A new legume

The other day, I was at the local hippie grocery store and noticed that they had a new legume in the bulk foods section. (Yes, my life is this exciting.) It was yellow moong dal. Hiding my excitement, I bought some and scurried home, certain that -- thanks to my favourite cookbook -- I'd know what to do with them.

Turns out that moong dal are actually split and skinned mung beans. So, not so much a new legume as an old one in a new guise. As expected, 660 Curries has a bunch of recipes for them. Here you see Cumin-Scented Split Green Lentils (on the right*) which we had along with Aloo Palak (Chunky Potatoes with Spinach). Both curries were simple, quick and delicious. The moong dal had an incredibly silky texture -- much smoother than any dal I've made with red lentils.
* Just in case you thought legume naming wasn't confusing enough: in 660 Curries, mung beans are called green lentils.

Banh mi

Dinner on a hot day: banh mi -- seitan with vegan mayo, cilantro, cucumber, quick pickled carrot, and just for the hell of it, the last of the artichoke pesto.

Artichoke pesto

Artichoke pesto is a very good idea. The recipe is from the New York Times' Bitten blog, but it's hidden in the middle of a long post, so here's the relevant quote:

artichoke pesto: a can of artichokes in water (drained), the juice and zest of half a lemon, three smallish garlic cloves, a handful of pine nuts, a handful of grated pecorino romano, a couple of drizzles of olive oil, puréed until smooth. Then, another can of drained artichokes is added and pulsed, to make it more substantial and create texture.

Veganized (with nutritional yeast and miso rather than cheese) it made a nice pizza topping. I made one pizza with just pesto and cheese, and the other had pepperoni too. The plain one was a little too plain for my taste, even though the pesto was very tasty, but a sprinkle of chile flakes fixed that problem.

'660 Curries' love, again

This was not the prettiest plate of food, but damn it was tasty. Here you see Cabbage and Potatoes with Fennel and Chiles, and Chana Masala, both from my recent favourite, 660 Curries.
I can't remember the last meal I made that was this good.

Even better, it felt like we were dining like kings when -- just an hour earlier -- the fridge was basically bare of any vegetables. There was cabbage, and I had a couple of potatoes, and wondered: maybe 660 Curries has a potato and cabbage curry? In fact, the book has 4 different ones. I chose the one with fennel seed, because I don't use it often in my Indian cooking, and the taste was surprising and delicious.

Hot cross buns

R is often surprised by the things that I make at home, when you can buy perfectly good ones at the store. (As a child, I had the same reaction to my father making homemade yogurt and pickles. Was he crazy? A cheapskate? And yet, now I too make yogurt and pickles.) But this time, it was going to be different. I was going to satisfy my seasonal urge for hot cross buns like a normal person: at a bakery. I headed down to a local bakery that had delicious ones last year, but today? Nothing. And nothing at the other bakery either. Damn.

I tried to make candied orange peel for the buns, but got distracted and instead filled the apartment with burnt orange caramel fumes. So I replaced the candied peel with lots of lemon zest. I used this recipe, with half whole wheat flour, and minus the egg.

Craving sated.

So much joy for $2.99

Earlier this week, I had a craving for pho. It's been a while since I made it, because it's been a while since I had basil and mint growing on the fire escape. But this craving was pretty severe, so I bought a huge and unseasonal bunch of basil for $2.99, as well as some mint and some sprouts. The pho turned out pretty well (I based it on the recipe here, and no photo, sorry).

I love basil. It smells like summer. I made some pesto, and discovered what may be the perfect pesto delivery method: mashed potatoes. Yum! (My pesto recipe is eyeballed quantities of basil, olive oil, toasted pine nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast and a teaspoon or so of miso.)
One day for lunch I had leftover lentils and rice, and I decided to top it with the leftover pho accompaniments (so sprouts, mint, basil and lime juice). I was surprised how well the basil and mint complimented the lentils (which had Indian spices: cumin, turmeric and anardana (pomegranate) powder).
Finally, a pizza with pesto and fresh basil.
Great. Now not only am I eager for spring to finally get here for real, now I want summer (and its armloads of basil) too.