GREEK LENTIL SOUP (Fakés Soupa, Φακές Σούπα)

I have been trying to get around to making Greek lentil soup for a month now. Today was the day. I added lots of soup vegetables to compliment the lentils. I used parsnip and leeks which are not found in traditional versions of Greek lentil soup, but why not amplify its flavour a bit? The amount of tomato used depends on the cook. If you like a really strong lentil flavour, cut down on some of the tomatoes and tomato paste. The important lesson is that anyway it's cooked, lentil soup is always fragrant and tastes oh so good. 

Lentils are very high in protein, dietary fibre, thiamine and iron: they are a very healthy food. Before cooking them, be sure to soak lentils for about an hour. Soaking not only makes them softer for cooking, but also increases their nutritional potency. 

Ingredients:

2 cups green lentils

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, divided, chopped

2 leeks, washed very well, white and light green parts, chopped

4 or 5 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled, chopped…I love smashing garlic!

6 stalks celery, chopped

4 carrots chopped
2 medium size tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

optional - 1 parsnip, chopped very thinly, or better yet, grated 

4 tablespoons parsley, chopped

1 or 2 tablespoons tomato paste, depending on how "red" you want the soup to be

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (well, I may have used a little more) 

1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried Greek oregano  

6 cups of vegetable stock or filtered water, plus additional liquid  as needed

optional - vinegar to be served on the side 
optional - some grated Pecorino Romano cheese to top the soup if you're like me and do not like vinegar 

Lots of vegetables in this soup...  More than can be seen in the photograph! 

Directions:

• Pick over the lentils to make sure there are no small rocks or other debris mixed in.  Rinse them and place them in a large bowl.  Cover them with water.  Let them sit in the water for about one hour.  Drain and reserve. You'll notice that as the lentils soak and absorb water they will start to turn greener than they were in their dry state.
• Heat the olive oil in a large heavy Dutch oven and sauté one of the onions, the leeks, and the garlic for 10 minutes.  (You may think we are using a lot of leeks and onions, but you'll see that they will decrease in volume as they are being  sautéed). Turn off the heat. 
• Add the other onion, the celery, parsnip, tomatoes, carrots, thyme, and 2 tablespoons of the parsley. Mix well
• Add the drained lentils and mix well.  
• Add the liquid, the tomato paste, and the bay leaf.  Season with salt and pepper, turn up the heat and bring to a boil. 
• Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour. If the heat is on low and you are using a heavy Dutch oven, you don't even need to lift the lid and stir the soup. Just let it simmer.
• After an hour check on the soup, give it a good stir and add the oregano. Taste it and season with more salt and pepper if needed. It will probably need to cook for another 15 to 20 minutes.
• At the end of the cooking time add the rest of the parsley.  You may need to add more liquid to bring the soup to the consistency you prefer.

I served it with toasted olive fougasse bread.  It was bakery bought and  excellent!

• Serve the lentil soup hot.  Offer some vinegar at the table because it's a tradition to top the soup with vinegar. 
• This was a great Sunday dinner!  

TROPICAL FRUIT SALAD

This fruit salad which I served as dessert was a big hit at my house!  If you're looking for a quick dessert, this is it: fresh, healthy, sweet, delicious! Everyone had seconds.  There was only a small portion left, and it got polished off the next day for breakfast.  Here's how to make Tropical Fruit Salad:

Ingredients:

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into chunks
1 mango, peeled and sliced into chunks
1/4 cantaloupe, peeled and sliced into chunks
3 kiwis, peeled and sliced into rounds
1 pound of strawberries, hulled and cut in half if they are too large
2 bananas, sliced
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons honey, or use a vegan substitute
1/2 cup sweetened coconut,
1/2 cup dates, pitted and cut in pieces

Directions:

• In a large bowl combine all the pineapple, mango, and cantaloupe.  This is the base. 
• Mix the strawberries and kiwis and add on top of the base.  
• Cover and refrigerate the bowl if you want to make the fruit salad ahead of time for company.  
• Right before serving, slice the bananas and add. You want to add the bananas at the last minute, otherwise they will become mushy and start to get discolored.  
• Carefully fold in the dates, lemon juice, honey, and coconut.  
• Guess what?  That's it!  You're done!  Serve and enjoy! 

SRI LANKAN VEGETABLE AND CASHEW CURRY

I've read a considerable amount about Sri Lankan cooking and Sri Lankan ingredients. I feel comfortable enough to call this recipe my own, although I borrowed ideas from about a dozen sources. However, the final combinations are mine, and I am so happy I was able to do this. I loved the way it tasted. The key here is not to overcook the vegetables. 

When having dinner, Sri Lankans set the table with a variety of dishes that range from mild to really spicy. Usually, vegetable curries are mild but they do provide another type of heat; the combination of spices tends to raise the body's metabolism. Vegetable and Cashew Curry is a nice accompaniment to Aromatic Sri Lankan Rice. Or vice versa. 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons avocado oil
5 curry leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped well
1/8 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 cup water or vegetable broth

1/3 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/4 teaspoon turmeric

2 carrots, cut up

1/2 cup string beans cut in half
1/2 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets 
1 cup of frozen peas (or fresh peas if available)

1 red onion, chopped

Sri Lankan Garam Masala: what follows is a basic combination. 

This Garam Masala is not roasted so it can be prepared on the spot, no need to make it way ahead of time (unless you want to): 

1 stick of cinnamon, cut into about 4 pieces, a few ground-up black peppercorns, 1 ground up clove, 1 ground cardamom pod, a pinch of cumin.

2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped, or use Italian parsley (sorry) if you are (as I am) allergic to cilantro (for life). 
Juice of one lime
Rind from one lime
  

Directions:

• In a medium saucepan add about one tablespoon oil and saute the curry leaves, garlic and mustard seeds. Sauté until the mustard seeds begin to pop.  
• Add the water or vegetable broth, coconut milk, turmeric, and cashews. Mix and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes until the cashews are soft. 
• Add the carrots and string beans. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the cauliflower and cook until it starts to soften. Last, but not least, add the peas; they will not require a long cooking time.
• Don't overcook the vegetables. Remove from the heat.  
• Meanwhile, as the vegetables are cooking, get a large saucepan and add the rest of the oil to it. Place it over medium-high heat, and when the oil gets hot add the onions. Sauté, mixing occasionally, until the onions are soft.
• Add some all or all of the Sri Lankan Garam Masala.  
• Add the cauliflower mixture and shake to combine. 
• Add the cilantro (or parsley), lime rind and lime juice, and fold gently. 
• Ready!!!

SRI LANKAN AROMATIC RICE

This Sri Lankan Aromatic Rice is one of the best rice dishes I have ever made or tasted! Highly recommended! It is truly fragrant, and truly delicious. The stars of the dish are coconut milk and curry leaves. These two ingredients are also the stars of Sri Lankan cuisine. They are used in most dishes and contribute excellent flavours.

 A curry tree with its beautiful leaves.  The area around these trees must be really fragrant!  (picture from Wikipedia).

Curry leaves should not be confused with curry powder. Curry leaves grow on curry trees and are used as an ingredient in curries. Their flavour is unique and citrusy, a little bit reminiscent of limes. Some people say we can substitute bay leaves for them, but I don't think the tastes are even close.  

Curry leaves are available in Indian markets. Since I live in one of Philadelphia's western suburbs, I visit the nearby township of Upper Darby and buy my curry leaves at a very nice shop called "Indian Super Market and Grocery." It's located on Market Street, near the 69th Street Terminal. 

Let me digress for a minute: Below I have some pictures of the historic 69th Street area. This topic needs its own post; there is so much to say about the area, how it came to be, the shops from Saks to Lit Brother's that once inhabited the buildings, all the traffic to and from Philadelphia and its suburbs, and the neighbourhoods that sprouted around 69th and Market! But since I recently visited, let me talk a little about it:

That's a newer pedestrian walkway bridge at 69th street, and behind it is the McClatchy building, built in 1926. This building is the cornerstone to a large open shopping area constructed around the same time; It was the first shopping area of its kind in the US.  

The walkway bridge leads to the 69th street terminal building where the Market-Frankford Elevated Train finishes its run. There are also trolley routes that leave from this terminal. 

A very fine example of art deco architecture: views of the McClatchy building. The building was named for the developer of the shopping area. 

The 69th street terminal (constructed in 1908).  It was known as the gateway to Philadelphia's western suburbs, which saw a great surge in development after the terminal was built. The Philadelphia El, or Elevated Railway, the interurbans, trolleys and streetcars all passed by here. The nearby shopping area was a convenient stop for those passengers changing trains. Today most all trolley routes are gone. Only two remain: 69th Street to Media, Pa, and 69th Street to Norristown, PA. The El also remains. Buses are abundant. The façade of the Terminal looks the same as when it was first built but the interior has been renovated numerous times. 

The Philadelphia El! 

If you don't live near an area where you can find an Indian supermarket, do an internet search. I found a nice site with very reasonable prices that will ship spices and curry leaves from Hawaii. 

How to make Sri Lankan Aromatic Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups white basmati rice
10 curry leaves
1 cinnamon stick, cut in half
5 cloves
1 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
4 tablespoons avocado oil
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 can of coconut milk
3 cups water 

a touch of salt
a few cashews, some curry leaves and some peas for decoration

Directions:

Tear up some of the curry leaves. During cooking this will readily release their oils, allowing them to better perfume the rice. 

Place the rice in a strainer and wash it well. Allow it to drain for about 20 minutes so that it can dry. While the rice is draining prepare the mise en place. 

In a large pot heat the oil and add the curry leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves. Cook for about a minute until fragrant.

Add the onions, ginger and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes. 

Add the rice, turmeric and cardamom.

Sauté for about 3-4 minutes until the rice turns opaque in colour. Stir frequently so that it does not burn but rather has a chance to become toasted. 

Add the water, salt, and coconut milk, bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat to simmer.

Cook until the liquid evaporates and the rice is soft. 

You may need to adjust the amount of liquid that is used. 

It all depends on the rice, I suppose. Taste it and make sure it's soft. You don't want crunchy rice, therefore, if it's crunchy add more liquid. Also, make sure the cooking setting is on medium heat. Not too high, not too low.

When done, fish out the cinnamon stick pieces and the cloves. However, you may not be able to find all of those tiny cloves. No worries, just leave them in and eat your way around them because they look kind of pretty and decorative in the rice. 

This rice will serve about six hungry people. You can serve it just as is, or garnish it further with sautéed onions, cashews, and peas, and a few curry leaves. I served it with a Vegetable and Cashew Curry.

THE CAT'S TABLE AND COOKING SRI LANKAN: NOVEL FOOD # 15

This is my contribution to Novel Food, a quarterly literary/culinary event hosted by Simone from Briciole.  We prepare a dish of our choosing that has a connection to a published literary work, and then we publish a post about it. Show the food, talk about what we have read. Simple as that. Well, I went outside of my comfort zone this time. No, not where the reading was concerned. I read Michael Ondaatje’s beautiful novel “The Cat’s Table,” a subtly powerful work conveyed in language that reached into the core of me, there to stay.
   

Michael Ondaatje 

The author, made famous when he published “The English Patient,” is a native of Sri Lanka. So I thought I would try to cook a few dishes of Sri Lankan origin. Sorry to say, I had never before tasted nor cooked Sri Lankan. I went on a culinary adventure, one outside my comfort zone, and I am glad I did. I learned quite a bit about southern Indian cooking ingredients and cuisine. 

“The Cat’s Table” is about an 11-year-old boy, “green as he could be about the world,” who takes an indelible sea voyage in the early 1950s.  If the captain's table is the sought after place to sit on a sea voyage, then Ondaatje's cat's table is just the opposite: one of the least privileged dining assignments aboard the cruise ship Oronsay. The table is populated by an assortment of eccentric characters, and the invisibility that the cat's table bestows upon them allows them to behave more or less as they wish. The ship is sailing from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to England, a twenty-one day journey by way of the Suez Canal. Among the nine passengers at the cat's table sit three dissimilar boys sailing toward a reunion with parents they have not seen in years.  The young "Mynah" or Michael, is the narrator, Cassius, is a seemingly tough guy, and Ramadhin, is a frail and thoughtful type. The three become fast friends and join together to form a feral group that becomes the terror of the ship. They seem to be everywhere; they can be found having breakfast in a lifeboat or wandering around the furnace rooms. Somehow they know everything that goes on in the ship, and they slip in and out of adventures and dangerous situations. They snoop, they eavesdrop, and whatever they cannot understand due to lack of maturity, they store in their imagination and allow it to come to fruition there. What they see and learn on the Oronsay shapes their adult lives. The Cat's table is a novel of painful journeys and passages: Away from childhood into an adult world, and away from home into a strange country. Highly recommended!

I made three dishes to celebrate this wonderful novel, and they are as follows:

Sri Lankan aromatic rice!

Vegetable curry with cashews!

And a Tropical Fruit Salad!

All these recipes appear in separate posts. Just follow the links!

EGG and AVOCADO SALAD SANDWICH

Do you like green eggs and ham? If you do, I have the perfect green egg salad for you. It turns green when avocado is mixed in the recipe. The other day I mixed half an avocado with an egg and a little mayonnaise. It tasted pretty good, so I got the idea of combining the ingredients to make a salad. Below you'll find the recipe I came up with. Now you might say that the salad looks like guacamole, but it doesn't taste like it. It has its own unique taste. Mild. There is no garlic, there are no spices. Also, because of the eggs, the salad is high in protein. my green egg and avocado salad is tasty, mild, and can be had as a sandwich or it can be scooped on a bed of lettuce leaves and enjoyed that way. There's enough to make 4 sandwiches.

Green Nutrition: Avocados are very high in potassium, vitamin E and fibre. Studies show they can lower blood cholesterol in both LDL and triglyceride levels. Currently, avocados are under research for potential anti-cancer activity. 

Ingredients: 
3 or 4 hard-boiled eggs 
about 2 tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise 
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard 
2 tablespoons lemon juice 
1 stalk celery, chopped 
2 scallions, chopped, white and light green parts only
1 teaspoon capers, rinsed and chopped 
1 ripe avocado, chopped 
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dill, chopped
salt and pepper to taste 
Romaine lettuce and tomato slices 
Whole wheat bread slices, which are my favourite, or use your own favourite, toasted if you like 

Directions:

• In a large bowl mash the eggs and fold in the avocado, celery, scallion, dill and parsley. 
• Stir in the mayonnaise, mustard, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. 
• Toast the bread slices and then top half of them with egg/avocado salad. 
• Add the lettuce and tomato and top with the rest of the bread.  
• Enjoy it!!!