30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 26: A Recipe I Love

We had this for the first time tonight, but I think it's going to become one of our favorites. In the past year, we have become pretty adventurous eaters, as you can see by the following conversation. 

R: Do we have any garam masala*?

Me: Of course.

R: How about cardomom?

Me: Yeah, there's a little bit left.

R: How about sour cream?

Me: Ooh. I don't think so.

He fiddled with the ingredients, the way he always does, and by the time he finished, we had this yummy stew. It's vegetarian, but lentils are so hardy that you'll never miss the meat (or the sour cream). We had it with homemade rolls, and for dessert we had dessert crepes filled with vanilla icecream and covered with hot fudge. Yeah, we're that amazing. :D

(Did I mention that R loves to cook, and lets himself go wild on General Conference weekend? Just ask me what else he's cooked in the last 3 days.)

 

Moroccan Lentil Stew

serves 8

2 onions, chopped                            1 quart stewed tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, minced                      2 large carrots, diced

1 tsp. dried ginger                            2 large stalks celery, diced

1 T. olive oil                                    1 1/2 tsp. garam masala*

7 c. water                                       1 1/2 tsp. cardamom

4 chicken bouillion cubes                   1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

2 cups dry green lentils                     3/4 tsp. cumin

19 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed

   

Add onion, garlic, ginger and olive oil to a large nonstick saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often (about 7 minutes). Add the water, bouillion cubes, lentils, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, carrots, celery, garam masala*, cardamom, cayenne, and cumin. Bring stew to a boil, then lower heat to simmer, cover saucepan, and continue to cook until lentils are soft (about 60 to 90 minutes). Ladle about a third to a half of the soup into a large blender and pulse briefly to puree. (Be careful with this step!!! It's hot!) Pour soup puree back into the pot and stir. 

*Garam masala is a blend of Indian spices. I found ours at our local health food store, but they also had it at the regular grocery store in the spice aisle. Its smell is heavenly. Actually, it smells exactly like the inside of our health food store, a fact that both my son and I noticed independently.