It’s that time of the year again when meals are determined not by well-thumbed recipe books but by selecting from the flood of vegetables pouring in from the vege garden, and finding ways of making them work together.
What I’ve got at present are Hungarian banana chillies — low-medium heat — Ponsonby Red and Baxters Early Cherry tomatoes — both huge croppers — cutting celery — a strong-flavoured wild version that has been feeding me solidly for about three months now from half a dozen plants, dwarf Purple Tepee beans, and basil bushes growing luxuriantly in the double tyre.
I’ve enjoyed the tomatoes this year. They’re both varieties more virus-resistant than anything I’ve grown in the last ten years, in that I’m actually getting a decent crop off them, and neither of them seem to attract the attention of green shield bugs. Even the beans are relatively free of them. I’ve eaten tomatoes in salad and stirfry, cut and sprinkled with sugar the way my mother presented them, frozen the pulp, made tomato jam, dried the little dears in the ezidri, and even stuck a bunch of crispy dried ones in the blender for a yoghurt carton of very acceptable tomato powder which I’ve sealed and keep in the freezer.
Now a whole lot of fresh vegetables can be a bit sharpish, causing one to suck the cheeks in and purse the lips somewhat as one savours the afterburn, so I’ve sought to balance this with a blend of brown lentils and green split peas, and a combo of onions and olive oil to provide a nutty, gravy-like background for the sharper tastes of the tomatoes, peppers and celery. It works!
Ingredients
1/2 cup green split peas
1/2 cup brown lentils
(Vary the amount and proportion of lentils/peas to suit. Perhaps start with 1/3 cup of each)
2 medium to large onions, chopped
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 stalks cutting celery (or a couple of straight celery) chopped
handful of green beans, chopped to 3cm lengths
2-3 Hungarian banana chillis (low/medium heat) sliced and seeded.
handful basil chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom or cumin or coriander
Up to a dozen or so small to medium tomatoes, chopped as necessary
Method
Place the lentils/peas in a small saucepan, and generously cover with water. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer for about 30-40 minutes or so. When they’re soft enough to mash against the roof of your mouth with your tongue, drain them (and reserve the water. More later) and set them aside. Never offer anybody pulses that are not properly cooked. More damage has been done in this way to the reputation of what should be truly noble food…..
Put the olive oil and chopped onions in a heavy base pan and cook for a minute or two until they start to become translucent.
Add vegetables and spices except for tomato and cook for a few minutes more. Add the tomato and cook a little longer, then the lentils and peas, and stir well to combine. Place a lid on the pan and stand by for a few more minutes. Adjust for salt and pepper as necessary.
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Cooking Water Whenever I cook lentils or dried peas, I save the cooking water and turn it into iceblocks in a bag in the freezer. These are wonderful for adding a few at a time to hearty soups, stews, casseroles or curries. Do some research before doing this with bean cooking water as in the case of some varieties the cooking water can contain toxic elements, albeit in small quantities.