There are two popular types of yellow dal–the heavily-spiced, tomato-y Indian version and the subtle, lemon-y Middle Eastern variety. At home, we tend toward making the Middle Eastern version–especially since our favorite Middle Eastern place Al Noor went out of business.

With the soup in mind, I need something else to round the meal out. Traditionally, this would be falafel or hummus & pita, but I’d just made hummus two nights ago and require substantial motivation to bust out the falafel. I was hankering, instead, for something more like pakora. I didn’t have any chickpea flour on hand, though, so I had to rethink things a bit. I came up with lightly breaded spinach-potato dumplings–to be eaten in the dal. Traditional? Nope. Delicious? Indubitably.

Middle Eastern Yellow Dal

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 cups yellow lentils OR yellow split peas (not quite the same, but either will work; yellow lentils can be tough to find)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
• juice from 1/2 lemon (or more, to taste)
• 9 cups of water
• olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

As you can see from the ingredients, this is a pretty simple recipe. I’ve of the school that a dal should generally be simple, letting the flavor of lentils or split peas really come through.  All you want to do is accent this flavor, not cook on top of it.

In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. When the onions are soft, add in the lentils/peas, stirring well. Let the lentils/peas cook for a few minutes, then add in the water. I like to add the water piecemeal–just enough to cover everything–and cover. This allows you to control exactly how thick or thin your dal is, but also requires a little babysitting. You can probably just add all of the water, cover, and occupy yourself with something else for a good 2 hours. Lentils/split peas take a while to cook.

When the lentils/peas finally get soft and are breaking apart, add in the spices and lemon. Cook for another 15 minutes or so.

Breaded Spinach-Potato Dumplings

• 3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
• 1/2 lb spinach
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tbsp cornmeal/corn flour
• 2 tbsp almond meal
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander seed
• safflower oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium-sized saucepan, boil the potatoes until they are soft–almost as soft as if you were making mashed potatoes. If you are using fresh spinach, steam it until it’s soft, then cut it into shreds. If you’re using frozen, you can boil it for a few minutes in the same water you used for the potatoes. I used frozen, but almost always prefer fresh. In a large bowl, mash up the potatoes with the spinach. Stir in the flour. You want the mixture to be thick enough to form balls. Add more flour if needed.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients. Form spinach-potato mixture into balls, roll in the oil, roll in the breading, then place on a baking sheet. This should make around 18 – 20 dumplings.

Bake 20 minutes to a side, or until nicely browned and somewhat crisp.

Serve in the soup:

Perusing Chow Vegan, we stumbled on this post about chili fries. This seemed like just the thing on an unseasonably warm fall day.

Unlike Chow Vegan, we love beans, so we pressure-cooked some up and made our own chili. We followed the recipe for Spicy Baked Potato Chips, but cut the taters into fry shapes and left out the cayenne, since the chili had enough kick on its own.

We topped it with Follow Your Heart cheddar which, while helping to scratch the cheese part of the chili cheese fry itch, wasn’t ideal. Don’t get me wrong–these were awesome–we just don’t eat a lot of processed stuff and these types of cheeses always feel really processed to me. A homemade nacho cheese probably would have been a better choice, but we’ve been a little nooched out lately and most faux-cheese recipes are centered around the nooch.

Cheese aside, the awesome thing about these is that, though they felt like a total indulgence, they’re actually not bad for you. The fries (a bit of a misnomer here) are actually baked (using a high heat oil–safflower) and the chili was made from scratch with canned tomatoes, freshly cooked black beans, carrots and celery from our garden, and onions from a local farm. Once you get over the psychosomatic “I destroyed myself” feeling, you realize you actually feel pretty good after eating this. Huzzah!

Hi ya’ll.  Amy here filling in for Mark with my first post on IV.  He spent the entire evening helping me stretch the canvas for a ten-foot painting, so he deserves a break.  It’s salad time…just in time for your fall crop of lettuce.  Sadly ours got eaten by hoggish vermin.  We’ll take better precautions next year.

Mark and I each take different approaches to preparing a salad.  I tend to put ANYTHING in the fridge on some lettuce and voila!  Mark has a more regimented approach.  We can agree that any good salad has some sort of protein such as nuts, seeds, or beans.  We both also really enjoy a good homemade dressing.  So here we have, for your consideration, two salads- the first is a collaborative effort and the second is one of my weird (but delicious!) creations.

Salad 1: We had this one the other night.  Let’s call it Chloe’s Fall Salad.  I’m giving cred to our friend Chloe for the dressing recipe.

So of course you can put anything you like on this salad.  The apples are what make it a “Fall” salad.  Copycat these moves if you want to replicate the tastiness in the photo.

Salad:

• mixed red leaf  and green leaf lettuce washed and torn into shreds
• shredded carrots (we use a cheese grater for this)
• toasted pine nuts (pop raw pine nuts into a pan on medium heat, stirring constantly until aromatic)
• thinly cut apple slices
• pepper to taste

Chloe’s Dressing:

• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp pomegranate molasses (you can get this at Whole Foods or Middle Eastern grocers)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• fresh chives, finely chopped
• water to desired viscosity

Mix all ingredients in a blender.  Measurements are approximate.  I just kind-of keep dumping ingredients in until it tastes right, so feel free to doctor to suit your preferences.  Stores for weeks in the fridge (if it lasts that long!)

Salad 2: Amy’s “Everything Goes” Salad (furreal people)

This particular salad contains:

• green leaf lettuce, washed and torn into shreds
• chopped red onion
• cooked corn from the cob (we save ours in the fridge so it’s cold when put on the salad)
• blueberries
• hemp seed
• pepper to taste

Dressing (my take on a Japanese sesame ginger dressing):

• 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 6 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sake
• 4 tbsp freshly grated ginger (or from a jar)
• 3 tsp vegan sugar
• 10-12 baby carrots (or 2 medium-large carrots)
• 5 tsp tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped onion

Combine all ingredients in a blender starting with liquids and gradually adding solid ingredients and blend until smooth-ish.  Add water if necessary to thin.  Again, measurements are approximate.  We like this dressing to be rather sweet, so feel free to cut the sugar down some.  You can also substitute agave nectar or another sweetener of your choice.  This one saves for weeks too.

Let us hear your favorite salad mix-em-ups and dressings.  The more unexpected, the better!

So this is actually a recipe for Hoppin’ John, but it’s so frighteningly real, you’ll jump back with terror.

I should note in advance that I’ve never actually had non-vegan Hoppin’ John. I do know, however, that it’s usually made with ham. This version uses homemade fakin’ to reproduce (with frightening accuracy) that “hammy” quality. But in a good way. Not the gross way.

Jumpin’ John

• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium-sized tomato, diced
• 1 rib of celery, diced
• 1 medium-sized green bell pepper, diced (optional)
• 4 cups cooked–or 2 cans–of black-eyed peas
• 4 strips of fakin, cut into smallish pieces
• 1 cup long grain brown rice (I used brown basmati)
• 2 cups veggie stock
• 2 tsp thyme (or 4 large sprigs)
• 1.5 tsp paprika
• 1/2 – 1 tbsp liquid smoke
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

First things first, let’s start that brown rice in the veggie stock–pour the rice and stock into a medium saucepan and heat on high until boiling. Reduce heat and cover. Brown rices take 4-eva.

Now, with that out of the way, let us, you and I, sautee the onion, celery, and green pepper (if using) in a medium to large-ish pot, over medium heat. Wonderful. In the meantime, I think it would be splendid to fry up some fakin. Don’t you? Yes! Let’s.

I had leftover fakin from Tofu MarkMuffins, which doesn’t save terribly well anyway (it starts to get crumbly within a week or so, unless you freeze it). Additionally, you will most likely have a fair amount of tofu fakin crumblins. These perform like a true champeen in this dish. You will also likely have leftover fakin juice, which will work like a sweatshop laborer to make this dish as tasty as possible. In this event, you will not need the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke.

Barring the use of homemade fakin, you might find it convenient and/or enjoyable to use a store-bought variety. In this event you will most like want to “ham” things up by adding the afore-mentioned soy sauce and Liquid Smoke.

But I digress. The fakin should be in small pieces and should be fried lightly in a frying pan over medium heat, in the cooking oil of your choice. You just want it cooked, not crispy. This isn’t Bone-Crunching John.

While the fakin is cooking and once the onions are soft, add in the diced tomato, then the spices, mixing well. Now add in the black-eyed peas.

When the fakin is done, add it to the mix.

When the rice is done, add that too.

Salt and pepper to your smallest of heart’s content.

For the first 25 years of my life, I thought orzo was okra. Now, in recent years I’ve warmed up to the idea of a vegetable that has fur, but it’s not hard to understand why I would have assiduously avoided this miraculous beast. But fear not, dear readers! Those dark days are past! Orzo, we now all know, is not furry. It’s got all the carbaliciousness of pasta, in a fun rice form. And it only takes about 5 minutes to cook. Forsooth!

This recipe is the platonic form from which all other orzo recipes arise. Also, I think you’d be better off as just friends.

Orzo

• 2 cups orzo
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 3 – 4 handfuls of mushrooms, halved or quartered, depending on size
• 6 stalks kale, deboned and chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 can (2 cups) of cooked chick peas
• olive oil
• vegan buttery spread
• 1/3 cup nu yeast
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, diced
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

In a large frying pan, sautee then onion and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil over a medium heat. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat (at a medium pace, using a medium for guidance), melt the butter, adding the orzo when the butter has melted completely. When the orzo starts to brown, add in the veggie stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover.

Once the onions start to brown and the mushrooms are tender, add in the herbs, spices, and kale, mixing well. Add in the chick peas. The orzo should have been done eons ago, since it only takes about 5 minutes. You can now safely add it to the mix in the frying pan. Once it’s mixed in, add the nuyeast and salt and pepper to taste. Stir! Serve! Enjoy! Love it like you would a sibling. A sibling that you really like. To eat.