As some of you know, I write a fortnightly food column for Food24. They are great about letting me write whatever I like, so I have tremendous freedom to write about whatever interests me or crosses my path that week. A while back, I was chatting to Michelle, a fab fellow-South African who works at my gym and she said: “Write something about the dishes men cook to get back into their wives’ and girlfriends’ good books!”. I though this was a little narrow… but something about the idea appealed to me, and this seed eventually grew into a column entitled Dining on Venus and Mars. In it, I suggested there are some foods that women tend to cook, and some foods that men tend to cook, and ne’er the twain shall meet. In the bloke camp there were things like meat from a tin (e.g. bully beef/corned beef). And on the female menu, there were things like legumes – lentils and chickpeas and the like.
The reaction that my tongue-in-cheek and humorous column got was surprisingly vocal and vehement – loads of men leaping to the defence of their sex and denouncing me as clearly having married the wrong man, if that’s what my opinion of male cooking was. Why was I not more upset? Oh yes – because I don’t take marital advice from COMPLETE STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET! :o)
And what, may you ask, does this have to do with this month’s MLLA#16 roundup? Well, as far as I can tell (and apologies if I have wrongly identified your gender from your first name!!) we only had 3 out of 36 entries from men – and I’m tempted to get back to Mr Unsolicited Marital Advice and wave the statistics under his nose. We ladies love legumes – it’s a fact 🙂
Yes folks, dodgy statistics aside, it’s been another great month for My Legume Love Affair, the event created by the lovely Susan. Our entries ranged from a selection of delicious curries, to filling salads, to soups, burgers, and even a chickpea quiche, sent in by participants on four five continents. As I mentioned in the announcement post, there was also a prize, to be awarded on a random basis. Earlier today I asked hubby Nick to draw numbers out of a hat and I am pleased to announce that the winner of 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans and Grains as well as a Hurst Bean box was [drum roll] Joumana of the beautiful blog Taste of Beirut. Congratulations! Susan and Hurst will be in touch with you shortly.
And now, on to the main event – the recipes! Here they are, roughly in the order that I received them:
Name:Preeti of Relishing Recipes
Location: Arkansas, USA
Dish: Matar Paneer (Fresh peas and cottage cheese curry)
Name: Nathan of La Cocida de Nathan
Location: Southern California, USA
Dish: Sopa de Frijoles Colorados (Cuban Red Bean Soup)
Name: Donna of Fab Frugal Food
Location: Utah, USA
Dish: Ultimate vegetable chili
Name: Johanna of The Passionate Cook
Location: London, UK
Dish: Aromatic chickpea soup with sumac, cumin and turmeric
Name: Lisa of Lisa’s Kitchen
Location: London, Ontario (Canada)
Dish: Spicy kidney beans in a tomato and yogurt sauce
Name: Katie of Eat This
Location: Haslett, MI
Dish: Turkey and mixed bean chili
Name: Donna of Fab Frugal Food
Location: Utah, USA
Dish: Tortillas with black bean puree
Name: Soma of eCurry
Location: Texas, USA
Dish: Peanuts & Brown Rice with Asian Dressing
Name: Spice of Spicebuds
Location: Missouri, USA
Dish: Lentil salad
Name: Laura of The Spiced Life
Location: SW Ohio, USA
Dish: Indian spiced pumpkin lentil stew
Name: Matt of Hurst Bean Blog
Location: Indianapolis, USA
Dish: Pumpkin lentil soup
Name: Sandy of Sandhya’s Kitchen
Location: London, UK
Dish: Dal Makhani
Name: Anne of Fab Frugal Food
Location: Erie, Pennsylvania (USA)
Dish: Lentil burgers
Name: Kamala of Cook At Ease
Location: India
Dish: Double bean (lima bean) masala
Name: Muskaan of A2Z Vegetrian Cuisine
Location: New Jersey, USA
Dish: Shahi rajma (Red kidney bean curry)
Name: Muskaan of A2Z Vegetrian Cuisine
Location: New Jersey, USA
Dish: Dal Makhani (split black lentil soup/curry)
Name: Shwetha of Cookie Shutter
Location: Pune, India
Dish: Matki Chi Usal
Name: Ria of Ria’s Collection
Location: Kerala, India
Dish: Besan ladoo (chickpea flour ladoo)
Name: Deepika of My Life & Spice
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Dish: Moong dal halwa
Name: Joumana of Taste of Beirut
Location: Dallas, Texas
Dish: Mung beans and bulghur
Name: Sree of Vidya’s Kitchen
Location: Redmond, WA
Dish: Kala channa masala
Name: Sweatha of Tasty Curry Leaf
Location: Bangalore, India
Dish: Sri Lankan coconut dhal
Name: Robyn of Koek!
Location: Cape Town, South africa
Dish: Chickpea and Prosciutto quiche
Name: Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
Location: USA
Dish: Chickpea sundal with carrot, raw mango and lemon zest
Name: Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
Location: USA
Dish: Quintessential Beantown (Boston) Baked Beans
Name: Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
Location: USA
Dish: Chickpea, oat and oat bran burger
Name: Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
Location: USA
Dish: Black-eyed peas and vegetables soup
Name: Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
Location: USA
Dish: Disco beans and red potato salad
Name: Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
Location: USA
Dish: Gourmet greenhouse mini sweet peppers stuffed with black beans and rice
Name: Cinzia of Cindystar
Location: Lake Garda, italy
Dish: Pasta e fasul’
Name: Jeff of Improbable Pantry
Location, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
Dish: Beans and greens and shrooms
Name: Kanchan of Kitchen Gossip
Location: India
Dish: Chana dal with coconut ground masala
Name: Siri of Siri’s Corner
Location: Washington DC, USA
Dish: Urad dal with tomatoes
Name: Tigerfish of Tezcape
Location: California, USA
Dish: Green bean and barley soup
Name: Kristie of Cows Not Required
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Dish: Sweet black bean chilli
Name: Lata of Flavours & Tastes
Location: Accra, Ghana
Dish: Oat adai (pancakes)
Name: Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Dish: Spiced chickpea and lentil soup
Name: Pari of Foodelicious
Location: India
Dish: Vatalya daliche ladoo
Name: Pari of Foodelicious
Location: India
Dish: Kidney bean,mushroom and cashewnut risotto
Name: Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook
Location: New York City, USA
Dish: Chickpea caldo verde
Name: Jeanne of CookSister!
Location: London, UK
Dish: Chickpea salad with tomatoes, basil and feta
And that, as they say, is that – 36 bowls of leguminous deliciousness. Thanks very much to all those who participated, and thanks very much to Susan for entrusting her event to me this month. Next month your hostess for My Legume Love Affair #17 will be Sra of When My Soup Came Alive. Entries opened yesterday and the deadline is 30 November, so start loving those legumes!