I made some dal for a crowd last night. I doubled the amount of this original, added some spinach and coconut milk.

In The Kitchen

Place the lentils, dried chillies, turmeric, and water in a large pot and bring the water to boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce to a simmer and cook until tender, about 40 minutes.

Heat the ghee in a medium skillet over medium heat. Fry the onions until they begin to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and fresh chillies and fry for another 5 minutes.

When the lentils are cooked, remove the dried chillies from the pot. Add the browned onion mixture along with the remaining ingredients except for the fresh cilantro and spinach. Stir well, adding salt to taste, and bring to a simmer.

Once it's simmering, add the fresh spinach on top. The steam from the simmer will start it cooking. Start stirring in the spinach once it begins to deepen in colour. Mix it in well and simmer the whole deal for another 10 minutes. Serve garnished with cilantro.

If you've never used raw lentils, they're easy to cook once you've tried it a few times and I'm not sure you can make this with canned lentils.

In The Kitchen

Place the lentils, dried chillies, turmeric, and water in a large pot and bring the water to boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce to a simmer and cook until tender, about 40 minutes.

Heat the ghee in a medium skillet over medium heat. Fry the onions until they begin to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and fresh chillies and fry for another 5 minutes.

When the lentils are cooked, remove the dried chillies from the pot. Add the browned onion mixture along with the remaining ingredients except for the fresh cilantro. Stir well, adding salt to taste, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve garnished with cilantro.

This is a hearty soup that's simple to make. The original is from Jamie Oliver. It makes for great leftovers heated up with some chopped tomatoes and served with freshly squeezed lemon juice and some good olive oil.

You can use canned chickpeas in place of dried but at some point give dried a shot. It's really not much work and the difference in taste may keep you from the cans again.

Feeds: 4 to 6.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes, soak beans over night.
Cooking Time: 30 minutes, additional 60 to 90 minutes to cook beans.
Unique Equipment: Large stock pot.

Shopping List

• Potato, 1 medium.
  
• Leeks, 5 medium.
  
• Garlic, fresh, 2 to 4 cloves.
  
• Lemon, 1.

• Chickpeas, dried, 12 oz (a big mugful).
  
• Olive oil, 1 tbsp.
  
• Butter, unsalted, 1 tbsp.
  
• Parmesan, fresh (optional).
  
• Salt and black pepper, to taste.

• Stock, 2 cups.

Meez

• Olive oil.
  
• Butter.

• Leeks - Slice thinly, see below.
  
• Garlic - Finely chop or mince.

• Chickpeas - Soak overnight and cook, see below.
  
• Potato - Peel and roughly chop.

• Stock, - Heat.

• Lemon - Juice.
  
• Parmesan - Grate.
  
• Salt and black pepper, to taste.

Soak the chickpeas for 12 to 48 hours. If you can think of it two days ahead of time then soak them for 2 days. If not, you can get by with 8 to 12 hours. An easy approach is to soak and cook the beans the day before you plan to cook the soup. Store them in the fridge until the next day when you cook the soup.

To soak the beans, cover them with water so there's at least an inch or two of water over the top of the beans. They have to be completely immersed throughout. Put them aside and let them soak.

To prepare the leeks trim off the rough ends where they're a really deep green. Slice halfway through the leeks lengthways. This will allow you to clean out any dirt by holding them under the tap and flipping through the layers of the leek with your thumb. Slice them thinly.

In The Kitchen

When it's time to cook the beans drain off the water, keep the water if you have plants and feed it to them. Place the beans in a dutch oven or stock pot, cover with water, add the potato and bring it to a boil. The potato helps to soften the skins of the beans. Do NOT add any salt to the beans as it impedes the cooking process. Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 60 to 90 minutes. They're done when you taste them and there soft and a nice texture to eat.

When the beans are cooked, heat the olive oil and butter in a dutch oven or large saucepan. Add the leeks and garlic along with a good pinch of salt to prevent any browning. Cook until the leeks are tender and shiny, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the drained, cooked chickpeas and the potato and cook for another minutes. Add the warmed stock and bring it all to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

You can leave the soup as is, chunky, or puree it at this point. I usually puree it a bit. As well you can add more stock now until you reach the consistency you like.

Add a handful of freshly grated parmesan and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add the lemon juice to the soup or serve it as a condiment that people can add themselves.

A good vegetable stock is key to many other recipes so here's one that'll work.

Feeds: 8 to 12 cups
Preparation Time: 15 minutes.
Cooking Time: 60 minutes.
Unique Equipment: Large stock pot.

Shopping List

• Carrots, 2 to 3 medium.
  
• Onions, 2 medium.
  
• Celery, 2 to 3 stalks.
  
• Fennel bulb, half bulb (optional).
  
• Garlic, whole head.

• Thyme, fresh, 2 to 3 sprigs.
  
• Rosemary, fresh, 1 sprig.
  
  
• Shitake mushrooms, dried, 3 to 4 (optional).
  
• Bay leaves, 3 to 4.
  
• Chilies, dried red, 3 to 4.
  
• Black Peppercorns, 12.
  
• Allspice berries, 6 to 8.
  
• Salt, 1 to 2 tsp.

Meez

• Carrots - Peel and chop into large pieces.
  
• Onions - Peel and quarter.
  
• Celery - Very roughly chop.
  
• Fennel bulb - Very roughly chop.
  
• Garlic - Smash with the flat part of a knife, don't worry about
  peeling the cloves.
  
• Thyme.
  
• Rosemary.
  
• Shitake mushrooms.
  
• Bay leaves.
  
• Chilies.
  
• Black Peppercorns.
  
• Allspice berries.
  
• Salt.

In The Kitchen

Toss all the ingredients into a large stock pot. Fill the pot with cold tap water until the vegetables are covered. Don't worry too much about how much water to add, just ensure you add enough to cover everything. If you add too much, the stock will be weak but you can easily reduce the stock afterwards by boiling that water off.

Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot and let it simmer for an hour. Let it cool a little and then strain off the stock.

Once you have this stock, it's time to get rid of all that water. Wash your stock pot and return the stock to this pot and bring it to a boil. Boil it, uncovered, over medium to high heat until it's reduced sufficiently. If, after you're done this stage, you find the stock too strong you can simply add water back in to bring it back to where you'd like it.