Skip to content

Tag Archives: legumes pulses

Yemisir wat: Ethiopian lentil stew

Yemisir wat (a.k.a., misir we’t, mesir wot, and so on, because I’m poorly transliterating it from another alphabet) is my go-to dish at any Ethiopian restaurant I visit. I’ve always wanted to make it at home, mainly to control the amount of fat that goes in, but most importantly, to consume it without having to […]

Lentil and kale soup

I love many mustard greens and other cruciferous vegetables, but have had a tricky time with kale. No matter how much we sautéed it, with lots of oil and garlic, it remained a bit too tough and a bit too bitter for me. The trick, I found, is to slowly cook it in a soup, […]

Lentil stew with eggplant & tomatoes

Unsurprisingly, I’ve been wanting to make more eggplant dishes, not to mention more lentil dishes. Elise Bauer’s Eggplant Lentil Stew with Pomegranate Molasses became a great inspiration for this rich (and vegetarian) stew. However, my rendition uses already cooked eggplants and onion, as well as additional Middle Eastern spices. Another bit of rationalizing: if I […]

Sautéed fava beans with shallots

Yesterday I harvested the last of the fava beans (a.k.a., broad beans). This task reminded me of something: that I haven’t posted a recipe where said legume is the main ingredient. I’ve long been inspired by an appetizer, foul moukala, that we had at a Lebanese restaurant, Al Waha — all the way in Bayswater, […]

An extremely untraditional cassoulet involving green lentils

I often enjoy dishes made with chickpeas and lentils. But my répertoire is deficient in recipes where these delightful legumes participate. So this brings me to the cassoulet, or rather “cassoulet,” which I recently made. The only vaguely French ingredients are green lentils (from France, yet not the Flageolet beans of traditional cassoulet), duck confit, […]

Student memories: Hummus topped with ground chicken & pine nuts

Back in school, my friends Ananda, Carolyn and I used to frequent a small Middle Eastern eatery in a half-empty strip mall in Pomona. Their hummus was divine: it came with either a swirl of paprika-infused olive oil or grilled meat, and a basket of warm pita bread. Sadly, according to Ananda, this dive no […]

Lentil stew with chard & carrots

This stew usually tastes better the next day. I haven’t figured out a good substitute for fresh basil leaves, i.e., when they’re out of season. You could try dried basil, using about a third the amount called for. Try fresh parsley or fresh sage or fresh rosemary, or mix thereof.