We made this Chana dal last week and saved some extra portions for dinner today. Like many stews this one got even better having sat around for a few days. It is really nice to have a dinner where all you need to do is heat it up!
Just by changing up the spices I turned my Asian vegetables and eggs to a dish with Italian flavors. On the base of my bowl I used raw kale then I stir-fried carrots, celery, mushrooms, broccoli, and cabbage in some olive oil with garlic powder and oregano. I also tossed in some chives from the backyard because I was too lazy to cut up and onion. To go on top I scrambled two eggs in a separate pan.
I think I like the Asian flavoring better but this was an interesting twist to Breakfast For Dinner that was getting a bit too predictable!
Our son came over today to play tennis with John and afterwards we picked up banh mi from Lee’s Sandwiches which is a Vietnamese chain here in California. I love banh mi with its delicate crunchy roll and its pickled vegetables and it’s my favorite choice when we get take-out. I ate the whole sandwich so it put constraints on the rest of my eating day.
For dinner I had the soup I made a few days ago and have been eating for lunch. It is a vegetable soup with some chicken added. Every day I take a portion of it and add a little more chicken and chicken stock plus some fresh vegetables. Today’s freshening included celery, broccoli, and cabbage. With the cabbage addition, a little vinegar seemed like a good idea. It gave the soup a nice tang. I had enough for two bowls and enjoyed it immensely.
We go back and forth about which of our dal dishes we like better, Afghani dal or Chana dal. I think our favorite is whatever we are currently eating! It is amazing how much flavor you can build with just a few pantry spices, ginger, garlic, dried split chickpeas, a couple of cans of tomatoes, and water.
We make this dish in our Instant Pot. It cooks under pressure for 15 minutes and then we let it cool down naturally for 10 minutes before releasing the rest of the steam. To serve I put a layer of shredded kale in the bottom of the bowl followed by rice. I used cauliflower rice and John had regular white rice. The Chana dal goes on top. I like a little sriracha as a garnish.
Mmm, so good! And since we made a triple recipe there is plenty left over for dinner on Monday!!
Here is a link to a good basic recipe for Chana dal using an Instant Pot. https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-chana-dal/#recipe
This is the second of our special occasion for no reason dinners this week. And much like our pasta dinner on Wednesday it was delicious, quick to make, and easy (but, alas, not inexpensive.) Since the scallops take almost no time at all to cook, I started the vegetables in a 425F oven first. I split both the potatoes and the Brussels sprouts in half, tossed them with some EVOO and salt in a plastic ziplock bag, and laid them cut side up on an aluminum foil lined sheet pan. They took about 20 minutes. John was busy searing the scallops for the last 5 minutes.
I opened a bottle of Wente Chardonnay to accompany our dinner. It is lovely to treat yourself like a guest with a special dinner and a glass of wine!
I suggested to John last night that maybe we should have pasta with vegetables twice a week. It is delicious, quick, inexpensive, and easy. Plus it’s vegan! Really how many dinners can check all those boxes!
So I chopped up the mushrooms and got them going in a pan with dried oregano, chile flakes, and two teaspoons of olive oil. Next I chopped the onion while the mushrooms cooked. John minced some garlic. (Thanks, John!) Then he boiled the salted water while I chopped the broccolini stems and threw them in with the mushrooms et al. I added a little pasta water to help the stems along. John gave me a cup of the pasta water to use for sauce and he dumped in the cooked, drained pasta and I added the florets. Stir, stir, over heat, add some pasta water. Voila, we are done. Our kitchen pas de deux took maybe 20 minutes.
On Monday we bought some Chilean sea bass from Costco. It is a departure from our usual frozen pieces. It, being fish, needed to be eaten by at least the next day. John roasted the sea bass for about 20 minutes at 400F. It came out perfectly, succulent and sweet.
I was as usual on vegetable detail. Trader Joe’s had changed its usual butternut squash chunks into butternut squash crinkle fries. I decided to roast them in the oven at the same temperature as the fish. I also gave them a brief visit under the broiler at the end. Personally I like the chunks better and I hope that TJ’s will switch back. There just was not enough butternut squash in each bite.
Finishing up an easy vegetable job, I steamed the green beans for about 10 minutes. Since these were haricot vert the time in the steam bath was a little much and the beans were a little limper than I would have liked. My dinner companions said they were fine, especially with a small pat of butter on top.
All in all it was quite a nice, almost special occasion on a non-occasion day, dinner. It would have been even nicer with a chilled bottle of white burgundy but we are trying to be good this week.
The reason I call this sort of chicken piccata is because we did not start out with a butter sauce. We used our stand-by, McCormack Chicken Gravy, to use as a base. Instead of making the mix with a cup of water John made it with 1/2 cup white wine and 1/2 cup water. In addition he added a good squeeze of lemon, some capers, and a tablespoon or so of sautéed, minced shallots. It was our lower calorie version of piccata. Having made the sauce/gravy John added the chicken which is also our stand-by, Costco rotisserie chicken white meat pack.
Meanwhile I was busy with the vegetables. The Vichy carrots I made were from a recipe by Pierre Franey who was a celebrity chef before the existence of Food Network. The carrots were slice length-wise with a mandolin and we cooked ours in 1/4 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, and garnished with chopped parsley. I substituted the brown sugar for white sugar and the olive oil for 2 tablespoons of butter. They came out really well and John said they were the star of the dinner.
Unfortunately my hands were not the stars of the kitchen as I managed to cut both of them on the mandolin! So I guess I would suggest using the guard when using a mandolin.
I did manage to cook the broccoli with some of the sautéed shallots without further incident.
Usually our dinners are protein, starch, and vegetables. This dinner featured two vegetables and a protein. Having the excellent carrots took the place of the starch. We did not miss it at all.
Another Sunday and I am trying to think of something appealing to do with my eggs. The best I could come up with was stir-frying a bunch of assorted vegetables and topping them with scrambled eggs. The vegetables I used are mushrooms, onions, carrots, celery, broccoli, and cabbage. I cooked the vegetables in one pan in the order listed above and I scrambled two eggs in a separate pan and laid them on top. The vegetables were seasoned with salt, granulated garlic, rogan josh, and soy sauce. I garnished the finished dish with sriracha.
This is another “get back to basics” week. We have a vacation coming up soon and want to be close to our goal weights before we leave.
Omnivore 