Indian Red Lentil Soup- Dal

Whaaa! I can't believe that I haven't been able to find the time to post something for over a week. I am a bad bad blogger but things have been a bit hectic here. After several months of no movement on  relocating back to the UK it is suddenly all go and we should be back in London by the end of the month. This has meant much running around, organizing things, cleaning, packing and much list making (I do love a good list). I did however find time to make some lentil dal which is one of my favorite comfort foods. Although I normally cook this down to a thicker consistency and have it with rice or indian bread I decided to enjoy it the lighter way and eat it as a soup. Although there are quite a few ingredients you can omit some of the spices if you don't have them. I would say that your would need either onion, garlic or ginger along with yellow curry powder and cumin seeds but that everything else just adds to the dish.

I have to admit that I am not sure I will be posting much for a few weeks. I am intending on using as much of the food in my cupboards as possible before we leave and I not sure how inspiring that will be. We also don't have anywhere to live as such and will be relying on the kindness of friends and family for a while. I am looking forward to eating some good British food (and no that isn't a typo, we really have lifted our game in recent years). I am also thrilled  at the idea of not having to cooking in 30 degree/80F + heat and 80% humidity. So au revoir for a little while.

Dairy Free- Indian Style Rice Pudding- Kheer

This recipe came about as I had been attempting to make rice milk and ended up with a big pile of partly blended, soupy cooked rice. I was wondering what on earth to do with all this. First off I used a small amount of it as congee for breakfast but that still left a fair bit left sat in the fridge. I decided to try to make a creamy Indian style dessert as J loves these even though they are often dairy based which he cannot eat. I used coconut cream to add richness and flavoured it with cardamon and cinnamon. I topped it with sultanas and chopped nuts and served cold.

Vegetable Koftas with Creamy Coconut Curry

When I saw Barbara's, of Tiger and Strawberries blog, recent post on tender lamb koftas it awakened a cravings for a dish which represents my first foray into Indian food as a young child- vegetable koftas in a sweet korma sauce. This dish from our local Indian restaurant was a perfect introduction, tasty little potato dumplings wrapped in a chickpea batter in a smooth creamy sauce. This recipe is a more grown up version with a bit more heat and spice. It is an adapted recipe from Madhur Jaffery's -Eastern Vegetarian Cooking and I was also inspired by how Manjula made her Cabbage Koftas.

Although this dish is a little fiddly it is worth the effort and what's morethe koftas and curry sauce can be made separately the day before and then heated up together just before serving. Perfect if you are having guests around and curry always tastes better the second day after the flavours have mixed together.