simple everyday red lentil soup & sticky date pudding

As mentioned in our last post, we have been sharing the dinner task with Ahal, Stacey’s brother-in-law. His efforts at feeding 14, continue to astound and amaze us. Last night, in the space of 2 hours after spending all day at Australia Zoo, he whipped up home-made cheese and herb flatbread, marinaded tofu kebabs, crusty, roast hedgehog potatoes, a cumin lentil and rice salad, and a green salad. Amazing…..this all is created by a man with an impressive collection of 800 cookbooks or thereabouts and devours these as bedtime reading. Debbie, his wife, tells us she goes to bed hungry, dreaming of delectable desserts.

This post will highlight two dishes from our ‘turn’ – spicy red lentil soup and sticky date pudding. Both dishes were a hit; we knew they must have been, as Ahal insisted on having the recipes. Other dishes served were quinoa, grated apple, carrot and mung bean salad; a green salad; rosemary and sea salt potato wedges; guacamole; a grated raw beetroot, crumbled feta and mint salad; parmesan toasts; and tomato and basil-infused feta salad.

simple everyday dal soup

An excellent soup that’s ready in 30 minutes, made with red lentil or split moong dal that is quick-cooking and easy to digest. Tasty, warming and simple. Served with a spoonful of brown rice or toasty bread. I love it served atop steamed kale leave or broccoli.

serves 4

ingredients

1 cup red lentils/yellow split moong dal

1 Tbsp ghee/oil

½ cup tomatoes, finely chopped 

2 Tbsp tomato paste

5 cups boiling water

1 Tbsp ghee/oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger

¼ tsp asafoetida powder

8 curry leaves

1 medium grated carrot

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

2 Tbsp lemon juice

preparation 

1. Place the dal in a bowl and rinse until the water runs clear. Cover the lentils with water, set aside, and allow them to soak while preparing the rest of the soup.
2. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat ghee/oil. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, cover, and simmer for 8 minutes so that the tomatoes soften and break up.
3. After the tomatoes have finished simmering, drain the dal and add it to the pan with boiling water. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the dal has softened and broken down.
4. Heat ghee in a small pan. Add the cumin seeds, ginger, curry leaves, and asafoetida. Fry for 1 minute and stir into the soup.
5. Add the grated carrot and simmer for 5 minutes, then season with salt and pepper; remove from heat and stir in the fresh lemon juice and chopped coriander.

Serve with a drizzle of ghee or oil and garnish with fresh coriander.

variation

Grated in half of a sweet potato

                               

STICKY DATE PUDDING WITH CARAMEL SAUCE

This recipe originally came from my mother-in-law, though I am unsure where she discovered this treasure. I used whole wheat flour and raw caster sugar to replace the refined ingredients. However, it was challenging to gauge the change in colour of the sauce as it was cooking, so next time, I would stick with the white caster sugar for the caramel sauce.

ingredients

260g fresh dates pitted, roughly chopped

1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

450 mL water

90g (⅓ cup) unsalted butter

260 g raw caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

260g (1 ¾ cups) wholewheat SR flour

caramel sauce

250g caster sugar

60 mL ¼ cup) water

250 mL (1 cup) cream, warmed

prepare the pudding

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease a ceramic or glass ovenproof dish (20 – 22cm).
2. On medium heat in a saucepan, bring dates and 450 mL water to boil, remove and add bicarbonate soda, mixing well to combine. Set aside to cool.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add vanilla and eggs, adding eggs one at a time, then on low speed, add half of the flour mixture, combining well. Very slowly, add the remaining flour until just combined.
4. Spoon mixture into dish. Bake 50 – 60 minutes or until it springs back to touch.

Serve with ice cream and drown in the caramel sauce or drizzled.

prepare the caramel sauce

5. Place sugar and water in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar, bring to a boil, then boil without stirring, until the syrup becomes a light golden colour.
6. Remove from heat and carefully add the warm cream, whisking until combined. Return to heat and whisk until the caramel is smooth.
7. Strain through a fine sieve, then set aside until required.