Tunisian Carrot Salad

From Gourmet Vegetarian, Jane Price, Murdoch Books, 2007.

I always enjoy meals with the flavours of the Middle East.

I peeled and sliced three carrots and put them in a pot of salted water to bring them to the boil and cook them until they were just done. They were drained.

Meanwhile a dressing was made of a garlic clove crushed in a mortar and pestle with a little salt, a little ground cumin and a few grindings of black pepper. This paste was mixed with a ¼ teaspoon harissa, a touch of red wine vinegar and some olive oil. After tasting to see that it worked well it was poured over the carrots.

About a tablespoon of chopped parsley was added together with 6 black kalamata olives. At serving time a boiled egg was sliced into quarters and added to the dish.

A pleasing salad.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔ 

Fried Chickpeas

From Gourmet Vegetarian, Jane Price, Murdoch Books, 2007.

I was soaking some chickpeas for a recipe so decided to put in a few extra and try to make these nibbles.

After the chickpeas had soaked overnight they were deep fried for 3 minutes, taken out and placed for a minute or two on kitchen paper to drain. The oil was then reheated and the chickpeas went back in for another 3 minutes. They were then drained and sprinkled with a mixture of paprika, cayenne and salt.

Oddly some turned out crisp while others were soft. I had fried them in two batches so perhaps one of the batches was not cooked long enough.

As a nibble they went all right though weren’t really extra special. I don’t think I’ll go to the trouble of making them again.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Warm Lentil and Rice Salad

From Gourmet Vegetarian, Jane Price, Murdoch Books, 2007.

I am not overly excited about heavy salads, ones made with pasta or rice. These somehow don’t really feel like salads. For me, a salad is something quite light that accompanies heavier meals. A salad that is filling and heavier does not truly do the complementary job that I feel is its role. That said, sometimes a rice salad can be just right as an accompaniment for some meals.

I have not cooked over much from Gourmet Vegetarian but the lentil and rice salad looked—at least from the photograph—as if it might be just right for what I wanted. And as it was a warm salad it would just be like serving rice with a meal.

Both the rice and the lentils had to be cooked separately. While this was happening some red onion and garlic were slowly fried in olive oil and butter. The rice was ready sometime before the lentils so the onions had a little longer time to cook which enabled them to be wonderfully soft and sweet.

Into the onion and garlic went ground coriander, cumin, paprika and cinnamon to cook for a few minutes.

The lentils were ready by now so they were mixed with the rice, and the onion and spice mix was stirred in. Seasonings were added, together with chopped spring onions.

The salad was served warm without a dressing.

Lentils and rice always go together really well and with the added onions and spices this was quite flavoursome. For my taste I think I would have preferred that there was a vinegary or lemony dressing to go with this to add a little more bite.

Taste: ✔✔✔ 

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Bondas

Bondas

from Gourmet Vegetarian, Jane Price, Murdoch Books, 2007.

When I read the instructions for these I thought that there was no way a batter was going to hold onto the potato balls. I was totally wrong.

The potato is diced and cooked then mixed, without mashing, into a spicy mixture: mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger, turmeric, coriander and lemon juice. This is formed into balls and they are dipped in the batter and fried.

It’s a wonderful batter of three flours: besan, self-raising and rice. Chilli powder and turmeric are added plus water. It has a great texture and holds onto the potato balls when they are fried.

I loved these. The batter had a slight crunch and the potato was nicely spiced. Great when warm, but they also were quite good when cold the next day.

The book’s subtitle is ‘The vegetarian recipes you must have’. While I would not agree on a couple of other items I have made from the book, I would have to agree on this one.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔