I have been a dietary vegan for four days now and, to be honest, it hasn’t really been that difficult. In many ways it has been better than before as I have been eating fresh and healthy food instead of the crap that I normally consume. I have eaten a lot of curries, although last night I went to Green Gourmet in St Leonards for dinner. I don’t particularly recommend it – they use some weird kind of soft tofu that doesn’t taste as good as the proper firm kind that I like.
Tonight I cooked a dhal. I didn’t have a lot of time so i just used red lentils, which do not need soaking. I haven’t cooked dhal for at least two years and I didn’t use a recipe, and because of this, I am ashamed to say, I used a pre-mixed garam masala. As people who have lived with me know, I am not a massive fan of following recipes. I like to experiment. Apart from the normal garlic, onion, lentils, tomato, garam masala and salt I added sesame seeds and lemon juice, purely because I had them and thought that they would fit. I will use them again. I got Melvin to taste test for me, as he is a gourmand, and he suggested that I toast the sesame seeds next time. I will do that.
Sonia, who claims to be a vegetarian, ate dinner with me and seemed to thoroughly enjoy her meal. I have left her a lunch pack in the fridge so I will see if she has taken it in the morning.
I will work on this version a few more times before I post the recipe here.