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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Of Dings, Dents, Life’s Unpredictability and a bowl of Harira…


The last two weeks have been incessant action work wise…cranking out powerpoints, forecasts, meetings and firedrills. K2 is settling into his 2-day preschool routine and weekends are really a good time to unwind and kickback…last weekend was a little tense…don’t ask me how, why or when but my beautiful one year old Prius got a big dent in the front…all is well now, the dent is removed but it showed me how that little event had the ability to cast a shadow on my sunshine…

K2 had a very bad cold (yes! again) and very obligingly passed it on to me and K1. He refuses to eat and I spend hours trying to get him to eat something…I don’t blame him, I don’t feel like eating much of anything myself. Anyway, I had promised myself I will participate in the AWED: Morocco and time was ticking by with the last date for submission being tomorrow…I made a dish in celebration of getting rid of this cold - the hot and the spicy and comforting – Harira.

What is AWED you ask me, A Worldly Epicurean’s Delight and today’s trip is to Morocco. Want more information on AWED – Read here and the event for September is being hosted by Cook’s Hideout

Ingredients
1 Chopped Red Onion
1 Cup Chopped Celery
2 Cups – Fresh Chopped Carrots, Green Beans and Corn
1 can – Fresh Roasted Tomatoes
I can of Garbanzo Beans
1 cup of Red Lentils
Turmeric (1/2 teaspoon)
Cinnamon (1/2 Teaspoon)
Roasted Cumin Powder (1/2 teaspoon)
Ghee – 1 tbspoon
Ginger, Parsley, Cilantro and Lemon Juice
Organic Vegetable Broth
Salt to taste
(I left out the ground meat, vermecilli and Eggs)

In my trusty 4 Liter Prestige Pressure Cooker – I sweat the onion, celery, ginger ( umm…I admit, I cheated and added 5 cloves of garlic too) in the ghee (clarified …I had read somewhere that garlic is good for a cold and who sticks to the recipe to the “T” anyway. Once the onions are nutty brown I added in the canned tomatoes and the vegetables and let that sweat out a little bit too…then add the turmeric, cinnamon, cumin powders and let the flavors marry and create sweet music…now add in the red lentils to the mix. Saute for about 1-2 minutes – follow your nose…umm in my case I just winged it (cold does that to you)…
I washed the canned Garbanzo beans twice to remove any chemicals/preservatives and added to the pressure cooker. I added the entire box of broth (I think it was 16 Oz)…finally added in the lemon juice and let the pressure cooker go 3 whistles. Let the pressure cooker stand a while and then slowly open. Add Salt to taste and then add in the Cinlantro and Parsley…Dish up in a bowl, Add freshly ground pepper and eat with a slice of Garlic bread…I feel like my cold is getting better already….

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