Dal-ish Kitchen Sink Curry

 Again working off my embarrassment of lentils in the cupboard, along with an impulsively purchased celery root (celeriac) that I saw at a farmer's market and simply had to bring home with me. A true Dal is more of a side dish, or a thing to eat over rice, I wanted to incorporate more vegetables (and some chicken I had in the freezer) and make it something that didn't need rice to feel like a whole meal for my lunches this week. The texture is Dal, the flavor is closer to a Chicken Tikka, but whatever the heck it is I'm very much looking forward to it in this week's lunches. 

Ingredients:

Choppapoluzza Curry Base flavor pack

Coconut oil

2-3 cups dried lentils

1 celery root, peeled and chopped (could also use 1-2 large potatoes, or sweet potatoes)

2lbs chicken breast, in small pieces

10 cherry tomatoes (or whatever you have leftover in fridge), halved

1lb (or 1 pkg frozen, thawed) cauliflower florets (could use spinach or green peas instead/also)

Turmeric, cumin seeds, cardamom, coriander, garam masala powder, cayenne pepper, salt, lemon juice - to taste. Optional mustard seeds (I don't know why my dad had a huge package of mustard seeds in his spice cupboard, but now they are in mine and so they go in anything that they might possibly work in). 

Heat coconut oil in your instapot on sauté low and add turmeric, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds if using them. Stir until the spices are fragrant, then add the Choppapoluzza pack (onion, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, ginger) and some salt. Keep sautéing until onions are translucent. 

Add Celeriac (or potato), cardamom, and coriander, and the lentils. Stir to coat everything with spices. Then add water and pressure cook until lentils are almost done. 

Vent, remove lid, taste for seasoning and add the garam masala, cayenne if needed, lemon to balance and adjust salt as needed. Then add chicken, tomatoes, and other veggies. Replace lid and pressure cook an additional 5 mins, or until chicken is cooked through.

Makes 6-7 servings, enjoy your lunches and a few easy dinners. 

Lentil-Lunchbox Goulash

 I grew up on American Goulash - made with hamburger meat, canned tomatoes, noodles, some paprika and maybe bell peppers. As an adult, I became acquainted with German Goulash, which is more of a stew and is spicy and flavored with something like this Univer Goulash Cream plus additional spices. I LOVE the German version, honestly, for lunches I need something less saucy so I'm not worried about it spilling in my bag, with it's starches built in so I don't need to add noodles or bread to my lunch bag. Add these reasons to the fact that I found an embarrassment of dried lentils in my cupboard, and this recipe was born. It makes 5 mid sized servings.

Ingredients:

Choppapoluzza Goulash pack

1-2 tbl butter or oil (I like butter for cooking onions)

1lb ground beef

1-2 cups dried lentils

1/2 a pint cherry or grape tomatoes (used these as opposed to chopped larger tomatoes to maximize tomato flavor and minimize extra liquid)

1/2 tube Univer Goulash Cream (I used hot, mild is fine)

salt, caraway seeds, smoked/hot paprika, lemon juice to taste

water

Put your instapot on sauté low, toss in butter and the goulash pack (1/2 onion, 1/2 green pepper, garlic, celery, carrot if you are chopping things now), as well as some salt and caraway seeds. On sauté low you can literally set it for 30 mins and walk away and do other things, it won't burn. Come back and stir a few times if you like. If you started with veg from frozen, you may need to go a bit longer to get the onions nice and translucent. 

Once veg is translucent, turn heat up to high and add ground beef, stirring occasionally until it starts to brown nicely. Then add in your Goulash Cream and paprika (use smoked or hot as you prefer) and stir to incorporate. Cook that for a few minutes then add tomatoes and lentils, mixing well. Add water JUST to cover, remember, we don't want a ton of sauce because this is lunch! Nobody needs goulash-gravy in their laptop. 

Put under pressure until lentils are done (if you are like me and they have been in your cupboard for some indeterminate but long period of time just set it for low pressure 1 hr to be safe). Taste, adjust spices, and add some lemon to balance as needed. Portion out and you're set for the week. Enjoy!

Choppapoluzza

Prepping lunches ahead for work for the week is a great way to save money, eat a bit healthier (and hopefully tastier), and save time during the week. It can eat up a bit much time some weekends, though. Along with leaning heavily on my trusty InstaPot, I've taken to chopping up veggies in large batches when I have more time and freezing them in "flavor packs" to make prepping lunches for the next few weeks a snap. You can vary this to your personal preferences, but here is a set of four that I go back to time and time again.

Makes 4 "flavor packs"

2 big yellow onions

1 green bell pepper

1 bunch celery

2+ jalapeno peppers

1+ head garlic

1/2 a lb baby carrots (if you are like me and want the rest of the bag to dip in things as a lunch side) or 2-3 big carrots if not

1 big bunch of cilantro

1-2 inch piece of ginger

Label your baggies, and for the love of all that is good in the multiverse put dates on the bags. This will make enough veggies for 4-5 servings each of a Curry Base, a Goulash Base, Tex-Mex or Chili, and your Basic European Soup/Stew.

Chop everything, putting in bags as you go. 

Curry Base = 1/2 onion, garlic (more than other bags), 1+ jalapeno (depending on heat preference), all the ginger, and roughly 1/2 the cilantro including some of the stems.

Goulash Base = 1/2 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, carrots, garlic, a bit of celery.

Tex-Mex or Chili = 1/2 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, carrots, bit of celery, garlic, jalapeno.

Basic European Soup/Stew = 1/2 onion, carrots, garlic, a lot of celery.

1/2 an hr of chopping will get you FOUR weeks of flavorful, veggie-full, lunches. Enjoy!