Toor dal and spicy sambal cabbage

In the interest of cleaning out our food stash while also eating a variety of delightful dinners, I made some toor dal the other day. This fulfilled several criteria at once.

First, we had toor dal already in the freezer. I wanted to get things out of the freezer. Win!

Second, I didn't want to leave the house for any other ingredients. Fortunately, we have a well-stocked spice cabinet and pantry, so that was also a win.

Third, we wanted to eat delicious things. Toor dal is aromatic, full of flavor, and certainly delicious. Another win.

Fourth, we've been wanting to learn to make more Indian food at home. A new dal--generally defined as a lentil or pulse-based soup with spices--definitely qualifies there.

And fifth, I thought it was about time for me to actually try to cook something besides plain dried beans in the pressure cooker. This recipe called for turmeric and ginger in the pressure cooker as well. I tried it out, and lo! Everything worked perfectly.

In conclusion, win win win win win. Yeah!

If you aren't aware, toor dal = dried split yellow pigeon peas. This one combined them with a chonk--a heated oil or ghee with lots of spices--flavored with cumin, mustard seeds, bay leaves, asafetida, dried red chilies, and paprika. That sounds good already, doesn't it? But when you add in some garam amsala and amchoor--dried green mango powder, which serves as an acid punch--you get a really excellent finished product.

I followed Manjula's toor dal recipe, because, as we all know, Manjula's recipes are great. You should go try some of them if you haven't yet. I can't say I bothered clarifying my butter, but otherwise, I followed her basic recipe completely.

The dal was really, really amazing: super delicious, fragrant, hot, but not too spicy. I had some yogurt and cilantro out for garnish, but I ended up not using them at all. The dal itself was already too good. That is really saying something.

We had our dal with brown rice (currently hiding under the dal) and some sambal-sauteed cabbage of which I took zero pictures. It was super easy and tasty, though. This method should work for most hardy winter greens, no problem.

Sambal-sauteed cabbage

white cabbage
vegetable or peanut oil
salt
sambal oelek to taste

Warm a slug of oil on medium-high in a saute pan of your choice. While your oil is heating, core half a cabbage and slice it into whatever shape you like best. I made large, rough strips about 1 inch wide and 2 inches across, but you can cut yours however you like.

Add your cabbage to the pan along with a pinch of salt. Saute, stirring frequently, until your cabbage has mostly wilted. This should take maybe five to seven minutes. Toss in a spoonful or two of sambal oelek or the other hot chili paste of your choice and continue to cook for another minute or two, or until the cabbage is done to your liking. Taste, correct seasonings, and you're done. Simple.

Eat your cabbage with dal or top it with a fried egg and some slivered toasted almonds for a full-meal experience. Hooray!

What hearty soups and winter vegetables are you eating lately?

Homemade scallion salt

So. Scallions!

The little 6-pack flat I bought for $4 at the grocery store last spring has definitely done us proud. They were among the only plants that withstood the threat of pillbugs to grow tall and strong. All summer we've been chopping them up and using them in place of onion, as soup garnishes, or finely chopped and mixed into scrambled eggs. Really, they've been in just about everything savory I've cooked for the whole summer.

After roasting our scallions for Labor Day I had lots of scallion greens left over. What to do? Well, I had a total success with a batch of Heidi's celery salt last year. Why not try the same technique with our thoroughly overabundant scallion greens?

Scallion salt

scallion greens
sea salt

Wash your scallion greens and let them dry completely. Chop them into small rings and spread them in an even layer (or a reasonable facsimile) on a cookie sheet. Gently toast them in a low oven until dry but not browned. This took me about 45 minutes at the lowest temperature my oven will go--170F/77C. You can toast your scallions on a higher temperature, but you'll clearly need to keep an eye on them to avoid burning. I also imagine a dehydrator would do the trick.

Once your scallion greens are dried, crush them up in a mortar & pestle, or stick them in a bag and roll them to bits with a rolling pin. Add an equal amount of salt--I totally just approximated this with no issues--and mix thoroughly.

Now decant your scallion salt into a spice container of your choice, and start using it on anything that could use a hit of oniony, salty flavor.

What can you do with scallion salt?
- Put some in practically every single pot of soup you make from now on.
- Season the yolk mixture for deviled eggs or the mayo for egg salad.
- For that matter, just season beaten eggs and then scramble them.
- Sprinkle it over a buttered chicken before roasting.
- Season sushi rice with scallion salt, shape into onigiri, and grill.
- Make some scalliony oven potato chips or fries.
- Popcorn!
- How about gravlax? I bet that would be very exciting.

Next: scallion pesto?

Post-holiday roundup

Well. This christmas I got food poisoning and spent most of the day either in bed or face down on the floor, so I have zero delicious holiday food to discuss. How about we talk about some of the presents I gave instead?

Like everyone else on the internet, I wanted to give some handmade gifts this year. I had been half-planning to give out little bottles of homemade schnapps, but since 90% of the people to whom I give presents live at least 500 miles away, and the post office doesn't ship alcohol, that was out. So instead I went to the bulk bins and grabbed everything I needed to make some homemade pickling spice and barbecue rub.

The only ingredient that wasn't in the bulk bins was celery salt. Well, then! I made a batch of that as well. It's a good thing the farmer's market around here regularly features gigantic leafy heads of celery. The end product turned out so well I considered giving it away too. Then I realized that I hadn't had brunch with anyone in so long that I didn't know who else actually drank bloody marys, so I decided to just use it for my own.

I had initially wanted to package these in little spice jars, but ended up going with plastic bags instead. This was due to both 1. shipping costs and 2. the high likelihood of glass jars breaking in the flurry of holiday mail. It's ok though! Festive ribbon totally saves the day, right?

I have to say, there was an awful lot of ribbon all over the place this season. It was by far the most Martha Stewarty I have been in years.

Homemade seasoning: gomasio

I have to admit that I haven't yet made the celery salt that Heidi posted awhile ago. It sounds great, but I just don't drink enough bloody marys to justify making a full batch of salt. However, I suspect that said salt would work well for pretty much any savory application, so maybe that will happen in the future.

In the meantime, I made gomasio: Japanese sesame salt. Gomasio is super fragrant, slightly crunchy, and packs a huge punch. It's just a mixture of toasted sesame seeds and salt, ground coarsely in a mortar & pestle (or with a pulse or two in a food processor). In Japan they use a specialized mortar & pestle called a suribachi; my ordinary marble mortar & pestle worked just fine.

The proportion of sesame to salt varies a bit from recipe to recipe--some include dried seaweed and nettle as well--but I'm pretty happy with this version. You can use either black or white sesame seeds. I think white seeds are a bit easier, since you'll be able to see how toasted they are. I also used kosher salt, but probably any decent salt you like should work fine.

Gomasio

4 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt

Making gomasio is simple. First, toast your sesame seeds in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Shake and swirl the pan gently over the heat until the seeds have turned golden and fragrant. The timing here depends on the strength of your stove; mine took less than five minutes. Don't leave the seeds on the burner and go off into the other room. Like all nuts or seeds, they will burn before you get back. Ask me how I know!

Ok. When your sesame seeds are toasted, tip them out of the pan and into a mortar. Add your salt, and pulverize roughly with your pestle. Aim for a roughly crushed seed mixture--don't mash the seeds beyond recognition! Now scrape it all into a spice jar or other appropriate container, and store it in your spice cabinet.

Voila! Your gomasio is finished. Now all you have to do it use it at every opportunity.

Opportunities include:
- a big bowl of rice with soy sauce and finely chopped raw vegetables
- a pile of wilted greens
- a plate of seared tuna or salmon
- sautéed green beans, broccoli rabé, or asparagus

Yay gomasio!