Couscous with lentils

What does the term "salad" mean to you? Something with green leaves, tomatoes and cucumber and radishes, perhaps with a dressing? That's what denotes a salad to me - even now, when I know that practically anything can be a "salad".

I have to say it used to puzzle me. What is pasta salad, anyway? Or - a very strange thing to a South Indian - rice salad? Could South Indian lemon rice or tamarind rice be classified as rice salad?

I'm still not entirely sure why something that is not a salad when hot becomes a salad when cold. Examples? Well, pasta. Eat it cold, and it's a pasta salad. Eat it hot, and it's... well, pasta. Rice, too, undergoes that transition - especially if there's wild rice in there. Take couscous, too. Pizza Hut has cold couscous in its salad bar. When is couscous a side dish, and when is it a salad? More to the point, why is it a salad when it's cold? And then those hot salads - how do THOSE come about without becoming not-salad?

I don't mean any disrespect to the West when I say that perhaps everything is a "salad" here because they don't know how else to classify the various cooked foods from other cultures? What do you think?

This recipe could be a salad, or not. It could be a side dish. Or merely a form of couscous upma. Here's a thought - perhaps we Southies call everything "upma" because salads aren't really in our culinary heritage?

Because I don't know what to call my recipe - salad, side dish, upma, whatever - I'm terming it "couscous with lentils". At least it has the virtue of literalness.

Recipe for: Couscous with lentils

Ingredients:

1/4 cup green lentils
1 bay leaf
1 cup couscous
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 green chillies, chopped

1 small tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
a handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
about 1-1/2 cups vegetable stock (or water)
1 tsp oil

Method:

1. Cook the lentils in salted water along with the bay leaf, till they're cooked but not mushy.

Drain and reserve.

2. In a medium size pan, heat the oil and add the chopped chillies, garlic and red onion. Stir well.

3. Let the onions soften a little, then add the chopped tomato.

4. Once the tomatoes are beginning to break down, pour in the stock and bring to a brisk boil.

5. Now add the couscous and stir it well. Add salt to taste and bring back to the boil.

6. Turn off the heat and cover the pan with a well-fitting lid. Let the couscous rest for 10-15 minutes.
7. Once all the water has been absorbed, fluff up the couscous with a fork. Add the reserved lentils and freshly ground pepper to taste, and toss to mix, or fork it through to mix.

8. Garnish generously with shredded basil leaves and serve the couscous warm as a side with lamb dishes, or as a snack.

RECIPE: COUSCOUS WITH LENTILS

Ingredients:
1/4 cup green lentils
1 bay leaf
1 cup couscous
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 green chillies, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
a handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
about 1-1/2 cups vegetable stock (or water)
1 tsp oil

Method:
1. Cook the lentils in salted water along with the bay leaf, till they're cooked but not mushy. Drain and reserve.
2. In a medium size pan, heat the oil and add the chopped chillies, garlic and red onion. Stir well.
3. Let the onions soften a little, then add the chopped tomato.
4. Once the tomatoes are beginning to break down, pour in the stock and bring to a brisk boil.
5. Now add the couscous and stir it well. Add salt to taste and bring back to the boil.
6. Turn off the heat and cover the pan with a well-fitting lid. Let the couscous rest for 10-15 minutes.
7. Once all the water has been absorbed, fluff up the couscous with a large fork. Add the reserved lentils and freshly ground pepper to taste, and toss to mix, or fork it through to mix.
8. Garnish generously with shredded basil leaves and serve the couscous warm as a side dish with meat dishes, or as a snack.

Green lentil dal

Yep, just as I thought... oven-roasted tomatoes, apart from making lip-smacking tomato thokku, are amazing in other dishes too. The concentration of flavour is what does the trick, I guess. I’ve made alu-matar with roasted tomato paste as the base, and a simple dal as well – and both were distinctly tastier than usual.

I used green lentils for the dal this time, as they don’t require soaking beforehand, much like whole green gram dal. We had rotis and some leftover potato curry from the morning, and a bit of rice, and my mother suggested that a simple dal would round off our meal. And so it did... but the roasted tomato paste turned it from simple to simply delicious.

I pressure-cooked the green lentils with a chopped tomato and two slit green chillies, to save on time (and fuel). While the dal was cooking, I sliced and stir-fried some onions and the tomato paste, and by the time the cooker had released the pressure and could be opened, the masala was ready for the dal. I can’t recommend too highly the flavour of roasted tomatoes. Roasting seems to make the tomato tangier, and I was glad that I didn’t give in to the impulse to add a bit of tamarind paste, because that would definitely have been overkill.

The best part is that you could easily roast a good load of tomatoes, make a puree of them when cooled, freeze the paste in ice trays, and add a cube or two to whatever you are making if you want a flavour explosion.

Recipe for: Green lentil dal



Ingredients:

1 cup green lentils



1/4 cup oven-roasted tomatoes, pureed
1 medium tomato, chopped



2 small red or white onions, sliced thin
1 tbsp ginger, grated
3 fresh green chillies
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
Water as required
Salt to taste

For tempering:
1 tsp ghee
2 garlic cloves, sliced very thin
1 tsp cumin seeds

For garnish:
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method:

1. Wash and rinse the dal, then pressure-cook along with 2 cups water, the chopped tomato and two green chillies (slit), for three whistles.



Let the pressure come down by itself. Stir the dal gently and remove the whole green chillies, if you wish.



2. Heat the oil, add the cinnamon powder.



After 10 seconds, add the grated ginger and fry for 30 seconds,



then add one green chilli, sliced thinly.



3. Fry for 30 seconds, then add the sliced onions.



Fry for 2-3 minutes on high heat, till the onions begin to turn soft.



4. Add the pureed roasted tomato along with 2-3 tbsp water and stir well, cooking on a medium-high flame for 3-4 minutes.



5. Now add the pressure-cooked dal (discard the green chillies if you like) and mix well.



Add 1/2 cup water if the dal is too thick.

6. Add salt to taste and simmer the dal for 5 minutes.

7. For the temperig, heat the tsp of ghee in a small pan, toss in the cumin seeds and let them change colour, about 10 seconds.



8. Then add the sliced garlic and fry till it just starts turning a light brown around the edges.



9. Pour this tempering on the dal.



Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis or rice.