It’s our weekend off so we are having a nice relaxing time.  I did get up early and go to the gym though- although there was an ulterior motive as it meant I could get some lovely seeded sourdough bread from the farmers market and some cupcakes from the cute cupcake shop in Twickenham!

Lunch was a weekend off favourite- soup, bread and cheeses, and sometimes some sausage rolls for Colin.

The bread and cheeses came from the Farmers Market- the sourdough from The Celtic Baker and the 2 cheeses from The Wyfe of Bath.  The blue cheese in particular was delicious- a strong blue cheese with a smooth, creamy texture.

I made the soup and have loads left over for lunches through the week.  It’s a red lentil, tomato and cumin soup.  I simply sauteed an onion and a clove of garlic in a little olive oil in a large saucepan.  I then added red lentils and cumin, with a pinch of paprika and chilli powder and added 2 tins of tomatoes and a tin full of veggie stock.  This was then simmered for about 40 mins until the lentils were soft and cooked.  Really lovely and warming.  The leftovers are more stew like and will be perfect for some wintry lunch in the week ahead.

Being Saturday it must be curry night, and another Veggie Curry Night adventure.

Working clockwise from top left we have lentil vadas (yes!!!), aloo gobhi, aubergine, red pepper and tomato curry and a radish, tomato and parsley salad.  The lentil and cauliflower recipes were new whereas the aubergine and radish dishes were my own creation.   All really good, but lets face it Lentil Vadas have the best name ever!!!  The came from Feast Bazaar by Barry Vera.  They really were worth the effort, Colin loved them, so here’s the recipe.

250g lentils- I used Urad Dal, but you could use a mixture of red lentils and yellow split peas

1 onion, sliced into fine half moons

2 tsp ground coriander

1 hot chilli, sliced

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/4 tsp bicarb of soda

vegetable oil for frying

• soak the lentils for a couple of hours.  I actually forgot about this and only soaked them for about 30 mins and it turned out fine.
• pop the drained lentils into a food processor and give it a couple of mins to break down into almost a paste.
• transfer to a bowl and add the onion, coriander, chilli, ginger, bicarb and salt. Mix well and leave to stand for 15 mins.
• heat some oil in a wok or saucepan.  Add little spoonfuls of the mixture into the oil-you can shape into balls or strips or freeform!  Fry for 5 mins, turning often, until browned all over and crispy.
• Drain on kitchen paper and eat.

They were lovely- the outside bits of lentil and onion go all crispy and the inside have a great texture.  Much better than an onion bhaji by far.

Tomorrow I will make a pizza for lunch- being careful not to make it too sloppy…..  And then I am off to my conference in Cardiff until Tuesday.  I’ll update if I come across any yummy delights on the way- here’s hoping!