Mung Bean Dal

Posted on January 14, 2012 by



I probably just said three words that confused you. Mung beans are a bean used everywhere in Vietnamese cuisine, from savory dishes to sweet. They’re used to make sweet soups, cakes, and even their paste is used to make noodles. I always have some in my pantry. The green ones are whole, and the yellow have been split in half. You’d probably fare better buying them at an Asian grocery store, where they’re sold for around $1 for 12 ounces. I saw a bag of them at my local grocery store for $7! Ludicrous! I’m sorry if you got ripped off, but I had to tell you before you made the same mistake again!

Additionally, dal is an Indian word for any sort of beans you use. When I was in college, my dad would pick me up on Fridays and we’d either have sushi or Indian food. One time, P and I were in DC and ate Indian food for Valentine’s Day. It’s always been like a comfort food to me and I associate it with good times.

So, the other day, as I was leafing through Mark Bittman’s The Food Matters cookbook, I saw a recipe for dal. I love this cookbook – it’s chock-full of veggie-heavy recipes. You could use any small beans or lentils you have, but I used mung beans since I already had them. I added a little light coconut milk to it, which gave a slightly sweet, full flavor to the dal. I also used a cauliflower too and ate this with whole-wheat naan bread. My baby loved it – I’m so proud that she likes a variety of foods. I’m going to brag, but she even likes brown rice, tofu, lentils, and kabocha squash along with other things. She’s definitely not one of those kids raised on pre-packaged ravioli or Mac ‘n cheese!

Mung Bean Dal
Serves 4
Adapted from Mark Bittman’s The Food Matters Cookbook
1 cup split (yellow) mung beans, rinsed and picked over
1 can (13.6 oz) light coconut milk
1 small cauliflower (or 1/2 large), cored and cut into chunks, optional
2 tablespoons mined ginger
1 tablespoon mined garlic
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 fresh Thai bird chili, or 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, for garnish
1. Soak the beans in water (change out the water a few times before soaking – the water will be yellow from the beans) for about two hours; drain.
2. Combine all ingredients (except salt, pepper, butter, and cilantro), and bring to a boil over high heat in a Dutch oven on the stove. Bring the heat to medium-low, and cook for about 35 minutes, until the mung beans are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the butter. Serve with chopped cilantro on top.

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Soft Tofu Sushi Rice Bowl

Posted on January 8, 2012 by


I’ve been craving sushi rice lately – that vinegary, slightly sweet flavor you get when you bite into some nigiri sushi, for example. I figured, how good would it be to make a vegetarian sushi rice bowl, complete with seaweed salad, pickled ginger, and brown rice, spiked with a little rice wine vinegar? Pretty satisfying, if you ask me.

To add some protein, add some sushi-grade tuna or salmon. You could also add in a hard-boiled egg, but I chose to add in some marinated soft tofu.

Wakame is a sea vegetable that is just great, in soups (you’ll find this in miso soup) and salads. Simply soak it in water for a few minutes before using, to rehydrate it. You can find this product in a lot of places nowadays. I bought mine at a local Asian grocery store, but I’ve even seen it at Whole Foods.

There’s no recipe to this – I just did everything quickly, on the spur of the moment. You can just prepare everything to your taste. In the wakame salad, simply rehydrate the amount of seaweed you want to use (not too much since it really expands in water), add rice vinegar, mirin, and granulated sugar to taste. Ta da!

Soft Tofu Sushi Rice Bowl
Soft tofu recipe (also called silken tofu)
Avocado, diced
Wakame salad (rehydrate wakame in water, drain, then add rice vinegar, mirin, and sugar to taste)
Cucumber, sliced
Pickled ginger
Short or medium-grain brown rice

Posted in main entree, vegetables, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Happy New Year and Mulled Wine

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

Happy New Year!  Here’s to wishing you a new year full of joy, because that’s what matters in life.  A lot of people may say that this past year was the worst year of my life, and I should be especially happy to ring in the new year.  But you know what? I don’t feel bad for anything.

I’m not sad (don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy either) that the accident happened.  I’m also not sad that I spent seven months in the hospital, because that’s where I met some of the kindest people.  Same with the six months of rehab after being discharged from the hospital.  Not sad either.  Is that weird?  I met some of the nicest people in rehab, and funny, too!  Through this accident I learned who is truly on my side and who isn’t.  It’s a hard lesson to learn, but I’m very grateful for those that have stayed close to me.  I’m grateful that my husband stayed my best friend.  He’s had stress upon stress, and I admire him for dealing with it all.

So, this year, we decided to do it low-key for the day. I made a mulled wine, something that P heard of a lot when he went to London for business.  I’ve never had it before but it was quite tasty and improv for a drink-I just threw whatever I had in there.  We rang in the New Year eating cheese, crackers, and drinking wine on the kitchen countertop.  It was the perfect way to spend the holiday. :)

Mulled Wine

Serves 6

1.5 L red wine (I used cabernet sauvignon-reminding you, this is a big bottle of wine, not your typical size)

3 cinnamon sticks

5 cloves

5 star aniseeds

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp star anise extract

In a medium soup pot (I used a French oven), mix together all ingredients.  Set on low heat and allow to brew for an hour.  Serve, with cinnamon sticks if wanted.

Posted in Drinks | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

Posted on December 27, 2011 by

A few years ago, my friend Phi made rosemary cookies and I remembered they were so good.  They were slightly addicting!  Who knew rosemary would work so well in a cookie?  I wanted to recreate the shortbread using an old recipe for my Earl Grey tea cookies, this time using rosemary instead of Earl Grey tea.  I had to keep myself from eating the entire batch myself!

I loved these so much I went on a rosemary baking spree – it included rosemary lemon pound cake for my neighbors’ gifts as well.  I still have extra rosemary in the fridge.  Now that Christmas is over, I think I’ll whip up some more cookie dough, shape them, and put them in the freezer.  You can slice and bake whenever you like!  Anyways, I hope y’all had a good Christmas.  I loved every part of this year’s holidays!

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

2 tsp finely chopped rosemary

3 tablespoons water

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and salt.  Set aside.  In a food processor, pulse the butter cubes with powdered sugar and rosemary. Pulse a few times until incorporated, until the butter looks pea-sized.  Add the flour and salt and continue to pulse until incorporated.  Add in the water, and pulse until the mixture looks smooth and uniform.  Take a long piece of plastic wrap, and place half the dough mixture onto it.  Form into a log and wrap it up.  Repeat with the other half.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  When ready to bake, slice into 1/4-inch thick slices.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 10 minutes; if you want the cookies lightly browned, bake it for about 12 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

Posted in desserts | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Gingerbread Toast

Posted on December 19, 2011 by

I haven’t gotten into gingerbread until recently.  I don’t know why, but the flavors didn’t resonate with me…I think I wasn’t a big fan of molasses, but recently my cousin gave me a molasses cookie and I loved it!  I bought some almond butter when I was in California recently at a local Trader Joe’s.  I thought it would be really good if I quickly whipped up some gingerbread spices, a little bit of molasses and demarara sugar, and spread it on my whole-wheat toast.

I feel like I dumped a bunch of my spices in here.  Throw in your kitchen cabinet, whatever you like.  Haha!  It’s like a holiday in a spread!  And might I add, almond butter is high in monounsaturated fats and low in saturated fats.  It’ll also give you a good amount of protein and is high in fiber.  Adding gingerbread spices to this makes it a healthy alternative compared to gingerbread men, especially if you’re craving the taste but too lazy to make them, like me.  :)

Gingerbread Almond Butter

Makes 1/2 cup

1/2 cup unsalted almond butter

1 tablespoon molasses

2 tsp Demerara sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp allspice

Pinch sea salt, optional

1.  Mix all ingredients together until combined.

Posted in breakfast, vegetarian | Tagged , , | 2 Comments