Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Badi

It's Meatless Monday, Everyone!

Today's recipe is from a great vegetarian cookbook by Didi Emmons, "Entertaining For a Veggie Planet". This is a follow-up cookbook to her "Vegetarian Planet". I got the "Entertaining" one first, for some reason, and I liked it so much that I just picked up the "Planet" one at Chapters last week.

I've tweaked her recipe just a bit to suit my tastes (I think I like things with a little more kick than she does...so I add in way more spices. I also add more lentils, more tomatoes, and more peas. Oh, and some onion and garlic, too! I even put in a few splashes of tabasco because after tasting, my dish still didn't have enough kick. That is one of the great things about veggie cooking: it's all good! Just add in more of what ya' like!!)

So here it is...

Sweet Potato Badi: MP-Style.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried, unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup raw red lentils

1 small white onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp curry powder

1 med. "white" potato (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)

1 large sweet potato (cut into 3/4 inch cubes)

2 small zucchini (cut into 1/4 inch rounds)

1 can plum tomatoes (take out the tomatoes and chop them up then throw them in along with the juice)

1 cup frozen baby peas

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1-2 small, skinny chile peppers, minced (mine weren't hot enough so I added about 5 or 6 dashes of Tobasco sauce)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a small, dry, skillet toast the coconut over medium heat, shaking the pan regularly, until it is uniformly brown (watch carefully it goes from white to brown suddenly! At least it does on my stove!). Set aside.

In another *big* saute pan, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and heat until the onions have softened. Add in the lentils and saute until they begin to brown (this also comes on suddenly...so watch carefully! At least it does on my, stupid, stove). Stir in the spices and add the potatoes. Add in your tomatoes and sauce and about 1 cup of water (you want enough liquid in there to cook the potatoes), and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the zucchini and peas and cook until all the veggies are fork-tender (about 10 minutes more).

Put aside about 2 tablespoons of the toasted coconut (for garnish) and mix the rest into a bowl with the yogurt, chiles, and about 1 teaspoon of kosher (big grain) salt. Remove your pan from the heat when all your veggies are ready and stir in the yogurt mixture.

Done!

Now you can serve over your favourite rice (mine is Basmati! yum! I think I may have to start lovin' brown, though...) with the reserved cocunut sprinkled on top for the fancy-schmancy factor.

Totally Yummy. Totally Meatless.

Who would want to eat a pig???

Happy Meatless Monday!

See ya' next week!