There's, well, I guess you could call it a "movement" to go meatless on Mondays. This wasn't a stretch for me as I haven't eaten red meat or pork for many years now. I also look at Mondays as a nice day to detox. I'll try and post a new vegetarian recipe or idea a couple of Mondays a month. Here is my first one: a curried lentil salad. I had this years ago at a pot luck lunch and loved the complexity of flavors. The recipe is super easy, but unfortunately has around 1 million spices. Ok, I exaggerate, but who has Mace sitting in their cupboard?
It's best to start this the night before to let the flavors marinate together.
Here are the ingredients you'll need:
Red Lentils. These can be a challenge to find. I found this pack at my local grocery store in the international food section.
The spices: salt, pepper, sugar, cumin, dry mustard, turmeric, mace, coriander, cardamon, cayenne pepper, ground cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. You'll also need olive oil (the recipe calls for vegetable oil, but I only ever use olive oil), and wine vinegar.
The added extras: currants (unfortunately, those are also difficult to find, so I'm just using regular raisins), capers, and red onion.
Directions:
Whisk together the following ingredients (in the order listed) in a medium size bowl:
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp mace
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cardamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Meanwhile, add 1 pound (2 cups) washed red lentils to boiling water. Boil for 5-6 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Add the prepared dressing above to the lentils. Let sit overnight or at least 2 hours.
A couple of hours before serving, add the following ingredients to the lentil salad:
1 cup currants
1/3 cup capers
1 1/2 cups finely diced red onion (I only use about 3/4 cup and I chopped it in a food processor)
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