A feast from the East

Now, I am not necessarily one to blow my own trumpet, or as they insist on saying in this country, toot my own horn (not least because it's dangerous to say the word 'toot' in this house, it is guaranteed to result in crude giggly wildness for at least the ensuing 10 minutes). However, I have to crow just a little about dinner last night at the Farrar table. I made a new Indian-style slow cooker dish, but because the quantities didn't look enough to feed my hungry mouths, I frantically searched around for some appropriate 'extras,' and added another couple of dishes to go alongside, resulting in a bit of an Indian-style feast. It was decidedly yummy, and also all vegetarian. If you cook all three of the dishes below, in the quantities listed, then that is enough for 6 people, particularly if, like me, you add some naan bread alongside to mop up the saucy goodness. I should also add that although very flavorful, this food is not 'hot', so the kids won't necessarily baulk at it. All three of mine scarfed it up, and one lucky child is getting the (very limited) left-overs in their lunchbox today.

The chickpea recipe (i.e. garbanzo bean) is from my beloved Judith Finlayson's book The Vegetarian Slow Cooker and my love for Judith is such that I didn't tweak at all. As for the rice and the lentil dish, the recipes for those come from a book called The Best of Sainsbury's Oriental Cooking (Sainsbury's is the UK supermarket equivalent of Safeway, or Lucky). It's a rather odd use of the word 'oriental', as the book contains not only recipes for Chinese- and Japanese-style food, but also Indian and Indonesian food. Wirth these two dishes there were numerous Farrar-tweaks, not least because I decided to do the rice and lentil dishes at the last minute, so didn't have all the necessary ingredients, and had to improvise. The recipes detailed below are my tweaked versions.

One warning - the lentil dish looks rather unappetizing when you take off the lid of the pan and survey your achievement. It has the appearance of gloopy oatmeal. However, I can verify that it does taste delicious, and the rather disappointing appearance is easily masked with a sprinkling of green onions! Only other warning I have is that there may not be many left-overs, because it is all that good :-)

Gingery Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy

1 TBSP canola/sunflower oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP minced ginger root
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
2 15oz cans chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onions in the oil until they begin to brown (about 10 mins). Add garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for a further 1 minute. Add vinegar and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware.
2. Add chick peas/garbanzo beans to stoneware, stir well, and cook on LOW for 6 hours, or HIGH for 3 hours.

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Pilau Rice

canola/sunflower oil
1 5cm/2" cinnamon stick, broken in two
6 cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
3 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
12 oz white basmati rice
46 fl oz (about 1300 ml) vegetable stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
lime wedges to serve

1. Heat oil in a large skillet/frying pan, and add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves to hot oil. Fry for a few seconds until aroma starts to 'hit' you (!). Then add onions and fry for 10 minutes until golden.
2. Add garlic, ginger rice and fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick.
3. Add 30 fl oz (900 ml) of stock and salt and bring to the boil. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, by which time most of the liquid should have been soaked up by the rice. Test the rice. If it isn't cooked (depends upon the brand of rice you are using, I think), then add more stock (I needed a further 16 fl oz/450 mls) and continue to cook until liquid is evaporated and rice is cooked.
4. Serve garnished with lime wedges to squeeze over the top.

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Red Lentil Dhal

canola/sunflower oil
6 whole cloves
6 cardamom pods
1" piece of cinnamon stick
1 onion, chopped
1" piece of ginger root, grated
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp garam masala
8 oz red lentils
salt
juice of 1 lemon
green/spring onions, sliced, to garnish

1. Heat oil in a pan and add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Fry until they start to swell, and smell delicious. Add onion and fry until translucent.
2. Add ginger, chili powder, garlic and garam masala and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add lentils, stir thoroughly and fry for 1 minute.
4. Add salt to taste, and enough water to come about 3 cm/1 1/4" above the level of the lentils. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until thick and tender.
5. Add lemon juice, stir and serve garnished with sliced green onions.