Red Lentil Soup with Lemon and Caramelized Onions

I chose this lentil soup recipe for three reasons:

1. There's a box of frozen cooked red lentils that I was yet to use.
2. I'm leaving to Singapore in two days and there a big bunch of fresh parsley yelling at me.
   
3. Adrian likes caramelized onions.

So I adapted the recipe for the cooked red lentils. You can click here if you are using uncooked red lentils. Both of us like sourly taste hence the lemony touch suits us just fine. As predicted, Adrian was very impressed with the caramelized onions. I believe his words were "I can eat a whole bowl of just this". Why didn't he say it before? I could have just fried up the onions and be done with.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

• 1 cup cooked red lentils
• 2 cup water
  
• 1 tablespoon miso paste
  
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 C parsley, chopped

• 1 small onion, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon natural cane sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• sea salt and pepper
  

1. To caramelize the onions, melt the butter over moderate heat. Throw in the onion and cook until beginning to brown. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar evenly over onions and continue to cook until caramelized. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper.
2. In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir in turmeric, cayenne, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add cooked lentils, stirring to coat.
   
3. Combine with miso soup and bring to a boil. Turn off heat, and stir in chopped parsley and lemon juice. Ladle into bowls and serve with caramelized onions.

Blossom Your Taste Buds to Vegetarian Wonders

Mia and I had this joke about the overt Anusara expression. So when I half-jokingly requested for a theme for the home-cook dinner at her house, she replied with "Blossom Your Taste Buds to Vegetarian Wonders/ - Anusara Mia". John Friend would have been proud.

Mia and Fredrik make the prefect Swedish couple I know. Everything about them just seem so perfect: the tidy white apartment (less so now that Ludvig is in their life), perfect manner, charming charisma, well dressed.... everything about them is just so..... CLEAN. They are like the couple in 70's Sci-fi movies. Like this (except they have blonde hair):

It was a fun night with great companions (and charming baby) where I gladly played Chef de Cuisine and Mia the Sous Chef, Fredrik the Chef de Plunge, and Adrian the Food de-Vourer. I simply can't bear the sight of the mess I made. God bless the dishwasher.

I didn't take the pictures of the dishes - didn't want to creep them out - hence the use of my old photos. Here's a rundown of our dinner menu:

Couscous and Spinach Pilaf with Labneh and Chili-roasted Tomatoes

Exactly the same recipe as Barley Pilaf with Roasted Vegetable and Deep Fried Goat Cheese. We made these changes:

• Labneh instead of deep fried goat cheese. Mia and Fredrik prepared homemade labneh the night before. It's flavored with minced garlic.
• Zucchini instead of pumpkin.
• Organic wholewheat couscous instead of cooked barley.

Again, this dish takes a while to prepare but works well with planning and it never fails to impress even the carnivores. Despite the rainbow combination of colorful vegetables and herbs, the unassuming, darkly colored, cinnamon-spiced lemony caramelized crispy onions always win. My Swedish friends were talking about making this for their non-vegetarian parents back in Sweden during Christmas.

Veggie Inside-out Lentil Burger

An adaptation of the Veggie Chickpea Burger. The patties are made up of lentils, eggs, onions and homemade breadcrumbs. Use black lentils if you may - they hold up the shape better than red lentils. We (or rather Fredrik) sliced the patties into two halves and used Couscous Pilaf as the filling. If you have extra labneh, spread them generously over the cut side of the patties. Mia liked the idea of turning patty into burger bun and called it the inside out burger.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

The combination of roasted tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese sends everyone into ecstasy. The oven-toasted tortilla shell (or taco shell) gave it an interesting crunch.

Vegan Coconut Chocolate Pudding

I was talking to Dan (our chef friend) the morning before and he mentioned "no matter what you cook, how good the main course is, dessert ALWAYS wins". Coming from a pro chef with years of experience, he must be right. This is a relatively easy dessert that you can make in advance. The secret is coconut milk. YUM~ I seriously need to work on my measuring skill: there were 3 large servings left at the end of the night. I took home one. It never hurts to have more chocolate.

Veggie Chickpea Burger

I have made this veggie burger many times now, with different ingredients every time. It never fails to impress - not so much about the recipe but the idea of serving it. Instead of sandwiching the veggie patty on burger bun, this brilliant idea turned the patty into bun by stuffing it with all sort of deliciousness. Some of the filling ideas: avocado, sprouts, onions, tomatoes, grilled vegetables, pesto, etc; let the world of culinary be your imagination!

I used chickpeas for the patty this time. Black Lentils, Black beans would work just as good. For the spread, I used saffron labneh. You can either buy from store or make your own. It's a kind of yogurt cheese Lebanese-style, or salted yogurt drained of whey.

Do you know that saffron is the most expensive spice in the world by weight? Its price varies from USD 500 to USD 5000 per pound. In the very beginning of my cooking adventure, I set out looking for saffron because I was totally mesmerized by its vividness in a lentil soup recipe. I was aghast by, but not entirely certain of, how expensive it was for content smaller than a matchbox.

Since I was a novice cook then, I didn't, and couldn't, think much outside the box. So I bought it. It sure serves as an impressive coloring with its golden yellow hue. It also imparts a metallic honey, hay-like aroma, with a transcendental subtlety of sweetness to taste.

I can't seem to find much notable nutritional value of saffron. Nevertheless, it's two active ingredients, crocin and safranal, have been shown to have antidepressant effects. Culturally, or traditionally, though,saffron has been valued for its, coloring and flavoring aside, medicinal properties. People apply it topically to improve skin condition and to treat acne. Internally, it is used to improve blood circulation, regulate menstruation, treat digestive disturbance, ease cough and asthmatic breathing, reduce fever and inflammation, calm nervousness and alleviate depression.

Since the olden days India, old ladies used to give the milk mixed with saffron for pregnant ladies so they can have fair beautiful babies. Others say it's for strong bones and smart baby.

In any case, I still have plenty of saffron thread left and I genuinely like the its vibrant color. So, let's get back to the saffron yogurt/ labneh:

Infuse approximately 10 threads of saffrons to 2 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Let seep for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup yogurt/ labneh. DONE. I also stir in some minced garlic for a more flavorful spread of labneh.

This is one of those great do-ahead dish; you may store them shaped, ready-to-cook in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Ingredients:
(makes 2 large patties)

• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
  
• 1 large eggs
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/3 onion, chopped
• lemon zest, grated
• 1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts (optional)
• avocado slices (optional)
• saffron-infused yogurt/ labneh (optional)
  
• 1/3 cup toasted whole-grain bread crumbs
• virgin coconut oil for frying
  

1. Combine the cooked lentils, egg, and salt in a food processor. Puree until the mixture resembles a very thick, slightly chunky hummus.
   
2. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in the cilantro, onion, zest, and sprouts. Add the breadcrumbs, stir, and let sit for a couple of minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. At this point, you should have a moist mixture that you can easily form into two 1 1/2-inch-thick patties. You can always add more bread crumbs a bit at a time to firm up the dough if need be. Alternately, a but of water or egg can be used to moisten the batter, giving it a more textured burger.
3. Heat the oil over medium low, add patties, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown. Flip the patties and cook the second side for 7 minutes, or until golden.
   
4. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack. Carefully cut each patty in half, insert your favorite fillings, and enjoy immediately.

Lentil Lasagna

,

The cheese sauce made of milk, cheddar, flour and bay leaves.

Lentil sauce: Green lentils, red/ yellow bell peppers, crushed tomatoes and bay leaves. Press it to the bottom of the pan. It looks quite like bolognese, doesn't it?


I cooked the pasta al dente. You can add one or two spoonful more of water to the lentil sauce if you prefer it to be well cooked and "soft".

This Lentil Lasagna would appease to both vegetarians and meat eaters alike. It owes its rich flavor to the herbs and spices. The green lentils also adds an interesting texture to the sauce. Not only can this dish be frozen and reheated, but also can be prepared a few days in advance.

I ran out of suitable baking dish for lasagna and had to make do with a pie dish. If you were like me, simply break the lasagna sheets into appropriate sizes and pieces to fit the dish.

I adjusted the volume and measurement of the ingredients to suit for two persons. Go here for the original.

Baked Stuffed Bell Peppers

What happens when you take everything that’s fresh and colorful and stuffed to the inside of a bell pepper? This is an amazingly light and flavorful dish – baked bell pepper stuffed with fresh corn, lentils, zucchini, carrots and cilantro. I also added a little coriander and cumin for flavor and some lemon juice to brighten it all up. Finally, this baked dish is complete with breadcrumbs and a dusting of Parmesan cheese. Not only is this a beautiful dish, the vegetables are just cooked; you can taste "fresh".

This recipe is adapted from here. I chose to use lentils instead of black beans for two reasons: 1. I can't find black beans. 2. there are two bags of lentils in my kitchen.

I was going to pair this with a chilled avocado soup. Unfortunately, I used up all the coriander I needed. So I chose to blend the avocado up with coconut milk and agave nectar, and froze it and later left it out in room temperature, for a ice-cream of sort. You can never go wrong with coconut milk - I had to make second servings to satisfy Adrian's needs for satiety.

Ingredients:

2 large bell peppers
1 sweet corn, shucked
1/2 cup cooked lentil
1 small zucchini, diced
1/4 of a red onion, diced

1/2 carrot, diced

juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. sea salt
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C and grease a baking dish. Slice the very top off of your bell peppers, then use a spoon to carefully hollow them out.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the corn, zucchini, lentils, onion, olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, salt and spices until evenly combined. Carefully, spoon them into the bell peppers until over-stuffed. If you have extra filling, place in the dish around the bell peppers.
3. Top each of the bell peppers with breadcrumbs and generous grating of Parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve with a side of crusty bread, pasta or rice.

Tangy Lentil Bake served with Red Cabbage Apple sauce, and Roasted Pumpkin with (unknown leaves) Salad

A student came back from a holiday break in Chiang Mai. Today was her first day back to the studio and she was eager to introduce me to her daughter and friend. She thought finally they get to meet the teacher she has been raving about *blush*. I said to her, with an apologetic smile, "I'm not teaching this week". And her daughter and friend will only be in Bangkok this week. Oops....

I have a good reason for that though: our favorite Queen of Back Bends - Paddy McGrath - is leading a series of morning practice based on her YogaPad series at Yoga Elements this entire week. I had, due to some reasons, been missing Paddy for the last couple of times she was in Bangkok. I missed her "stickman" and "chicken arms".

For some weird reason, the image of a red cabbage came into my vision as I was watching Paddy in her Downward Facing Dog rugby-hooligan style. Could be the purple she was wearing? By the way, why is red cabbage red cabbage when it actually is purple? Anyway that gave me idea for dinner - Lentil Bake served with Red Cabbage and Apple sauce.

As I ran my mind tasting and matching the few salad recipes that I could remember with the Lentil Bake, roasted pumpking sprung to the tip of my tongue. I love how they have different variety of pumpkins: Japanese, golden, Thai...etc. Although most of the time I let my wallet decides instead of the flavor. This time, I was attracted to the vibrant orange of Golden Pumpkin.

Don't you just hate it when they don't sell the thing that you want on the day you need it? That's how I felt when I couldn't get arugula. I distinctly remember they had it just two days ago (although they were labeled as rocket). And how convenient that they should have fresh rosemary and marjoram when I'm not needing them!! Anyway I bought a box of mixed greens that kind of resemble arugula/ rocket. Someone should talk to somebody about the importance of labeling in English for the sake of the under-educated self-proclaimed cook. Oh! and proper shelfing too.

Enough of my whining.

For Lentil Bake
I chose red lentil but green would work just fine. I also added some chopped parsley and oregano that still linger in the refrigerator after one week. The last time I made this dish, I also added sauteed mushroom to the bottom of baking dish before pouring the lentil mixture over. If you don't fancy spices, you can omit the coriander/ cumin/ paprika. This dish is good on itself but I really like the hint of sweet cinnamon that the Red Cabbage and Apple sauce impart onto the tanginess of lentil bake. Adrian and I like it sour. Feel free to reduce the amount of lemon juice/ zest called for.

Ingredients:

(serves 2)
1Cup lentils, rinsed
1/2 large red onion, chopped
1 glove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin, paprika (or 1 teaspoon of any one of these)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
500mL Water (divided)
1/2 Tablespoon fresh herbs (eg. parsely/ oregano/ thyme leaves/ marjoram)
vegetable stock (I used 1/2 Tablespoon miso paste)
50g grated cheddar cheese
Handful of white sesame seeds (pine nuts are good, too)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Saute onions with a pinch of salt. Add in garlic when onions turn translucent. Saute until fragrant. (If using: add coriander, cumin and paprika. Fry for another minute)
   
3. Stir in rinsed lentil and fry for 2 minutes. Whisk in 1/4 C of water and stir. Pour in lemon juice and zest. Add another 1/4 Cup of water and let it simmer.
   
4. Mix in vegetable stock/ miso paste. Continue to add water 1/4 Cup at a time until the lentils are cooked, about 20 - 30 minutes. It took me about 1 cup of water.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and melt in 2/3 of cheddar. If you are using herbs, add them in now.
6. Pour over baking dish. Top with the remaing cheddar cheese and sprinkle with white sesame seeds. Bake at 200C for 30 minutes.

Red Cabbage and Apple Sauce
Below is from the original recipe I found in VegBox. I added nutmeg and replaced brown sugar with a handful of raisins. You want to make sure there's enough raisin for every bite of the sauce or it can be very bland.
Ingredients:
1/4 medium size red cabbage, slice thinly
1/2 large apple, grated
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup water

1. Saute red cabbage with a little bit of oil and stir for 5 minutes (add raisin if you are using).
   
2. Add cinnamon, sugar (omit it if using raisin), apple and water. Keep stirring for another 5 minutes or until most water evaporated.

Roasted Pumpkin with Arugula Salad

So I made a few changes to the original recipe: I replaced arugula with some greens that Adrian said were rhubarb but were not because apparently rhubarb leaves are inedible. I also used shaved Romano cheese in place of Parmesan. The sharp cheese more than made up for the lack of unique peppery arugula. By the way, the pumpkin skin is also edible and rather sweet.




Ingredients:
(serve 2)
1/4 medium pumpkin, cut into wedges.
1/2 medium shallot, sliced thinly
2 Tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/3 Tablespoon brown sugar
Salt, cayenne pepper

1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 teaspoon honey
2 Tablespoon Extravirgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 bunch aurgula, washed and trimmed
Handful of pine nuts
1 ounce Parmesan, shaved

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar,sugar, salt and cayenne pepper. Toss in pumpkin wedges and shallots.
3. Wrap with aluminium foil and bake covered for 20 minutes.
   
4. Unwrap the foil and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes.
5. Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
   
6. Toss arugula with 1/3 of the honey vinaigrette.
7. Spread arugula on a plate. Arrange pumpkin wedges and shallots on top. Sprinkle with pine nuts and top with shaved parmesan. Drizzle the remaining honey vinaigrette over the plate.