Weekend hiatus

The results of the healthy food contest are in, and I won Best Meal! A strong endorsement of my chicken and chickpea curry. I insist that my dish was also the healthiest, but as it did not taste particularly healthy, that went to ants-on-a-log instead (you see what I was up against. The ants-on-a-log were delicious though. Classics are classics for a reason).

Friday afternoon I was exhausted (post-exam) and hungry, so I made a vegetarian stew that I will claim is the healthiest, easiest, and cheapest delicious stew out there, though not particularly refined. Once you have a well-stocked cupboard, it doesn't even require a trip to the grocery store.

Vegetarian stew from the cupboard (inspired by this Persian stew from Serious Eats):

• 6 kale leaves, washed and chopped (or other vegetable, such as tomatoes or peppers)
• 1 tbsp ground cumin (or other spice, such as curry or chili powder)
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 cup lentils, cooked
• 1 cup chickpeas, cooked
• 1 cup brown rice, cooked
• juice of 1 lemon
• handful of chopped parsley (or cilantro or scallions, etc.)
• hot sauce and/or sour cream for seasoning -- this stew is an extremely flexible base and could be seasoned with a variety of things
• 1 tbsp canola or olive oil
• salt & pepper

I cooked the rice, lentils, and chickpeas the night before.

On medium-high heat, heat canola oil in a large soup pot, then add garlic, ginger, and onion. Saute until translucent, then add cumin and stir a few minutes until fragrant (you may need to add some water to keep everything from burning). Add the kale; once it has cooked down a bit, add the rice and beans. Cover with water and simmer on low-medium heat for 15-30 minutes. Add lemon juice and chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with hot sauce and/or sour cream.

                                                   Before:                                   After:

My excuse for not blogging this weekend: