Quinoa Soup

1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Tbl olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
4 c veggie or chicken stock
1 c uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1 small (starchy) diced potato
1 tomato, diced
1 c frozen corn (or one cob, stripped)
salt
pepper
chopped cilantro
fresh lime

optional: 1 c shredded, cooked chicken

In a large, heavy pot, sauce the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Add the cumin and sauté another minute. Stir in quinoa. Add chopped potato, tomato, and 1/2 of the liquid (2 cups).

Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes, until potato is fork tender and the quinoa has opened up.

Add the remaining liquid and corn, season with salt and pepper. If you want to add chicken, do it here.

Bring back up to a simmer and serve garnished with cilantro and lime wedge squeezed into the soup.

Dahl

1 1/2 TBSP butter

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 small dried chilies

1 Tbl sofrito

1 1/2 c red lentils (they're really orange)

4 c water

salt to taste

Soften the onions in the butter, then add the chillies and cumin seeds and saute until fragrant. Stir in the turmeric to coat the onions and cook another minute. Add remaining ingredients and simmer covered for 30-40 minutes. Stir briskly to break up the lentils before serving.

An easy, VEGAN Middle Eastern one-dish meal

This is a HUGE portion (feeds 4-6) of amazingly cheap and delicious food. It's called M’jedrah, but we just call it lentils and rice. For this recipe, I've added spinach, which is not original but quite tasty.

2 cups brown rice

1 cup picked over, washed, rinsed brown lentils

2 onions, cut in half and very finely sliced

5 cups water

1/4 to 1/3 cup (4-6 Tbs) good olive oil

box of frozen, chopped spinach (10 oz)

sea salt

fresh cracked black pepper

Pick over your lentils to make sure there are no twigs or pebbles or other un-eatable things in there. Rinse them multiple times in a strainer to minimize scum later on.

Put the wet lentils in the bottom of a decent sized rice pot or rice cooker bowl. Add the brown rice on top. Top off with the water. On the stove, bring to a boil and then simmer for 40-50 minutes; alternatively just turn on your trusty rice cooker.

Start thinly slicing those onions. It’ll take a while.

Heat the oil in a large saute or fry pan over medium-low, yes, it looks like a lot, just do it.

Start defrosting your spinach in the microwave.

Cook those onions, all of them, they’ll all fit, promise. The idea is to get just shy of caramelizing them, so keep an eye on them, stirring occasionally.



Over season the olive oil cooking onions, they’re carrying the seasoning for the whole dish.

While the rice and lentils are getting happy together, and the onions sauteing, get your spinach out of the microwave and then squeeze it out (don't forget to occasionally stir the onions). I squeeze it in little fist fulls. Some people use a strainer. Whatever.

When the rice/lentil mixture is done, test it to make sure the rice is cooked through. Add the spinach to the rice (don't stir yet), then pour all the onions and oil onto the rice. Stir well. Check seasoning. Eat! It tastes great as leftovers too.

Feel free to mess with the seasoning. Towards the end of the caramelazation process, maybe add a 1/2 tsp of cumin and/or coriander.

The photo above is what your rice and lentils should look like before you add your spinach and onions.