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Creamy Lentil Dhal

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This is honestly one of the best things I‘ve ever made. I really really enjoy that on chilly winter days when you want a hot bowl of something but also on warmer days because it also tastes great when it is enjoyed cold and it actually enhances the flavor when kept in the fridge overnight or for several days. This makes it super meal prep friendly. You can just store it and take it to work, school, or Uni whenever you need it. It is like that with every curry or heavily spiced dish, it only gains flavor when left for a day or a few.


So what is dhal?
Dhal is an Indian term that refers to split pulses, such as beans, peas and lentils. These legumes, how you call them in English, are staple foods in Indian cuisine. But dhak is also used to name several dishes, mostly soups. Traditionally there are tomatoes and onions as well as several other spices added. In Asia it usually is eaten with some flatbread or rice. 

Is it good for me?
I love curries. So much. But sometimes you just feel like having something heartier with more substance. Like this lentil dhal. Lentils are packed with protein and fiber but also lots of other vitamins. Plus there’s a good amount of spices in here which makes everything super flavorful. The veggies and potatoes add some more taste and the toppings take it next level. 


What is in this recipe?
So, I am not a traditional Indian, surprise, surprise, so I took a traditional dhal and added a few things.The star of the dish are red lentils. If you really do not like those, I would recommend using split peas. Besides that we have some onion, garlic, ginger, graham masala, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, paprika powder, bell pepper, carrot as a base. We sautée everything and then add vegetable stock. We add in some potatoes that are peeled and cut. I do not think that it is very traditional to add potatoes but I believe that they add an incredible comforting feeling to it and make everything more filling. Plus they add some nice texture. You could also opt for sweet potatoes instead if you prefer but yellow potatoes work a bit better. 

Next come the lentils. I do not pre soak mine or pre cook them because red lentils cook pretty fast. So we add them in after a while and let everything simmer. Once the lentils are soft, in goes some coconut milk. The coconut milk is essential. I would use full fat one since we have a lot of broth and with low fat ones, you won´t be able to achieve that creaminess. While everything simmers for a little, the flavors of the spices will get deeper into the curry and the lentils become a little bit mushy, which tastes so great. 

So that basically is the dhal, but what would it be without toppings? Let´s be honest, toppings take everything next level. We are cutting up a lime, of which we will squeeze the juice on the dhal after serving, garnish the dish with a little (plant based) yoghurt or more coconut milk, some fresh cilantro, sliced up spring onions and if wanted (but really good) some cashews or peanuts for extra crunch and extra tastiness. 

I would recommend to serve it over some rice or with naan bread. With either one you can soak up the liquid and it tastes super delicious!

Is it family friendly?

Yes! It definitely is! Not only that it is very versatile, as you can add in some ground chicken when stir frying the veggies or some grilled prawns on top, when including some animal products but it also it can be made more or less spicy, depending on who eats it. Moreover, it can be kept in the fridge for several days, so every member of the family can take it to school or work. 

I hope that you will enjoy making and eating this dish, and that you will love it as much as I do! It is such a great dish to enjoy all throughout the year, is super healthy and packed with tons of flavors!

Enjoy, 

Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

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Creamy Lentil Dhal

A super flavorful and warming dinner, that is super easy to make and incredibly delicious and healthy!

Course bowl, dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 30 Minuten
Total Time 45 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 434 kcal

What you will need

Thats what you will need:

For the base:

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 4 cm ginger
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp graham massala
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp paprika powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 carrot

The rest:

  • 500 g potatoes
  • 200 g lentils
  • 500 ml vegetable broth
  • 200 ml coconut milk

For servings:

  • some rice
  • some cilantro
  • cut up spring onions
  • yoghurt (plant based)
  • some nuts

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Finely dice uo the onion, garlic and ginger. In a pan heat up the oil. Once hot add the cut up veggies in. Sautee them for 2 minutes and then add the spices and sautee for another 2 minutes.

  2. Peel the carrot. Finely dine it and the bell pepper aswell. Add them to the pot and sautee for 2 minutes. Add the vegetable broth.

  3. Peel the potatoes and cout them into about 2 cm chunks. Once the broth boild, add the potatoes in and let everything cook for 10 minutes. Then add in the lentils and let everything boil for another 10 minutes.

  4. Next pour in the coconut milk and let everything simmer for another 5 minutes.

  5. Once ready, put it into bowls. Garnish with some yoghurt, cilantro, spring onions and cilantro.

  6. Serve and enjoy!

Miso Sweet Potato w/ Coconut Rice

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Is so incredibly addicting and satisfying, which is crazy! It’s just like miso black cod or anything sticky and sweet, just that it covers sweet potatoes. Plus, there is a curry vibe because we have some steamed coconut rice, aka rice boiled in coconut milk. Place both of these things in a bowl, sprinkle some nuts, and you will never wanna order takeout ever again.

No, I am serious, it really is good. I absolutely love miso, like a lot. I have always liked it, but then I went to a restaurant over Christmas break and had that black miso yuzu cod, and let me tell you, this was out of this world. So. Fricking. Good. I tried marking something similar to the miso at home for the sweet potatoes and I have to say that it did not turn out terribly, no definitely not. Although it is not quite the same, because I don’t know how the chef there made it, this was incredible, it is super delicious!

So before you ask yourself ‘what even is miso?’ I am going to give you a little information. Miso actually is a fermented soy pasta. You can buy it at most super markets or Asian markets. It is available in black and white. For this recipe, I used the black miso paste, but I am sure that the white one will work as well. Miso is mostly eaten in Japan, where also the popular miso soup is from. So, in this recipe we are using the same miso as in the soup, but prepare it differently.

To make the miso glazed sweet potatoes, we do not need a lot of things. Sweet potatoes, of course, cut into slices, some miso pasta, soy sauce, some sriracha or hot sauce, rice wine vinegar, agave or honey, a little lime juice, and if not vegan some fish sauce. This adds an extra touch but is not necessary. We combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and let the sweet potatoes marinate in there for about 30min-1h. If you do not have that time, then leave it out but I would still recommend you to do it. Once they are marinated, we grill them on a grill or you can also pan-fry them or even bake in the oven. Just do whatever sounds best to you.

So we have the main star of the show but we still need something to serve it with. And this something is coconut rice. Honestly, this is life changing. This coconut rice goes so incredibly well with anything, be it curry, stir fry, just some steamed vegetables or some chicken skewers. Anything Asian is perfect to be served with this. We make this rice by simply adding it to a pot. Next we add a mixture out of coconut milk and water and a generous pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, reduce to very low heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Here you go, super easy but so much flavor. Honestly you will never skip this when making your next curry.

For serving, I like to put everything in a bowl, sprinkle with some cashews or peanuts, some fresh cilantro, some shredded coconut, and a lime wedge for decoration. This dish honestly is super good, and a great weeknight dinner. You can also meal prep it very well. For example make the sweet potatoes ahead of time and add them to salads or stir frys throughout the week.

I hope that you like this recipe and will enjoy making it!

Love Katie || Une Petite Cuisiniere

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Miso Sweet Potato with Coconut Rice

An addictively good twist on regular sweet potatoes served with steemed coconut rice on which you never want to miss out ever again. So good.

Course bowl, dinner, lunch
Cuisine asian, Japanese
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 1 Stunde
Servings 4 servings
Calories 546 kcal

What you will need

For the Miso Sweet Potatoes:

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes
  • 2 tbsp miso paste
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 Lime juiced
  • 2 tsp sriracha
  • 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tbsp honey or maple
  • 1-2 tbsp water
  • 1/2 tbsp sesame oil

For the Coconut Rice:

  • 250 g Rice
  • 200 ml Coconut Milk
  • 300 ml water
  • 1 tsp salt

For Garnish:

  • 2 handful greens can be any greens of your choice, I would recommend using fresh spinach or a salad mix
  • some cilantro
  • a few cashews or peanuts
  • lime wedges
  • coconut flakes.

How to

That’s how it works:

  1. Wash and peel the sweet potato if not having bought organic ones. In a Bowl mix all the ingredients for the sauce. Slice up the sweet potatoes into about 1cm thick slices. Place them in a bowl and pour over the sauce. Let marinate for about 30-60 minutes. If you do not have the time to do that, then pour over the sauce when grilling or cooking. 

    Meanwhile add the rice to a pot along with the coconut milk, water and a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to very low heat, cover and let simmer for about 10-12 minutes. 

    Heat up a pan with a little sesame oil, or heat a grill brushed with olive oil, or preheat the oven to 200*C. If making in the pan or grill, fry on each side for about a minutes at medium to high heat. In the oven bake for about 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through. 

    Separate the rice on the bowls. Add the fresh greens, top with the sweet potato and add some cilantro, cashews or peanuts, some more shredded coconut (optional) and a lime wedge to garnish. Serve and enjoy!


Green Goddess Bowl

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Sometimes all I am craving is some super clean and healthy food. Especially when I am not feeling the best or have eaten pretty unhealthy the past days. My body is just asking for nutrients and something to fuel it with. There is nothing better for this than a bowl packed with vitamins, nutrients, and tons of greens! This green goddess bowl is my go-to meal for that. It is ready in 15 minutes, incredibly good, super healthy, and so satisfying! It doesn’t taste like „boring healthy“ just because it has like a ton of greens in it but it is super good.

Sometimes when I eat a lot of processed foods, I just don’t feel good at all. It makes me tired, I don’t sleep well, I can’t concentrate and so on. And I know that I am not the only person who feels that way. I mean no wonder. I do not think that products with a thousand add-ins and chemicals, that we can’t even pronounce, are good for us. Even if it says healthy on the packaging or low sugar, it is so important to check the labels and see what actually is in it. I think that it is way better for us if we eat something higher in sugar, but it is naturally sweetened, e.g. with Dates than if we buy something low sugar with emulgators and flavorings and 100 ingredients we have never heard of.

This is why I love to cook with real ingredients and Whole Foods. I for example don’t do „vegan cheese“ that is supposed to taste like cheese because of chemistry, I think that real cheese is way better for us in this example. But that is not about the recipe anymore, so let’s get back to that. I just wanted you to understand why eating Whole Foods is so important to me. 

This green goddess bowl is something I make very often. Honestly, it is such a quick lunch, but also works great if you prepare it the night before and take it to work or school. It takes 10 ingredients which makes it super simple. So as a base, I like to use greens, spinach is my favorite. I do it raw because it is like a salad but if you do not like it raw at all, you can sauté it or steam it. If you prefer other greens such as kale, arugula, lambs lettuce or whatever, that works too, just make sure you have a base full of vitamins.

The other Part of the base is our grain or carb. I like to use quinoa here. Quinoa is such a nutrient dense food! It has a ton of protein, fiber, tastes amazing btw, and a reasonable amount of vitamins and minerals. Also it US ready in less than 15 minutes which is perfect for a quick lunch. Also, other than rice I think, it still tastes good after like 3-4 days in the fridge. So if you make a big batch in the beginning of the week you can use it over and over throughout the week! If you don’t like quinoa at all, something like brown rice or couscous would work really good here too! Just be aware that cooking brown rice takes way longer than it does to make quinoa. 

So now we have the base, we can go on to the remaining ingredients. Here I just like to stick with a lot of greens because they are super healthy and I think it looks super pretty when it is all in one color :)! We cut up some fresh cucumber, slice some avocado, steam or blanch some broccoli and peas. That is about it. You can also do some zucchini or sugar snap peas or edamame if that is something you always have on hand, I just happen to have all of those ingredients in my fridge all the time. The great thing about this bowl are all the different components and textures, the creaminess if the quinoa, the crunch of the cucumber, the bite of the broccoli and peas and the softness of the spinach. I know that this bowl is really healthy and maybe not something for everyone but it is soo good if you just want something clean and nourishing!

Up to now, we have almost everything. But, let’s be honest, that would really be a bit boring if we just sprinkled some salt on here. We don’t want that, and that’s why we are making a bomb dressing. As you probably have noticed this bowl does not really contain any fats, except for the avocado. The dressing adds some healthy fat here. We use tahini, which is like the best thing ever, in salad dressings but also elsewhere! Tahini is like peanut butter but made out of sesame seeds and is a really popular ingredient in eastern cuisine. It has a lot of vitamins and healthy fats and it just tastes sooo good! Other than this we have some lemon juice, honey or maple, plant based or normal yoghurt to add creaminess, a little vinegar and some water to think everything out because otherwise it would be very very thick! This dressing adds so much flavor and just brings all the ingredients together. It is something you definitely do not want to miss out when making this bowl! 

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do and love all of the flavors it contains! It is such an amazing dish when just wanting to fuel your body and nourish it! Super easy to make, incredibly delicious (although it is pretty healthy!) and very meal prep friendly! Enjoy & happy cooking! 

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Green Goddess Bowl

A super clean, healthy & delicious bowl/ salad perfect for when your body is craving healthy food and nutrients. 15 minutes and mealprep friendly.

Course bowl, dinner, lunch, Main Course, Salad
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 450 kcal

What you will need

For the bowl:

  • 100 g Quinoa
  • 3-4 handful spinach
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 200 g Broccoli
  • 100 g Peas
  • 1/2 Avocado

For the dressing:

  • 2 tbsp Tahini
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 2 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tbsp yoghurt or plant based yoghurt
  • 3-4 tbsp water

How to

That’s how it works:

  1. Wash and rinse the Quinoa. Add it to a pot along with 250ml of water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let simmer for about 10-12 minutes until fluffy.

  2. Bring another pot with salted water to a boil. Add in the broccoli and peas and boil for about 3 minutes. Then drain and rinse under ice cold water. This will keep the nutrients and color as it stops the cooking process.
    Either peel the cucumber into thin strips or dice it up into cubes.

  3. For the dressing mix all of the ingredients together until creamy. Use as much or as little water as you wish, depending on your desired thickness.

  4. In a Bowl Place the spinach. Add the broccoli and peas. Next put the quinoa into the bowl. Top with the cucumber ribbons. Drizzle the dressing and garnish with some fresh mint leaves.

  5. Serve and enjoy!