Vegetable and Split Pea Sambar

From Healthy Eating: Vegetarian, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 1998.

I guess I was in a bit of a lazy mood for I felt as though I wanted to make something in one pot. I settled for this sambar.

I measured out 100g yellow split peas, placed them in a bowl and covered them with water. They were left for a good hour.

In the meantime I prepared all of the other ingredients. I measured out the spices: 2 teaspoons ground ginger, a teaspoon each of ground cumin and ground coriander, ½ teaspoon ground turmeric, 3 cardamom pods which I gave a little pounding to soften them, and 4 curry leaves from the garden.

In a bowl I placed a can of tomatoes and smashed them around a little until they were the consistency of a rough puree. I added 15g desiccated coconut, 2 teaspoons brown sugar, 2 teaspoons tamarind puree and 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds.

The vegetables were also prepared. About 500g chat potatoes were cut in halves. About 250g sweet potato was peeled and cut into chunks. A carrot was peeled and cut into pieces. Two zucchini were cut into pieces.

I chopped an onion and added it to a hot pan with some olive oil. The onion was cooked gently until it had become translucent and softened. The heat was turned up a little and the spices and curry leaves were added and stirred around until their fragrance came through. Now the tomato mixture was added. The split peas were drained and also stirred in. All was now brought to the boil and left to simmer for about 10 minutes. The vegetables (except for the zucchini) were added and let cook for another 20 minutes. Now the zucchini went in with about ¼ cup of water as the mixture had become a little thick. It was now left to simmer until all the vegetables were cooked. A little lime juice was added.

I tasted it now and found it needed some salt and I also added some chilli flakes as it felt as though it needed something to liven it up a little.

I had thought I might have this with rice but I ended up just serving it as it was because it was more of the nature of a spicy stew with an abundance of potatoes.

On the whole this was a very average dish. I was not totally happy with the spice mix. It felt as though something more (or less) was needed because it did not all totally jell. I think a couple of garlic cloves added with the onion would have helped.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

In a word: Reasonable

Capsicum Casserole with Zucchini and Beans

From Healthy Eating: Vegetarian, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 1998.

I put a can of chopped tomatoes in a saucepan with a dessertspoon of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt and let it cook gently until it had thickened a little—only a little.

A red capsicum was cut in half, seeded and membranes removed. Into this went a mixture of cooked borlotti beans and chickpeas, a chopped zucchini, a few green beans topped and tailed and cut into halves, and a chopped spring onion. The filled capsicums were placed into a baking dish and any of the vegetables mixture that wouldn’t fit into the capsicum halves was spread around them. The tomato sauce was now poured over and around the capsicums. The baking dish was covered and went into a 180ªC oven for an hour. The cover was now removed and the dish went back into the oven for another quarter of an hour.

When it came out some shaved parmesan slices were placed on top.

This was a quite acceptable casserole, not a world beater but a pleasing meal.

The recipe came from a small-sized paperback of 64 pages that I have obviously held onto for some time now. Each page contains a new recipe together with a coloured photograph. There appears to be a wide variety of different meals to try.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔