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Feb. 24th, 2009 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI got my ordered lentils in the mail today. The local grocery, of course, is less-than-capable on the lentil front, so I shop at the online Indian Food Emporium (Stuff always tastes better if it comes from an Emporium or perhaps a Purveyor of Fine Blah-blah.) Their service ain't bad and they cater to my needs on the leguminous front. I found them because they were suggested as a supplier in the back of the 660 Curries book.
I got a selection of lentils, which I will try to summarize for Chez Heather and possibly anyone else who might want to know about lentils for Indian cooking.
Masoor dal. These are small, salmon-colored lentils. They're made by skinning and splitting ordinary brown lentils. Masoor dal turn light yellow and get mushy quickly when cooked.
Moong dal. These are split and skinned (yellow-colored) mung beans. Mung beans are ordinarily kind of dark green and round. Moong dal cook up but hold their shape a lot better than masoor dal. They're more of an oval shape and (for Chez Heather) formed the body of the most recent curry effort. These are my favorite at the moment. I really like them.
Chana dal. These are split yellow peas. They're bigger than moong dal and more half-circle-shaped. They have pretty g, ood body and hold their firmness better when cooked.
Urad dal. These are off-white, the skinned and split parts of black urad dal beans. They cook more quickly than moong dal and not as fast as masoor dal. They have a nice creamy flavor and buffer peppers well.
I also got unskinned, split moong dal, unskinned, split urad dal, and pigeon peas. I haven't used any of these yet, so don't know what they're like, but the book has recipes for 'em so I expect I'll find out.
Also in the larder, I still have whole urad dal and mung beans to work off from my last order with these people. The whole beans take longer to cook and are firmer. I don't like them as well as the split ones.
In a fit of culinary preparedness, I also cleaned the oven last night and replaced the stove pans that had rusted through (my stove is more than ten years old, I cook a lot, and I'm a slob. It was time.). The stove looks practically brand new. Go me!
I continued that vein of productive this evening by going through the spice cupboard and combining like spices, throwing out empty containers, and otherwise shaping the ship. I do not know why I had two half-full containers of vanilla extract but now I only have one. Similarly, I had two containers of ground ginger. Now there is one. The cupboard is now significantly more organized.
All of that, however, was after the daylight went away. While there was still daylight, I made big logs into smaller logs using the time-honored "beat them apart with a maul" technique that has served me so well up to this point. I got sweaty even though it was thirty odd degrees outside, so I must have been doing something like exercise.
Edited: mp3 tagging is wrong. The hidden downside of stolen music...
I got a selection of lentils, which I will try to summarize for Chez Heather and possibly anyone else who might want to know about lentils for Indian cooking.
Masoor dal. These are small, salmon-colored lentils. They're made by skinning and splitting ordinary brown lentils. Masoor dal turn light yellow and get mushy quickly when cooked.
Moong dal. These are split and skinned (yellow-colored) mung beans. Mung beans are ordinarily kind of dark green and round. Moong dal cook up but hold their shape a lot better than masoor dal. They're more of an oval shape and (for Chez Heather) formed the body of the most recent curry effort. These are my favorite at the moment. I really like them.
Chana dal. These are split yellow peas. They're bigger than moong dal and more half-circle-shaped. They have pretty g, ood body and hold their firmness better when cooked.
Urad dal. These are off-white, the skinned and split parts of black urad dal beans. They cook more quickly than moong dal and not as fast as masoor dal. They have a nice creamy flavor and buffer peppers well.
I also got unskinned, split moong dal, unskinned, split urad dal, and pigeon peas. I haven't used any of these yet, so don't know what they're like, but the book has recipes for 'em so I expect I'll find out.
Also in the larder, I still have whole urad dal and mung beans to work off from my last order with these people. The whole beans take longer to cook and are firmer. I don't like them as well as the split ones.
In a fit of culinary preparedness, I also cleaned the oven last night and replaced the stove pans that had rusted through (my stove is more than ten years old, I cook a lot, and I'm a slob. It was time.). The stove looks practically brand new. Go me!
I continued that vein of productive this evening by going through the spice cupboard and combining like spices, throwing out empty containers, and otherwise shaping the ship. I do not know why I had two half-full containers of vanilla extract but now I only have one. Similarly, I had two containers of ground ginger. Now there is one. The cupboard is now significantly more organized.
All of that, however, was after the daylight went away. While there was still daylight, I made big logs into smaller logs using the time-honored "beat them apart with a maul" technique that has served me so well up to this point. I got sweaty even though it was thirty odd degrees outside, so I must have been doing something like exercise.
Edited: mp3 tagging is wrong. The hidden downside of stolen music...
