Surprising and Delightful

Surprising and delightful. Take a look at the pie. What is surprising about it? Well, first, the cool crust. Michael has secretly been reading food blogs and got this crust idea. We needed an unusual crust to indicate that this is an unusual pie. I think that the outside of a pastry or goodie has to indicate somehow what is on the inside. We can talk about whether it needs to be a direct statement or should be a bit more coy or cryptic or ironic. So, Michael had the challenge of coming up with a crust that was not a regular apple pie crust. The second surprising thing about this pie is that the inside is not your run-of-the-mill apple filling. It is a fully spiced apple chutney! Yes, it includes cumin seeds, cayenne, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cardamon, coconut, and walnuts.
Delightful is the taste. What a fun experience to bit into an apple pie and taste the cumin and then the cayenne. What is that next taste? Walnuts? Coriander seed? Nutmeg? I think this is a much more satisfying experience than a straight-up pie.
Surprising and delightful. My darling husband, who thought to make a pie out of chutney, who created a fun and charming crust, who just couldn't wait for this pie to cool. Yup, he's surprising and delightful.

I will post a recipe for the pie as soon as I have perfected the crust. This one did not come out quite right. Stay tuned.

So, it was hot here last week and I was craving some refreshing and cooling salads. Once again, I ate them up before I could take pictures. Lord Krishna's Cuisine was the source of my salad binge. I decided to do a mung bean and cucumber salad. This is a simple salad of soaked split mung beans, thinly sliced cucumbers, and julienned ginger that never made it out of the mixing bowl. I love the idea of soaked or lightly sprouted raw legumes in a salad. (I like to keep my diet about half raw foods).
Next, I did a string bean/yogurt salad that was just so rich that I almost felt guilty eating it. Then sweet potato salad with a maple citrus dressing. Then a spinach salad with a spiced citrus vinaigrette that I made up.

So here are the recipes:

Mung Dal Cucumber Salad
Lord Krishna's Cuisine

1/4 cup split mung dal (with or without skins)
1 cup water
1- 1 1/2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
salt to taste
1 or 2 cucumbers (I used two persian cucumbers)
lemon or lime juice

Soak the dal in the water for at least 4 hours. Drain. Mix the dal with the ginger and salt. Cut the cucumbers into quarters lengthwise and then into one inch chunks (seed the cucumbers if you are using regular large cucumbers). Mound the dal onto a serving plate and surround by cucumbers and sprinkle with lemon or lime juice.

Green Bean in Yogurt Poppy Seed Sauce
Lord Krishna's Cuisine

3 T white poppy seeds or chopped cashews
2 hot green chilis
1/2 in ginger, chopped
1/2 t cumin seeds
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander or parsely
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 pound green beans, trimmed, cut into 3 in pieces and steamed until tender-crisp
3 T butter or ghee
1 bay leaf
1t salt
1/4 t nutmeg

Powder the poppy seeds or cashews in a food processor. Add the chilis, ginger, cumin, half of the fresh herb and the yogurt. Blend until creamy. Heat the ghee in a large frying pan and toast the bay leaf. Pour in the green beans, yogurt sauce, salt and nutmeg and stir until combined and thickened. Can be served hot, warm, or cold.

Sweet potato salad in Maple-Lemon Vinaigrette
Lord Krishna's Cuisine

One sweet potato
1 T maple syrup
1 T orange or tangerine juice
1T lemon or lime juice
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper or cayenne (or both!!!)
2 - 3 T olive oil
1/3 cup fresh coriander or parsley, chopped
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped

Peel and dice the sweet potato. Steam or boil until tender. (Can also bake the potato and then dice) Combine the next ingredients (except for tomato) in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the diced sweet potatoes. At serving time, gently mix in the tomato.

Lisa's Spiced Lemon Vinagrette

Juice of one lemon
2T olive or other oil
1/2 t each of cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds.
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and gently toast the seeds. Allow the oil to cool for a few minutes. Mix the oil and seeds with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Use to dress your favorite salad greens.