lentils

52 weeks Project – Sri Lankan Cookbook – Lentil Feta Rolls – an easy Friday night dinner

| poppypeach
So let me start my Sri Lankan cooking project fell off the wagon – still I love to cook every day and I enjoy experimenting so here is a recipe that was inspired by the Persian bakery we went to a few weeks ago. This is not Sri Lankan though I did eat a lot of lentils when my mum cooked us dinner and it was purripu – dahl with rice and a curry. School had started and we were getting back into the swing of things and after a play in the park on a Friday night I needed to whip up something easy for dinner. It was inspired after this recipe from taste.com.au – one of my favorite recipe sites. 
An Easy Friday Vegetarian DinnerLentil, Eggplant and Ricotta Wraps 
Ingredients
1 eggplant
Olive oil to brush 
Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
1 cup of french lentils (cooked)
Olive Oil 
Small Red Onion 
Garlic
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper to taste
A bunch of mint leaves (to taste – I love mint so the more the better)
Tomatoes
Avocado
200g ricotta, crumbled
Flat Bread to use as wraps or any wraps will work in this recipe
Method
1. Prepare Eggplant by roasting slices in a 200 degree C (440 F) oven for 20 minutes.
2. While eggplant is roasting cut up onion and place in skillet with olive oil when onion is browned add the garlic and balsamic vinegar to taste. Cook on a low heat as the onions should get caramelized and nice and soft. Add salt and pepper. Take off heat and cool in a bowl. 
3. Get your ingredients ready to place on your wraps by chopping up the mint, tomatoes and avocado. Have the ricotta at the ready to crumble on the base of the wrap. 
4. Take out the eggplant turn off the oven and let cool while warming the bread – this may not be necessary as the ingredients are at room temperature. 
5. Take the wrap – place ricotta on the base near the center add the lentils, mint, tomatoes and avocado and top with the caramelized onion. Roll your wrap and eat straight away – though leftovers are very good when heated in a sandwich press. 
What a treat these can be jazzed up in so many ways – maybe a miso mayo??

52 week project – Sri Lankan cookbook – Parrippu

| poppypeach
Yawn what a busy weekend that was which is why I am testing out my recipe on a Tuesday night! I planned for Monday night but as I was cooking for the kiddos I figured I would not get the response that I would like so tonight is the night. Digging out some old mix CDs I got to work on this weeks recipe of Parippu or Dahl (my mum called it Lentils – Vege, a recipe from my Aunty).

As Parippu is a fairly easy recipe I teamed it up with a egg and vegetarian sausage curry to have with the brown and wild rice I picked up the other day.

Parrippu (Vegtarian Lentil Dahl)

Parrippu with Sausage and Egg Curry, served with desiccated coconut and lemon zest

1 cup lentils
olive oil
onion
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 cloves garlic
curry leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric
200 ml coconut milk
100 ml water

1. Saute lentils in oil on low – my lentils were already soaked (be careful and watch they don’t stick to the pan).

2. Add onion, cinnamon powder, mustard seeds, garlic, curry leaves and turmeric mix together with the lentils.

3. Add coconut milk and water and mix on low till ready to serve with rice and curry.

Egg and Sausage Curry 

This recipe was sourced from masterchef.com.au and I have changed it up a bit due to lack of ingredients and such.

Egg and Vegetarian Sausage Curry

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 brown onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon curry powder – think I am going to track down some Sri Lankan Roasted Curry Powder
Curry Leaves
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
200 ml coconut milk
100 ml water
Herbamare to taste

3 eggs
2 vegetarian sausages

To serve

1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
Chilli flakes
Lemon Zest

1. Head coconut oil in large skillet and cook onion, garlic, curry powder, curry leaves, mustard and fennel seeds for 5 – 10 minutes till onions have softened.

2. Add coconut milk and water and cook with the lid on low for 15 minutes.

3. Toast coconut and finish with roasted coconut and chilli flakes for extra spice.

Yes adding some chill powder would be great but I am serving this to my kids and they will say it is too ‘picy – still I did get a thumbs up for this and they both enjoyed it!