It was surprisingly a warm day here, so we headed out to enjoy the local festival in the nearby countryside. It was fun to watch so many families out, enjoying live music, shopping for holiday decorations, enjoying their coffee or mulled ciders. We came back home while it was still sunny. When the dinner time approached, I had no clue what would I cook. So I thought maybe that could be the theme of tonight’s dinner.
Few days back, I had cooked one-pot kidney beans. Today I had a packet of tender chickpeas in the frozen section. I decided to use it for a similar one-pot but wondered if I could use altogether different flavors than a usual chili or curry ones. So, in my precious pressure cooker, I put the usual mix of:
– green chickpeas
– chopped onions
– handful of kidney beans, which I had saved from the last one-pot
– a sliced potato
– crushed garlic, thinly chopped green chillies, a teaspoon of red chili powder
– dried fenugreek leaves
– pinch of turmeric
– mix of coriander powder and cumin powder
If I had stopped at this list, it would have been a simple tasty Indian curry. But my mind today was crying out loud for RECKLESS. So I also threw in the unexpected cameos of:
– Sun-dried tomatoes
– Preserved lemons
– And a fistful of dried blueberries 🙂
As I shut the lid of the pressure cooker after adjusting the water (mixed with some soup stock), I was wondering how those surprise flavors would play with each other and whether the end product would be palatable. Thankfully, my partner is equally open to try out new tastes and is never disdainful of failed experiments.
Anyway, after five whistles and some more time in which, the steam let itself off, I opened the cooker. It smelled curious but inviting. We had it over our brown rice bowls and found it to be a pleasant medley of sour, sweet, and nutty flavors.
As we chomped on our surprise stew with rice, we made a pledge to keep trying our hand at such reckless food experiments every now and then, even with the risk of occasional boomerangs.
food and cheer 