Broccoli Dal

Potlucks have become a really wonderful and frequent part of my life. For example, the last day of my Sustainable Neighborhoods class was a potluck. Again. The best! Here's what I brought:

Broccoli Dal
Ingredients:
1 c dried red lentils
2/3 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 t ground cumin
2 t mustard seeds
2 T oil (I used coconut oil)
1 large head of broccoli, chopped
4.5 c vegetable broth or water
1/4 c soy sauce, if using water
2 cups almond milk, or milk of choice
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 t red pepper flakes
1.5 t garam masala
1 t tumeric
paprika, to garnish

Directions:
Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan.
Add onions to saucepan and saute until beginning to soften.
Push onions to one side of the saucepan and add cumin and mustard seeds to other side.
Cook until mustard seeds begin to pop.

Pulse chopped broccoli in a food processor until very fine.
Add broccoli, veggie broth (or water), and lentils into the saucepan.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add in almond milk, lemon juice, turmeric, garam masala, and red pepper flakes.
Taste and adjust spices as needed.
Cook on low for another 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and garnish with paprika.

How come creepy pictures that you stealthily (or not so stealthily) take from your phone turn out so sub-par? Whaddup Logan Chadde.

Sweet Potato, Swiss Chard, and Red Lentil Soup

Really really really amazing soup. Perfect amount of spices and different textures. A great (and obvious) continuation of my Indian kick... From Cheap Healthy Good.

Ingredients:
2 onions, chopped
1 1/2 t cumin seeds
1 t black mustard seeds
2 t oil
1 T fresh ginger, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
8 c water
3 c dried red lentils, rinsed (Any kind of lentil or split pea would do)
1 T mild curry powder
1 bunch Swiss chard

Directions:
In a large pot, heat 1 t oil and cook onions until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Move onions aside in pot and add second teaspoon of oil and whole cumin and mustard seeds.
Stir seeds with spatula for about 30 seconds.

When mustard seeds begin to pop, stir together spices with onions.
Add ginger and garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
Add water, sweet potato, lentils, and curry powder and stir.
Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour or until lentils are tender.

Wash and chop Swiss chard and set aside. (I rolled up leaves and cut them to make long ribbons. Also, I chopped the stems separately)
Stir dal occassionally to prevent sticking and burning.

When the dal is tender, turn off heat, remove lid, and stir in Swiss chard.
Replace lid and allow chard to wilt for 5–10 minutes.

Roasted Curried Cauliflower: Take 2

Last weekend I made this recipe but took a horrible picture. Luckily, the recipe was good enough to make again for the potluck that I went to last night! This time I used frozen cauliflower from Wilczewski Greenhouses in Howell, MI (thanks to Locavorious).

I am going through an I-only-want-to-eat-Indian-food phase. I think it's because the cuisine is so spicy and warming and perfect for the blustery February days in Michigan. It's currently 5 degrees outside...

Coconut Dal

Last night Poonam and I decided to hold a snowman protest. What's this you ask? Well we built a bunch of angry looking snowmen on the U-M diag holding signs protesting global weirding.

My sustainability soulmate.

Some notable signs:
Climate change is getting worse. And you still won't get a snow day.
Sustainability is common sense. Do you lack it?
Yo! My snowballs are freezing!
Your lack of concern is giving me blue balls:

We spent about 2 hours in the snowpocalypse, making about 20 angry snowpeople (some a bit too anatomically correct...). A special thanks to all of the friends and random passerbys that helped in the building process! It was pretty satisfying seeing just about every person walking through the diag whip out their phone and take a picture of our semi-inappropriate demonstration ;)

Ultimately, I trudged home with wet pants, socks, gloves and feeling awful. After passing out for 2 hours I awoke famished and yearning for something warm. Enter:

Coconut Dal

From Open-Ended Question.

Ingredients:

1/2 c coconut oil

1 c dried coconut flakes (1)

1.5 T brown mustard seeds (1)

1.5 T cumin seeds (1)

2 t ground cumin (1)

2 t ground coriander (1)

2 t ground cardamom (1)

1 t turmeric (1)

1/4 t cayenne (1)

1/2 c fresh ginger, minced

2 large onions, diced (I only had 1 onion but it turned out good still!)

3 green chilis, seeds removed & finely sliced

5 cloves garlic, minced (3)

2 large tomatoes, diced (2)

2 c split red lentils (1)

9 c water (divided)

2 tsp salt (added after dal is cooked)*

Directions:

Melt coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large pot.

Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and dried coconut.

Cook until seeds are sputtering and fragrant, stirring frequently.

Add dry spices (not salt) and stir until well mixed (Add small amounts of water if spices begin burning/sticking to the pot.)

Add garlic, ginger, onions (and chiles if you have them) and cook until onions are translucent, 5-7 min.

Add tomatoes and 1 cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes, until tomatoes are broken down.

Add lentils and remaining water and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat until simmering and cook until lentils break down and become mushy, about 45 min.

Add salt and garnish with chopped cabbage, carrots or cilantro!

*Do not add salt until after lentils have cooked. Salt interrupts the cooking process of the bean.

(1) People's Food Co-op bulk section

(2) Locavorious

(3) Tantre Farm

Roasted Curried Cauliflower

1) Busting into my freezer! I used "cheddar" cauliflower (that I bought and froze in the fall) for this recipe. ("Cheddar" because it's yellow)

2) Below is a terrible picture of the roasted cauliflower. My camera is unfortunately a bit funky after certain New Year's Eve shenanigans... Luckily, the recipe is so good that I made it again a few days later! Better picture here!

Roasted Curried Cauliflower
Poonam described this as having a "traveling flavor." I love this description. From A Big Mouthful.

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
1 t mustard seeds
1 t ground cumin
2 t curry powder
1 t salt
1 large head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), cut into large florets

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, until florets are evenly coated.
Arrange cauliflower in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with oil.
Roast until florets are browned on bottom and fork tender, about 35 minutes.

Almond-Herb Crackers with Spicy Lentil Dip

Must. Try. Crackers.

Almond-Herb Crackers
Something about using ground almonds instead of flour makes these melt in your mouth. Holy cow. Amazing. Adapted from Elana's Kitchen.

Ingredients*:
2 c almonds
3/4 t salt
2 T dried herbs (I used thyme)
1 T oil
2 T water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Grind almonds in food processor (or blender) until it reaches the consistency of flour.
Add salt and herbs and pulse until combined.
Whisk together oil and water and mix into almond mixture.
Form dough into a ball and roll out between 2 pieces of parchment paper, until about 1/8" thick.
Remove top piece of parchment paper and transfer onto a baking sheet.
Cut into rolled out dough into squares (or whatever shape you want your crackers to be).
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.
Devour. Or enjoy with a dip (like the one below), but I found this to be unnecessary. Yeah, they're that good.

Spicy Lentil Dip

Ingredients*:
1 c cooked lentils

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 t ground coriander

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t ground turmeric

1/2 t chili powder

1/2 t ground ginger

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.

Cook gently over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Allow to cool before serving.

*All of these items can be bought in bulk. Except the garlic cloves, I bought those from Tantre Farm when they still came to the farmer's market (which they stopped doing after November, tear tear)