Spring is Here

March 13-16 (Deer Valley, UT) —

From Hurricane, we headed north toward Salt Lake City to see our friend Short Bus in Deer Valley and take Pancha to the vet to have her stitches removed.   As we drove, I texted Bus:

V:   Can we bring you anything?

Bus:  A maid, a hot boyfriend, and a million dollars.

V:  Where do I find those in southern Utah?

Bus:  [no response]

We’ve been in Deer Valley now with Bus for 3 days and are loving the spring weather, but the snow is not happy.  Heading up to PowMow tomorrow if the snow gods bring some white stuff soon.

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We’ve had some great laughs over great meals here.   Last night’s feast:

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Yellow Dal 

  • 2 cup moong dal or yellow split peas, rinsed thoroughly (you can buy moong dal at any Indian grocery store)
  • 2 large tomato (about 8 ounces), cut into 8 wedges
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 2 medium red onion, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
  • 10 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 & 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 2 dried red chilies with stem cut off
  • 1/2 cup minced cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoon salt
Place rinsed dal in a large saucepan.  Add the tomato, dried red chilies, and 6 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until dal is tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Pick out any tomato skins and whisk dal to emulsify it.  Keep warm over very low heat.
 
Heat the oil in a medium skillet over high heat.  When the oil begins to smoke, add the cumin seeds, covering the pan with a lid or splatter screen.  After the seeds have stopped sputtering, add the onion and saute over medium heat.  About 3 minutes later, add the garlic and saute until most of the onion has turned brown, about 10 minutes altogether.  Add the coriander, turmeric and cayenne, stir and pour mixture over the dal. Add the cilantro, butter and salt to the dal and simmer for another 5 minutes.   Let simmer over very low heat until ready to serve.  Best if it simmers for a few hours.
Rory’s Red Bean Curry
  • 1-2 Tbs of canola or olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp asafoetida
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 2 dried red chilies
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 & 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 & 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
  • 1″ piece of ginger (finely chopped)
  • 1 small green chili (I use serranos — finely chopped — don’t add if you don’t like it hot)
  • 3+ medium tomatoes (chopped) or 1/2 can or so of chopped tomatoes
  • 2 cans red kidney beans
  • 15-20 curry leaves (you can buy fresh ones at your local Indian grocery)
  • handful of green beans, ends trimmed and snapped in half
  • 1 or 2 carrots (chopped) — smaller pieces cook more quickly, but make these whatever size you like
Heat oil on med-high, add asafoetida, mustard seeds and red chilies.  They should sputter a bit.  Once brown and sizzling, turn heat to medium & add garlic, ginger, red chilies, and green chili if using.   Stir for 1 min then add dried spices.  Stir a minute and add tomatoes and curry leaves.   Stir until oil separates (few mins) then add carrots and green beans.  Cover and simmer.  Add water if seems dry.   When carrots and green beans are fairly tender (20 mins or so), add kidney beans.   Stir a few times.  Serve when beans are hot.

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