ROUND-UP FOR MY LEGUME LOVE AFFAIR FOR NOVEMBER 2015

ROUND-UP FOR MY LEGUME LOVE AFFAIR FOR NOVEMBER 2015

I am delighted to present the round-up of MLLA, which I hosted for the first time in the month of November. Special thanks to Susan of 'The well seasoned cook' who conceived this idea in 2008, and later to Lisa of Lisa's kitchen for taking care of Susan's baby for a long period of time, because of them this event is still on, and I got the chance to host it.

In the October round-up, Lisa mentioned that “Help me make it to edition #100.” I wish good luck to Lisa and Susan and hope that this blog party may go beyond #100^th edition. One more thing I would like to add here is that it was so nice working with Lisa that I would like to host again in 2016.

MLLA for December 2015 is hosted by Seduce Your Tastebuds.

I would like to thank all the bloggers who shared their recipes in this event of MLLA for November 2015. Now onto some delicious recipes of this month. This month MLLA received eleven recipes in all. Out of them, three were on black eyed peas/beans, a popular legume which is used/cooked in many cuisines of the world.

Though all the recipes shared were amazing and it was difficult to choose which is the best, I had to make a selection of the best three that I liked.

The best recipe was “Lentil salad with roasted red peppers” by Joy of joylovefood. This is a very healthy and nutritious recipe and I am very sure it's very tasty too, because of the aroma of roasted red peppers, lots of spice with the creamy tanginess of the feta cheese.

The second best recipe was “Maftuol with chickpeas” by Shaheen of Allotment2kitchen.blogspot.co.uk. This is a unique recipe, I have never heard the name maftoul before, which is a Palestinian couscous. She served it with roasted whole carrots in harissa sauce. The carrots look so tempting, this is a full meal. If you are a vegetarian, Shaheen's blog is the best place to visit, where you can find 1000 vegetarian and vegan recipes.

The third recipe which I have chosen is Organic red lentils by Nancy of obllogernewbie.blogspot.ca. Her recipe looks simple and nutritious with loaded vegetables and seasoning, but it is her post that is very impressive and informative, in which she explains the A to Z of this organic red lentil.

Next is “Sweet and spicy enchiladas” by Chris of chrissweetmornings.com, a very healthy, baked dish of black beans and sweet potato filled tortillas with spiced salsa and cheese. This dish sounds and looks very good. I would love to try this full meal recipe. And don't you love the name of the blog, I like witty names, and this is a smart name for a blog!

Next is “Moong sprouts poha” by Saswati of potpourri-saswati.blogspot.in, this is a healthy breakfast option of flattened rice (poha) with sprouts of moong. As she mentions in the post moong beans sprouts are a nutritional powerhouse. This healthy breakfast is a good lunch box option for kids.

The next six recipes were of curries or lentils with gravy, and all have different styles of cooking and varied spices are used which makes each recipe unique.

Next is “spicy black eyed sambhar” by Lisa of food and spice. I have never tried sambhar with blackeyed beans, so I bookmarked it. I think the taste would be awesome with sambhar powder, lots of spices together with red bell pepper and onion. Lisa is a veteran vegetarian, and she also has over 1000 vegetarian, healthy and unique recipes in her blog. Her blog can be a rescue place for people who think or say, “How to cook vegetarian food?”

Next is “lobhiya masala recipe” by jolly home made recipe. This is a typical Punjabi lobhiya curry with ginger, garlic, onion, tomatoes and garam masala. I know this is a very tasty dish because it is made like this in my kitchen as well.

Next recipe of black eyed beans is “Cowpeas gravy” by Raji of rajis island  This is another nice way of cooking these beans in which she first dry roasted the cow peas, this roasting will really give a nice aroma after cooking. In this curry, she uses nice spices with tomato and tamarind, which will give a nice tangy and sour flavour. She used gingelly oil in this recipe, which is a healthy oil, derived from sesame seeds, it is also called sesame seed oil.

Next is “matki ki subji” by Jeena of  jeenas kitchen. This is another very interesting recipe of lentils called moth. In which she sprouted the moth and then made this curry. Awesome combination of spices is used in this curry. And as we all know sprouted beans are a real powerhouse. The moth is a very tasty and nutritious lentil which is brown in colour and round in shape, which is very popular in north India.

Next is “lancashire peas” by onion and paper She shared a very interesting family story of how she got these beans and how she finally cooked and enjoyed this black pea. I really loved this version of cooking the peas.

My mother told me, a long time ago, that black peas are not only a good source of protein, but they also increase the strength of the body after any illness or weakness in the body.

Next is “Palak dal recipe” by Yummy Indian kitchen This is a healthy combination of protein and vegetables, with tamarind. I liked the spices she used for tempering this spinach dal.