One of my favorites is Mujadara. For those unaware, it’s a dish of lentils, rice, and both fried and caramelized onions. It seems to tick all the boxes, and when you add vegan yogurt and some greens, it’s delicious.
What are your favorite staples?
Dal. though the word is used in multiple contexts. it’s a lentil or legume based curry, crazy versatile. scoop with naan (the easiest and fastest of all breads) or serve with rice.
I started with red lentils (Masoor Dal) because they are basically peeled brown lentils so they prepare quickly when starting from dry. dry lentils are CHEAP. my Masoor dal recipe is tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, some cumin seeds, ground tumeric, coriander powder, red chili powder. a little lime juice and garam masala at the end. it’s tastes exciting and feels rich/hearty without slowing you down.
if you are looking for ideas/inspiration on making the wide world of lentils/legumes exciting, I recommend the “660 Curries” book by Raghavan Iyer, which I endorse for anyone who wants to have a tremendous and straight forward reference on South Asian cooking, using/unlocking many, many spices.
this is the book which taught me that “curry” means “sauce” basically, and they can be all over the place, flavor and spice wise.
I would argue chapattis are even easier and faster, but otherwise correct. I prefer brown lentils because they hold their texture, and start by boiling them with onion, ginger, tumeric, and a whole chilli, then add some tomato paste and salt once I start reducing. Once it’s reduced it comes off the heat and I fry garlic, onion, a pinch of chilli flakes and a shit load of cumin seeds in plenty of oil, and stir it all into the daal once the garlic starts to caramelise. The only problem is the 4 hours of soaking and hour+ of boiling and reducing that brown lentils need.
Lentils with sorghum or millet. It’s hard to think of a more environmentally-sustainable dish than that.
True.
Anything that you’re growing yourself, especially from waste products, is going to blow pretty much anything else out of the water.
For example, oyster mushrooms growing on your cardboard waste is going to be near-zero environmental footprint by itself. If you use rainwater and add in the reduction in environmental costs due to reduced runoff that contributes to eutrophication of waterways and the reduction in costs associated with transporting and recycling that cardboard waste, the embodied environmental footprint is probably going to start looking like a net-negative one which is pretty astonishing.
Kind of obsessed with this kind of self-reliant food sourcing, and making the bulk of my staples from scratch or bulk dried ingredients if possible.
Vegetables with oil roasted
Saute onion and garlic in a pot, add vegetables with some salt - infinite soups depending on what vegetables are available
Curry and rice - infinite variations
Heat wok, add spices, then add oil, then fry vegetables. Add to carbohydrate of your choice (rice, pasta, noodles etc)
