Meatless Monday Sixteen!

Namaste.

Indian again?

That’s what he said. He being Charlie, who contends that he doesn’t know where I got the idea he loves Indian food. Truth is, I think if I keep telling him that he loves it, he’ll actually start believing me.

Which would be convenient, since the rest of us are deeply, madly in love with it.

Here’s my theory on the attraction of Indian: going meatless for a meat-loving family is hard. Not because we can’t get filled up on stuff that doesn’t contain meat, but because I want to make truly vegetarian fare — not pancakes! With no experience in vegetarian eating, I try to seek out interesting recipes.

Like Thai. LOVE Thai food. So I could make a curry, right? No. Cuz I end up thinking… “oh. I wish this had chicken thighs in it….”

Or Japanese/Chinese. LOVE Japanese/Chinese. So I could make a noodle/broth dish, or a stir fry, right? No…. Cuz I find that I am not a huge fan of vegetable broth. (Still haven’t made my own, so I am reserving final judgement on this.) So, soups are out, at least for now. Stir fries are OK, but I still haven’t found a wining tofu recipe yet that will convince Dave and Charlie that it is legitimate food.

The problem is, most of the food and recipes I gravitate to have a taste history I am already familiar with. And I find myself missing that which is missing: chicken, bacon, broth, pork, etc.

Whereas, Indian is new! I have none of those biases. Not to mention the bold seasonings don’t require chicken broth! Win. Win. WIN. Love Indian food and don’t miss the meat. Now, I just need to find other ethnicities that are like that. Maybe African? Jamaican? Creole? Anyone got any bizarre suggestions for me along those lines?

I made this week’s recipe up, sort of melding a few together. I realize now that I really didn’t take any pictures and have since horked down the leftovers, spaz that I am. So I’ll just describe it. Some readers will be thankful, as I have been receiving feedback that my photos of Meatless Mondays are ‘sick.’

Nutty Dal and Rice on Naan

I did the usual spice mix, of heating oil and tossing in cumin and mustard seeds and quickly covering the pan before they pop all over the place. Then added onion and garlic (instead of asefetid…. can’t remember how to spell it), garam masala, coriander, turmeric, cardomom.

Then I added diced potatoes and cooked for a long time to soften. Added the cooked lentils. Then I added about 3/4 cup of rough-chopped peanuts. I wished I had some cilantro, but didn’t.

I also made some dough for naan and let rise for about 2 hours, while everyone was at soccer. They didn’t get home until almost 8:30pm. I have no idea where I was and why I didn’t have dinner ready and waiting when they got back, but I didn’t. It was a scramble. So instead of rolling each piece of naan into a ball and resting and blah blah blah, I cut the dough in two, rolled it flat and threw the two pieces into the oven like that. It worked great.

The meal was delicious, even if the one photo I took of it isn’t:

I feel the need to boast that in the last 9 days, we’ve had 4 meatless dinners (Dave worked another baked potato dinner in last night) and I’ve had at least 5 meatless lunches! Why, I’m practically a vegetarian!

Well… if you ignore the fact that I’m looking for a local place to buy a whole lamb, that is…