Tag Archives: Lentils

Masala Vadai

Recipe for how to make this tasty, South Indian fried lentil snack called vada or vadai.

Masala Vadai

A few days ago, Nate and I were walking in Kuching’s version of a strip mall (more like a row of shop lots) looking for Christmas presents for our kids and we bumped into an Indian lady selling snacks outside a store. She spoke to me in Hokkien (a Chinese dialect) which surprised me. I guess she must have lived here a good long time and have interacted with enough Chinese here to pick up the language. I bet her Hokkien is better than mine!

Anyway, she was selling vadai and some steamed chickpeas. Nate had been craving vadai for a long time so we happily snapped up some to munch on as we walked around shopping. Though they were tasty, they lacked the curry leaves that Nate loves dearly and they just didn’t have any heat to them. That is one problem with living here in Kuching—people don’t enjoy their food too spicy. My heat tolerance has probably gone down a lot since getting here. And being that this lady was local to Kuching, she has also tempered her food to match the local tastebuds.

Feeling somewhat deprived of good vadai, I decided it was time to try to make some of my own. I’ve had a Southern Indian cookbook that I bought many years ago that I’ve never gotten around to cooking from and I decided that it was time to look at the recipes again. True enough, there was a section on snacks and there was not just one recipe for vadai but several recipes.

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Barley and Lentil Soup with Swiss Chard

Barley and Lentil Soup with Swiss Chard

In a time when the economy has been a challenge for most everyone, I’ve been reading about different suggestions on how to live more frugally. One way is to cook at home more. Well, I’ve always done that and I’ve always tried to be smart about buying produce in season (which are normally on sale and also fresher) and stocking up when meats go on sale.

But I also firmly believe that eating cheaply doesn’t mean giving up on flavor or variety. I think that if we all just chose to cook more from scratch and use less processed or packaged foods, we’d be able to stretch our money further and also live a healthier life.

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Chicken with Vinegar & Onions, Warm French Lentil Salad with Smoked Sausage

Since this week is our 2nd Bloggerversary, we’re giving you two recipes for double the French bistro pleasure!

Chicken with Vinegar & Onions, Warm French Lentil Salad with Smoked Sausage

Chicken with Vinegar & Onions, Warm French Lentil Salad with Smoked Sausage

I was trying to decide which was my favorite season and like with most things, I couldn’t decide. I’m such a "in-the-moment" kind of girl that I end up loving whatever season it is. Right now, I’m loving Fall.

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Dhal

Annie wanted to make some rendang chicken and I said, you can’t have just rendang chicken without the coconut rice and dhal! So instead of a single, easy dish, I coerced her into preparing this Malaysian feast.

Start a pot of lentils (1/2 cup) going. Season with 1 tsp turmeric powder, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp ginger, garlic and shallot paste. Toss some mustard seed, fennel seed, cumin seed, a stick of cinnamon and 2 chile peppers in oil and fry until fragrant. Add in half a red onion, sliced and a tbsp of curry powder.

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