Curried Rentil Lentil Burgers

I picked up a bunch of cookbooks at the library last week to get some new recipe ideas and this was one I knew I wanted to make right off the bat!

These turned out awesome, though were a bit time consuming in the prep. They sort of work better with a fork then on a bun, but taste delicious either way. This also made a TON. (Which worked out for the best as alex ate THREE!)



Curried Red Lentil Burgers with Spicy Mango Slaw
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health

Burgers:

1 Cup dried red lentils
2 Cups water
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp salt
1 onion, chopped (about 1.5 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced
a few tbs of olive oil
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup diced red pepper
1 TBS peeled, grated ginger root
1 TBS curry powder
1.2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups cooked brown rice
3/4 cup finely chopped cashews
juice of half a lemon
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1. Prepare the rice if you don't have any cooked rice on hand. Usually 1 cup rice to 2 cups water. Boil and simmer covered

2. For the lentils, place in a sauce pan with the water and bring to a boil, stirring often. Add the tumeric and 1/2 tsp salt, reduce heat to low and cover and simmer until the water has been absorbed, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a skillet, add the onion and garlic with a bit of oil and saute until soft. Add the celery, bell peppers, and ginger and saute a few minutes more. Add the curry powder and cinnamon and saute another minute or two. Remove from heat and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the two cups of rice, lentils, nuts, lemon juice and cilantro. Mix with a large spoon.

4. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, use your hands to shape it into burger patties, we got 9 patties! Place them on a lightly oiled parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Spicy Mango Slaw:

1 Mango
1.5 cups grated or shredded green or red cabbage
1 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup mint leaves (I totally forgot to buy mint, so left this out, it was fine)

Dressing:
1/4 cup lime juice (1.5 limes)
2 TBS good maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves
a bit of oil
1 small chile, minced
1 TBS grated peeled ginger root

1. Peel the mango and cut into thin slices. Put in a serving bowl along with the cabbage and carrots.
2. In a small pan saute the garlic, ginger, and chile with a bit of oil until fragrant. About a minute or two.
3. Whisk together the lime juice, salt and syrup. Add the garlic, ginger and chile. Whisk together.
4. Pour over the slaw and combine.

Serve the burgers topped with mango slaw. We served these with a side of baked sweet potato fries as well. YUM! Enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower Sandwich

So Alex has been reading this book called The China Study. The book basically preaches the health benefits of vegetarianism, occasionally bordering on veganism. Once I assured that this was still in fact my husband, and while I don't plan on going full on veggie any time soon (let's be serious here), Alex and I agreed it'd be fun to try and eat completely vegetarian for a full week. (Also way cheaper!)

I usually cook 2-3 veggie meals a week, but we both have a tendency to take deli meat sandwiches to work. So we thought it'd be a good experiment in being more creative in lunches as well.

So far this whole week has gone very well!

These sandwiches were dinner tonight and they were SO tasty!

There is a little tiny sandwich shop by where I work that has AMAZING Cambodian sandwiches. If you're ever in Union Square, Num Pang is the place to go! Anyhow, Alex ordered the cauliflower sandwich a few weeks ago and I've been dying to try and make it again.

These turned out SO well and were super easy. So, if you're looking for a tasty new sandwich, give these a try!

Roasted Cauliflower Sandwich:

Ingredients:
Cauliflower
Olive Oil
Salt, Garlic Powder, dash of cayenne
Cucumber
Carrot
Cilantro
French Baguette
Mayo
Sriacha Sauce

Cut up the cauliflower into thin pieces. Toss with olive oil and salt, a bit of garlic powder and a dash of cayenne. Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven at about 350 for about 10 minutes.

Slice cucumber into thin rounds.

Grate carrots.

To make the spicy mayo, mix with sriacha sauce to taste. I probably used about 1 tsp sriacha per 2-3 TBS mayo.

Slice the bread and toast lightly if desired, then spread spicy mayo. Layer with roasted cauliflower, carrots, cilantro and sliced cucumber. We also added a bit of Montreal red pepper sauce. :-)


(I clearly was not paying attention to my white balance, opps!)

Enjoy!

Olympic Triathlon Success!

This past weekend I accomplished one of my goals on my 30x30 list. Finish an Olympic Distance Triathlon! (.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run)

I knew I wanted to do something later in the summer so I'd have time to train after the half marathon and to make sure the water would be a little warmer. I ended up at the Park City Team Mossman Tri in Connecticut.

Originally I picked this tri as it was closer and we could probably drive out there the morning of. However, after realizing that they were starting the race at 6:30am (!!!) Alex and I decided to get a hotel in the area the night before, which was actually pretty nice. This worked out especially well as our hotel had a full kitchen, so I could cook and not have to worry about what I was going to find at a restaurant the night before the race.

Race morning ended up being almost comically chaotic as I forgot my ID and had to go back for it, we got sort of lost on the way there as the road was closed, and then I arrived as they were singing the national anthem. Crap. So much for a relaxing start. The original plan was to have Alex drop me off and then he could go back and sleep and have breakfast. However, as we pulled in, they closed the roads and he was stuck for the duration of the race. Thus, as the plan was to go back and get the camera when he returned, the only photos we've got are awesome cell phone pictures. (Neither of us have nifty smart phones, so the quality is especially high. ;-) Oh well. )



Anyhow, the race itself went really well! The swim was my first race in salt water in the Long Island Sound, and though the waves were more then I was used to, it went really quick! The bike was 5 loops of a 5 mile course. It was really scenic along the beach and was, thankfully for me, completely flat! SCORE. The run was also along the bike course, so nice and flat and views of the water. The last bit of the run was pure gumption, but I made it through and ran the entire race finishing with a time of 3 hours 25 minutes. Not super speedy, but perfectly good for me!


Cheers to Triathlons!

Around the World in 80 Dates: Malaysia

A few weeks ago Alex and I decided we were due for a fun day in the city (aka Manhattan). We so rarely venture out of Brooklyn on the weekend, but Alex was between classes, and I was magically caught up on photo editing, so we had some amazing free time to take advantage of.

Since we don't have AC in our apartment, summers in NYC can be brutal, thus, we decided the perfect outing for a hot summer day would be the cool confines of one of the fabulous museums Manhattan has to offer. Alex and I usually are not very good museum buddies, as he tends to want to look at EVERYTHING and I usually just glance, but I actually had been wanting to see the natural history museum, since I've never been, so we decided to give it a shot. On the way there, we figured we might as well knock off another country on our list.

The Upper West Side has pretty slim pickings for affordable and meeting our 80 dates criteria, but we eventually found a winner in Penang, a Malaysian place. Since we were there for lunch on a Sunday, it was pretty empty, but the food was super tasty. I had a mango chicken and Alex had the Mee Curry, a traditional curry soup.


The Petronas Towers in KL.

Though Alex and I both ended up in Malaysia for a few days during our honeymoon in 2008, we never had this curry while we were there. I mainly remember being fascinated that everything there was flavored with CORN! Corn in a cup was everywhere, even corn flavored ice cream! Though we only spent a time in the capital of Kuala Lumpur on our visit, I would LOVE to go back and explore the rest of the country side.

The Brooklyn Version!

I googled around for lots of recipes for Mee Curry, but as with the past South African Curry, they called for lots of crazy ingredients... I don't normally stock cubed pig's blood in my cupboards. Apologies. So, I just went for it!

I'm becoming more confident in my ability to make due with what I've got and craft something pretty tasty. This wasn't an exact match to the restaurant, but pretty close! And if all else fails, it was easy and quite delicious!

Mee Curry with Chicken and Vegetables

For the curry paste:
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
3-4 garlic cloves
1 shallot
1/4 - 1/2 jalepeno, seeded
5-8 shishito peppers (These are fun peppers that are sold at our local farmers market)
2 TBS brown sugar
1 TBS fish sauce
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2-3/4 tsp curry powder

For the soup:
half bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 zuchinni, thinly sliced
handful shisito peppers, diced
1/2 package udon noodles
chicken stock, about 2-3 cups
1.5 cups shredded chicken (we had leftovers from a whole roasted chicken, so this worked great!)
1 can coconut milk
salt to taste
bit of oil
1 tsp red curry paste
juice of half a lime

Add all the ingredients for the paste into a food processor and spin until smoothly blended. Add to a large stock pot or wok with a bit of oil. Sautee over high heat a minute or two until sizzling. Add in the curry paste and stir and cook another minute or so. Add in the chicken and vegetables and blend together. Squeeze in the lime juice. Add the can of coconut milk and chicken stock to your desired consistency. Stir and let simmer covered.

While the soup is simmering, drop your udon noodles in boiling water for about 3 minutes until softened. Once the noodles have softened, drain the water and add them to the soup. Let simmer about 5 more minutes. Serve topped with a handful of chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!