spinach and cauliflower dhal

Serves 4

200g red lentils

1 onion, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp tomato puree

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1 tsp yellow mustard seeds

2 tsp garam masala (see note below)

1 tsp tumeric

300g fresh spinach

1 small cauliflower, broken into small florets

800ml chicken stock

Squeeze of lemon juice

Fresh coriander

Heat a generous slug of olive oil over a moderate heat in a large casserole pan and add the onion. Cook for five minutes, then add the garlic and chilli and continue to sweat unti softened and translucent.

With the pan still on the heat, add the tomato puree, mustard seeds, garam masala and tumeric and fry for two minutes more, stirring to stop the onion and spices sticking to the bottom of the pan. If it seems very dry, add another slug of olive oil and then the lentils, stirring well while cooking for a further minute.

Add 400ml of the chicken stock, bring to a gentle simmer, stir, cover and leave to cook for five minutes. Add the cauliflower florets and another 300ml of stock along with plenty of salt and pepper. Stir again, cover with a lid and leave it to very gently simmer for 12–15 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash the spinach and place in a large pan over a moderate to high heat. Cover with a lid and allow to steam until the spinach has has completely wilted but is still bright green. This should take only two or three minutes. There should be enough moisture left on the leaves after washing to steam the spinach but if it looks dry then add a little more. Once wilted, place the spinach in a colander and squeeze out all of the moisture you can.

Keep stirring and cheking the lentils and caulifower, which after 12 minutes should be nearly cooked. Add more stock if needed to keep it to a thick but not dry consistency. When the cauiflower is tender and the lentils completely cooked, gently stir in the spinach and lemon juice and taste to check the seasoning. Allow to stand for a few minutes while you roughly chop the coriander.

Serve with naan bread, chapati or rice (or all three), a handful of coriander and some natural yoghurt.

Jocon

Last month we learned how to cook arroz a la chapin. Now it’s time to learn el plato principal. Jocon is not as complicated as you might think. It uses the traditional Mayan method of toasting sesame and pumpkin seeds, blending them to make a paste with bread or tortillas and using this as a base for many typical dishes. Once you’ve got the hang of this process, other recipes like el famoso Pepian will be bien faciles.

What you’ll notice is that the more traditional Mayan dishes like Jocon are in fact résaludables. High levels of malnutrition in the western highlands can be linked to the marginalization of the Mayan people over time to the least fertile lands. This made room for rich landowners to use the best land to grow produce for export. Add to this the influx of cheap processed foods like packet soups and you can see how malnutrition and diabetes are now major health issues affecting rural indigenous communities today.

It’s not all bad; there are projects working hard to establish food security while maintaining traditional methods of agriculture and cooking. One of which is Asociacion de Mujeres de Altiplano (AMA) who is setting up a sustainable agriculture school from its organic greenhouse.www.amaguate.org

Serves roughly 4 people

Ingredients:
2 ½ to 3 pounds of chicken, drumsticks and thighs work best

4 cups of Water 
¼ cup of Pumpkin seeds pepitas 
¼ cup of sesame seeds ajojoli
2 small pan frances 
1 cup of mil tomate (tomatillos) washed, hulled and chopped 
1 quetzal of cilantro, washed and chopped 
1 bunch of cebollitas, washed and chopped 
1 Jalapeño chili.

A portion of arroz a la chapin to serve.

Directions:
1. Place the chicken, water and a couple of large pinches of salt in a large pan over a medium-high flame. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the meat is cooked.

2.Heat a dry frying pan over medium flame. Add the pumpkin and sesame seeds and toast, stirring occasionally until lightly browned. This will take around 8-10 minutes. Make sure you don’t burn the seeds! Let the seeds cool a little and blend to a fine powder (this is easiest in an electric coffee grinder but you can use a blender, in which case I would add a little of the stock to make it easier to blend).

4. Add the ground seeds, pan frances, mil tomate, cilantro, cebollitas and chili peppers to a blender. Add 1 cup of the stock and blend until smooth. If using a small blender you may have to do this step in batches.

5. In another large pan add the chicken, pureed sauce and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the chicken broth to give it a sauce-like consistency. You can add more stock if you like a lot of sauce or if you prefer a thick paste add a little less water.

6. Heat over medium-low flame and simmer for an additional 15-25 minutes. 

7. Adjust seasoning and serve on top of the arroz a la chapin.

Asian Broccoli Salad

This recipe is served cold so remember to start this 40 min in advance of wanting to serve! I served it as a side dish to a noodle stir fry, but it would go well as a side for fish or chicken with soy sauce too.

Sesame oil and seeds have a strong taste when toasted so if you don't like this flavour this isn't the recipe for you.

serves 4 as a side

Ingredients
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
1 large head of broccoli, cut into florets, stems finely sliced
1 tbsp sesame seeds
salt + pepper

1.Whisk the soy sauce, vinegar, oil and honey in a large bowl until blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

2.Steam the broccoli florets and stems for 5 mins or until tender. Set to one side to cool. 

3. In a heavy pan, add the sesame seeds and stir over a medium heat until golden (making sure not to burn)Transfer the seeds to a clean dish to cool. 

4.Stir in the broccoli and half the sesame seeds to the bowl containing the vinegar and oil mixture. 5.Leave to marinate at room temperature for a minimum of half an hour, stirring occasionally. 

6.Using a slotted spoon, transfer the broccoli to a serving dish and then pour over the dressing.
Sprinkle over the remaining sesame seeds.