Quote Originally Posted by Chirs View Post
My current favourite meatless meal would be dal bhat although I always like onigiri, mostly for its versatility. (When oiling your hands to form the onigiri add a drop of sesame oil.) Congee is another dish that has endless possibilities. (I make mine plain, without chicken stock, and allow all the interest to come from the side dishes. Japanese pickles are always good with it.)

Dal
1c red lentils (masur dal)
4c water
1" cinnamon stick
1 or 2 bay leaves
1tsp salt

Put all but the salt in a sauce pan, bring to a boil, then simmer for 25min, skimming off the foam, until the dal is tender and the mix is soupy. Stir in the salt. (Notice that you are not draining the water. If need be, boil a bit longer until you have what looks like lumpy pea soup. The dal should be soft but not completely mush.)

2Tbsp veg oil or ghee
1/2tsp black mustard seed
1tsp cumin seed (whole, not ground)
1Tbsp dried curry leaves, crumbled
1Tbsp minced garlic
1c chopped onion (the finer the better)
pinch of hing (asafetida powder)
1tsp cayenne pepper
1/4c fresh cilantro (for dressing when serving)

Using a heavy pan, heat the ghee to high temperature and add the mustard seeds. Keep stirring so they don't burn until they start to pop (it won't be long) then add the cumin and curry leaves. Stir for about 30 seconds, until the aroma becomes obvious, then add the garlic and onions and lower the heat to medium. Keep stirring for 2 or 3 minutes then add the hing and cayenne. Keep stirring for another 2 or 3 minutes, until the onion is tender and just starting to brown.

If you've done this while the dal has been cooking, when the dal is done, stir the onion mix in with the dal and serve in a rice bowl topped with some chopped cilantro beside another bowl of rice.

I'll make this for supper tonight and take a picture, if you like.
Great!

In general any of the more saucy type dishes, curries, stews etc. can be converted nicely to vegetarian. I especially like doing curries, and dishes with an Iranian influence. (Oh, and curries made from scratch, as above... simply cannot be beat!)

I did one the other day (Iranian inspired- it's all about the spices really... essentially, stews/curries- they're all the same really.)

I am assuming in Japan you have a rice-cooker handy!

Feeds 2 with left-overs

Ingredients:

1 Onion

2 Aubergines, you can use large courgettes

Cinnamon (about 3 tsp)

Dill (plenty/around 2 Tsp)

Cumin (about 2 tsp)

2 Cloves garlic

A tin of tomatoes

1 Lemon

1 1/2 small cups of (dry) basmati rice

Salt

Sugar

Olive oil

Butter

Optional: Saffron (a decent amount)


Method: (more or less, I sort of play it by ear...)

Chop the Onions small, and roughly cut the aubergines into c.2cm cubes.

Start frying in some olive oil... use plenty, as the aubergines suck it up.

Chop and add the garlic and about half of the cumin and cinnamon (you can add the rest later for taste).

Add the tomatoes and half the dill to the mix.. cover and let stew!


Start your rice about 20 minutes before you plan to eat (I normally let the thing stew for about 45 mins).

Put the rice, 2 times the water to volume of rice and butter into the rice cooker.

Crush the saffron in a mortar with a heaped teaspoon of sugar and a tsp of salt (can be done in a cup with a teaspoon- in which case, use water- you will see if you are crushing them well).

Add to the rice and cover (put the cooker on high). Don't worry if it burns a little... thats the way they do it in Iran!

Let the rice-cooker do its thing. (once the water is below the level of the rice, you can wrap a tea-towel around the rice cooker-lid- tying it up on the outside of the cooker:

http://javanehskitchen.files.wordpre...2/sl374487.jpg
(I've changed it to a link, because the picture was enormous!)

Once it's done, you can dip the bottom of the inner (removable) pot from the rive cooker in cold-water. Then flip the rice cake out onto a large plate. If it doesn't fall out nicely, just scoop it out (including burnt bits!) with a bamboo/plastic rice-scooper.

It should look like this:


(or something like it)

Mix in the juice of the lemon to the stew and serve with the rice!

The acidity of the lemon complements the cumin really nicely, and is exquisite with the saffron sweetness of the rice!

There is also a sort of very sour cranberry type thing, that is normally served with the saffron rice. You can substitute dried cranberries- and stew with a fair amount of sugar an water for about half an hour. Serve on the side.



Enjoy!

Oh, and the aubergine can of course be substituted for lamb!

Cheers,

Michael