Meatless Monday: Indian Curry Dhal with Onion Bhajias

Today was a good day to make my favourite dhal, which I have posted before. However, for some insane reason I decided to make dhal, naan bread, onion Bhajias and raita. It was delicious.... Even if it was a little chaotic in the kitchen.



Onion Bhajias

You will need:
2 brown onions
1 cup Chana flour (regular will do though)
1 green chilli
2 cloves garlic
Handful of coriander
2 teaspoons cumin powder
Tablespoon Olive oil
1\2 cup water (ish)

1. Slice the onions into half circles. Smaller would be better for smaller ones, but I decided to make big ones. Sprinkle with salt, and sit in a colander while you do the rest. These need at least 10 minutes to lose as much moisture as possible.

2. Put the garlic, coriander and chili in a food processor. You can add a little ginger if you like as well. Blitz until everything is a small, uniform size and shape, but not liquidised.

3. Sift flour into bowl. Add the cumin and the green stuff from the food processor.

4. Add oil, and water and stir together into a thick-ish batter.

5. Place oil in a fry pan to heat (or use a deep fryer. I don't have one, so I use a pan).

6. This gets messy... But give it a go. Take about half a handful of onions from the colander (which should be pretty dry by now), and place in the batter. Using your hands form a battered ball of onion. Place into hot pan. Work quickly, which will be messy, but it washes off easily... Just don't wipe your eyes.

7. When golden brown on one side, flip the Bhajias over and cook again on the other side.

Serve with raita.
Makes about 8 large Bhajias

Raita

You will need
1/2 cucumber
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
Handful of fresh mint
Handful of fresh coriander
Juice from one lemon

1. Dice the cucumber and chop up the mint and coriander.

2. Throw into medium sized bowl. Pour over the lemon juice.

3. Mix in the yogurt. You can season with salt and pepper if you like at this point.

Use as a dip for the onion Bhajias.





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Lentil and Chickpea Patties

BBQ season is upon us, and as a vegetarian, this can be a daunting prospect.  These patties are terrific and tasty, can be BBQ'ed and used in burgers, or made smaller and eaten in a sandwich or wrap, or served as finger food with a yogurt dip.

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils
Vegetable stock cube
1 can chickpeas
2 cloves garlic
Handful of fresh parsley
Handful of fresh coriander
1 onion
Tablespoon curry power
Olive oil
1 egg
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Flour

Method

1.  Put a large saucepan on to boil with the vegetable stock cube in it.  Rinse the lentils (I cheat and do this in a sieve), then throw them in the pot.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Stir relatively frequently at the start as lentils LOVE to burn themselves on the bottom of my pots!

My cheats way of rinsing lentils and chickpeas

2.  Wash the parsley and coriander.  Drain and rinse the chickpeas (I find until they stop being 'foamy' is good).  Throw these in a large bowl. 

3.  Peel garlic, throw in bowl.  Chop onion finely, throw in the bowl.

4.  Add salt, pepper, curry powder, lemon juice and a slosh of olive oil to the bowl. 

5.  Drain the lentils.  Add half to the bowl.  Using a hand-blender, blitz it all until it is smooth.  It will be rather liquidy.

6.  Add the other half of the lentils, and the breadcrumbs.  Stir.

7.  Sprinkle flour on the bench.  Roll mixture into balls, and then into nice pattie shapes, dusted in flour.  I find as long as they are about 1 1/2 cm's thick, they hold their shape well.  I tend to make burger sized ones, as well as mini-bagel sizes, and ones for wraps.

8.  Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days before frying or BBQing.  Cook on a griddle or fry in a little oil until golden brown.

9.  Serve as either a burger patty or with yogurt dipping sauce.

Dahl Toasted Sandwiches

I know I have blogged of the wonders, and probably to the despair of foodies worldwide, but these are magnificent.

I love this recipe for a simple red lentil dahl, it's a vegetarian curry.  It's super simple to make (just keep the heat down low and stir, stir, stir).  And it has a taste beyond comparison.  It is also incredibly cheap- less than a dollar for the ingredients, which will easily serve 4.  It makes a meal served with rice for around 50 cents per person.  Crazy!

Red Lentil Dahl

I recommend trying it, even non-curry lovers like it.  Leave out the chilli for those of you who don't like hot.

As leftovers, lentils are great.  I personally love a nice dahl toasted sandwich on an honey grain toast as lunch the following day.  The flavours of all curry deepen over time, so they make the best leftovers.

Today's super simple toasted sandwich lunch

The Lunchtime Rush

Over the years I have found that some days of the week are just plain SHOCKING to get organised.  Rubbish/recycling day is one of them.  And days when I forget to set the alarm....

Fortunately I was rather organised this week...

In the green container we have more of the lentil salad, the large square box has strawberries and an apple and carrot salad, with walnuts ready to add.

The container is not as bad as I had thought as far as traveling.  I will keep making sure it travels flat, as liquid can run between compartments, but, it is pretty similar to the easy lunchbox.  The advantage with this one is a more secure lid and the freezing compartment.

Lentils and other goodies

Hello, here is today's lunch.  I am not sure how the apple and carrot salad will hold out, and I am pretty darn sure it is going to leak all over the place.  We shall see.

The best part is the boxes themselves.  I am excited to see how they will stack up today.

Here we have a lentil and bulghur wheat salad in the green container.


In the blue one, we have sandwich crackers with swiss cheese, strawberries and an apple and carrot salad.  There are walnuts for this salad in the container for the lentil one.

Red Lentil Dahl (Curry)

Well, there was a change of plan for dinner tonight.  Normally Mondays mean leftovers for him, and I have a muffin-tin.... but tonight, just 30 minutes before he was due home, I discovered that he did not have a lot of his lamb curry left in the fridge.  Never fear, for the easiest curry in the world came in to save the day.

On a quick side note, it may be worth mentioning that he is an Indian meat-lover, and I am a Kiwi vegetarian.... which often makes mealtimes interesting.

If I am putting on a full Indian meal, with a number of curries, this is always one on the menu.  Though it is not the prettiest dahl in the world, it is tasty, quick and cheap.

Usually I make it hotter, but tonight I worked it to be more lunch-friendly.  Curry is always SOOOOO much better the next day.

Here is the recipe:

1 Tb olive oil
1 medium to large onion (depending on how much your like onion....)
2 cloves garlic (or more if you prefer... or less for that matter)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp chilli-powder
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp black mustard seeds (these can be left out, but I like the flavour they give)
1 cup red lentils (brown and black work well too, but take longer to cook, and create a much darker curry)
2 cups water
2 vegetable stock cubes
1/2 tsp salt
Handful of chopped coriander (cilantro)

The cooking process is simple.

In a fairly large saucepan, heat the oil.  Dice your onion while this is heating, and throw it in the pot.
Crush and chop your garlic, throw that in as well.  Stir.  Make sure your saucepan is over a REALLY low heat, or things will burn to the bottom....
Add the 2 bay leaves, stir.
Measure and throw in the spices in order as above, stirring between each one.
When the onion is clear (or yellowy-clear from the turmeric), add 1 cup of water.
Add a cup of red lentils.  They do not need to be rinsed first, but other sorts will need the rinsing.
Add the second cup of water.  Crush the stock cubes into the pot.  You can use liquid stock (2 cups) instead, but I tend to have stock cubes on hand.
Add the salt.
Keep stirring occasionally, making sure the lentils don't stick to the bottom.
The whole thing should be cooked in 20 minutes.

When the lentils are soft, remove the bay leaves, and add the chopped coriander.

Serve with rice.

As a main, this will serve 4.  I tend to use half for dinner for 2, putting the rest in the fridge for lunch on the next day.  He likes to take it to work with rice.  I like to have mine as a toasted sandwich filling....

When making a full Indian meal, I tend to use this along with a lamb curry, and a chicken curry, with sides of Bombay potatoes, a really lovely cucumber dish, and a selection of breads (naan and roti).