Friday Food Feature – August 21, 2015 blogging 101

Recipe for lentil soup:

Ingredients:

1. red lentil–(masoor daal) 1 cup

2.yellow lentil(moong daal) 1 cup

3. onion – 1 medium(finely sliced)

4.cayenne pepper- 1/2 teaspoon

5.salt to taste

6.curry powder- 2 teaspoon

7. garlic powder-1/2 teaspoon

8. ginger powder– 1/2 teaspoon

9. olive oil– 3 tablespoon

10. tomatoes- three whole tomatoes diced

Method:

wash the lentils thoroughly, until the water is clear, put aside. Heat the oil in the pot, add onions, fry until the sliced onion pieces are slightly brown. Do not burn it. Add all the spices including the salt, fry for one minute. Add the washed lentils with the water and the diced tomatoes, let it boil for five minutes, turn the heat low to simmer. When the grains of the lentil mixes with the water and looks like a paste, the lentil soup is done taste for salt if it is salty enough, take it off the stove.

Lentil soup can be served as soup or eaten with plain boiled rice as we do in Bangladesh. They are also eaten with chapatis( Tortillas) in Punjab. Lentil is considered a poor man’s protein.

Lentil soup

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DP Daily Prompt: Food for the Soul

Tell us about your favorite meal,either to eat or to prepare. does it just taste great or does it have other associations.

I have a few favorite meals, one of them is mashed potato, lentil soup and boiled rice.

At a very young age I developed a taste for very spicy foods. My mom’s preparation of mashed potatoes was the best. She sliced the onions thinly with it she mixed toasted hot red peppers which she squashed it with her fingers. Then she mixed the mashed potatoes with the onion, pepper and salt . The finished product was heavenly. The other dish she prepared was lentil soup and boiled rice, when these three dishes were served, I did not look for anything else.

Next favorite meal of mine is bhoona gosht or fried beef. The ingredients for this dish is boneless skinless blade roast. Whenever I call the butcher for this meat, he has it ready for me. The perfect blade roast which is so tasty. I slice the roast into bite size pieces, wash it and set I it aside, I slice three medium onions, two teaspoons ginger paste and two teaspoons garlic paste. I use a saucepan to fry the onions,ginger and garlic, when they are light brown, I add the spices, Cayenne ,coriander, cumin,turmeric, garam masala, salt, stir a minute or two, next I add the sliced beef , stir it till the spices are well coated with  the beef. I transfer the ingredients into an oven safe dish. Finally I place the dish in the preheated oven @ 350 degrees for an hour. I turn off the oven and leave the dish in, for the excess water to evaporate.

I serve it with boiled rice, a yoghurt salad and curried vegetables( frozen mixed will be perfect).

It reminds me of my mother’s cooking!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/dp-daily-promp…d-for-the-soul/

 

 

365 Writing Prompt: Seconds

Describe the most satisfying meal you’ve ever eaten, in glorious detail.

Sometimes a meal can be satisfactory without the word “Gourmet” attached to it.

Here is my reason for the above claim. I was always very simple minded when it came to food. There were times my mother would cook all kinds of delicious food, everyone in the family would be dancing up and down for this meal except me. I’d complain,”Mom, please can I have some lentils and mashed potatoes with my rice?”

I wish you could see the expression on my mom’s face, she’d say: Rani I cannot believe you want lentil and mash potatoes when I have cooked so many delicious foods?”

My mom called me Rani instead of Ranu if I said something outrageous.

Here is the glorious detail of my most satisfying meal.

For lentil the ingredients are:

1. one cup orange lentils(for soup)

2. half teaspoon- cayenne pepper

3. quarter teaspoon– turmeric powder

4. salt — half teaspoon

5. one small onion(diced)

6. two tablespoon— vegetable oil

7. water –two cups

Method:

Wash the lentils thoroughly until the water is crystal clear. Drain the water, pour the lentils in a saucepan. Put the pan on the stove, turn the heat to high, add salt, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. Bring it to a boil, if there are white scum floating, gently take it off with a spoon and discard it.Lower the heat to simmer, let it simmer until the grains mix with the water. Take the stove off the burner and  place a frying pan, use medium heat to heat the pan, pour the oil and when the oil is hot put the diced onion in the pan, fry until the onion is lightly brown, next step put the fried onions in the lentil soup, put the sauce pan to reheat the soup, taste for salt if it is suitable for you turn off the stove.

The next item is mashed potatoes:

Ingredients:

1. potatoes: two medium sized

2. Onion : one diced

3. dry red pepper: two

4. oil: one tablespoon

5. salt– half teaspoon

Method:

Boil the potatoes until they are soft. Heat the saucepan on the burner, pour the tablespoon of oil, when the oil is reasonably hot put the two dry peppers, with the spoon stir it until the peppers are a bit charred, take them out and place them in a bowl. Now put the diced onion and let it get slightly brown, do not let it burn, take them out of the pan and put them in another bowl.

Peel the boiled potatoes mash them with your hand or use a potato masher make sure there are no lumps. Next use your fingers to squash the dried peppers into a powder, care should be used to wash your finger thoroughly with soap after taking care of the peppers. Put the onions , powdered peppers, salt and mashed potatoes in a  slightly larger bowl to combine them together.

Serve it with plain boiled rice, it is delicious. I consider this tastier than any gourmet food I have eaten.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/365-writing-prompt-seconds/