soviet Union and grew up with Russian parents, I'm actually not a huge fan of most Russian food (in large part because most of it contains a lot of meat and dairy). There are, however, a few things about Russian cuisine that have stuck with me, one of them being a love for soups.

Soups are a big thing - it goes much farther than just some borsch every now and then. In Russia, lunch (which is the major meal of the day) will traditionally have 3 courses, and soup is the first one - analogous to pasta in Italy.

And the great thing about soups is that, because they're part water, they fill you up on less calories - not to mention the physical and emotional comfort that one gets from a hot bowl of soup on a cold day :)

The following recipe isn't Russian (quite the contrary, it's [a slight adaptation of a recipe] from a book called "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen"), but it's the first of many, many soup recipes that you will find on this blog. (Indeed, not a week goes by in which I don't have at least 4-5 servings of soup... but I digress).

And now, without further ado:

Lentil-Barley-Tomato Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 oz (about 2 small) carrots, shredded
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups broth
1 cup water
1 cup lentils, rinsed
1/2 cup pot barley
1 (14oz) can whole tomatoes, drained, seeded, and coarsely chopped, juices reserved
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 large bay leaf
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

~

In a medium stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and garlic; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes.

Add the broth, water, lentil, barley, tomatoes and their juices, thyme, bay leaf, and salt/pepper; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, partially covered, until the lentils and barley are tender, stirring occasionally, 50 to 60 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Serve hot.

Makes 4-5 main course servings.