Tag: #easymeals

Meat free Mondays Recipe
Alliyah Dawud
August 19, 2019

Masala fried Daal (Gram Lentils)

Now we know I advocate pre-cooking lentils that take a while to cook before hand and freezing them. Primarily because when its a weeknight and you want to cook something in a hurry you haven’t got time to bring out the big guns (pressure cooker) and work quicker.

This is one of my favourite lentil recipes that packs a full punch of awesome flavour. I have used pre-cooked and frozen gram lentils here. If you wish to substitute them with non-pre cooked lentils you need to factor in cooking and pre-soaking time. For convience I do the whole cook once and freeze business.

Gram lentils are basically black chick peas that have had the outer shell removed, and the inner ‘pea’ has been split to create this rich, earthy lentil. I love chickpeas and love gram flour (basan) too. After all who doesn’t like a crispy, onion and spinach Pakora right?

Masala fried daal is one of those daals you find on restaurant menus around the world and find no two (in my opinion) taste the same. Some cooks use more hotness, some use more ginger. Some opt for sourness, some add shredded mint. It really is a recipe with room for personalisation to cater for your own needs.

I do serve my daal with plain boiled rice or naans. You can select what works for you.

To serve four you will need:

225 grams pre-cooked gram lentils (or raw lentils, washed and soaked in BOILING water for 1 hour prior to cooking).

1 heaped TBSP garlic paste (or 4 cloves of fresh garlic; crushed)

4 TBSP pre-fried onions soaked in water and drained (or 1 medium onion; peeled and finely sliced)

3 TBSP oil

150 ML of passata (or half a tin of tomatoes; chopped)

750 ML (0.75 litre) water

1 small piece of ginger-sliced (you could use half a TSP of ginger powder if you wish. I generally fish out the ginger before serving)

4 TBSP fresh coriander (including stalks) finely chopped

Cooking salt-to your taste

1 heap TSP turmeric

1 heap TSP chili powder

4 green chilies (prickled all over with a fork)

Optional extras to serve:

Rice
Naans
Pickles
Fresh onions (sliced)
Lemon wedge
Fried onions
Shredded mint
Fresh sliced green chili
Fresh coriander leaves
Yogurt-for children in particular is the daal is on the spicier side.

Please note: the measurements given are in line with what I like. Please feel free to adjust according to your own needs. I avoid telling people how much salt to add as it really is down to your own daily consumption and needs.

1) Pre-heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 30 seconds. If the onions stick stir and add a little water if needed (I TBSP at a time). If you are using fresh onions fry until lightly golden.

2) Add the garlic and ginger. Fry for 1 minutes stirring well.

3) Now add the salt, turmeric and chili powder. Stir well. Fry for around 1 minute to cook the spices through. Add a TBSP of water is the mixture sticks.

4) Add the green chilies and stir in. Fry for 1 minute.

5) Add the passata. Stir well for around 5 minutes. This step creates the masala for the daal.

6) Add the lentils and coriander and stir to cover the lentils in the sauce. It will look dry but don’t worry. Now add the water and bring to the boil.

7) Reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are tender. Now if you used pre-cooked lentils it takes around 25 minutes for this to happen. But it can take longer or less time depending on your lentils and how much you cooked them in the first place.
If you are using non-pre cooked lentils I find it takes over 2 hours to become tender and I don’t have the patience for this! What you can do is if you have a Slow Cooker you could transfer the daal at this point to the cooker and let it simmer away. I’ve done this a few times and find it works well. But ask me to keep an eye on lentils for hours on a stove and I will literally cry.

Remove the ginger pieces (if you used slices).

8) Garnish as you wish or serve as is. You Masala Daal is ready to eat.

Pimped up Rice…(Meat Free Monday).
Alliyah Dawud
August 12, 2019

Meat free Monday

My pimped up leftover Rice (using store cupboard ingredients)

Double carbs; everyone loves them but boy are they hard to get ‘rid’ of when it comes to excess weight.

I use rice quite a bit….and can sometimes cook too much rice. Well apart from serving it with daals or using them in a rice bowl or salad what else can I do with it?

A few days ago I had a bit of a ‘OMG that will work’ moment. As a rule I don’t serve double carbs (but remember from my childhood being served Mashed Potatoes and Chips in the same meal) however in this recipe it works! Just trust me.

So when you have leftover rice, a tin of potatoes, some cumin seeds and a pack of fried onions you end up with this recipe (which also works well with a fried egg on top if you have any around).

This recipe in my opinion can be served for a Brunch, Lunch or even Supper. It’s quick and easy and uses up leftover rice. And with a dollop of yogurt or a fried egg it’s got a big personality in a bowl.

To make two big bowls of my Pimped up double carbs sorry-not-sorry Rice you will need:

2 bowls pre-cooked Rice (mine were Basmati)
2 TBSP oil
2 heaped TBSP fried onions soaked in water and drained
1 heaped TBSP garlic paste
1 TBSP cumin seeds (whole)
1 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
1/2 TSP chili powder (for a spicier rice go up to 1 TSP)
Cooking salt-to your own requirements

Additional stuff:
2 eggs-fried
Additonal fried onions (not soaked)
1 lemon cut in half
Chili sauce-to drizzle over

1) Heat the oil in a large wok or similar pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
3) Add the onions and fry for 1 minute. Keep stirring to avoid sticking/burning them.
4) Add the garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds.
5) Add the potatoes and fry for 3 minutes stirring so things don’t burn.
6) Add the salt and spices and fry for one minute.
7) Add the rice and stir/turn the rice to coat it in the spicy onion mix.
8) Tip into two bowls and serve.

Additional ingredients are a suggestion only.
Apply to face/stuff your face and enjoy.

Meat Free Monday
Alliyah Dawud
August 5, 2019

Easy Aubergine Curry

I recall my Nan cooking Aubergines (aka eggplants) in an old fashioned clay Tandoor. She used to make a dish called ‘Bartha’ which was a smoky curry made with baked versions that are scooped out.

I love these deep purple gems.

In this curry you’ll notice there’s no tomatoes or onions. It’s a simple straight forward curry flavoured with lemon and dill. It’s a delicious combination.

To make two portions (or possibly 3 depending on how big you have your portions) you will need:

3 large cloves of garlic-minced
2 TBSP oil
2 large aubergines cut into strips
Salt-to your own requirement
1 TBSP coriander powder
1 TBSP cumin powder
1 TSP chili powder
1 TSP turmeric
Water
Juice of two lemons.
1 heaped TBSP chopped dill

1) Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the garlic and fry for one minute.
3) Add the spices and salt and fry for 30 seconds.
4) Add the aubergine strips and stir the aubergines until they are all covered in the spicy oil.
5) Keep frying the aubergines and stirring them for 4/5 minutes.
6) Now add 4 TBSP water and the dill. Stir well. Lower the heat and simmer until the aubergines are soft.
7) Drizzle over the lemon juice. Your aubergines are ready to serve.

Enjoy with Naans or plain rice.

Meat Free Monday Curry….
Stylemesisteradmin
July 22, 2019

Meat free Monday

My Fast Spinach Curry

Growing up with Popeye it took me a while to acknowledge that large doses of leafy greens did not automatically equate to biceps that would make Dwayne Johnson jealous. Lucky for me though I’m a patient type of chick and I’m steadily changing my body to look the way I want (muscles and all).

This is a super quick curry that I really love. I’ll be honest. The portion sizes here are 250 grams each and feel it’s worth having a larger portion as spinach wilts down a lot.

Like I said it’s quick and actually easy to get onto the table. I use pre-fried onions and frozen spinach….and well the lack of fresh stuff means the food is quick to get on the table. Result!

Of course you can use fresh onions and spinach and adjust amounts and cooking time to reflect this. But like I always say my Meat free Monday recipes are designed for speedy Monday meals.

To make two portions of this amazing curry you will need:

500 grams frozen spinach defrosted and drained
2 TBSP oil
4 TBSP pre-fried onions soaked and drained
1 heaped TBSP garlic paste
1 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
1 heaped TBSP ground cumin seeds
1 TSP chili powder
Cooking salt-to your own taste
150 ml (and a bit more just in case) water
Juice of one lemon

1) Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the onions and fry for about one minute stirring well to ensure it doesn’t catch/stick or burn. If you find the mixture is sticking too much just add 2 TBSP of water.
3) Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
4) Now add the salt and spices. Fry for about one minute to cook out the spices. Keep stirring though. No one likes a curry tinted with burnt spices.
5) Add the spinach. Stir well to coat the spinach in the spicy mixture. Fry the spinach for 5-6 minutes.
6) Turn the heat off; your curry is done.
7) Before you serve the curry add the lemon juice.

Enjoy

Tarka Daal
Alliyah Dawud
July 15, 2019

Meat Free Mondays

I’ve always naturally leaned towards vegetarian food. Perhaps the fact I love lentils a tad bit too much for a lot of people’s liking is the reason I love a good vegetarian curry.

I love a good curry. None of this paste/out of a pack business (I’m Asian so….) it’s from fresh and needs to be cooked to perfection.

Since I was a child Tarka Daal has been my comfort food. Over the years I tried pimping it up however I always resort back to the basic, original homely edition.

My plate of daal usually contains more daal than rice (I’ve reduced carbs in my daily diet) plus pickles and freshly sliced red onions dressed in lemon. And that’s it. No fancy garam masala. No fancy business. It’s good old fashioned food like my late Nana and Grandmother would have made.

This daal cooks super quickly. If I pre-soak the lentils it takes 15-20 minutes. If I don’t it takes about 25 minutes. If I know I’m making daal I do tend to soak them before hand. Its not essential. Whilst the daal is cooking I tend to cook the rice (basmati folks; rules are rules in my house).

So what is Tarka Daal. Well Tarka just means tempering. In this case we use oil, garli and chilies. For some other recipes you may find mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger, tomatoes and other wonderful ingredients too. But this is a simple, filling and amazing recipe that literally is a few ingredients.
Daal is the hindi/urdu for lentils.
It’s really that simple….the recipe is Tempered Split Red Lentils.

Tarka daal freezes well and if you really are one of those people that like to cook once a week you could freeze portions of daal with rice to have a ready meal on hand.

There’s method to my madness (How I calculate the volume of liquid for my daal)
I ‘measure’ by volume (e.g. place the lentils in a glass) and then double the amount of liquid. It’s that simple. So if I cook say one large mug of lentils I add 2 large mugs of water. And this gives me a thick daal. I do like thick daals and also eat it like a soup (minus the rice). Low in carb, highly filling and so good. I find the fragrance warm and earthy so I feel you could easily take a mug of this to work and ‘not offend’ the less adventurous people.
If you do decide to consume the daal as a soup consider a good squeeze of lemon as a garnish.

To make 4 big bowls of Tarka Daal you will need:

1 glass red lentils (approximately 250 grams) washed
2 glasses water (approximately 500-550 ml)
Cooking salt-to your on taste
1 level TBSP Chili Powder
1 TSP Turmeric (haldi)-for a more earthy taste use more. For a less earthy taste reduce the amount. I love the golden colour it gives and Turmeric is a wonder spice.
OPTIONAL: 1-2 dried red chilies (I like a hot daal)

2 TBSP fresh coriander-including stalks chopped finely

Tempering aka Tarka

3 TSBP oil (I’ve successfully used Rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil and olive oil).
4 cloves of garlic sliced thinly (I would use more but if I am going to serve the daal to someone I generally have a rule of 1 clove to 1 bowl. But if you love garlic and are eating alone you can go up to 6 cloves for the recipe).

3 green chilies slit (or prick them well all over so they don’t explode

1) Wash the lentils until the water runs clear. You can use the water to water your plants.

2) Place the lentils in a large pot and add the salt and spices followed by the water.

3) Place on a medium heat and bring to the boil. I usually leave a wooden spoon in my pot as I believe it stops the pan from boiling over. Once the lentils come up to the boil reduce the heat and remove the foam that you can now see floating on top of the lentils. You don’t want that to be a part of the lentils.

4) Add the coriander, stir and simmer. I stir a few times throughout simmering and find it takes about 15 minutes post boil for lentils to become tender. Now if you are happy with the consistency turn the heat off. If you want it more runnier add a bit more boiling water (you don’t want to bring down the lentils tempreture). If you want it a bit more thicker leave the heat on and allow it to simmer a bit more.

5) Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilies and reduce the heat to avoid burning anything. Stir well (and turn the chilies over). You only want the garlic to be golden NOT burnt so once the garlic is turning golden kill the heat.

6) Pour the tempering over the lentils. Job done.

7) Serve the daal as is, or with rice, roti….or however takes your fancy.

Enjoy.

Additional notes:

you can ‘flavour’ the daal with vegetable stock if you wish to serve it as a soup.

Tarka Daal can be frozen….why not freeze up portions with rice for a quick freezer meal?