with Mary Anne Mohanraj
Stirring in two cups of leftover rice. 41 seconds.
It would be easier and faster doing this if I weren’t trying to record video with my other hand! Lesson learned!
(If you’re vegetarian rather than vegan, consider cracking an egg into about a quarter of this for the last minute of stirring. Makes a great breakfast or late-night snack!)
Adding cayenne, turmeric, jaggery, and salt. 41 sec.
Toasting urad dal (black lentils), black mustard seed, fennel seed, dried red chilies, and curry leaves. 25 seconds.
(Apologies that the videos are pretty shaky tonight — this was such a quick recipe (5 minutes or so), I didn’t want to drag one of my family members down to take video for me, but I forgot that if I’m stirring with one hand, I’m pretty much incapable of holding the phone stable with the other. Maybe it’s time to dig out the tripod…)
Do you have boring old leftover rice? Are you in the mood for a spicy, tangy, flavor EXPLOSION??? This is the recipe for you. 
(You can skip or reduce the cayenne and dried red chilies if spicy is not your favorite thing.)
***
Tamarind Rice with Black Lentils
(10 minutes, serves 4)
Ever since I had children, I’ve become a little more focused on trying to get some protein into every meal, if possible. Lentils are protein powerhouses, and these lentils don’t even require any soaking or boiling in advance — they just fry for a few minutes, and end up as crunchy little bites mixed in with the tangy tamarind rice. This rice is delicious with fried plantains, but to be honest, I often just eat it straight up, right out of the pot.
You can make fresh rice for this, but it’s also a terrific way to revive day-old rice!
2 c. cooked rice
2 T vegetable oil
1 T urad dal (black lentil)
1/2 t. black mustard seed
1/2 t. fennel seed
4 dried red chilies
1 stalk (about a dozen) fresh curry leaves
1 T cayenne
1 t. ground jaggery or brown sugar
1 t. salt
1/2 t. ground turmeric
6 T tamarind juice (1 T tamarind paste dissolved in 5 T hot water)
NOTE: This recipe moves quickly, and it’s worth having all the ingredients prepped in advance. You can measure out the whole spices into one container, and the ground spices into another, and dissolve the tamarind paste in advance.
1. Heat oil on medium-high and sauté lentil, mustard seed, cumin seed, dried chilies, curry leaves for two minutes, stirring constantly — be careful not to burn.
2. Stir in ground spices, then add tamarind juice. Bring to a boil and let simmer a few minutes, until thickened.
3. Remove from heat and stir in rice, mixing until well-blended. Serve hot!
— you COULD do it with a fork, of course, or a spatula. But it is easier and more fun to do it with your clean hand, and you can blend it together better too. Recommended! (For this last video, I took over the mixing from Kevin, and let him just record…)
1 min, 21 seconds.
(20 minutes, serves 8.)
I had never been a big kale fan, but my friend, Roshani, completely converted me with her Aunty Indranee’s use of kale in this traditional sambol. In Sri Lanka, this would have been made with a native green, gotu kola, but kale is an excellent substitute (you can also try any other leafy greens, like beet greens, mustard greens, or rainbow chard).
For this preparation, kale is chopped small and tenderized with lime juice. When mixed with the coconut, tomatoes, sugar, and salt, the result is a tasty and addictive sambol that has become an essential component to many of our meals.
1 bunch kale, leaves stripped off (stems discarded)
1 medium onion, minced
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1-2 cups cherry tomatoes, chopped
Juice of 2 small limes (about 2-3 TBL)
1-2 TBL sugar
1 tsp fine salt
1. Pulse kale in food processor until completely shredded into small bits.
2. Add onion, coconut, tomato, lime juice, sugar, salt. Mix thoroughly.
Can be served immediately, but best if allowed to sit and blend for an hour or so. Will keep in fridge for a good week—refresh with a little extra lime juice as needed.
*****
(NOTE: We just made a half batch of the recipe tonight, because it’s just us eating it over the next few days. I’ll probably make it again fresh before the staff meeting on Tuesday.)
That sounds like it should be something — the name of a dance move, maybe? Maybe not. I think I ended up doing 2 more pulses after this video stopped to get it to the right consistency; I aim for something like the parsley in tabbouleh.
11 seconds. (A little loud!)
For kale sambol, my recipe says to use a food processor, but you can, of course, chop it by hand. I do sometimes, when I’m not in a mood to haul out the food processor, though I rarely chop it as finely as the machine does. You do need to pulse it in a couple of phases, rather than trying to cram it all in at once — that’d just result in goo.
I *can* chop it quite finely; I’m just not motivated to work that hard! Not unless I’m going to have guests and I want the dish to show off its best self…
I was v. tired from not sleeping last night, so even though tonight’s recipe was very simple, I drafted Kevin into making it for me, and limited myself to just taking a little video and some photos. Here Kev’s reconstituting the desiccated coconut in a little hot milk.
38 seconds.
Ideally, you’d have coconuts right outside, and you could just crack them in half and grate yourself some fresh coconut. But for those of us whose climate doesn’t permit such a thing, and who have run out of the frozen coconut that our grocery stores now finally carry, at least we have the option of reconstituting dessicated (not sweetened!) coconut in a little hot milk or coconut milk, for something that ends up an acceptable substitute for the original…
