Tyttebær / Preiselbeere / mountain cranberries or lingonberries

Another new fruit! I found these in our local Frugt og Grønt shop at the weekend, in addition to the epically wonderful selection of plums, pears and apples there is at the moment. I didn't recognize them, so I bought some.

Little round red berries. Labelled tyttebær. Without any green parts: just the berries. They look a bit like red blueberries. Or tiny round cranberries. S knew them when I got home: Preiselbeere. I recognized the name. He thought cranberry, but I knew that is tranebær, not tyttebær. And besides, these berries aren't the right shape / size to be cranberries. Then he got it: wild cranberries? Lingonberries! I knew the name in English also, but I never had them fresh before, only in jam (probably from IKEA). So, a Nordic thing perhaps.

They are tart. Very tart. I put some in a crumble with huge apples I'd also got from Frugt og Grønt. This was good, but they didn't explode like the bigger cranberries do, so the tartness remained concentrated in the little berries and wasn't diluted by apple. OK, but the blackberry one I made alongside was better - blackberry and apple is hard to beat!

The rest I mixed into a pan of freshly-cooked bulghur. This was better. The berries cooked quickly in the warm wheat, since they are tiny. And that softened their tartness. I mixed more in: some parsley and olive oil and so forth. I liked them better like this. Made me think of barberries in Iranian rice.

Mixed grains, cooked together

 A lady comes and sits in the canteen at work about once a month, with little pots of samples of (usually) salads, and recipes to go with them - I think to encourage healthy eating.  Of all the things she has brought, a 'multi-grain pilaf' has been my favourite so far, and I've tweaked around with it at home - it's a good, warm, wintry, texturally interesting pot of food, and the key is the sequential addition of different grains.

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cups water
2 cups veg stock
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup brown rice mix (or just brown rice)
1/4 cup bulghur wheat
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley OR 1 tsp dried thyme and 1 tsp dried basil
olive oil
salt+pepper

Heat 2 tsp oil in a large saucepan.  Add the sunflower seeds and a good pinch of salt and cook until the seeds are golden.  Transfer seeds to a small bowl.

Heat another 2 tsp oil in the pan.  Add the onion and fry until softened (~4 min).  Add the water, stock, soy, balsamic, barley and rice (and dried herbs if using).  Bring to the boil, cover and simmer ~35 min.

Add bulghur, cover and simmer for 10-30 more min until the grains are all cooked and the liquid gone.

Remove from the heat, add sunflower seeds, salt and pepper, and parsley if using.


I like the mixture in this, and it's alright cold the next day too, unlike risotto.

Lentil and bulghur wheat cakes

I thought I should try more different things with red lentils, and spent an evening poring over books and websites trying to figure out what.  I found this recipe in my New Covent Garden Soup Company cookbook ('Soup and Beyond').  It's a wonderful book - it was a present from my eldest (step) sister years ago, and taught me how to make soup / inspired me to make interesting ones.  I have a few favourites in it - there are lots of exciting vegetarian / vegan soup and bean recipes I've made and more I haven't tried yet.  This is one I hadn't tried yet.

110g (4oz) red lentils
425ml (3/4 pint) water
1 tsp salt
110g (4oz) butter (used olive oil instead)
75g (3oz) bulghur wheat
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 orange pepper, finely chopped
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
2 tbsp mint, chopped
1 tsp paprika
salt+pepper
oil for frying

Put the lentils, water and salt in a pan and simmer for 20 min until lentils are tender.  Add more hot water if needed.  Stir in some olive oil and the bulghur wheat.  Simmer for 2 more minutes, then turn off the heat, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil and fry the onion over a medium heat for about 10 min til golden.  In a large bowl, mix the onions and bulghur / lentil mixture.  Add the pepper, spring onion, parsley, mint and paprika and mix well.  Knead for ~2 min until well mixed, then season to taste.  Make the mixture into patties.

Heat some oil and fry the patties on both sides over a moderate heat til golden.


They tasted good, but rather falling-apart in the pan - they stuck together well enough until I started cooking them, but then went to pieces.  Was it because I skipped the butter?  I made a quick salad / fresh relish with chopped cherry tomatoes, coriander leaves, a few beansprouts, some salt+pepper and a dash of balsamic vinegar, which went very well.

Black Bean Hummus; Minted Bulghur Wheat; Yellow Split Pea Dal

Seb is out at the Korean party, so I am home alone.  What did I do with my evening?  So far I have cooked myself a three course dinner and have been dancing around the sitting room a lot.

Clockwise from left: minted bulghur, black bean hummus, dal

Black Bean Hummus

~400g cooked black beans
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp tahini
lump of garlic (~ small-medium clove, to taste)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp coriander leaves
salt to taste

Put all ingredients into a blender and whizz til smooth.  Add a little water if it is too thick.  Taste to check seasoning etc.


Minted Bulghur Wheat

~1 cup medium bulghur wheat
1 tbsp chopped mint
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt + pepper

Put the bulghur wheat in a medium bowl and pour boiling water over it.  Cover top of bowl with a plate and leave 20-30min until the wheat is a good biting texture.  If necessary drain by holding the plate in place and inverting the bowl over the sink.


Yellow split pea dal
(see here - Allegra McEvedy in the Guardian)

2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 tbsp mustard seed
1/3 tbsp cumin seed
1/3 tbsp coriander seed
seeds from 5 cardamom pods
250g dried yellow split peas (chana dal)
1 litre water
salt

Heat the oil and add the chopped garlic and whole dry spices.  Fry til golden brown (~5 min).  Then add the split peas and mix around to coat.  Then add the water.  Bring to a boil over 10min then boil for 45-60min until the peas are well cooked and the texture / sloppiness is as desired (will thicken up a bit as it cools / sits).  Taste and season.


I dipped raw red pepper in the black bean hummus to start with, then ate the minted bulghur and dal together when they were ready.  While the dal was cooking I also made chocolate tofu pudding (yum) = third course.  Going to eat it in a minute with some fresh mint tea (washed fresh mint leaves and nearly-boiling water in a mug).

All were pretty successful - the bb hummus was tasty, the dal was really good (I'm into yellow split peas at the minute, it would seem) - lots of potential for playing about with spice combinations, and the bulghur wheat was simple but a really nice clean taste and texture.  A bit eclectic together, but I liked it.  All really easy, too.