SmarterFitter Daily

Just when I was feeling in a food rut, this came along and rocked my world. 

Recipes:

Yellow Pea Dahl
The Art of Chapattis

A Twitter friend gave me the idea to make chapatti out of leftover dal - basically take the dal and add enough flour to form a soft dough. I used wholemeal spelt but think next time I'll go for a mix of white and wholemeal wheat flour. These were a little dry - but still tasty! 

This was an awesome way to have Besan Cheela (chickpea flour pancakes). Almost like an Indian breakfast taco. Plus everything except the eggs were leftovers so super easy.

On the side: Sambharo, a really badass Gujarati cabbage salad that is totally my favourite thing right now.

Leftovers galore.

Recipe: Sprouted Mung Bean Curry [veggiebelly.com]

Adapted from this simple dal recipe, using chana dal (split chickpeas) instead of lentils and a couple whole fresh tomatoes instead of tinned tomatoes. I also blended up some of the chickpeas after they cooked to make a sort of gravy.

Savoury breakfast. But where are the idliis?

Just about done with the leftovers from Saturday's Indian Feast.

Leftovers from Saturday's Indian Feast.

This is the only picture I bothered to snap of last night's Indian meal that I cooked for friends coming to visit from London. The picture is of mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and chillies frying for Coconut and Tamarind chutney, yet another a winning recipe from The New Tastes of India by Das Sreedharan (aka "the Rasa cookbook").

I made the chutney to go with dosas, a food I've wanted to make ever since I had my first delicious dosa at the Madras Pavillion in Austin, Texas, and then impulsively bought a box of Gits Dosa Mix some time ago. And here I violated several of my own rules about cooking for guests: a) Don't make your guests something you've never made before, b) Don't make your guests something out of a package and 3) Don't make your guests something out of a package that's been sitting in your cupboard for an indeterminate amount of time. 

But this was a great opportunity to try something I've always wanted to try while also using up the larder (the doas also gave me an excuse to use some of that Sambar powder lurking around, too). And to play it safe, I made a couple dishes I AM familiar with to ensure a tasty meal. Here was the menu (which I just noticed was almost entirely vegan except for the sorbet):

• Masala dosas filled with potato (used Hugh's masala dosa recipe from River Cottage Veg for the potatoes - I should have followed a recipe from a real Indian)
• Coconut and tamarind chutney
• Sambar with carrots, green beans and onions (roughly followed the excellent Mahanandi's Sambar with Shallots recipe, using chana dal instead of toor dal as that's what I had and I'm using up the larder!)
• Cucumber and coconut salad, another favourite from the Rasa cookbook
• Simple dal, which I happened to have in the freezer. My favourite is still red lentil dal with panch phoran.
• Cucumber raita  
• Basmati rice
• Mango sorbet, made using David Lebovitz's recipe from The Perfect Scoop

Either the food was really good or I made just the right amount because there were very few leftovers - just basmati rice, a few extra potatoes and some sambar which should make for good lunches this week. 

Cooking for people has to be my absolute favourite thing in the world. Ever. I've been really lucky this year with all of the people coming to visit at the weekends. It's actually one of the best things about living in the middle of nowhere: having a place that people want to visit because it's a break from the normal (is that why?). And since I'm so far out, people tend to stay the night, and you can't beat a good sleepover. 

For me this is the balance I couldn't get in London: consistent peace and tranquility peppered with good friends and occasional indulgence (rather than vice versa). The balance means I enjoy both aspects of life so much more: quiet productivity and socialising. 

I really like it here. 

This recipe was given to me by a friend of a friend last year and somehow I stumbled upon it while cleaning out my hard drive and I decided to give it a try. It's a very easy dal and just the kind of thing I was in the mood for. The only thing I'd do differently next time is decrease (or omit) the tomatoes, which made it all a bit too much like a tomato-and-lentil soup rather than a nice lentil-filled dal. This may have been improved had I added the coconut milk, but I didn't have any and wasn't in the mood for something too rich.  All the same, this dal was very good and delicious with cucumber and yogurt raita. 

Here is the original recipe:

Dal

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup dry red lentils
• 3 cups water
• bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp medium curry powder (or to taste - I make my own using Mark Bittman's curry powder recipe)
• 1 14-oz can of chopped tomatoes (would skip next time)
• or equivalent chopped fresh
• tomatoes
• 2 oz creamed coconut of half cup
• coconut milk (optional - I didn't use it, though the raita kind of made up for that)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a deep frying pan, heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the lentils and fry them for a minute or two, then add the water, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and curry powder. Stir.
2. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for twenty minutes, adding a little more water from time to time if it gets dry. Add the tomatoes and simmer another ten minutes. By now the lentils should be very soft. Add the creamed coconut or coconut milk and lemon juice, if using, and salt to taste. Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaf before serving.
3. The final product should flow freely—add more water if it is too thick. If is usually served over rice, with some lime pickle and mango chutney. Sliced banana is another good accompaniment, and so too are pappadams.