Passport & Plate - Chapatis with Lentil Stew
Kenya | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 4 photos
Ingredients
Lentil Stew
What you need:
1 heaped teaspoon of coriander seeds
A good glug of olive oil
2 hearty cloves of garlic
One red onion (chopped finely)
One stalk of celery (chopped finely)
6 medium sized tomatoes (cut and quartered)
One carrot (peeled and grated)
A bunch of fresh coriander
1 cup of green lentils
3 - 4 cups of hot water
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
Salt and Pepper
Chapatis
What you need:
2 cups of flour (plus extra for rolling)
1 tablespoon of sugar
a few pinches of salt
a small dash of olive oil (and more for the pan whilst cooking the chapatis)
half of a cup or so of warm water
How to prepare this recipeLentil Stew method
1. In a dry pan heat a heaped teaspoon or so of coriander seeds. Once they have heated through remove from the pan and give them a little bash around to bring out the flavour.
2. In a pan over a low heat, add a good glug of olive oil and heat onions and garlic. The trick is here to ensure its over a low heat for a longer time, you don’t want to burn the onions and garlic and lose the flavour; just get them to turn a translucent colour so you’re getting all the sweetness. You can test to see whether they are ready by eating a bit of onion, if its soft in your mouth and sweet, its ready.
I was told that this is where ‘you’ people get it wrong, you can’t be in a rush with this recipe, the goal is to draw all of the flavour out of the veggies to give you a sweet and fragrant stew, so make sure its over a low heat as we don’t want to burn or brown any of the veggies, just heat them through to release their flavour.
Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add tomatoes and celery - stir well through the onion and garlic.
5. Once the tomatoes and celery have had a good once around the pan, add in the carrot and half of the chopped fresh coriander as well.
6. Season with salt and pepper and give a good stir.
7. Add the tomato paste and coriander seeds into the pan and let it heat up.
8. Once tomato paste and coriander seeds have warmed up and have been mixed through, pour in the lentils (pre rinsed) and stir them through the mix, giving them a good coat of the veges. Increase the heat of the pan to a medium heat and begin to add in hot water to cook the lentils.
You want to add in between 3 and 4 cups of hot water, depending on how cooked you want your lentils and how the amount of veggies you have put in. I generally use 3 and a half cups as still like the lentils a little firm, though you this is a stew so it should be a bit sloppy (gives you something to soak up the chapatis with).
9. Keep adding in the water slowly and then bring to a boil. Once the mixture starts bubbling, reduce to a simmer until the lentils are cooked.
Cover and keep warm whilst making the chapatis.
Chapatis method
Where we stayed, most people are only able to use flour and water to make the chapatis, but its a small sign of wealth and prosperity to others as to how many additional ingredients you are able to put in the mix.
If you add a little sugar and oil, this is a luxury and you’re doing well.
On a clean bench space, dump your flour down and make a well in the middle. Sprinkle over salt and sugar (you can also add some dried herbs at this stage as well if you want). Once you have made the well in the middle you want to slowly add in the warm water to the middle of the well and use a fork to stir the water around, slowly including the flour around the edges of the water.
Keep stirring and adding more water until all of the flour is included and you have a dough forming. At the stage where you think just a little more water is required, add a dash of olive oil to bind the dough nicely.
Next we want to knead the mixture with your hands to form a circle shaped dough. However its important not to over knead it, we want to keep it light (also why mixing in small amounts of warm water with the fork is important as we are adding as much air are possible to the mixture).
Once you have yourself a nice and soft dough (if still a bit dry add a bit more oil) we are ready to cook the chapatis.
Tear off a palm sized amount of the dough, work into a sphere and on a lightly floured surface roll out the chapati to as thin as you can get it. It doesn’t matter if its not a perfect circle, the uneven bits are nice and crunchy anyway.
In a hot pan heat up a good glug of olive oil and ensure that is fully covering the pan. Add in the chapati and heat until it browns and then flip it over to brown the other side as well.
Continue this with the rest of the mixture.
Once all chapatis are cooked, pour the lentil stew into bowls and garnish with the remaining chopped fresh coriander and place the chapatis on a plate in the middle of the table, for everyone to dig in to.
Tear pieces off the chapatis and use them in a spoon - like manner, scooping the lentil stew up in to your mouth.
Lastly its imperative to the recipe that it must always be enjoyed with a cold beer.
The story behind this recipeI choose this recipe as it always makes me laugh.
Late last year myself and a close friend volunteered at a school in the Kaptembwa slum in Nakuru, Kenya for just over 3 weeks.
I wasn’t expecting anything great on the food front, though I soon had to swallow my pride and admit my ignorance when we arrived. We were exposed to vibrant and intense flavours from the use of natural, simple ingredients and meals based mainly around the use of maize, lentils and beans. Eating was an occasion, food was made with passion and while only simple ingredients were used the food was cooked in a way to preserve the natural flavours and highlight the sweetness and diverse flavour from fresh fruit and vegetables.
At the school where we worked, as part of our role we made nearly 200 chapatis over coals every thursday for the school - the pinnacle of the week.
Kneading and rolling out the dough, sweating profusely while cooking over hot coals at midday and seeing the kids come up smiling and getting excited (chapatis was a weekly treat) is a memory I can’t help but look back on and laugh.
The best part of course was that this meant we had chapatis for dinner thursday night. Lily and I would be pumped all week for thursday night dinner to roll around. Lucy, a helper at the school taught us how to make the accompanying lentil stew and told us repeatedly that the trick was in being patient and letting the natural flavours from the food shine, making the stew sweet and delectable.
It was good, hearty food, enjoyed back to basic styles using the chapatis as a spoon (most people we met never ate with a knife or fork but were very handy at using such things as chapatis and ugali to eat their meals) and I loved it.
For me, this recipe reminds me of hot coals, long chats and enjoying a cold beer at the end of the day.
I hope you enjoy it.
