Recipe: Palak Daal (sort-of)

Several months ago I made some tasty indonesian fritters with urid daal (white lentils) for an East Asian pot luck.  I didn’t bring the recipe with me to the Indian market when I was shopping for ingredients so I ended up with a giant bag of urid daal and a giant bag of cumin seeds, which I’m always trying to figure out ways to use.  I love cumin, but urid daal is a strange animal.  For one, it’s stinky.  Also, it takes a long time to cook (longer than other types of lentils).  Anyway, I’ve been wanting to make this dish from 101 Cookbooks for a while and here’s my interpretation:

Ingredients

• 1 cup urid daal (you could probably use plain brown lentils)
• 6 cups water
• 2 bunches tat soi, leaves finely chopped
• 1 T ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1 can of Trader Joe’s fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T butter
• 1/2 t cumin seeds
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t paprika
• a pinch of asafetida, optional
• more salt to taste
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• cilantro and sour cream to garnish

In a large pot over medium-high heat combine the daal and water. Bring to a boil, then add the tat soi, ginger, turmeric, and can of tomatoes. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the lentils are extremely soft. Stir in the salt.

In a separate pan, heat the butter and cumin and fry until the cumin seeds start to pop. Now add the red chile powder and fry for another 30 seconds. Add this butter mixture to the lentils and allow to cook for another five minutes. Squeeze the lemon juice into the mixture.  Serve topped with the cilantro and  some sour cream (I know sour cream isn’t authentic, but I could put it on anything!)

Recipe: Fried Tofu with Greens, Shitakes and Honey Citrus Sauce

Stir fries are always an easy way to use up a lot of greens, but they can get boring pretty quickly, so it’s nice to vary the seasoning and prep techniques to make the dish seem new.

Ingredients

• 1 package tofu, cut into logs
• some flour for dredging
• vegetable oil
• 1 package shitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch tat soi
• 1 bunch turnip greens

Dry tofu off on some paper towels.  Meanwhile, put a little flour in a dish and heat up a good amount of oil in a large frying pan.  Lightly coat the tofu in the flour, shake off any excess and carefully place in hot oil.  Cook on all sides until tofu is golden and crispy.  Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with S&P.  Pour the oil out of the pan into a safe receptacle (never down the sink!  put in a heat-proof container until cool, then pour in the trash, or use to power your veggie-oil fueled car).  Throw the mushrooms and onions into the pan.  Once softened, add the greens and cook until wilted.  Toss with the sauce and mound veggies on plate, top with fried tofu logs.   Garnish with some sweet chili sauce, if desired.

For the sauce

• juice of 1 lemon
• juice of 2 cutie tangerines
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 t honey
• 1/2 t salt
• pepper
• 1/8 cup broth
• 1 t cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together.