Another global food tour! Before there was the turkey dinner, there was an Indian inspired lentil, sweet potato, coconut soup…kind of like the traditional mulligatawny soup. With many cans of Trader Joe’s light coconut milk in our cupboard, I stumbled upon a Lucy Waverman recipe that gave me some inspiration and I knew right away how these cans of creamy liquid would be used.
Indian Lentil-Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup (Adapted from Lucy Waverman’s A Year in Lucy’s Kitchen)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
3 cups sweet potatoes, chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 cup red lentils
1 can (400 ml) light coconut milk
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 lemon, juiced
Heat oil in a pot over medium heat and add onions and saute until they soften. Add carrots and sweet potatoes and saute for about 5 minutes. Add ginger, cumin, coriander, and curry powder and saute until fragrant. Add lentils and stir to coat spices. Add coconut milk and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until soft and lentils and soup thickens. Puree soup and season with salt and pepper. Just before serving add lemon juice.
This soup was even better the next day after all the flavors sat together so I would suggest making it the day before you want to eat it. The last dinner out before turkey day took place at a Rosa Mexicana, near Union Square. I was meeting some wonderful T.O. friends for dinner in the city and this restaurant was at the perfect location. I had heard mixed reviews so I was definitely more excited for the company than the food. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised!
The restaurant itself had such a fun vibe and fancy atmosphere…I quite enjoyed it and think it would be a perfect place for after dinner margarita’s and guac. And it is the famous table side guacamole that we started with.
The guacamole was really fresh and the accompanying red and green salsas were so delicious! The tortilla chips were nothing special (unlike Fonda’s delicious homemade chips and soft corn wraps). We all ordered the signature pomegranate margarita to go with our meals and let me tell you, this was one of the strongest margarita’s I’ve ever had! For our mains, two of us went with the salmon as the description on the menu sounded so interesting.
The salmon was cooked well, the black bean and corn cake was quite tasty and I absolutely loved the flavor of the sauce. Both my friend and I really enjoyed it. The other entree of choice at our table were the steak tacos which I was told were also a hit. So, while Rosa Mexicana is definitely more expensive than necessary, it’s a good place for fun Mexican food and very strong drinks!
On Friday, the day after thanksgiving, Adam and I felt we needed a break from turkey before we began to eat it all week long. Craving pizza, we headed to the West Village for what I had heard in the blog world and from my foodie friends was the best Neapolitan pizza in the city…Keste. The second we walked in and saw the many pies on other diners table, we knew we were in for something special.
Both pizzas were delicious! The crust is absolutely perfect…seriously perfect! The sauce…deliciously sweet and fresh. Our favorite was definitely the regina margherita because you would really taste the sauce and we liked the buffalo mozzarella better than the fresh. But you really can’t go wrong with any pie here! Our one mistake was that we ordered a salad to start…don’t do it. Stick with the pizza here…trust me! It really was the best Neapolitan pizza I’ve ever had (beats out old Toronto favorites that will go unnamed), and different than Pauli Gee’s (which still wins for most interesting pie).
Love all of the bright colors to make all of those yummy dishes.
from chalah to pretzel bites to pizza dough, the evolution of the fri nite bread carries on
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