Koshari

Koshari and Orange and Radish Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette

Cooking Light touts this recipe as a staple of Egyptian street food, but I challenge any of you to make this in a cart. When all was said and done, my postage stamp-sized kitchen looked like Sur La Table exploded inside of it. The end result, however, more than made up for the heap of cookery carnage left in the wake of this dish. The fire of the tomato sauce plays against a pillow of starchy delights (rice, lentils, and vermicelli) and a mound of sweet caramelized onions.

A couple of tips on the preparation...

Notice that the recipe calls for cooked rice, so make it ahead of time. It isn't even imperative to keep it warm, since you will stir it into the warm lentil/vermicelli mixture.

Also, I followed this recipe very linearly: I made the tomato sauce first, then I sautéed the onions and made the koshari. Thus, my tomato sauce simmered for about an hour on the stovetop, and the pepper really lit up. Those who are not chile-heads may want to dial the spice down a bit, so either make the sauce while the lentils are simmering or add less pepper if you know the sauce will be on the burner for a while.

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained

Koshari:

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cups thinly sliced onion
• 1/2 cup uncooked vermicelli, broken into 1-inch pieces
• 5 cups water
• 1 1/4 cups dried lentils or yellow split peas
• 2 1/2 cups hot cooked long-grain rice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation

1. To prepare sauce:

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat
• Add chopped onion to pan, and cook for 15 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally
• Add garlic; cook for 2 minutes
  
• Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, peppers, and tomatoes; cook 10 minutes or until slightly thick
• Transfer tomato mixture to a food processor; process 1 minute or until smooth. Keep warm. Wipe skillet dry with paper towels.

2. To prepare koshari:

• Heat 3 tablespoons oil in pan over medium heat
• Add sliced onion; cook 15 minutes or until deep golden brown, stirring frequently
  
• Remove onion with a slotted spoon to several layers of paper towels; set aside
• Return pan to medium heat. Add vermicelli; sauté 2 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Set aside.

• Combine 5 cups water and lentils in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.
  
• Remove from heat; add vermicelli, stirring well to combine.
  
• Wrap a clean kitchen towel around lid, and cover lentil mixture; let stand for 10 minutes or until vermicelli is tender.
  
• Add rice and 1 teaspoon salt to lentil mixture; fluff with a fork. Serve immediately with sauce and onions.

Baked Lentil Samosas

These were the perfect start to the Indian inspiration dinner. The great thing about these is that you can do the dough and the filling ahead of time and let them rest in the refrigerator. You can also assemble the samosas and freeze them until when you're ready to bake them. The filling I use here is a thick lentil curry, but any thick curry will do. Serve with a chutney or Greek yogurt spiced up with curry powder. This recipe comes from How to cook everything vegetarian by Mark Bittman.


Baked Lentil Samosas
Ingredients

Filling:
1 c. dried lentils (any kind)
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 small onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 Tbs. minced garlic
2 Tbs. peeled and minced fresh ginger
2 c. vegetable stock or water
2 Tbs. garam masala or curry powder

Dough:
2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 Tbs. cold butter
2 Tbs. yogurt

1. Put the oil in a deep skillet or medium pot over medium heat. When hot, add the onion, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add the carrot, celery, garlic, and ginger and keep cooking and stirring until all the vegetables start to wilt and are fragrant, another 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add the lentils, stock, and garam masala to the pan with enough water to cover the lentils by about 1/2 inch. Turn the heat to high. When the mixture begins to boil, lower the heat so it bubbles gently.
4. Cover and cook, stirring every so often, until the lentils and vegetables are very soft, about 45 minutes or more. Add stock or water during cooking only if needed to keep the lentils from scorching. The lentils should be fairly stiff and dry when they're done; if not, remove the lid, turn up the heat a bit, and let some of the liquid bubble away. Taste, adjust seasoning and set aside to cool.
5. While the lentils are cooking, combine the flour with a large pinch of salt, the butter, and the yogurt in a food processor; turn on the machine and a few seconds later, add about 1/2 cup of water. Let the machine run, adding a little more water if necessary, until a dough ball forms.
6. Knead the dough for a moment by hand, adding a little more flour if necessary, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a couple of baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. Sprinkle a work surface with flour , then divide the dough into quarters. Cover 3 of the pieces and divide the fourth into 6 pieces; roll each piece into a round ball. Roll each ball out to a 3-inch diameter. When you have rolled out the first six, put about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each. Brush the rim with a little water, then fold over and seal.
8. Put the samosas--about 1 inch apart--on the prepared baking sheets. Keep covered with plastic wrap while you repeat with the remaining dough. Bake the samosas until golden brown, turning as needed, about 30 minutes, and serve hot.

Indian inspiration

I was the host of our most recent girls' dinner. I have always loved the flavors and scents of Indian cuisine. I even bought an Indian cookbook several years ago, but was intimidated by the ingredient lists and many components to an Indian dinner, so the cookbook sat fairly untouched on the bookshelf. So, for this dinner I decided to buck up and at least attempt an Indian dinner. The sources for the menu came from Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking by Julie Sahni and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.

So, after I planned my (ambitious) menu I needed to gather some of those specialized ingredients. I found my treasure trove at the Indian Supermarket in Silver Spring, MD. Pictured here are just a sampling of the many spices and legumes that I picked up.
In the next few days, I'll be posting some of the recipes that came from this dinner, but for tonight, here's the recipe for the soup course: Curry-Laced Tomato-Lentil Broth (tomato rasam). Adapted from Sahni. This soup was very fragrant and the flavor of the curry leaves intensified the soup's flavor.

Lessons learned from this dish: I probably should have thinned this out a bit with some water before serving since the soup was quite thick.

Get the recipe here.

Curry-Laced Tomato-Lentil Broth
Ingredients
2 c. tomato puree (I used the canned stuff, but you could use fresh or canned whole tomatoes and rough chop them)
3 c. cooked lentils (I used a mix of French and brown lentils)
1 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 Tbs. minced onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp course salt, or to taste
1 Tbs lemon juice

For the spice perfumed butter:
1 Tbs. ghee (this is basically just browned butter with the milk solids strained off)
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
8 curry leaves or 2 Tbs. fresh cilantro

1. Put the lentils in a a 3- or 4- quart deep pot. Add 1 c. water and whisk for a minute to crush some of the lentils.
2. Add the pureed tomatoes, cumin, coriander, cayenne, onion garlic, and salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook at a gentle boil, partially covered for 10 minutes.
3. Add the lemon juice and continue cooking for 1 minute.
4. Turn off the heat and keep covered while you make the spice-perfumed butter.
5. Heat the ghee in a small frying pan until very hot.
6. Add the mustard seeds and the curry leaves.
7. Shake the pan. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, turn off the heat.
8. Pour the entire contents of the pan into the soup and stir well.
9. Serve and enjoy!