Pea and potato curry.

I promised some of you to post a recipe of the pea and potato curry that I made nearly two weeks ago, and here it is finally.

1. Start by cutting about 750 grams of potatoes in rather big cubes, and chopping two onions into rings.



2. In a large saucepan, put two teaspoons of mustard (the recipe originally calls for mustard seeds which is probably better to use, but we didn't have any so I thought I would just go for the second best option.) and heat until it starts bubbling (if using mustard seeds, until they start popping).


3. Chop three to four cloves of garlic and grind two teaspoons of fresh ginger.


4. Add the onion rings, garlic, ginger and two spoons of ghi or oil to the pan and stir at medium heat until the onion is soft.


5. Add 1/2 teaspoon of chili spice, 1 teaspoon of turmeric (silly me for misspelling it on the label of the spice), 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of garam masala, and some salt and pepper. Also, add the potatoes. Stir until the potatoes are evenly covered in spice.



6. Add 1 1/2 dl of water and let everything boil at very low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are slightly tender with a lid on the saucepan.


7. Almost finished. Add 100 grams of peas. It's best to use frozen peas rather than canned since the taste is fresher. Boil at very low heat for another 3-5 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed.


8. Stir in a little bit of chopped fresh mint.


9. Ready to eat! Serve with rice.

Lentil and quinoa salad.

I keep forgetting to eat enough legumes (most likely because I don't know enough recipes with legumes in them), which I absolutely should as a vegetarian, but every so often I commit myself to making a meal with lentils, beans or peas. Yesterday was one of those days and I came up with a lentil salad that contained a lot of quinoa as well - the reason why I've opted to call it a lentil and quinoa salad.




1. Boil about two dl of green lentils and about two - three dl of quinoa. Let cool.



2. Chop one small onion and a few cloves of garlic.



3. Grind three small carrots.



4. Slice one big cucumber or two small.



5. Slice some green onion. I used quite a lot of it since I love green onion.



6. Slice one paprika and mix everything together.



7. Add lemon zest.



8. And sesame seeds.



9. Voilá! Sprinkle with some salt, a tiny bit of pepper and add parsley and coriander (preferably fresh!)

Good morning....

... except it not really being morning anymore at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. However, I woke up late and to me it sort of still feels like morning. I love days when I have nothing in particular to do and I can have a long breakfast: today I had spicy toast with cheese, tomatoes and basil and drank green tea with stevia leaves (a natural and healthy sweetener so much sweeter than sugar. I am so thrilled that I found a stevia plant since I was under the impression that they've been banned nearly everywhere due to the immensely powerful sugar industry).



I also love having enough time to spend as much time as I want getting dressed, and rummaging through my closet sorting my clothes. This is what I am wearing today.





Now I am going out to buy some groceries and make tortillas for my boyfriend when he comes back from university.

I also wanted to say that you are all so sweet for continuing to read my blog even if my updates are quite inconsistent and even if I have not been very good at commenting back on your blogs lately. I really appreciate all of you :)

Spinach soup.

Recently I've been making this soup at least once a week, but it is so good that I could eat it daily, really. It is a simple and fast soup to make, which also calls for very few ingredients - and what could be better than that?!

Here's how to go about making it:

You need:

- one medim-sized onion
- three cloves of garlic
- frozen spinach
- water
- butter
- flour
- cream
- salt and pepper


1. Thaw frozen spinach. I used about 800 grams since I wanted soup that would last for a few days.


2. Chop the onion and garlic into small pieces.


3. Sauté in a pan on medium heath for 5-10 minutes.


4. When the spinach is thawed, add it to the pan and fill up with water. (Sorry about the blurry photo).


5. While the soup begins to boil melt about 50 grams of butter that you mix with a couple of teaspoons with flour. To that you add a little bit of cream. Add to the soup and stir well.


6. Let it boil for ten minutes and season with salt and pepper as you see fit.


7.Ready!

Pasta gratin.

After coming back from being with my friends all day yesterday (spending five hours in a café and three hours in a friend's apartment drinking wine), I made a lovely pasta gratin. It is really simple to make and such a great dish in this freezing weather.



You need:
- Pasta
- Vegetables such as olives, tomatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, paprika and spinach (choose those you like)
- Cheese
- Cream

(how much you need depends entirely on how much you are making)



1. Boil the pasta until al dente.






2. Cut onions, garlic, olives, paprika, mushrooms and tomatoes.



3. Rinse the spinach and rip it into smaller pieces.



4. Mix everything together in the the mould you are using to bake the gratin in, and add cream. MIx some more.



5. Sprinkle with some cheese, and mix in some of it.


6. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit).



7. Done! Serve warm.

Chickpea soup.

When my boyfriend and I made this chickpea soup for Rosh Hashanah back in September many of you asked for the recipe. Yesterday I made it again, so I made sure to take photos of it so that I could share it with you.


You need: Chickpeas that have been soaked overnight in water (I suppose it's possible to use canned ones too, but then you don't need to cook the soup for an hour - perhaps only some 15 minutes). I didn't measure how much I used, but if you want to make a lot of soup I'd say around 10 dl.
3 carrots
1 onion
2-4 cloves of garlic
2-3 bay leaves
Spices (cumin, pepper, chili and coriander)
Some parsley


1. Cut the carrots and onion and mince the garlic.


2. Sauté them in oil on medium heath in a pan for around 10 minutes.


3. Fill the pan up with water, add the chickpeas and bay leaves and cook for an hour with the lid on.

4. Add the spices according to your own liking and let the soup cook for five more minutes, but be careful with the chili. This soup is meant to be a little spicy, but I have made the mistake of putting too much chili into my food more than once. You probably don't need more than 1/4 teaspoon.


5. Remove the bay leaves and, voila, a quick and very tasty soup! Sprinkle with some chopped parsley.