Tag Archives: vegetarian

Israeli Couscous with Spiced Sweet Onions

If I were a good blogger, I would be sharing an amazing recipe with you all for pumpkin pie. Or pecan pie. Or brined turkey. I mean, it’s Thanksgiving week! However, I’ve never claimed to be a ‘good blogger.’ In fact, I only recently became comfortable with even using the word ‘blogger’ in reference to myself.

It’s been rough, folks. And exciting. And weird. And wonderful. There may be no going back.

Anyway, I came across this recipe for Israeli Couscous on The Novice Chef Blog, and let me tell you–it was love at first sight. She calls it ‘Warm Couscous Salad,’ but for some reason I can’t bring myself to think of it as a salad. Thus, I renamed it, made a few modifications, served it hot, and I bring it to you today.

It is delightful. Delicious. Delectable. Devilish.

Except not devilish at all, because it’s very healthy–Wikipedia tells me that couscous is “among the healthiest grain-based products,” beating out pasta hands down.

Devilish? Healthy? I love making a statement and immediately contradicting it. It keeps everyone on their toes.

I love this as a side dish, and served it with salmon. I also love this as a main dish, topped with a couple hard boiled eggs or some fried tofu. And if you’re of the meat-needing persuasion (Dave, I’m talking to you), toss in some cubed leftover Thanksgiving turkey or ham. Hah! I totally just redeemed myself by working in the holiday at hand.

Whether main dish or side dish, I would pretty much love this concoction under any circumstance, whatever its name, and however ugly its past was. I’m an all embracing person, and I embrace this couscous dish.

Ingredients

(Serves 6)

2 cups Israeli couscous

2 TBS olive oil

3 large sweet onions

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBS brown sugar

1 TBS balsamic vinegar

1 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

cilantro, to garnish

First, slice up your onions.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high, and when hot, add the onions and 1/2 tsp of salt.

Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the onions are starting to get translucent.

In the meantime, get some salted water boiling in preparation for the couscous.

Once it boils, add the couscous and cook for about 7 minutes.

You want the couscous to feel like al dente pasta in your mouth–as soon as that happens, drain it and rinse with some cool water.

Back to the onions!

Once the onions are translucent, add the brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and a few more pinches of salt. I apologize for the disturbing picture. If you scroll down quickly you won’t have to look at it long.

Thankfully, no one ever said that pretty = delicious. This butt ugly sauce will soon make your taste buds sing a small anthem, and you’ll forget all about its brown gloopiness.

Stir it around and continue to cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.

See? No more brown ugly sauce. It’s magically transformed itself, and is now golden and gorgeous.

Don’t forget to add generous amounts of black pepper!

While the onions are making your house smell like a spiced paradise, quarter or halve the cherry tomatoes.

After the onions have cooked for those 10 minutes, add the cherry tomatoes and cook for 5 more minutes or until the tomatoes are heated through, but still retaining their shape.

Then ask your Nikon D5000, “why do you freak out when intense reds are in the picture? Do you really have to wig out like you do? Can’t you just balance the dang colors for me? I don’t have time for this!” Then the Nikon reminds you of all the amazing pictures not involving reds it has allowed you to take, and you make up with tears, hugs, and promises to never fight again.

I love my camera, and I can’t let our relationship stay on the rocks for more than two minutes at a time.

Adjust the seasoning to your taste.

It may seem like a lot of onions for not a lot of couscous–but don’t worry. When it comes together and you take that first bite, it will all make sense.

Combine the couscous with the onion/tomato mixture, and top it all with some cilantro.

Serve!

I resurrected this clear bowl that I had originally bought to float some candles in.

Then I didn’t touch it for 4 years, and it languished beneath my popcorn bowl, ignored and weepy.

I think this bowl has now found its purpose in life.

Let’s have a bite, shall we?

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Dhal Makhani

I saw the recipe for Dhal Makhani on Andrea’s lovely blog ‘Can You Stay for Dinner’, and immediately knew I had to make it. It’s been far too long since I made Indian food, and this recipe was too easy to be true. Plus, it would use up some of the lentils that have been kicking around in my pantry–my husband is on a ‘clean out the pantry’ mission and has been requiring me to make recipes that use what we already have. A wise choice, since there is still no ice cream space in our freezer.

If you have never made Indian food before, this is a perfect place to start. There are practically no ingredients (OK, well, there are nine of them counting the water), and the ingredients that are in it are totally basic items: ginger, garlic, cayenne–nothing that will require a special trip to an international grocery store. Basically, Dhal Makhani = the most amazing lentils I’ve ever tasted. And I’ve made a lot of lentils in my day.

Which brings us to the question–what the heck is a lentil?

I realized with shock while drafting this post that I had no idea. Was it a pea? Or a bean? Does it qualify as a vegetable? Wikipedia tells me it is a legume, in the same family as peas and beans and peanuts and chickpeas and tofu (soy beans) and (wait for it) it is a fruit. Whaaaa . . . ?

Let’s not get caught up in technicalities here–it’s incredible and wonderful in every way.

I made very few changes to the original recipe, and it is so delicious. It has very few ingredients, but the depth of flavor that emerges when they are brought together into this vegetarian harmony is just amazing. Even though the cook time is 1 hour and 20 minutes, the prep time is virtually nonexistent, so it’s still the perfect dinner for a busy weeknight . . . as long as you can control your hunger pangs for a little longer than usual.

Ingredients

(serves 3)

1 cup dried lentils

15 oz can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons butter

water (up to one cup)

3 tablespoons heavy cream

fresh cilantro for garnish

OK, first let’s grab our lentils. I used Dupuy lentils, which are French and dark green and tiny. But any kind of lentil would work.

Now, put the cup of lentils into a pot. Cover them in cold water by 2 inches, then slap that baby on the stove over high heat.

Bring it to a boil, decrease the heat to medium high, cover the pot, and cook for 20 minutes.

While it’s cooking, prep your other ingredients: open your can of tomato sauce, mince the garlic, grate the ginger, measure out the cayenne, and grab that butter.

After 20 minutes the lentils should be a little softer, but not mushy. Drain them in the sink . . .

. . . and then return them to the pot with the ingredients you just prepped.

Mix that deliciousness in.

Cover the pot and turn the heat on low. Cook for an hour, stirring occasionally and adding water (up to a cup) when needed. If you don’t stir them, your lentils will probably burn to the bottom (that could also mean your heat is too high)–I stirred them 3 or 4 times throughout, and added the full cup of water.

At the end of an hour they will look something like this:

Now it’s time to taste and adjust the seasoning, with more cayenne for those of you who like a jolt of fire on your tongue.

The next step is very important. Grab your best friend:

That’s right–we’re BFF’s and not ashamed of it!

Stir in the cream and sigh at the delights to come. While you’re at it, add a serious handful of chopped cilantro.

Heck yes.

Serve it over rice.

So satisfying! So hearty! So flavorful!

Seriously guys, the ratio of ingredients (few) to flavor (lots) is so surprising. Plus, it’s eating on the cheap–lentils and tomato sauce are grocery-budget friendly, which is great news for us grocery budget transgressors.

So pretty–the red, the yellow, the green . . .

Just because my life has been a barren wasteland because of the lack of Dhal Makhani up to this point doesn’t mean yours has to be. Learn from the mistakes of your forefathers! Make this dish!

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