Lentil Soup with Plantains

Now that I've recovered from my Thanksgiving-induced food coma, it's time to get cooking again.  Tonight I tried a new recipe for Lentil Soup with Plantains.  Plantains--the starchier relative of the banana--are delicious when prepared on their own (in fact, I had some fried plantains over the weekend at a Cuban restaurant in Jersey City), so combining them with lentils, another great staple food, seemed like a good idea.

A bowl of thick, hearty soup.

Note: Plantains can be used at any stage of ripeness, but this recipe is best made with plantains whose peels are turning black.

Recipe:
Lentil Soup with Plantains

• 6 cloves garlic, minced and divided in half
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 5/8 teaspoon ground thyme
• 8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1.5 cups lentils
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 ripe plantains, peeled and diced
• 3 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3/4 cup chopped cilantro

 

First, in a large soup pot, bring half of the garlic and all of the cinnamon, cloves, thyme, and vegetable broth to a boil.  Stir in the lentils and cook for 15 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté the onion for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the plantains, carrots, and salt.  Continue sautéing for 10 minutes, or until the plantains are golden.  Then stir in the remaining garlic and the allspice; cook for three more minutes. 

 

Add the plantain mixture to the lentil pot and simmer for 15 minutes.  Finally, stir in half of the cilantro and remove from heat.

 

Garnish with remaining cilantro and serve hot.  Yields 4-5 servings. 

Comments:
Taste:            

The flavors in this soup are both deep and complex.  The lentils, carrots, and onions create a nice, savory base; then, the spices come together with the plantains' subtle sweetness to add a little something extra. And finally, to top it all off, the cilantro adds some welcome freshness.  Rachel noted that the soup's texture was a little off (it had absorbed most of the liquid by the time she ate it).

Accessibility:            

Plantains grow all year long in tropical places, so it should be easy to find them in the produce section of the grocery store (welcome to the 21st century).  If you have trouble finding fresh cilantro, you can leave it out or add another herb. 

 Ease of Preparation:      

I wrote the recipe above to involve a lot of (time-saving) multitasking.  If you'd rather take it slow, you could start cooking the onions and plantains first; then, begin to cook the lentils, and finally, combine them together. 

Non-vegan friendliness:           

This is a really hearty, filling, and interesting dish.  I'd be confident serving it to anyone. 

Koshari

I first had koshari--a popular Egyptian street food--while visiting my brother when he was studying abroad in Cairo.  This traditionally-vegetarian dish combines a bunch of staple foods into one, resulting in a satisfying, though starchy, meal. 

Koshari: So many components, so few vegetables.

Recipe:    
Koshari

• 1 - 14.5 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1.5 cups white rice (plus water to cover)
• 1.5 cups lentils (plus water to cook)
• 1 pinch salt, or to taste
• 1 pinch pepper, or to taste 
• 8 ounces ditalini pasta (plus water to cook)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 - 14 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter
• 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 small package or can French fried onions

 

First, marinate the chickpeas.  Combine the chickpeas, vinegar, and spices in a container with a tight-fitting lid.  Store the container in the refrigerator while preparing the rest of the dish, shaking occasionally to stir up the chickpeas.  

 

Next, in a small bowl, combine the rice with enough cold water to cover and allow to soak.  After 20 minutes, carefully drain the rice.   

 

Meanwhile, add the lentils to a medium saucepan and add enough water to more than cover the lentils.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring the lentils to a boil and cook until tender (about 30 minutes, depending on the type of lentils you use).  If all of the water is absorbed before they are finished cooking, add a bit more water. 

As the lentils cook, prepare the pasta according to package instructions.  When the pasta is done cooking, drain and set aside. 

As all of these ingredients cook, prepare the tomato sauce.  Heat the olive oil and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the oil becomes hot, stir in the onion and sautè for about 5 minutes.  Add the crushed tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.  Reduce the heat to low and allow the sauce to simmer until the rest of the dish is ready. 

Once the rice has soaked for 20 minutes, you can begin to cook the rice.  Melt the vegan butter in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Add the rice to the pot and fry, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.  (Don't be too concerned if the rice starts to stick--the vegetable broth will deglaze the pan).  Add the vegetable broth while stirring, and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook until the liquid has been absorbed (about 18 minutes).

Finally, when all of these components are ready, mix the rice and lentils together.  To serve, spread the pasta over the rice and lentil mixture and top with chickpeas, tomato sauce, and the French-fried onions.

 

Yields 8 servings.

Comments:

Taste:          

This is a really tasty dish with a rich yet earthy flavor.  Ours came out a bit mushy (I think we overcooked the rice by a few minutes), but the chickpeas and French-friend onions add some nice textural variation.  Overall, it was a pretty heavy dish.  

Accessibility: 

This dish makes use of numerous easy to find staple foods.  It would be a great dish to make in the winter when high-quality fresh ingredients are scarce.

 Ease of Preparation:       

There are many pieces to the koshari puzzle, as you can see.  However, most of the ingredients can cook at the same time; or, you could even make the lentils, rice, and pasta a day in advance.  Once all of the components are cooked, the assembly is quite easy. 

Non-vegan friendliness:      

This dish is extremely substantive.  I wouldn't serve this as a one-pot meal, however, as it's quite blatantly missing vegetables of any kind. 

Spiced Lentils

Last night we broke away from our usual one-pot meal in favor of --get this--a three part meal.  What can I say?  It was the weekend and we were feeling adventurous!  (Plus, I was really craving some dark green leafy vegetables.)  So, we made a delicious dinner of Spiced Lentils and Sautéed Rainbow Chard over brown rice.

Simple yet delicious.

Recipe:
Spiced Lentils

• 2 cups dried lentils (we used green lentils)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 5.5 cups water
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander 
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• 1 teaspoon salt

First, sort and rinse the lentils, removing any stones or other debris.  Next, heat the oil and garlic in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  When the oil becomes hot, add the onion and cumin and cook, stirring frequently, for about 4 minutes.  Then add the water, lentils, and remaining spices and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the lentils are cooked (they should be mushy but still retain their shape) and most of the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. 

Serve hot over brown rice.  Yields about 6 servings.

 Comments:
Taste:      

As I said above, this dish is both simple and delicious.  There's really not a lot going on, and yet the dish's mild, earthy, savory flavor is really satisfying.  Plus, it has a good, not-too-mushy texture as the lentils don't cook down into mush.  I left a little bit of liquid in the lentils instead of cooking it all out to create a sort of broth for the rice, but if you don't want that, just reduce the water a bit. 

Accessibility:   

We actually wanted to make this dish with red lentils (they cook faster), but we couldn't find them at Giant.  (That's really a big downfall of doing a lot of our shopping at a big box store--we have a lot of trouble finding "alternative," non-meat proteins.)  Nonetheless, green lentils were easy to find, along with everything else in the dish.

 Ease of Preparation:   

This recipe makes use of few ingredients and few cooking techniques.  It does take a while to cook lentils and rice, but there's definitely a lot of down-time.       

Non-vegan friendliness:  

I know that Simon finds dishes like this to be a little unsubstantial, and it's true: there aren't many calories in this dish and it takes a lot to fill you up.  That said, lentils are such a basic ingredient that anybody should like this dish.  Lentils are a great source of protein, too, so there's a great reason to eat a lot of them!

Lentil Veggieballs

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I decided to try a recipe from the New York Times' Well's Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe series tonight.  (There are a ton of good recipes on the site.  I'd definitely recommend checking it out!)  I made the lentil veggieballs--also known as a vegan version of meatballs.  Follow this link to the original recipe for the balls: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/01/health/20111101_vegetarian_thanksgiving.html#Veggie_Balls, though I'll paste it below in order to include my own additions and veganizations.
  
Recipe:  
Lentil Veggieballs

• 2 cups lentils
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced (or, if you can't find button mushrooms, use another variety of small, white mushrooms)
• The equivalent of 3 eggs (I used Ener-G Egg Replacer powder)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

1. Combine the lentils and 2 quarts water in a medium stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the lentils are soft but not falling apart, about 25 minutes. Drain the lentils and allow to cool.
2. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil to a large frying pan and sauté the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme and salt over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and just beginning to brown. Add the tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently until all the liquid is absorbed. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Add the egg-equivalents, bread crumbs, parsley, walnuts, and cooked lentils to the cooled vegetables and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated. Place in the refrigerator for 25 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil into a 9- x 13-inch baking dish and use your hand to evenly coat the entire surface.
5. Roll the lentil-veggie mixture into round, 1.5 inch balls, making sure to pack the mixture firmly. Place the balls in the prepared baking dish, allowing 1/4-inch of space between the balls.
6. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through. Allow the meatballs to cool for 5 minutes in the baking dish before serving.

Yield: About 2 dozen 1.5-inch meatballs.

Comments:

The bad news is that this recipe proves my mom right when she says that vegan cooking is labor-intensive.  It definitely took over 2 hours to make the balls from start to finish.  Even though some of that time was down time (cooking the lentils, baking the balls), there was still a lot of chopping involved.  Rachel went out to dinner tonight and Simon worked pretty late, but luckily Rachel arrived home in time to help me out!    

The good news is that this recipe proves me right when I say that vegan cooking is extra nutritious.  These balls replace red meat with a hearty combination of protein-heavy lentils and walnuts along with plenty of vegetable nutrition.  I definitely felt satisfied eating them.

Simon and I ate them as lentil veggieball subs tonight, meaning we put the balls on rolls and topped with tomato sauce.  In my opinion, the lentil veggieballs were pretty good.  Not great, but I'm glad to have tried them and I enjoyed eating them.  They're not very crispy or firm--as I remember meatballs being--but they have a good flavor.  Simon's non-vegan opinion was that they were okay, but he thought they taste more like baked falafel than meatballs.  (Still, he did have seconds.)   

We made extra lentil veggieballs so we can have whole wheat spaghetti and lentil veggieballs tomorrow night.  We plan to make the Well's spinach-basil pesto tomorrow night to go with the spaghetti, so here's the recipe for that:  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/01/health/20111101_vegetarian_thanksgiving.html#Spinach-Basil_Pesto.  I'll let you all know how the pesto ends up tasting tomorrow night!