Recipes
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Transcendental Lentils
INGREDIENTS:
500g brown/green lentils
100g butter
1t salt
1t cumin (whole or ground)
1t coriander (ground)
1t tumeric (ground)
pinch cardamom (ground)
250g pumpkin or potato (cubed and steamed) -- optional extra
250g tomatoes (fresh or tinned) -- optional extra
METHOD:
Check over the lentils for any foreign matter. Wash in three lots of boiling water, then cover with water in a heavy pot and leave to soak overnight (unless using pressure cooker or cooking all day).
Bring to the boil, add salt, cover and simmer for two hours (about six hours if unsoaked, about 45 minutes in a pressure cooker) or until lentils are starting to break up.
In a small pan melt butter and add spices, sautéing gently for a minute or three until they give off a full aroma – careful not to burn!
Remove lentils from heat and slowly add spiced butter, being careful not to splatter as oil hits hot liquid.
Add pumpkin or potatoes and/or tomatoes if desired.
Return to heat and simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring regularly (preferably with a flat-edged wooden spatula) to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Serves 4
This can also be made with blue (or Puy) lentils, but these are better for pies as they keep their shape when fully cooked. For example:
(From http://www.abc.net.au/jamescancook/thisweek.htm)
Puy Pie
© 2008 ABC
see http://www.abc.net.au/jamescancook/thisweek.htm
INGREDIENTS:
250g puy lentils
3 bay leaves
2 carrots
2 onions
3-4 sticks celery
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
2 tablespoons kecap manis
2 shakes of worcester sauce
2 shakes of tabasco sauce
Topping:
200g lima beans (soak overnight to soften before cooking)
½ cauliflower
Pastry:
250g besan (chick pea) flour
250g plain flour
50ml olive oil or any vegetable oil 2 ½ teaspoons freeze dried yeast 2 teaspoons sugar
METHOD:
Put lentils into 4-5 litres of boiling water with two bay leaves and a good pinch of salt and cook for 45 minutes.
Sift the flours into a bowl and add the yeast, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Roughly mix the dry ingredients together. Drizzle the oil over the dry ingredients. Add enough hot water to make a wet mixture. (This will be about 300-400ml, depending on the nature of the flour you are using, so don’t add all the water at once. The water should be quite warm to the touch, but not so hot it burns. Mixing equal parts of boiling water and room temperature gives the desired temperature.) Work the water into the mixture with your hand. This should not take very long. The wet mixture does not require kneading.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow the dough to prove in a warm spot for about 45mins. It has proved sufficiently when it has doubled in size.
Roughly chop the cauliflower. Put the cauliflower and lima beans into 4-5 litres of boiling water and cook for about 20 minutes.
Finely chop the celery, carrot, onion and garlic and cook in a hot pan containing a little oil. Stir frequently. Add a pinch of salt and a bay leaf. Cook until the vegetables are almost translucent. Add the drained lentils to the vegetables in the pan. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the liquid the lentils have cooked in for extra flavour. Stir the vegetables and the lentils to combine. Add the tamarind pulp and kecap manis. Add a couple of shakes of worcester and a couple of shakes of tabasco to your own taste.
Drain the cauliflower and lima beans and mash. Press the proved dough into a large pie dish to make the piecrust. The crust should be 1- 2 cm thick. (There is no need to blind bake this crust.)
Put the vegetable and lentil filling into the piecrust. Put the mash on top and smooth it out.
Bake in a 220-degree oven for about 50 minutes
Cut into pie wedges and serve hot or cold. A crisp green salad is a good accompaniment.
© 2008 ABC
see http://www.abc.net.au/jamescancook/thisweek.htm
Red Quinoa Risotto
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups red quinoa (or black if you like that licorice look)
500g pumpkin
1 medium-sized brown onion
200g beans
2 zucchinis
3T sunflower oil
50g butter
6 cups stock (or 5 cups stock and a cup of white wine)
100g cheese
2T fresh sage.
METHOD:
Peel and dice the pumpkin into bite-size bits (preferably a middling-firm variety like Kent, but any kind will do). Chop the onion. Slice the beans and zukes into bite-size lengths. Grate the cheese (I like cheddar or Edam, but parmesan is traditional). Chop the sage.
Bring the stock (vegetable or chicken) to the boil and keep simmering on a separate burner. In a large cooking pot melt half the butter into the oil until it foams. Add the onion and beans and saute until the onion starts to go translucent. Add the pumpkin and saute until it loses that fresh look.
Add enough of the still-simmering stock to not quite cover the tallest peaks of the pumpkin and simmer uncovered until the pumpkin softens slightly and a lot of the liquid has evaporated.
Add the quinoa and stir until well coated. Let it absorb the remaining fluid, stirring sparingly (I like a flat-edge wooden spatula for this kind of job) so the quinoa gets to almost stick to the bottom a bit.
Add a ladleful of the still-simmering stock (or the wine if you are going for the alcoholic version) and stir frequently until absorbed. Repeat until all the stock is gone or the quinoa has reached the right al dente texture. Halfway through add the zukes (so they stay intact).
When done to your satisfaction, remove from the heat, add a little more stock if you like your risotto a bit moister, then stir in the rest of the butter, the grated cheese, and the sage.
Serves four.
Southern Chole
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups white chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1/2 cup desecrated coconut
2 cups stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon butter (or ghee)
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
2 teaspoons whole mustard seeds, yellow or black
1 teaspoon seasalt
juice of one lime (or two nimbu)
METHOD:
Soak dried chickpeas in water overnight. (You can rinse them in three lots of hot water before soaking if you are one of those who believes this reduces their flatulent effect!) Make sure there is still at least a two-finger-width of water above the chickpeas before cooking. Bring to the boil, add salt, and simmer until tender, about 2 hours. (About 6 hours if unsoaked, about 45 minutes in a pressure cooker.)
Soak the coconut in the lime juice.
Heat oil and butter in a medium size frypan or skillet or wok over medium heat. When oil is hot, but not smoking, stir in chilli and mustard seeds. Cover and fry until mustard seeds burst (listen for that popping sound).
Remove from heat and add tomatoes and lime-juiced coconut, being careful it does not spatter. Mix well and stir fry for another minute.
Add to chickpeas, and simmer for a further 10 or 15 minutes to work the flavours through.
Serves 4 to 8 to 12 (sole course to main course to soup course).
Gluten-free and Grain-free Crumble Topping
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup rolled quinoa
I cup besan (chickpea) flour
1/2 cup fruit medley
2 tablespoons chopped macadamias (or slivered almonds)
1 teaspoon arrowroot
pinch cinnamon
1 to 2 tablespoons honey
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
METHOD:
Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Melt the butter and honey in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove, and pour over the dry mix, turning with a wooden spoon until just evenly moistened.
Cover the bottom of a shallow oven-proof dish (I find the lid of a Pyrex casserole dish works well) with the stewed fruit of your choice, adding spices if desired (e.g. cloves with apple, cardamom with guava).
Spread the crumble topping over the top and bake in a 180-degree oven until golden brown on top (about 15 minutes)
Serves 8 to 12.
For grain/gluten-eaters, you can just use equal parts of muesli and flour, adding baking powder rather than arrowroot with the cinnamon, and then the melted butter-honey. Quick and easy!
