Ingredients (Serves 3-4 unless you have a big appetite like I do!)
Urad dal (Whole black lentils), 1/2 cup
Dark red kidney beans, dry, 2 TB rounded
Spanish onion, 1 large, finely chopped
Ginger root, 1 TB, peeled and finely minced
Garlic, 1 clove, peeled and finely minced
Plum tomatoes, 3
Green chilies, 1-2 finely minced (Serrano is a good one) – I just used 1/2 of one chili
Turmeric, 1/4 tsp.
Cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp.
Chili powder, 1 tsp.
Coriander, 2 tsp.
Garam masala, 1/2 tsp.
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 – 2 TB
Cream (I used coconut milk for my vegan version), 1/2 cup
Salt, 3/4-1 tsp). (to taste)
Cilantro, a few leaves chopped for garnish
Directions
Add the olive oil and cumin seeds to the Instant Pot and Saute until the seeds crackle. Cancel the IP while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Mince the garlic, peeled ginger root and green chili (I just used about 1/2 of one chili. I have a lot of spice sensitive people in the house). Add to the IP.
Finely chop the onion and add to the IP. Turn on Saute again, and cook until soft. Cancel the IP.
Run the cut-up tomatoes through a Vitamix or blender. Add water to 3 cups. Add to IP along with remaining seasonings except garam masala.
Add the dried black lentils and dried kidney beans.
Close the lid of the IP and close the vent. Turn the IP on at High Pressure for 40 minutes. If you like the black lentils (Urad Dal) to retain their shape better, just add the kidney beans, set the pressure at 20 minutes, do a quick release, add the black lentils, stir, close lid and vent and cook at high pressure for the remaining 20 minutes.
When done, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10-15 minutes. If the pressure isn’t yet fully released, do a quick release and remove the lid.
Add the garam masala and let it blend for a few moments.
Add a vegan milk. I used coconut milk. Pea protein milk would also work.
Remove from the IP, and garnish with cilantro.
I enjoy the Dal these days with a medley of Rice and Ancient Grains from Food with Purpose that I get at Costco. It has a great texture and nice, nutty flavor and takes about 10 minutes to cook in the IP.
Farmer Bob’s pumpkins and winter squashes are beautiful this year, and they deserve to be the centerpiece of a meal, maybe even Thanksgiving dinner. This pumpkin feast is something you can feel proud to serve as your main dish for a vegan Thanksgiving — or right along with your turkey to satisfy vegetarian and vegan guests or as a festively colorful side dish. Even Peter will eat it and thank you, and he knows pumpkins!
This dish has three parts: the pumpkin, the pumpkin filling and the apples with their beautiful cranberry sauce topping. You’ll have more filling than you need for the pumpkin, so you can just spread the extra around the pumpkin on the platter and put the apples on top of it. As you can see, the colors are amazing and will make any meal a special meal.
STUFFED PUMPKIN Pumpkin and Stuffing (serves 4+ as a meal, many more as a side)
1 Sugar or Pie Pumpkin
2 Cups (Pre-cooked) Brown Basmati Rice
2 Cups (Cooked) Chickpeas
4 Cups Almonds/Raisins/Craisins/Apples
4 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 TB + 2 tsp. Sugar
2 tsp. Cinnamon
Pinch Hot Paprika
Cut off top of pumpkin. Cut stem to 2 inches. Scrape out seeds. Season inside of pumpkin with olive oil and honey (or unfiltered sugar). Rub outside of pumpkin with olive oil. Roast one hour at 350 degrees.
Cook two cups brown rice. Set aside. Sauté almonds, raisins, craisins and apple slices with olive oil, sugar, cinnamon and a pinch hot paprika. Add to rice with chickpeas. Stir together and re-season. Set aside.
Apples and Cranberries
3 Baking Apples
6 Cloves
1 LB Bag Cranberries
Pinch Cinnamon
Juice of 1 Oranges
2 TB Honey (Unfiltered Sugar for Vegans)
1/4 – 1/2 Cup White Sesame, Toasted
Halve and oil the apples. Bake with cinnamon and cloves.
For sauce, juice orange and add 2+ TB honey (or sugar). Reduce sauce. Add cranberries and cook very briefly. Remove cranberries. Reduce sauce further. Recombine sauce and berries.
Assembling Pumpkin Meal
If you make everything ahead, warm each part separately. When ready to serve, fill the pumpkin loosely, replace pumpkin lid, and plate the pumpkin. Surround the pumpkin with the remaining filling, and place the apples on top of it around the pumpkin. Top the apples with cranberry sauce, and garnish with white sesame.
For more, visit my blog, vegetatingwithleslie.org, “Like” me on FaceBook/Vegetating with Leslie or follow me on Twitter, @vegwithleslie.
This summer, as I did last summer, I’m working on the farm for my CSA. I receive 3/4 bushel of beautiful, organically raised veggies for my efforts each and every week of the season. When I open my box each week, it’s like a gift. All those beautiful colors. My imagination starts to work overtime as I look forward to what I’ll make.
Gathering my ingredients and prepping the greens and onion…
Yet sometimes it’s challenging to use up those veggies, especially since Andy and I are just two. On the other hand, after years feeding a family and friends, then operating a cafe, I never learned to make a small pot of food just for two…so I share. Or make lots of really simple things and graze my way through the day…like smoothies and soups and simple wraps or stir-fries. I add my scraps to a veggie waste bowl and throw it into my garden area, where it will enrich the soil for future veggies.
Prepping the Bok choy… As I did with the Asian greens, I start cutting at the stem end, cutting thin slices across the bunch until I get to the top of the greens. Then I separate the stem end since that will require a little more stir-fry time than the greens.
So I pretty much use my whole box every week and in the process find lots of interesting new things to make…and share. So it was all working nicely until…last week. Here’s what happened:
Andy’s corporate office offers a wellness project. It is an amazing benefit of working where he does, and there are a number of aspects to it, but the one I want to mention now is one they initiated this summer. They send home, with any employee who wants it, 3/4 bushel of produce every week for seven weeks. After the seven weeks, employees can continue to receive the boxes by paying half price for them.
All my greens and Bok choy prepped — and separated from the stem ends.
What an amazing project! I’m so impressed with this company for initiating this kind of effort. What better way is there to encourage vibrantly good health than to make certain that people have the opportunity to enjoy loads of fresh veggies and fruits?! Experience first-hand the wonderful variety of flavors and textures the earth offers us?
I believe that a 350 degree temp is when things brown. It’s a little hard to measure on a gas flame, so I used my electric induction burner this time, put in some extra virgin olive oil, then added the onions to saute. When they looked like this, I added in the stem ends of the Asian greens and Bok choy to stir-fry for a couple of minutes.
Admittedly the program helps the company as well since healthier employees mean reduced insurance premiums, reduced absenteeism and other cost reductions. But there is nothing at all wrong with gifts that give in more directions than one. And I certainly want to see how this great program works and support it — and let Andy experience the pleasure and pride of bringing home the proverbial (vegan) bacon.
And then I remembered this beautiful garlic that came in my CSA box this week. As a former associate used to say, you can never have too much garlic! These are big cloves, tho, so I just used one, smashed, peeled and minced it and threw it into the onion and stem mix in the pan.
So now I have a bushel and a half of veggies and fruits to figure out how to manage each week. I must say that so far this week, I’m doing pretty well, although I didn’t get to some beautiful Asian green and Bok choy that were in his office box until a little too late to make them into a salad.
When lunch rolled around today and I went to get those greens for a salad, they didn’t look quite as perky as when I got them even though I stored them carefully when they came in — so here’s what I had for lunch instead: stir-fried garlic and onions and greens with some CSA-fresh tomatoes and delicious Field Roast (vegan) sausage.
The finished greens and onions! What I don’t eat for lunch will go into our rice and greens stir fry this evening. Check out my simple and delicious lunch in the featured picture with this post.
There were more than what I could eat, as usual, but that’s no problem! I knocked out two meals at once when I made those greens. I boxed up the extra and stuck them in the ‘fridge. Later today, closer to dinner, I’ll cook up a cup of brown Basmati rice, stir it and season it in a wok and add in those greens. Then even Andy, who doesn’t otherwise like greens, will eat them!
For more, visit my blog, vegetatingwithleslie.org, “Like” me on FaceBook/Vegetating with Leslie or follow me on Twitter, @vegwithleslie.
