I like to plan several vegetarian meals a week not just for health or green planet concerns, but because we enjoy them. When we went to India the first time we became aware of the vast scope of Indian vegetarian cuisine. American Indian restaurants barely touch the surface, unless you happen to wander down Rt 106 in Hicksville south of Ikea. My husband loves the Dosa House a South Indian restaurant specializing in dosas as the name implies. He can actually eat dosas because they are made with lentil flour. It's a large pancake that is folded around a filling. Delicious. They also have a great thali plate. Next door and across the street are two great Indian markets with wonderful produce at good prices. He always calls when he is in the area to see what I want. Which brings me back to cooking vegetarian. I make a lot of Indian dal dishes, which is a type of yellow split pea in several variations. Last night I made chick pea and chana dal with mint sauce. The dal disolves making a thick fragrant sauce surrounding the meatier, firmer chick peas. The recipe, Paraati Chana, is from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian a wonderful, comprehensive volume of 'dishes from 5 continents touch on virtually all the world's best loved flavours for a unsurpassed selection of vegetarian fare'. It is a fabulous book and I have never been disappointed by anything I've made.
Dishes like this freeze well, so even though it is a fairly long and somewhat complicated dish, it made 4 generous meals, 3 going into the freezer.
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I'm a vegetarian also. I always find something to eat at restaurants, but I haven't found any that cater to vegetarians. As I was typing this--I kept typing "veterinarian". Ha!
ReplyDeleteI love Indian food. It is easy to eat vegetarian in Indian restaurants in my part of the world, probably because there are so many Indian students, many of whom are vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteActually you don't need to say "chick pea and chana", becauses chana means chick pea. Your chana dal sounds yummy!
Yes, chana are chickpeas, but chana dal is labeled and sold as split yellow peas and both are used in this dish. Definitely different than whole chickpeas.
ReplyDeleteMy DH is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I could almost go without meat. But, anyway, we've been talking about how we should go meatless for several meals a week, at least. We both need to lose weight and we need to work on getting more healthy. My bp and cholesterol, etc.... are good but his isn't without meds.
ReplyDelete...I hate you just a little for this post. Every time an expat raves about a 'great Indian food' restaurant I roll my eyes. I've tried quite a few but after you've been to India, NY Indian restaurants or your kitchen, Korean imitation just doesn't cut it. I would kill for dosa or your dal. Okay not kill, but can we put that on the menu for when I visit home? Pretty please?
ReplyDelete~Your drooling daughter~
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