Rasedar Rajma (Curried Kidney Beans)

This recipe from the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen blog has been on my weekly "menu"/shopping list for months. It keeps falling off the bottom- I had the ingredients but hadn't cooked it, week in week out. Tonight I couldn't come up with any other idea- and decided to give it a try. WOW. This is a really delicious recipe! I am not even the world's biggest Indian food fan and I really like it and totally wish I had made more.

I served it with some "yogurt" on top- silken tofu blended with some salt, lemon juice and a dash of splenda. My 9 year old daughter who likes curries but is not a fan of tofu ate it happily, so I think it fooled her! As I usually do- in the case of the curry I did use the spices in the recipe- garam masala, fenugreek, coriander root, garlic, tumeric- but substituted caraway seeds for the ajwain seeds and used quite a lot more of all the spices than whatever quantities the recipe suggested. Maybe some of my spices are a bit stale as I think it would have been pretty bland otherwise. Oh- I used canned kidney beans (yay Aldi- feed a family of 5 for 4 bucks? Yes please) 4 cans. Next time I will probably make double as everyone loved it and I only have a tiny bit eft for lunch tomorrow!

Red Velvet Mole with beans

from "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

I love love love this cookbook

. I have actually been *reading* it- rather than just flipping through and thinking "yeah looks good". "Appetite for Reduction" pretty much epitomises what I am loving about this new vegan life. The recipes are decadent but pure and light as a feather, some simple, some complicated. Tonight I flagged the 'Black Beans in Red Velvet Mole' recipe as not requiring anything not already present in my pantry- cooked it and ate it! My 18 year old son added some cooked quinoa to our plates when serving it up and it was a great addition, the chewy quinoa a nice contrast to the velvety beans and smooth mole.

Here's a precis of the recipe, as prepared by me (not quite the same as the original as I am incapable of following a recipe!)

Mole:

spray of olive oil

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 star anise thingabob

a big shake of chili flakes

I was out of oregano so added a bit of basil

1 tsp cinnamon (I used more)

1/4 tsp allspice (wtf is 1/4 tsp?? I used more)

1 tsp smoked paprika (yeah I used more)

1 bottle of passata/tomato puree

1 veggie stock cube + 1 cup water

1/4 cup raisins (ummm.... I shook in a bunch, no idea how many)

crumbled up corn chips, a couple handfuls

a big glop of Aldi peanut butter

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (this is what makes mole mole- go ahead!)

a small glop of agave syrup

1 can of black beans

2 cans borlotti beans

saute onion, add garlic and herbs/spices. Saute together.

Add passata/tomatoes; water, sultanas, corn chips, stock cube, peanut butter. Simmer for a while. I added the agave nectar with the other ingredients- the original recipe says to add it right at the end. Didn't seem to matter.

Used my stab blender to mostly puree the mole. Then added

the 3 cans of drained, rinsed beans.

Isa Moskowitz suggests plantains or sweet potato as the side to serve with this! What a genius. Plantains would have been perfect but sliced sweet potato, steamed was also delicious, and hit the mark almost like plantains would have.

DELICIOUS! I love this cookbook!