African Chickpea Stew

I made this recently with my aunt. Recipe archived from here. We used just a fork to mix it, added some tapatio for a kick, and served it over quinoa. It's amazing how sweet it is. It almost tastes like it has added sugar.

Ingredients
1 can chick peas
1 1/2 lbs uncooked sweet potato diced
1 can diced tomatoes (low sodium or no salt added)(I used a 14-16 oz can, or 28oz for a doubled recipe.)
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup carrots, sliced
Spice paste (recipe below)
Spice Paste Ingredients
4 8 cloves garlic (always increase teh garlic!)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Spice Paste Directions
Blend all spice paste ingredients in a blender or mini food processor until a thick paste forms.
Add water one teaspoon at a time if necessary.
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large skillet and simmer until vegetables are tender.
Serve with brown rice or quinoa.

this was edible*

EDIT:  Over a year later, I need to go back and give myself credit for this. It's a reliably tasty dish that I make often.

[*oh how the standards for this blog have fallen!]

Cook about 3 cups (dry) red lentils until soft. A 2 qt pot is not quite big enough for this.

In separate pot, saute 1.5 onions, chopped, maybe until they start to get brownish, then add a bunch of curry powder, some cumin, some chili powder, some berbere (I think it actually needs the berbere, even though I only used it the first time because I ran out of curry powder), some garam masala, some salt. If you have not randomly begun cooking at 8:30 pm with whatever you have in the house, you might wish to buy some fresh ginger and mince it and throw that in. Cook some more. Dump in 28 oz pureed tomatoes (or a can of whole peeled tomatoes with basil, whirred in the blender. See above re randomly cooking with what's on hand) and 3 cloves of garlic, chopped. Cook for a bit.

Dump lentils into the curry mixture. Add a can of coconut milk. (Coconut milk covers a multitude of sins.) Adjust seasonings. Heat through and eat. Becomes more awesome if you put a few spoonfuls of yogurt into it.

moderately healthy food for lazy people

This is for lazy people because it doesn't involve sauteeing anything first, or cutting up many vegetables, or actually mincing the garlic.

rinse and put in a gigantic pot (because it will foam and boil up a lot):

- red lentils (maybe two cups)
- barley (maybe half a cup)

add:
1 onion, chopped
a few cloves of garlic, chopped
1 yam, peeled and cubed
a tablespoon or so of curry powder
lots of water
a splash of oil (to help prevent boiling over)

cook on high until the lentils fall apart. then add a can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, and cook until the barley is tender.

add: a tablespoon or more of vegetable bouillon powder, salt to taste.

brownies, take II for this blog

Today I made this recipe:
http://www.scharffenberger.com/re0103.asp
with some modifications. They were good (with those ingredients, it would be hard not to be) but still don't have the elusive flakey top that I like on brownies. They were pretty cakey, not fudgey.

4 ounces SCHARFFEN BERGER 99% Cacao unsweetened Chocolate (2 scored sections) 2/3 cup butter 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups unsifted flour (less flour for moister brownie) *I used about 1 1/2 c. 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder PREPARATION Preheat oven to 350 F. Melt chocolate and butter over low heat in a large heavy dutch oven. Remove from heat and mix in sugar with wooden spoon. Crack eggs into pot, add vanilla, and mix (dirtying a whisk is optional). Gently lay the flour, salt, and baking powder on top of the gooey chocolate mixture. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder with a fork without digging into the chocolate. Mix flour, salt and banking powder in separate bowl. Pour into chocolate mixture. Grab your wooden spoon and stir everything together just until all flour is incorporated. Do not overbeat. Pour into greased 9" x 12" (or 8" x 12") pan. Bake for 25 minutes (check at 20). Brownies are done when toothpick comes out pretty clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then cut into 2 " squares. Makes 24 brownies.

I baked almost exactly 25 minutes.

yellow split pea soup

Like most things here - nothing special, but I like to remember the amounts I used.

1 lb of yellow split peas, soaked (for about 24 hours because I kept forgetting to deal with them)
handful of pearled barley
1 large onion
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
4 cloves of garlic
~1 tbs of thyme
salt
chardonnay (to deglaze pan)

I sauteed the onions, carrots and celery with thyme and liberal sprinkles of salt for maybe 10-15 minutes. Dumped them into the crockpot, which had been slowly heating up (on high) with the split peas and the water they'd soaked in. Dumped in the handful of barley and the chopped garlic. Deglazed the frying pan with chardonnay, dumped that in the crockpot, left it on high for about 4 hours. It could go longer, probably.

Has a reasonable amount of flavor.

lentil/pea/potato curry

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 onions—finely chopped

2 cloves garlic—minced (crushed)

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 large potato—peeled and cut into bite-size cubes

½ cup red lentils

14 oz (420g) canned tomatoes—chopped

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup vegetable or chicken stock

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 cup basmati rice

1 cup green peas

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

HEAT the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onions for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. ADD the garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric and chili and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. ADD the potato and lentils and stir to coat with the spice mixture. ADD the tomatoes, coconut milk, stock, garam masala, salt and sugar, bring to the boil and cover with a lid. REDUCE the heat to medium and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. WHILE the curry simmers, cook the rice. ADD the peas to the curry and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. REMOVE from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lemon juice. SERVE on a bed of rice.
I made this tonight, but
a) omitted cilantro because it's icky
b) definitely started the rice before I made everything else (because brown is the way to go)
c) used extra ginger and garlic
d) accidentally spilled a bit of the canned coconut milk I was using

http://www.mediterrasian.com/delicious_recipes_lentil_curry.htm

lentil spaghetti sauce

I found it here but it's a recipe I'd used before and lost. I used to eat it over pasta or rice but lately I just eat it plain like a stew, which is also good.  I'm adjusting it to what I've actually been doing:

1 bag (16oz) dried lentils 
oil
3/4 cup chopped onion (or more)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon dried whole basil (or more)
1/2 teaspoon dried whole oregano (or more)
**I do not add any salt while cooking and rarely end up needing it, because most bouillon and most canned tomatoes have salt. 

Sort/pick over lentils to remove any debris or stones. Rinse them if you're feeling ambitious. Put them in a 3 quart pot with a few extra inches of water, bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, put lid on, cook til soft-ish (anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes.) If they're getting dry add more water. It's not rocket science but I try not to end up with a huge amount of water when they're done, just enough that they stay covered.

Meanwhile: Chop onions and garlic. Put a few tsp of oil in a heavy pot (mine is 4 1/2 quarts), turn on heat to medium, let it heat up. Add onion and garlic and red pepper and oregano; saute until tender.  Add tomatoes, vinegar, and bouillon and simmer over low heat. Once lentils are mostly soft, dump them into the pot, add dried basil, stir well, and let it cook on a very low flame for a bit to help the flavors meld. (It can burn/stick more easily at this stage so watch out.) This tends to taste better after it's sat for a few hours or the next day - it's good as leftovers and good to freeze.