Lentil Socca

My chickpea flour is all gone and with no dried chickpeas in my bulk foods stash (and not really into going through another ear piercingly loud experience), I made lentil flour! I dumped some dried brown lentils that I had into the food processor, turned it on and walked away. Processing the lentils was a way less painful experience, thank goodness.

It did not turn out custard-y like classic soccas do but that easily could be me leaving it in the oven for too long. I also used a spring-form pan this time and it was like magic! Super easy to pop it out so I didn't have to deal with the socca sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Lentil Socca

I am not sure if it is technically a socca since I used a different bean flour than chickpea but that's what I'm callin it anyways.

Ingredients:

1 c lentil flour

1 1/4 c water

1 t salt

any other flavorings and add ins that you choose! (my favorite so far is sliced onions and olives)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Whisk together all ingredients until smooth.
Pour batter into an oiled 10" spring-form pan (ideal) or pie pan.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, until the socca is pretty firm to the touch.

 Toes

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.

Inspired.

I would call myself an experienced sprouter. Yet Honest Fare blew my socks off in her post on lentil sprouts today.

I had never thought to let them keep growing until they actually grow little leaves! My mind is blown.

And now I'm going to go soak some lentils to try to recreate these little green beauties... Check back in a few days!

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

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)

Sprouted Lentils

You've seen bean sprouts in your stir fry and sunflower sprouts in your salad, but most people don't realize that just about every grain, bean, and seed sprouts.

Sprouting essentially takes a dormant seed and creates a live plant. Sprouting neutralizes phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. Phytic acid binds with calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc, making it hard to impossible for you to absorb those nutrients. Enzyme inhibitors inhibit enzymes (surprise surprise) in the seed and your own digestive enzymes from doing their job.


All in all, sprouting makes grains, seeds, and legumes (beans) easier to digest and you will be able to assimilate more nutrients.


More reasons sprouting rocks here!


How To Sprout:
The method is pretty much the same for most seeds, grains, nuts, and legumes, it’s just the time that varies. 

1. Fill a mason jar about one third full of desired seed to sprout, and then fill the mason jar with water and soak overnight.
2. Cover the mason jar with a sprouting screen screwed into the lid. You can use any sort of material that allows water out but keeps the sprouts in (make-shift one out of a screen?).
3. In the morning you drain the jar and rinse it right through the screen, and then you invert your jar at an angle, allowing it to drain and air to circulate within your jar.
4. All you have to do now is rinse 2-3 times per day, and your seeds will turn into sprouts!

I take this process to a whole new level of easiness (laziness...) and I get sprouts every time so I think it's an A-OK method:

Marcy creeping on my lentil sprouts

1. Fill a container (mason jar, tupperware container, wine glass...) about 1/3 of the way full with desired grain, legume, or seed and fill up with water.
2. Soak overnight.
3. In the morning, pour out water while holding the goods in the container with your hand.
4. Pour more water in, swish around and dump water out again.
5. Repeat step 4 2-3 times per day to keep the goods damp and prevent mold from growing.

Once sprouting process is complete (see the chart below), dump the sprouts onto a paper towel and allow them to dry before storing them in the fridge.

Nuts do not grow tails but it's important to soak (or roast) raw nuts to get rid of the enzyme inhibitors.

Soaking and Sprouting Times

(From Raw Food Living)

Nut / Seed	Dry Amount	Soak Time	Sprout Time	Sprout Length	Yield
Alfalfa Seed	3 Tbsp	12 Hours	3-5 Days	1-2 Inches	4 cups
Almonds	3 Cups	8-12 Hours	1-3 Days	1/8 Inch	4 Cups
Amaranth	1 Cup	3-5 Hours	2-3 Days	1/4 Inch	3 Cups
Barley, Hulless	1 Cup	6 Hours	12-24 Hours	1/4 Inch	2 Cups
Broccoli Seed	2 Tbsp	8 Hours	3-4 Days	1-2 Inches	2 Cups
Buckwheat, Hulled	1 Cup	6 Hours	1-2 Days	1/8-1/2 Inch	2 Cups
Cabbage Seed	1 Tbsp	4-6 Hours	4-5 Days	1-2 Inches	1 1/2 Cups
Cashews	3 Cups	2-3 Hours			4 Cups
Clover	3 Tbsp	5 Hours	4-6 Days	1-2 Inches	4 Cups
Fenugreek	4 Tbsp	6 Hours	2-5 Days	1-2 Inches	3 Cups
Flax Seeds	1 Cup	6 Hours			2 Cups
Garbanzo Beans (Chick Pea)	1 Cup	12-48 Hours	2-4 Days	1/2-1 Inch	4 Cups
Kale Seed	4 Tbsp	4-6 Hours	4-6 Days	3/4-1 Inch	3-4 Cups
Lentil	3/4 Cup	8 Hours	2-3 Days	1/2-1 Inch	4 Cups
Millet	1 Cup	5 Hours	12 Hours	1/16 Inch	3 Cups
Mung Beans	1/3 Cup	8 Hours	4-5 Days	1/4-3 Inches	4 Cups
Mustard Seed	3 Tbsp	5 Hours	3-5 Days	1/2-1 1/2 Inches	3 Cups
Oats, Hulled	1 Cup	8 Hours	1-2 Days	1/8 Inch	1 Cup
Onion Seed	1 Tbsp	4-6 Hours	4-5 Days	1-2 Inches	1 1/2-2 Cups
Pea	1 Cup	8 Hours	2-3 Days	1/2-1 Inch	3 Cups
Pinto Bean	1 Cup	12 Hours	3-4 Days	1/2-1 Inch	3-4 Cups
Pumpkin	1 Cup	6 Hours	1-2 Days	1/8 Inch	2 Cups
Quinoa	1 Cup	3-4 Hours	2-3 Days	1/2 Inch	3 Cups
Radish	3 Tbsp	6 Hours	3-5 Days	3/4-2 Inches	4 Cups
Rye	1 Cup	6-8 Hours	2-3 Days	1/2-3/4 Inch	3 Cups
Sesame Seed, Hulled	1 Cup	8 Hours			1 1/2 Cups
Sesame Seed, Unhulled	1 Cup	4-6 Hours	1-2 Days	1/8 Inch	1 Cup
Spelt	1 Cup	6 Hours	1-2 Days	1/4 Inch	3 Cups
Sunflower, Hulled	1 Cup	6-8 Hours	1 Day	1/4-1/2 Inch	2 Cups
Teff	1 Cup	3-4 Hours	1-2 Days	1/8 Inch	3 Cups
Walnuts	3 Cups	4 Hours			4 Cups
Wheat	1 Cup	8-10 Hours	2-3 Days	1/4-3/4 Inch	3 Cups
Wild Rice	1 Cup	12 Hours	2-3 Days	Rice Splits	3 Cups

Curried Lentil Sprouts with Cilantro-Garlic Sauce

Based off of recipe by The Nourishing Gourmet. I personally don't like cilantro so I wasn't too keen on the sauce but luckily the curried lentil sprouts taste awesome on their own.

Ingredients:

-for lentils-

3 c lentil sprouts

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 T olive oil

1 T curry powder

0.5 t ground cloves

-for sauce-

1 bunch of fresh cilantro

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

2 T olive oil

1 small hot pepper, seeds removed

1 t salt

Juice from 1/2 of a lemon*

Directions:

Mix lentil ingredients together in a bowl.

Food process sauce ingredients until smooth pesto-like consistancy.

*I omitted the lemon juice because there aren't any lemons growing in Michigan (I miss them already...)