Tex-Mex Vegetarian Lentil Chili

The theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs this week is Lentil Love -- so here is a yummy fall dish chock full of lentils, Tex-Mex Vegetarian Chili, from Madhur Jaffrey's book World Vegetarian.  I've had this book for years and not cooked much from it, so I am really looking forward to the next six months with IHCC cooking her recipes.

Tex-Mex Vegetarian Chili
adapted from Madhur Jaffrey -- World Vegetarian

3 tablespoons canola or olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped (I used roasted garlic cloves that I mashed)
1/2 large green pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped (I forgot to add this!)
1/4 to 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin seeds
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled sage
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup lentils, picked over and washed (I used red lentils, which cook down a lot, the recipe doesn't specify a specific lentil)
1 cup cooked dried or canned kidney beans
2 to 3 canned plum tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoons yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 cups corn (frozen or canned would work, my addition)

Put the oil in a medium pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the onion, garlic, green pepper, and jalapeno. Stir and fry for about 3 minutes or until the seasonings just start to brown. Turn down the heat to medium-low and continue to saute for another 3 minutes. Now put in the cumin, paprika, thyme, sage, oregano, and cayenne. Stir briskly once or twice and put in the lentils, 4 and 1/2 cups of water, the red kidney beans, plum tomatoes, cilantro leaves, and salt.

At this point I thought it would be nice to add some corn and used 1 can of sweet corn kernels, rinsed and drained. 

Bring to a boil. Cover, turn the heat down to low, and cook gently for 50 minutes.

Mix the cornmeal with 3 tablespoons water and then pour the mixture into the chili pot. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring now and then. Serves 4.

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This was a hearty and delicious late weekend lunch to watch a football game with.  I served it sprinkled with shredded cheddar and with some honey corn muffins (baked in my cast iron cactus pan) on the side.  All three of my kids ate this without complaint and the most surprising part was that picky husband even ate this, liked it, and had a second bowl!  He does not do meatless very often, and I was ready to make him something different, but he gave this vegetarian lentil chili and try and actually ate it, yay :) 

Red Lentil Soup With Pasta -- Random Recipe #5

Even though this soup is not the prettiest soup out there, it sure was a delicious lunch! Lentil Soup with Pasta was my 5th Random Recipe. I was excited when I randomly picked this book...

from my bookshelf; Williams Sonoma Food Made Fast: Pasta. This book came out in 2006 so I've had it for a while but never cooked anything from it before. I'm a sucker for pasta cookbooks since I'm such a pasta fan and I find them hard to resist purchasing. After I picked this book for Random Recipe #5 I was hoping to get a nice creamy comforting pasta dish, or maybe something with a fresh tasting veggie sauce, like what is pictured on the cover.

No such luck, my random recipe was Lentil Soup with Pasta...honestly the photo in the book doesn't look appetizing to me, and I think mine looks worse than that one, oh-well. It didn't sound bad or anything, I enjoy lentil soup, it just wasn't reaching out to the pasta lover in me, and after picking a pasta cookbook I was really in a pasta mood. I did make a couple of small changes to the recipe, leaving out the pancetta, adding extra carrots and celery, and swapping brown lentils for red lentils, noted below.

Lentil Soup with Pasta

adapted from Williams Sonoma Food Made Fast: Pasta
15 minutes hands-on time, serves 4 (I think it serves more like 6)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 oz pancetta or bacon (I left this off)
Yellow onion, 1 small, chopped (I left this off and added 1 tsp of onion powder)
Garlic, 2 large cloves, minced
Carrot, 1 finely chopped (I used 2)
Celery, 1 stalk, finely chopped (I used 2)
Fresh sage, 1 tablespoon, minced (I used about 1/2 teaspoon dried sage)
Lentils, 2 cups (I used red, color is not specified but in the photo they are brown lentils)
Canned whole plum (Roma) tomatoes, 1 cup, chopped, with juice (I used the whole 14 ounce can)
Chicken Broth, 6 cups, plus more if needed (I used vegetarian vegetable broth, and about 2 extra cups)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Tubettini, ditalini, or other small soup pasta, 1/4 pound

1. Make the soup base. In a large pot over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the pancetta and saute until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and sauce and saute until the vegetables are softened, about 3 minutes.

2. Cook the lentils. Stir in the lentils and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the broth, and bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt (I used 1 teaspoon), reduce the heat the medium-low, and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are nearly tender, 30-40 minutes. Add more broth if the soup starts to dry out. (Okay, I have to note that the red lentils do cook quicker than brown, so they will be over done if you cook them for 30 minutes, mine were over done, I completely forgot they cook quicker. Not a big deal, they were still tasty, but they had broken down a bunch by the time the soup was ready to eat and the pasta was cooked.)

3. Cook the pasta. Add the pasta to the lentils. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the pasta is not quite al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions. The pasta will continue to cook in the heat of the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

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I made this for a weekend lunch and it was a huge hit with myself and all three finicky kids. It smelled delicious while cooking and was a perfect warm and hearty stick-to-your-ribs kind of soup for a cold winter day. Picky husband said it was "consumable" but did not love it or anything like the kids and I did, not sure why. It went perfectly with some homemade bread with butter on the side. The kids were requesting second helpings and claiming leftovers, which almost never happens, so I'd say this is a kid friendly recipe for sure.

I would make it again, knowing that I would have to add more broth or water (a few cups worth at least) and also cook the lentils for a shorter time if I used red ones again. I was happy to use some of my imported Italian tubettini as the pasta, my daughter just loves the name of that pasta so it was a novelty to her since she'd been wanting to use it ever since I bought it a few months ago. Next time I think I would cook the pasta separately and just add it to the bowls before serving, but this way worked fine too. Even though this soup was not going to win any contests for looks, it had a great flavor and if something can have all my kids requesting leftovers, I think it's a winner. It was nice to try a recipe I probably would have never picked to cook if it hadn't been my Random Recipe :)

My Kitchen My World -- India

For the month of June, My Kitchen My World traveler Margaret at Tea and Scones picked India as our destination -- what fun! I love Indian food but my husband is not a fan and my kids are hit or miss with it, so I don't get to make it that often. I was very excited to try a couple of new Indian recipes for June's MKMW destination. For dinner I tried this recipe for Red Lentil Curry and served it with imported basmati rice, yum!


This dish was a little spicy and only my three year old son and I liked it. My two older kiddos and my husband were not fans of the red lentil curry, I anticipated this outcome so the curry was just a side dish for them and I made them a separate main meal.

For dessert I tried something totally new to me, an Indian dessert called badusha, typically served during Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Badusha starts as a soft dough and is then shaped and deep fried. After frying, the badusha is soaked in a sugar syrup for about 10 minutes before serving. Only my youngest and I liked these desserts, my older two were not fans and my picky husband would not even try a bite. They are definitely a different sort of treat, I was hoping these would mimic some milk balls in syrup that I've had at Indian restaurants but they weren't quite the same, these were more delicate, but still quite delicious.

This was such a fun destination, please check out My Kitchen My World to see what everyone else cooked up :)

Here is my post from our first visit to India in September 2008: MKMW -- India

My Kitchen My World -- Ethiopia

This week My Kitchen My World got to try some Ethiopian cuisine, thank you Elra and Lauren. I had heard quite a bit about Ethiopian food but never had any. I made an amazing bread that we all loved, Ethiopian Honey Bread Aka Yemarina Yewotet Dabo. The directions are very vague so I just went with the ingredient list and found my own way with the baking and rising, I ended up baking it for 30 minutes at 350 and it was perfect! The spices were lovely and the honey made it just a touch sweet. I was debating the coriander amount, one tablespoon of any spice seems like way too much, but I had it on hand and thought, well, what if it really makes this recipe, so I went with the whole tablespoon and was not disappointed or overwhelmed with the coriander in the finished loaf. The kids, my mom, my husband, and myself all loved this bread -- a very rare occurrence around here, since we are a house of picky eaters. I can tell that this will be a new family favorite bread.

I also made an Ethiopian lentil dish, Berbere Stew, which was delicious. I loved that it had the spice mixture for berbere since pre-blended is not something I can find around here. The only spice I was missing was fenugreek, and I hadn't heard about that since I was taking it as a supplement a year and a half ago. While I was taking it as a supplement I had no idea it was also a spice.

I really enjoy the spices and flavors of both of these recipes and can't wait to try some more Ethiopian foods! I am really close to ordering some teff flour so I can make injera which sounds like something I'd really enjoy. What a fun MKMW pick :)