New ideas + indian food = Yummy

Sorry about the no post last week. Most of my wife's coworkers were out so I busted out another wrap. It wasn't too exciting so I decided it wasn't post worthy, maybe I'll save it if I get into another drought.

I ran into this wonderful post from one of the many blogs I follow on a Pumpkin Masoor Dal. Being that it was halloween (this bento was meant for last week) I thought what better time to try out this yummy sounding recipe.

One dish does not make a full bento, at least it would leave me a lot of room, so I rummaged into the freezer to see what else I had on hand, low and behold I had a very large pork tenderloin (which turns out to be 2 normal sized packed together). I thought, wow why not a nice tandoori marinade and break out the indoor grill?! I did a bit of searching, I didn't want to ruin a perfectly good tenderloin if my hair brained idea didn't work. After a bit of google searching I came up zero. So to be safe, I experimented on some pork loin chops from the store. The result was a bit dry, I was however undeterred. I sliced the pork into 1- 1.5 inch medallions and went to work. The result was *amazing* so tender and flavorful and easy to make to boot. I might have landed an original recipe :) From my earlier experiments I feared that the pork would lack some flavor so the sauce cup contains some mango chutney.

Ok back to the Dal. I was very surprised at this combination, although searching around it's a pretty common recipe. The pumpkin added a nice rich consistency to the dish, and to my surprise it was more savory than I had thought. The complex flavors of the various spices (cumin seeds, mustard seeds, garam masala) really was a treat. I'm very happy I had leftovers for myself later.

For dessert to keep things simple, I bought some sonpapdi from the local indian grocery store. The best description I can give you is: a flaky pistachio rosewater pastry dessert which crumbles like a very loose insides of a butterfinger candy bar. I'm not sure what the process is to make this scrumptious sweet might be, it was amazingly flaky and the rosewater combination made this a nice, not too sweet desert to cap off this bento.

I hope to add my frequently trolled blog list on the site. A lot of people have been supportive of me and my blogging I want to share their blogs with you all. So look forward to that!

Box Contents
  • Tandoori Marinated Pork Tenderloin
  • Pumpkin Masoor Dal
  • Brown Rice
  • Sonpapdi

Comments

Julie said…
You had me at pork. I'm not familiar with Indian food at all...but this looks yummy!
November 14, 2008 at 10:41 PM
Ironjack said…
Oh as a fellow foodie I highly encourage you to look into indian cuisine. I had the fortune to have many Indian friends growing up teaching the cooking secrets from their mothers. It's a fabulous cuisine with many fun and complex flavors.

As always thanks for dropping in!
November 17, 2008 at 11:19 PM
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