From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

That's kind of you to say ladysummerisle. It wasn't too bad - I have the 'ordinary' lentil dhal off pat, and can make it reasonably quickly (I don't measure). I was intrigued to try the potato dish, and I think that although I changed how I did it, (so it is in no way authentic), I think it produced a nice 'different' curry, that will make it's way into our rotation (I didn't use cherry tomatoes, just tinned chopped tomatoes). I thought the carrot & beetroot dhal would have been more coloured by the beetroot than in fact it was - which was slightly disappointing, and yet LG ate it, no bother. They're not a huge fan of beetroot (getting better, but still not totally into it). As a dhal, it didn't take too long to make, and again, my curiosity carried me through. The pumpkin curry was out of the freezer, so that was an out and out cheat 😁

There was dhal and rice left over, so the next curry plate is half made iyswim.

Funnily enough, I was just reading up about a chef (how so very unlike me…. 🙄😂), and they'd written a recipe book, that had the subtitle of American food, indian flavours - and I was thinking how that's a better way to describe my cooking. I often stray so far from a written recipe, or just take an ingredient as a starting point, that my food is better described as vegetables, pantry-fied than whatever the source recipe was named.

I've quick-soaked a load of chickpeas this morning, so I'm away to cook them in the PrC just now, so that I can freeze them in batches to cut down on meal prep time in the future.

Not too sure what to make for lunch. It was a 'soup day' this morning, but the sun is staring to peek through now, and it's warming.

I've been scanning the recipe books I got from the library to see if there are any more recipes to try. I have copied the beetroot dhal and Aloo Dum into my recipe index.

Greying X

lucielle

Afternoon GP, I’d love a link to the beetroot Dahl if possible

L

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81986476#Comment_81986476

Hey lucielle - unfortunately I can't find a link for the whole recipe ☹️ It's on pg 126 of Rukmini Iyer's 'India Express', and the only mention of it on the internet is partially on 'Happy Foodie' which gives a preview of half (?) the recipe ☹️

There are other beetroot and carrot dhal recipes (some have coconut milk as an ingredient too, which this recipe did), but all are subtlely different ☹️ Sorry.

EDIT - Dearest rt has found the precise recipe, see below ……..

Greying X

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim

Could this possibly be it? One of my AI's insists it is 🤪🤣 - but then again AI can't be trusted! It will insist black is white!

Beetroot, Carrot and Coconut Dal

• Servings: 4–6
• Total Time: ~1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

• Fresh Produce: 3 large raw beetroot (peeled), 2 large carrots (peeled), 1 large onion (thinly sliced), 2 inches ginger (finely grated).
• Storecupboard: 150g red lentils (rinsed), 500ml vegetable stock, 1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk, 2 tbsp olive or neutral oil.
• Spices: 2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander, ½ tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp mild chilli powder, 1 tsp sea salt flakes.
• To Serve: Juice of 2 limes, plus optional flatbreads or white rice.

Method

1. Sauté Aromatics: Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Fry the cumin seeds for 15–30 seconds until they smell aromatic. Add the onion and cook for 10 minutes (medium-low) until golden brown and starting to crisp.
2. Prep the Grated Base: While the onion cooks, grate 1 beetroot and 1 carrot. Slice the remaining 2 beetroots and 1 carrot into 5mm half-moons.
3. Fry Spices: Add the grated vegetables, ginger, salt, and all ground spices to the pan. Stir-fry for 3–5 minutes until the vegetables soften.
4. Simmer: Add the lentils, stock, and the sliced vegetable half-moons. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
5. Finish: Pour in the coconut milk and bring it back to a boil. Stir in the lime juice. If it's too thick, add a splash more stock. Season with extra salt as needed—beetroot often requires a generous amount.

Greying_Pilgrim

Yes rt - that is it. That didn't come up in the AI search that i made - it mentioned her recipe, and the key components (no measures), but not as a recipe. Good find, well done. Thank you 😁

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

So that's the holiday weekend done. DH spent most of it trying to fix his bike 🙄 I think he's managed it, but it meant we didn't do anything 'different'. I've spent no money mind, silver linings and all that.

Lunch was cheese salad sandwiches, which used up the last of the green box mini cucumbers

Tea was 3 bean (Black, Borlotti and Cannellini) chilli, which I made with tinned beans, a tub of HM tommie sauce and half of the jar of JO fajita sauce that I got for 49p in FF a few weeks ago. I also added in some red onion, celery, garlic, the last of the baby carrots that i had left in the freezer, some chopped coriander and some lime juice. We had it with brown rice, the last of the feta, crumbled (in place of Queso Fresco, which I didn't have), diced tomato and some toasted seeds, pumpkin (pepitas) and sunflower. The JO fajita sauce is flavoursome without being too firery, and whilst LG had pulled a bit of a face when they asked what we were having for tea, they ate everything up, no bother. There is a small portion of the chilli left over. Yoghurt and banana for pud.

This was DH's plate - I have no idea why it looks so mountainous, it didn't actually look like that in RL, it was much 'flatter' and a far more modest portion than it looks too. It was a made up recipe, and in no way authentic, but it did use frozen carrots, feta and half the fajita sauce. I've taken note of your advice, and I've actually put the last half of the fajita sauce in the freezer - as whilst LG ate the chilli today, I'm not sure we'll have a meal that will use up the remainder in the next few days. At least freezing it means we can use it up in the future.

I can't think of anything else that qualifies as MSE that I've done today.

Ta for popping by. Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Bright start with us, the setting moon was quite an eery sight this morning, surrounded by hazy clouds.

I've just had a look at the changes to the MrL app. Looks far too complicated to endlessly scroll through to find out what you can get for "free" with your points 🙄 I see I would have to spend £195 (or £95 from now), to get a 'free' block of tofu. I think I have been 'given' 100 points to start with, but I think it'll prove less useful to me as we go on. Still, can't blame anyone but myself, I hadn't signed up to the app before now, so can't bleat.

A wash of LG's clothes is on.

It's soup & pud Tuesday. I've an idea for the soup, but no idea currently about pud.

I'm pondering about schlepping over to the market town across the way, as I need a haircut. I could also dip into their MrL/MrAl and h3r0n. I could leave it until tomorrow when the food waste place is open, but they've changed their way of operating, and only seem to put out bread these days. I don't need white bread.

Snap is made.

Best shift-a-tail-feather.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Right, I'm back from the market town across the way. Bit of a waste of time today, although I got a haircut, which was the primary objective, so…….

I only had 1.5hrs in the car park, as i only had sufficient change for that time. I did drop lucky at the barbers, as I walked straight in with no one waiting. I did have a quick look in a couple of chazzers - nothing doing, and then realised that time was ticking, so popped to h3r0n and bee&eM. Nothing of interest there either. I didn't have time to go and have a look in MrAl and theRang3, but technically speaking, those visits can wait for another day/visit the Greying Town branches. The weather was changing, and it got even colder (guess who didn't think to take a coat), so I called it quits and drove home. i need to update my siggie figgie with the carpark/haircut spends.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

Tea is done. I ended up plumping for a version of Adasi (Persian Lentil Soup). It wasn't authentic, as I combined a couple of recipes I found - after the recipe that prompted me to make it, had brown rice in it, and I didn't want brown rice 2 nights on the bounce - even in different dishes. I didn't have the Adiveh spice that the recipe called for - although I do have a recipe for it, and I have made the mix before. So instead I used a mix that I picked up from one of Anissa Helou's cookery books - Lebanese 7 spice. I specifically made the Persian version of the soup - as whilst recipe formulations differ from family to family, region to region, the Persian version appears to use brown or green lentils. Middle eastern versions of the soup are more likely to use red lentils. I used THIS recipe as a source (the web page loaded really badly for me), and I did make Piaz Dagh (crispy onions) for the topping, with dried mint and I sprinkled sumac over too. I do not have any golpar (Persian Hogweed). So you can see quite clearly my version was 'in spirit' rather than a faithful recreation. I liked that this version had potato in it - and I would put more potato in, if I made it again.

If I made it again, I would use a stock cube from the start, I did add in garlic (some other recipes did, others didn't), and I would use more spices - I read in another recipe that you can be liberal with ground coriander, and I think the soup can take it. When I'd first cooked it, it was a little 'thin' taste wise. I added a stock cube, more coriander and cinnamon, a splash of red wine vinegar and the juice of 1 and a half lemons. I also added in some tomato puree - as, again, some recipes used it, others didn't. It was OK. I think I liked the idea of it more than the actual soup itself. But with tweaking, it was OK. DH liked it. LG appeared to like it, and ate their bowlful, although they didn't want any of the crispy onions on their soup.

Pud will be yoghurt, with banana, and DH brought home a little biscuit or cake or something, from work, so that will be divvied up between DH & LG.

The washing had mostly dried. I have put it on the airer, it should be ready to fold away tomorrow.

I don't think I've done anything else MSE today.

Greying X

greenbee

Absolutely shocked that you didn't happen to have Persian Hogweed to hand 🤣