Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Cookin' Some Stuff: Lentil Vegetable Stew

Not sure why, probably some mixture of poverty and the distant resonance of a voice reminding me to temper my excessive drug use with some nutritious food, but since I've been in Chicago much of the cooking I've done has been in the south Asian style, one that is easily compatible with vegetables, garlic and ginger. After a long hiatus from cooking due to funky work hours and general life disarray, I return today with a new recipe that, seven bites in, I'm pretty proud of: lentil vegetable stew.

Ingredients:

2 cups red lentils
1-2 bunches kale
1 head broccoli
1 yellow onion
1 head of garlic
1-2 fingers ginger
2 cans pinto beans
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
long squirt of mustard
squirt of sriracha
(seasonings always approximate)

Begin by cooking the lentils (30 minutes) along with half of the available cumin and curry powder and all of the salt.

With lentils cooking, chop the onion, kale, broccoli (diced), garlic and ginger (minced).

Add olive oil to bottom of large stew pot, add the onion and the remaining spices, let cook a few minutes on medium-high then add the veggies, garlic and ginger, cook a few more minutes.

The lentils should be about done by now. Add them to the stew pot along with the pinto beans, and enough water to make it sort of stew-y (maybe a cup) and, if you feel like it, some more curry powder. Also add mustard and sriracha. Cover and turn down to simmer, let simmer 5-15 minutes until it looks good.

Eat, enjoy.