Dal-icious

Another bean recipe for dinner last night. This one comes from "The Ultimate Dal Cookbook" by Mona Verma and is simply called 'Delicious Black Beans'. It uses black turtle beans which I found in Tesco and which are pretty quick cooking. I've cut down on the oil suggested in the recipe to make it more diet friendly and served it with Gujerati courgettes and chapati.

Delicious Black Beans
(serves 4)
1 cup black turtle beans soaked overnight
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seed
2 tsp coriander seed
2 tsp minced ginger
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli powder (to taste)
1/2 tsp garam masala
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
1 tsp lime juice

- Drain and rinse the beans, put them in a pan with the turmeric and plenty of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 40 mins or until tender. The cooking time will depend on how long they have been soaked for.
- While the beans are cooking, lightly toast the cumin and coriander seeds and then grind them to a rough powder.
- When the beans are ready, heat the oil and add the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, garam masala and chilli and cook for a couple of minutes on a low heat until fragrant and combined.
- Add the chopped tomato and dried fenugreek, cook for a few more minutes.
- Add the beans and lime juice and simmer for 10 mins, then serve.

Gujerati Courgette Salad
(serves 2)
2 medium courgettes
2 tsp oil
1 tbs black mustard seeds
1 tbs lemon juice

- Coarsely grate the courgettes and drain them on kitchen paper to remove excess moisture
- Heat the oil in a lidded pan and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds start to pop against the lid, add the courgettes and stir the mustard seeds through.
- Add the lemon juice and and stir until everything is heated through.
- Serve immediately.

Bittman's Bites

When I first heard the title of this book I have to say my first response was "Oh really, everything huh?" but cookbook addict that I am I couldn't resist so into the Amazon cart it went.

Once it arrived I settled down on the sofa, sticky tabs and tea at hand, and worked my way through the 996 pages. There are some great aspects to this book, most notably the green information boxes and the recipe variations. The information boxes were full of really interesting and useful information and not just the standard conversion charts and bean/grain cooking times (although they're in there too). Some of my favourites were:

- Rice Salad Variations: Hippie, Cuban, Wild, French etc.
- 10 Good Fruit Cheese and Nut combinations
- 25 Fast and Easy Ways to Spin Tomato Sauce
- Substituting Leaveners
- Vegetarian Thickeners at a Glance

Along the same lines were the recipe variations. These were included at the end of many of the recipes and ranged from how to change the character of a dish completely (Braised Lentils Spanish Style become Moroccan, Ethiopian etc) to subtle changes and substitutions.

There's a huge section of the book that lists vegetables alphabetically giving information on what they are and how to cook them. Much of this section could have been replaced with a few more of the information boxes so that rather than a recipe in every section that explains how to steam that vegetable, there could be a box with basic instructions and steaming times for all veg. If you're entirely new to cooking with and eating veg then this section is probably very helpful, but if you've been veggie for a while you might find it a bit dull.

That said, there were plenty sticky tabs hanging from the pages by the time I'd finished but they tended to be clustered around the salad, bean and grain chapters where all the individual components in the book come together. I was very much drawn to the bean section where almost every second recipe was rewarded with a marker. There's some really unusual recipes in here full of complex flavours. After a tricky short-listing process here's what I tested:

Autumn Millet Bake

Inspired by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks I launched my testing with this recipe, adding a can of chickpeas to turn it into a complete meal. The combination of cranberries, squash and sage is deliciously savoury making this the perfect winter comfort food.



Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Red Pepper Vinagrette
Tasty, but next time I would add more roasted peppers to the dressing.

Braised Lentils Spanish Style
I substituted black beluga lentils for the brown called for. Slow cooked with garlic, saffron, smoked paprika and wine. The results were delicious served with crusty bread and a few strips of roasted red pepper.

Esspresso Black Bean Chilli
I didn't have any dried black beans so used chickpeas instead and I only added one tablespoon of the quarter cup of sugar suggested. The coffee and cinnamon lend this chilli a subtly complex flavour. Another hit.

Mung Bean Dal with Apples, Coconut and Mint
Again I ditched the sugar in this Thai inspired Dal as I felt the apples made it sweet enough. It's very rich due to the coconut milk so this would be special occasion only. It's really crying out for some chopped fresh tomatoes as a garnish but we didn't have any.

Spicy Red Beans, Indian Style
This recipe called for a spoonful of almost everything in my spice drawer (ginger, garlic, fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and tumeric) producing an incredibly fragrant dish. Next time I would cut the ground cardamom from one tablespoon to two teasspoons as the flavour is quite prominent.
Other recipes I plan to try in the future include:
- Faux Pho
- Quinoa Salad with Lemon, Spinach and Poppy Seeds
- White Beans Tuscan Style
- Urad Dal with Poppy Seeds and Cilantro
- Fruit and Nut Bread (or at least one of the 11 variations)
- The smoked tea (Lapsang Suchon) and Chinese spiced variation to the esspresso chilli

I do feel that this book is larger than it needs to be but once you get past the encyclopeadia section there are some real gems.

Highly Recommended.

Resolving, Revolving

As promised the recipes around here are taking a turn for the lighter side. Once again I find myself at the start of a new year resolving to eat more healthily and shed a few pounds. Perhaps it'll be easier to keep it going this year with the eyes of the blog world (or at least a couple of you) on my dinner plate.

Today's dish is an old favourite inspired by a recipe in Rose Elliot's Bean Book. The directions are a little vague but unless your baking there's always a little room for manoeuvre in a recipe. This is perfect comfort food for me, easy to make, filling and mellow. No one ingredient shouts for attention everything just cooks down into a delicious stew.

For the rest of this week I'll be cooking recipes from Mark Bittman's new book 'How to Cook Everything Vegetarian' and will post a review and the results at the weekend.

Butter Beans with Aubergine and Mint

1 tablespoon olive oil (use more or less to taste)
1 onion, chopped
1 aubergine, chopped into medium bits
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried mint
1 can butter beans, drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
Fresh mint to garnish

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan (I use a wok), add the onions and fry for a minute or so. Add the Aubergine and continue to cook, stirring often until the aubergine has browned and is beginning to soften. Add the garlic, mint and beans and stir through. Add the chopped tomatoes, turn the heat down and allow to simmer until the aubergine is cooked to your preference - I like mine meltingly soft. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar (if the tomatoes are too acid I add a teaspoon of sugar), sprinkle with fresh mint if you like it and serve.

I had mine with bulgar wheat but this stew goes well with most grains, is good on toast or a baked potato and can even be eaten cold for lunch when the microwave at work is broken (ahem).