Thursday 29 July 2010

Have a break!

Today I will take a break from scouting for business opportunities. Instead, I shall focus on finding the right recipes for tomorrow's picnic! Our friend, Patricia, is hosting a vegetarian picnic at the park. I will be bringing a mediterranean pasta salad and curry dahl.

I am trying to replicate the dahl we ate at Usman last Friday. My previous attempt (also to a potluck party at Patricia's house) wasn't very successful. The peas weren't mushy enough. So I'm going to use the slow cooker this time.

I can imagine my friends going, "Will someone stop her from feeding us (lousy) curry chickpeas please!!"

Too bad, I'm not giving up just yet. If I still can't get the desired results tomorrow, I promise this will be the last.

For the pasta salad, I've got most of the ingredients already - sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, black olives and tri-colour fusilli pasta. I'll be getting some yellow and red capsicums to grill with olive oil before tossing into the salad. I shouldn't go wrong with this one.

This is the start of my series of gatherings. There's a junior-college friends afternoon tea session coming up on 8 August followed by a pot-luck gathering with my lady blogger friends.

I'm so looking forward to every single one of them!

8 comments:

The World According To Me said...

I love picnics! Hope you have a lovely time. The food sounds yummy, as usual.

Ash said...

Hi. I don't know if you doing it, but the chickpeas do better if soaked overnight prior to cooking. And while boiling, add some ginger, cinnamon and bay leaf. Cook slow and long, the idea is to retain the shape of chickpeas yet mushy enough . All the best with the picnic!

Unknown said...

Have fun the pasta sound delicious. And I find that although dhal is though by many people to be the simplest recipe very few people can make really delicious dhal

Blur Ting said...

World - Thank you. I love picnics too!

Blur Ting said...

Ash - Thanks for the tips. I soak them overnight and then I boil for several hours. I think I need to increase boiling time to achieve that really soft texture that I want. I will try to add ginger, cinnamon and bay leaf this time!

Blur Ting said...

RM - Oh, I love dahl, chickpeas and every kind of legume and lentils in this world. Dahl is nice and it cooks really fast too compared to chickpeas.

Ash said...

Dahl. For an interesting variety toss it around in a moderately hot, thick bottom pan for that slightly roasted effect before boiling. You will need to boil it a lot longer though afterward. A pressure cooker comes handy when cooking lentils or chickpea. Hope you had a great picnic.

Blur Ting said...

Thanks Ash! Yesterday's chickpea was soft and mushy. All my friends liked it. Finally!

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