Making Channa Dhal: great vegetarian dish served three ways

Channa Dhal is a delicious, nutritious and versatile vegetarian dish. I recently cleaned out my recipe file and found this gem. Unfortunately I don't remember where it came from to give credit.  It is quick and easy to make on the stove or would work well in a slow cooker.

You will find the recipe below but first of all some serving suggestions to whet your appetite.


A simple bowl of dhal topped with plain Greek yoghurt and fresh coriander.

A steamed golden nugget pumpkin stuffed with dhal and topped with cottage cheese and watercress.

Your favourite green leaves filled with dhal, rolled topped with a tangy tomato sauce.  Suitable leaves are cabbage, silverbeet/komastuma red mustard greens, shown here. Whatever is growing in your garden. Bake until leaves are soft.

So are you feeling hungry yet? Here comes the recipe:

Channa Dhal
Ingredients:
2 cups yellow split peas
1 onion, diced
grated ginger
minced garlic
1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
1 red chilli
salt and pepper

Method:
In 5 cups of water, bring split peas, onion, ginger and garlic to a boil. Toss in chopped cauliflower. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
Stir in the coriander, turmeric, garam masala and tomato paste. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until split peas are soft.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the mustard seeds, cumin and chilli for 2 minutes.
Add to cooked dhal and season to taste.

Perfect gluten-free, vegan vegetable fritters

I love zucchini fritters. Only problem: every recipe I find is full of cheese and fried in oil. After much experimenting I think I have created the perfect, vegan fritter recipe.

You have too many zucchinis? Want to hide some vegetables? Want a moist, cheesy tasting treat with no cheese, dairy or egg? Don't have any bread in the house but need breakfast, lunch, a snack?  Well, do I have a solution for you!

These fritters are:

• Gluten-free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Oil free
• Moist and filling
• Quick and easy to make

Ingredients 

1/2 cup buckwheat flour (if you eat gluten, plain flour is fine)

1/2 cup polenta (cornmeal)

2 teaspoons baking flour

pinch of salt

150g silken tofu, drained and whipped

1/2-1 cup of non-dairy milk (I used almond)

vegetables of choice: leek, grated zucchini, corn kernels, cauliflower finely chopped, broccoli

Method

Mix together dry ingredients. Stir in tofu and enough milk to make a wet but not runny consistency.

Stir in vegetables. Add more milk if needed.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Spoon mix onto pan. Spread out a little but don't worry if still heaped in the centre. Cook until the underside is brown. Turn and press down gently with your spatula. Cook until the other side is brown and the fritters are moist but not runny in the middle. 

Did you notice I snuck some tofu in there? This is another of my, if you don't tell them they won't know, tofu recipes.  Here's another you might like to try: creamy cheesy potato bake.

Serving suggestions

For breakfast topped with a poached egg

Lunch or snack topped with avocado, mustard or hommous and salad of choice 

Let your imagination go and see what combinations work well for you. Enjoy

Three ways to test your soil and ensure successful vegetable growing

There are three simple tests you can do a home to find out more about your garden and increase your chances of successfully growing food.  These tests can be done anytime but tests 2 and 3 are great winter jobs as you have time to make changes before the spring and summer growing season.

Test number 1: temperature


A simple soil thermometer is a helpful tool to have in your garden kit if you, like me, grow vegetables. You will find many guides to growing vegetables will give you a temperature range to follow for each plant.  Soil thermometers are easy to find at garden centres or hardware stores. Insert the thermometer well down into the soil. You want it to measure the soil temperature not the air. Its winter here, 12 degrees Celsius in the air, 10 degrees in the soil.

Test number 2: soil type


Do you know what type of soil you have? The soil in Robertson is a lovely rich red and friable. Over the years I have added lots of compost and mulch to my beds and the soil has loosed up.  But how do I know if its clay or a sandy loam?

Take a clean, clear glass jar and fill with water to approximately the 3/4 mark. Take a handfull of dry soil and add to the jar. Shake well to break up any lumps.  Set aside to settle, this might take 10 minutes or so.  When completely settled have a look at the layers that have formed in your jar. Any soil that has settled to the bottom is sand, soil floating at the top is clay. The middle is silt. Which layer is the biggest? That's your soil type.

If you have a high proportion of clay you can break it up by adding gypsum.

Test number 3: soil pH


The pH of your soil is very important, especially for growing vegetables. You can buy a simple testing kit from a garden centre or hardware store. The one I have can be used many times. Your kit should come with easy to follow instructions. Essentially you mix a little of your soil with barium sulphate, the test solution and water.  The mix in your test tube will turn green or orange/red.  Compare the colour against the chart in your kit to find out if your soil is alkaline (green) or acidic (orange/red).  Now you know your soil pH. My booklet has a comprehensive list of the preferred pH for flowers, vegetables and fruit trees" they can vary a lot in preference.

The rule of thumb is that most vegetables prefer an acidic soil between 5.5 and 6.5 pH. Most nutrients can be absorbed at this level.  Now that you know your soil's pH you can either choose plants that suit or change your pH levels. Acidic soils have a low pH which can be raised by adding lime. Alkaline soils have a high pH which can be decreased by adding sulphur. How much you add depends on your soil type and how many points you want to raise or lower the pH. Formulas are easy to find so I'm not going to repeat them here.

Here's a tip that might help you test your vegetable garden effectively. Take an egg carton and mark out by number or description each garden bed on the inside of the lid. You should be able to just make that out in the photo above.  Dig a hole in each garden bed and take a soil sample from 10-15cms down. This should be truer to type that near the top where you will have a mix of mulch and potting mix from seedlings. Your soil needs to be dry before you test it so set your carton aside for a few days, taking care not to tip it and mix your samples.  When you run your test you can take a small sample from a specific bed, test it, record your results, wash out your test tube and move on to the next sample.

I made some interesting discoveries: the soil in my potato beds is completely natural for this area, as in no compost, and tested at 6.5pH. The soil in my other beds has been topped up with compost and tested between 7 and 7.5pH, far too alkaline for vegetables.  I worked out why: my compost had too much wood ash in it. I need to add a whole lot more manure to the compost and add some sulphur to the beds. I will add a little to the potato beds too as I suspect the soil may be a little depleted there anyway. I am glad I tested now so I can adjust the levels before the main planting season comes on.

So there you go, testing your soil is simple. I hope my explanations take out some of the mystique and help you feel confident to do it yourself. Happy gardening.