Miso Sweet Potato and Broccoli Bowl

I had a work trip to London last week. Even with my measly per diem, it broke the bank. To save money, I ate bread and drank beer. Or at least that’s how I justified my full on gluten-indulgence. It’s hard to splurge on a crappy glass of wine when it’s five times more expensive than a delicious pint!

This weekend was about reining it in and getting back on track. I got back to my usual routine of healthy eating and gluten-free cocktails. Ha! (Remind me to put up Ryan’s recipe for fresh grapefruit margaritas soon!) My friend Jen sent me this recipe over the weekend and I coincidently had all the ingredients on hand. 

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/10/miso-sweet-potato-and-broccoli-bowl/

The dressing is fantastic and as Smitten Kitchen says, the saltiness of the miso (and the margarita) mellows out the sweetness of the potato. This is going into weekly rotation around here.

Coconut Red Lentil Dal

Reaching the summit at 18,000 feet!

I have a complicated relationship with dal that I mentioned in one of my first posts. It's literally the only thing they serve at the tea houses in the Himalayas so Carolyn and I got our fair share when we hiked the Annapurna Circuit many moons ago. It's a delicious dish but the higher you hike, the grosser the dal gets. Picture hiking uphill for 10 hours and then being served a watered down lentil gruel with sandy rice. It's no wonder we spent $10 a pop for Snickers bars up there!

Anyways, I'm now once again a big fan of dal. It's cheap, healthy, flavorful and it's a great place to experiment with Sriracha art.

http://food52.com/recipes/25419-a-simple-homey-coconut-y-red-lentil-dal

I was out of curry leaves so I added some ginger with the second round of chopped onions to get some added flavor. Chilis and cilantro are also good additions. It takes a bit of time to make good dal but it's worth it for the added depth.

Dal at a lower altitude!

Grilled Shrimp with Lime Powder and Cilantro Sauce

My new favorite cookbook is The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia. It’s a compilation of traditional Persian dishes with a twist to include healthier ingredients and a focus on keeping things quick and simple. Of course this recipe is only ‘quick and simple’ if you happen to have dried limes hanging around which I’m assuming most people don’t. (And no…dried limes are not just regular limes that have been “aging” in the back of your refrigerator since your last cocktail party.)

 I happen to have some left over from making Gormeh Sabzi a while back. They sell them at Kalustyan’s among other places here in NYC but you can also get them on amazon like everything else in this world.

 Anyways, they seem random but they are so amazing that it’s worth having them around. They seem to have good shelf life because when I ground mine into a powder, they were still incredibly fragrant.

This is all to say that you should a) buy dried limes and b) make this easy and awesome shrimp dish.

http://www.foodrepublic.com/2013/05/16/grilled-shrimp-lime-powder-recipe

and the c) figure out how to travel to Iran. If this quote doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

“If travel is most rewarding when it surprises, then Iran might be the most rewarding destination on Earth. If you fancy traveling somewhere neither East nor West, and exotic and fascinating, read on…” – Andrew Burke, Lonely Planet Writer

You can get the Lonely Planet guide book on Amazon when you buy your dried limes!