Cooking & Meal Prep Session 4
Tomato Garlic Dal + Raw Veg Meal Prep
What a crazy weekend! We have had massive, catastrophic ongoing torrential rain and floods in NSW, Australia. We stayed in, I cooked a lot and we tried to not worry too much about the roof leaks and flooding in the garage (where all my props live!). It could've been much worse and we are lucky that it was just water (that is abating) and things (that can be replaced). Tomorrow, the sun is meant to come out. And I am really looking forward to that.
I would LOVE to hear your feedback about the meal-prep part of this newsletter. I am still learning and evaluating what to share based on your emails. Is this format helpful for you? What else would you like me to share? Any suggestions and requests are very welcome. Just pop me an email! Now, let's dig into some delicious dal first followed by all the things I cooked and prepped over the weekend.
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NEW ON THE BLOG THIS WEEK
TOMATO GARLIC DAL
A creamy, luscious, warming dal is just what you need for a quick and nourishing weeknight dinner. This Tomato Garlic Dal cooked with two kinds of quick-cooking lentils, lots of juicy tomatoes and generous amounts of garlic and spices is absolutely delicious. With some brown rice and a chopped salad, it makes a very satisfying meal indeed.
The Allure Of Dal
We make a lot of dal at home. A lot. Growing up in India, a pot of some kind of dal at every meal was de rigueur. A cheap, filling, nourishing meal packed with veggies and spices and different lentils and beans. What was not to love? The only problem was, my mum’s otherwise extensive cooking repertoire had only four or five kinds of dal. While two were reserved for special occasions, the remaining three were usually in rotation during the week – for years. So the magic of dal was a bit diminished as I grew up wanting anything but.
When I had the boys and was also working, I finally understood my mum’s fascination with dal. It was probably the quickest, most accessible meal from my culture and to a time-poor mum, that was a huge draw. As my boys grew older, I cooked the dals of my childhood for them. A plain old turmeric dal and a creamy Spinach Dal (that was recently published in Peddler journal). It got to a point where when they asked me what I was cooking and I said “Dal”, I could see them visibly deflate. And I had flashbacks of my own childhood and forcing myself to have the same couple of dals every week. I didn’t want to do that to them. Something had to give.
So, I started an active campaign to cook and experiment with new dals every week. Starting with this amazing Rainbow Veggie Coconut Dal, I created fresh new takes to my everyday dal with this Weeknight Veggie Dal and this beautiful smoky ......
This week, I focused on more RAW VEGGIE PREP as opposed to cooked dishes as I was going to be cooking with chicken and fish during the week and needed all the prepped veggies/sauces/condiments to just add at the last minute making my weeknight dinners a super-quick affair clocking under 20 minutes on each night.
1. Pre-heated oven
2. Washed and chopped leeks and stored in a container (fridge)
3. Mixed a batch of my Coconut Caramel Chia Pudding
4. Grated 3 zucchinis (for these Zucchini fritters)
5. Cut A Pumpkin in half and put it in the oven to slow bake for 1.5 hours (will use later for a soup, bread and gnocchi)
6. Sliced cabbage (for this beautiful 5-Minute Keralan Cabbage Stir Fry later in the week)
Active Time - 25 minutes
7. Peeled and spiralized Sweet Potatoes (for this Thai Red Curry Sweet Potato Noodle Soup later)
8. Cooked my Tomato Garlic Dal
Active Time - 25 minutes
9. Prepped batter for my banana bread to bake into muffins topped with hemp seeds and skipping the raspberries (for lunchboxes)
10. Started a pot of my Smoky Mexe Beans (for breakfast or lunch/ this recipe is from my cookbook)
11. Made this Coriander & Mint Chutney With Toasted Peanuts in the processor.
12. Made this Basic Hummus in the processor
13. Started A Pot of this Market Veggie Broth with all the scraps
14. Pulled the pumpkin out of the oven and out in the muffins to bake
15. Made my Puttanesca Sauce (for pasta and risotto later in the week)
Active Time - 45 minutes
THINGS PREPPED & COOKED - Total Time 1.5 hours (3 Mains, 1 Muffins,1 Dessert, 2 Condiments, Veg Stock + Extras for lunch)
1. Banana Muffins
2. Coconut Caramel Chia Pudding
3. Tomato Garlic Dal
4. Smoky Mexe Beans
5. Puttanesca Sauce
6. Basic Hummus
7. Coriander & Mint Chutney With Toasted Peanuts
8. Market Veggie Broth
9. Prepped veggies for 3 X Mains (Keralan Cabbage Stir Fry, Pumpkin Soup, Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup)
" My philosophy from day one is that I can sleep better at night if I can improve an individual's knowledge about food and wine, and do it on a daily basis.
~ Emeril Lagasse
I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!
