Sweet & Pungent

I can’t stop making Indian food. It’s all I ever want to make. This is why: The starter for a red dal recipe (here)… onion, ginger, garlic, hot green chili. How can anything that starts with this is the pan not be fantastic. Well, provided it’s plant based. Do I have to even say this? I just don’t think of animal as food at all, but I guess you might.

So what would I be eating with a mound of red dal? I used the amazing Vegan Richa‘s recipe for sweet and pungent pumpkin, so I finally got out to Brooklyn food staple Sahadi’s (omg, they are going to expand in Industry City!) and bought some of the spices that, in their absence, had me defaulting to other recipes. I got Mango Amchur Powder, a sour and tangy spice from unripe mangos, and Whole Fenugreek, a libido enhancer evidently. They would pair up with some other spices in Richa’s recipe to absolute perfection. She really is the best.

Oh, I used acorn squash for the whole no need to peel thing. That and it’s my favorite squash. (As usual with cutting squash, I sustain a knife nick on the tip of my thumb which I didn’t see till the bright blood ran down the knife. Thankfully I was only contaminating my own food!

And I made more date tamarind sauce, another Richa recipe. This lunch kicks butt!

And if this snow storm hits like the news says then I will be enjoying it at home during a Snow Day!