Saturday hike and Lentils

After two nights of intensive cooking and baking schemes, I decided to take it easy for a day and explore the surrounding mountains. It was hot. Really really hot. There's a place in Los Padres natl forest called the Fishbowl Swimming Holes that I've been wanting to go for some time and it seemed like a perfect hot day to go explore swimming holes.

We planned to leave around 8-8:30, but after a rough night from all the red wine I put into my belly, I struggled a bit to wake up and we finally headed out around 9:15- not too bad, considering I'm usually running 2 hours late. The forest is off of the 5, near the tippy top of the Grapevine pass. It's just west of the grapevine and set back pretty far. We took a zipcar to get there, a hybrid of some sort and were a bit worried about the tires on the dirt road so we went to the first trailhead, which was a 5 mi hike in, but on flat ground. After lunch of leftover quiche, pasta and who knows how old rice, we headed out. It took us some time to find the first part of the trail and probably didn't get started until 12:30 or so. We made it about 4 mi in to a wash at the base of a hill and had completely lost the trail. After about a half hour of scouting, we gave up, dripping and red-cheeked. We never made it to the swimming holes which was a major bummer. Next time, I think I'll bring a better car and go to the second trail head, which apparently is only a 2.5-3 mi hike in, of which 1 mi is a 1000 foot climb.

When we got back, I was beat and thought I'd cook up some lentils, Indian style. Let me tell you about the lentils I've been eating recently... my dear friend, Korin, a recent graduate of my school, lives in town with her partner, Sash, who graduated from undergrad a couple of years back, but also just finished grad school here. Sash was born in India and has been cooking since he was very young. I met Korin under a year ago, but she has been an awesome friend, the kind that you can talk to about anything, and the kind that loves good food and loves to try new foods, meat excluded. I quickly learned that Sash is an amazing cook and have been devouring all sorts of wonderful dishes at their house, from daal to chickpeas, to stuffed eggplants, and even roasted goat. Korin has picked up a few tricks along the way and even making pizza or pilaf with her, there is never a dull taste to anything. The girl loves garlic and spicy chiles, two things that are always more than ok with me. I always try to bring them something of contribution- whether it be dessert or clusters of veggies from the farm; I know they will use it all and use it well.

I've been experimenting myself with Indian dishes and thought I'd try to make lentils Sash-style. I know that cumin and coriander are necessary, as are dried chiles, and tons of garlic. Sash and Korin always use the pressure cooker, to which they add the lentils and lots of tomatoes. Whether it comes out extra amazing because of pressure cooker or not, my attempt at the lentils definitely fell short. They were good. But didn't quite compare... here's the recipe though for easy lentils:

Ingredients
1.5 cup orange lentils
3-4 cups water
6-8 small or medium sized tomatoes, chopped
1 red onion, sliced
10 heads of garlic, minced
2 tbsp oil, or ghee
cumin seeds (if handy, if not ground cumin)
ground coriander
salt
small handful of dried chiles or thai chiles
2 limes, juiced

Wash the lentils in a large pot and add the water. Allow the water to come to a boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer. Keep your eye on the lentils and add water if the bottom layer or sides start to burn/ all the water evaporates. In a pan, heat the oil or ghee on high and add the cumin and coriander to toast. When the spices begin to smell, add the garlic. Lower the heat to medium. Stir constantly until the garlic releases its smell and then add the sliced onion. Add a pinch of salt so that the onions will release their juices.  Continue stirring so it does not burn. When the onions have cooked down, turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, check on the lentil and when they are done cooking and soft (you can taste them), add the tomatoes and some more water if necessary. Add the onions and oil/ghee and spices and stir well. Let the flavors meld together and the tomatoes cook down to release all their juices. Add the lime juice and mix well. Serve with rice, naan, flat bread or barley.