I’m not so wonderful with the naming of these things.. but as Juliet says, what’s in a name? So far the current date has worked out rather well.

Tonight, I followed much in the same methods as last week, though I was aiming for something much less sweet.

Ingredients

• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 heads of broccoli
• 1 pound spinach
• 4 ounces of TVP
• Red lentils
• Soy sauce
• Balsamic vinegar (less than the amount of soy sauce)
• Dried chopped coconut (enough to sprinkle over food)
• Turmeric
• Ginger powder
• Paprika

Method

I started early with the onions in a very small sprinkling of oil in the pan (OK, I used some spray oil for the first time today, too, but who’s counting; just less oil than normal). Lots of soy sauce to start out, probably more than you’d think you want. Pan to medium-high heat.

While this is going, put the red lentils in a second pot with some water, more than enough to cover them, and then heat on high. You can cover the lentils in order to have them heat faster, though at some point you can take it off and let it boil for a while. I’ve heard a lot of different tricks for lentils, but my personal thought is to just have enough water in there and have em boil and cook, eventually uncovered, for somewhere around 10-15 minutes. It’ll be ready when you can bite into them without crunching. Here, the lentils will also be cooking later in the entire mix, too, though they certainly shouldn’t be hard when you put them in the main pan.

While the lentils are cooking, the onions in the main pan should warm for about five minutes, at which point you can add in the broccoli. The trick with onions is that they’re ready when they turn translucent, so this should probably be happening before continuing.

Add in the coconut. I didn’t add in a lot, and you can put more in if you like the flavor, though it should be a subtle part to the dish so be careful not to go overboard. Around this time, add in the turmeric, ginger powder, and a small amount of paprika. All the quantities should be rather small at first, since you can easily add more in later. I also added in some balsamic after a bit of time, though just enough to even out what’s going on in the pan. The TVP can now be put into the mix. As the TVP soaks up a lot of the water, you can now balance the amount of flavor by adding in more water and then more of the turmeric and paprika. Paprika is a very strong spice, so it can easily be overdone, though the turmeric helps level things out a bit.

As the lentils are done (soft), add this in, keep stirring rather often, and continue to add more water and spices (turmeric + paprika). Heat should be on high. Spinach can go in while this is all happening, since it doesn’t need all that long to cook. Continue to balance, adding in what it seems to need in terms of smell, continue on for about ten minutes, and you’re looking at a pretty decent final meal. I ate mine with some white rice, though again you can also do brown rice or pasta or whatever else.