Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Assembled A Pot of Kushari

I completely forgot why it was called the 'Letter C Party'. There was a work project nicely wrapped up. Then there was something about the next alphabet. Anyway. A potluck lunch was scheduled. I volunteered to contribute C-arbs. Carbs. Grains would be good. Tasty, low GI and vegetarian. Meat could be separately grilled. Kushari. Also, the required ingredients are permitted in my kitchen during this week. Kushari is my to-go dish in those early years when I would cook a pot to freeze during desperate times. :D

Yeah, I cooked. Not difficult. Of course the helper sorted out stuff for me. The man hovered around wondering if I was going to slice off fingers or burn holes in pots. Tsk. He helped the boil up the kamut and lentils earlier in the morning. Kushari doesn't really require cooking. Choose whichever ingredient you want. Everything is separately sautéed quickly in the pan or roasted in the oven. Then all these were just mixed into a pot. No further cooking. It could be taken warm or cold.

There was a beautifully decorated home-baked mandarin orange chiffon cake. Oddly, with frosting and candied citrus peel decorations. I took photos of it. So much effort went into shaping the decorations. Didn't bother eating it. You know me and sweets. Speaking of which, everybody seems to be churning out chiffon cakes. Are chiffon cakes the next hipster bake in Singapore?

Did a version of kushari with kamut, lentils and penne wheat pasta, sautéed zucchini and roasted pumpkins. The spicy tomato sauce would give it loads of flavor. Added a ton of caramelized onions and anchovies. Topped it off with sautéed kale. I think it went down rather well. Heh. Had loads of fun at the girlfriend's house. She hosted and made us plenty of coffee to go along with the meal, what with the others who would be flying off in the night and for those who needed a caffeine boost after just landing in town that morning.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It really looks so yummy! Am tempted to make one day though I think the lentils won't be very popular in this house.

Did you adapt from any particular recipe?

imp said...

Erm...yes and no. It's kinda in my head after all the experiments. A close gauge is this;
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/koshari-8542484.html

But I replaced every ingredient it asked for in terms of rice, pasta and chickpeas. I prefer kamut or farro over rice or cous cous. Brown rice is okay. Not quinoa, too mushy. For pasta, penne or fusilli works. Otherwise, you can use malloredus or fregola.

I don't think the traditional recipes add anchovies, but I'm partial to it for the umami. I make the tomato sauce spicier than usual. I didn't add toasted pine nuts this time, but I like it. Vegetables can always be swopped around.

Experiment? :)))