Lentils With Curried Tarka

My sister, Rachel, sent me this recipe by the same guy who's book I've been mostly following. It was pretty quick and easy and also didn't require a ton of shopping.


I made it with some modifications and it was pretty tasty. I mixed it with brown rice cooked with a little cumin and turmeric, and I used heated up whole wheat tortilla in place of Naan. It works for me.

• I used vegetable broth instead of coconut milk. Probably less fattening that way, but also saltier.
  
• FFR, one bunch of scallions is only about half a cup, so I was short on scallions for the recipe.
  
• I used Garam Masala in place of the curry specified in the recipe. Pretty similar, and maybe better.
  
• The lentils took longer than 30 minutes. At the end I took the top off so I could get rid of the water more quickly.
  
• I didn't have a lemon to zest, so I just used lemon juice. Seemed OK.
  
• The recipe didn't specify how much cilantro to use so I chopped up half a bunch. That seemed to work.

Here's the recipe on the NYT website.

Lauren Flax - You've Changed (now dance!)

Lauren Flax, with help from Sia, shows that you can change a man and when you do, you can make a great dance track out of it.

You’ve Changed (feat. Sia) (Or...

Sollilaquists of Sound - No More Heroes

Eclectic hip-hop from Orlando. As innovative and creative as Outkast and Black Eyed Peas (well, at least BEP's early stuff was innovative and creative). Also remind me of Public Enemy at times. You won't hear so many different styles on most hip-hop albums. On top of that, No More Heroes is a concept album. How quaint. SOS feature a female vocalist, grinding guitars, hard beats and acrobatic flow. How many groups would name drop Cab Calloway? Not too many, I tell you.

Standout tracks are:

Marvel, New Sheriff in Town, Gotham City Chase Scene and Dolla Dolla

No More Heroes - Solillaquists...

The Heavy - How You Like Me Now and No Time

How You Like Me Now is a modern-day James Brown jam. If you like the Godfather of Soul, this track is for you. The drums are slammin and the horns are jammin. It's classic soul from some white guys from Britain. Makes sense.

How You Like Me Now (Single Ed...

No Time is a grimey, blues-rock tune. It starts with a scream and drives on through. My man sounds dirty and angry. I wonder how many packs of cigarettes a day he has to smoke to get that growl? The song really tears it up about two and a half minutes in when there's a marching drum breakdown over an urgent horn riff. Unh!

No Time - The Heavy

Mellowdrone - Angry Bear

Drone is a good name for these guys. They have a lo-fi aesthetic that is reminiscent of Morphine, Neil Young, or Lou Barlow (Folk Implosion and Sebadoh). The songs have a slow burn, but don't hesitate to meander into the realm of catchy choruses and ooh-oohs. There's even a rock-a-billy vibe going on some of the tracks.

Standout Tracks: Big Winner, Esmerelda, Wherever You May Go

Angry Bear - Mellowdrone

Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue

Sounds like Prefuse 73 with a strong folk flavor. Hip-hop with melody and soul. Badly Drawn Boy finds Pro Tools. Most of the songs feel like their made up of found sounds, or a guy in his underwear sitting around in his sparsely furnished flat upstairs with a computer and a guitar. My favorite is Lovers' Carvings, which relegates the computer to merely a beat machine in the background, while Bibio's voice and guitar take center stage. Unfortunately, the intro to the song is about 90 seconds long and not as good, so fast forward past it to get to the good part.



Standout tracks: Ambivalence Avenue, Fire Ant, Lovers' Carvings, S'Vive, Dwrcan

Unfortunately, you can't get the full tracks on Lala this time, so listen to it on YouTube or just preview it.

Banana Bread

Once again following Bittman, I was able to make a decent Banana Bread. In the process, I bought a hand mixer, whisk, vanilla and all-purpose flour, thus beefing up my kitchen tools.

Things I learned this time:

• Mashing up butter is nearly impossible, so I don't know if you're supposed to do this, but I melted it in the microwave before mixing it with the eggs and bananas.
• Mashing up bananas works well with a fork in a small bowl before adding them to the eggs and butter.
  
• I'd wonder if I could do this without so much butter. I used a whole stick in the batter and some to grease up the pan and the TJ's Beer Bread trick of drizzling some on the top before baking.
• Hand mixers are quite strong even at the lowest setting and therefore probably require the use of a big bowl in order to not make a mess. Also, need a place to set it down when not using it without making too much of a mess.
  
• When baking and you decide you need another five minutes in the oven, do not just add five minutes to the timer and start it. Thus I ended up setting the timer for 50 minutes instead of 5 and burnt it a bit. Not the worst thing in the world.
  
• Using 50% whole wheat flour and 50% all-purpose flour worked fine.