Want s'more?

I'm working on making every VwaV recipe before the sequel comes out. Maybe I'll even get brave and make Orange-Glazed Beets. Until then, here's Chickpea Broccoli Casserole.



This dish really surprised me. I picked it for a night with Princess, since it seemed rather, well, bland sounding. It wasn't. It's not a dish that you'd want to eat a whole plate of by itself without something else of textural interest, but it's really yummy and "casserole-like". It also inspired me to cook chickpeas in the pressure cooker, which are a thousand times better than canned.

Next up is VwaV's Corn Chowder.



Princess really liked it, as it contains two of her favourite things - potatoes and corn. I liked it too, but if making it for only adults, I would definitely put in the jalapeno. I sacrificed the heat for the "family" version.

On an "adults only" night, I made Dal with Coconut Milk from Mangoes and Curry Leaves, and served over brown rice with spinach.



It was quite simple to prepare, and the coconut milk gave it a rich creaminess. And I got to use curry leaves! I bought these at an Indian grocery about three weeks ago and stored them in a ziploc between paper towels. They were still very fresh.

Last are S'mores Cupcakes from VCTOTW.



Cupcakes are so cute. And caloric.

The Gentle Lentil

My culinary exploration of the common pulse begins with Shallot Sambar from Mangoes and Curry Leaves.



This was an interesting dish to cook as it used ingredients that I don't normally have in the pantry, such as toovar dal and curry leaves. The spices were roasted whole and then ground to a powder making the dish taste peppery and somewhat smokey. Sambar can be served with basmati rice, or a flatbread such as a dosa.

I made another dish from Mangoes and Curry Leaves - Mountain Dal. It uses mung dal, which is yellow and close to a split pea in texture. It's not a photogenic dish. Mine looked like the photo in the book except I don't have beautiful pottery to showcase it in.

Our last lentil dish is Fusili with Lentil Sauce from Vegan Italiano. The book doesn't state which kind of lentil, so I used brown. It seemed the most Italian to me. I omitted the rosemary because rosemary doesn't soften for me, ever. I don't like pine needles in my food. This dish was super fantastic, not a lot of trouble to make and is a lentil dish attractive enough to photograph, and even serve to guests. Princess liked it, I think because the lentils were hiding amongst the fusili, or "grubs" as she called them.