So the day has come. It is time for me to cook my first vegan meal for the fam. Up till now I've been eating a vegan pizza I made while everyone else cleaned out the holiday leftovers and their own pizza. Speaking of which, I must admit when this pizza came into my house I was a little tempted to take a bite of it:
My pizza was tasted good and I enjoyed it, but it didn't have quite the same mouth feel as that first bite of hot cheesy pizza does. I mourned my old life a little bit. But I digress. Onward to impressing my family with how delicious vegan cooking can be.
My first recipe came from my Great Vegan Bean Book. It was called Super Easy Lentil Biryani. I chose this because it was full of things I like--lentils, rice, raisins, apricots, nuts and Indian spices and sounded like a fairly non-threatening way to introduce my new life to my family. After all, I've made biryani before for them. It was just a slightly meatier version with shrimp and probably chicken broth. But I also confess that I chose this because it gave a version for cooking it all in the rice cooker. For some inexplicable reason, this really appealed to me. I mentioned it several times to my husband. "Can you believe, I just throw all this in the rice cooker and turn it on?"
"Wow," he said. Maybe not quite as amazed as I was. Whatever. I was excited enough for the both of us. Actually I was probably excited enough for the four of us.
When the time came, I threw everything, into the rice cooker, just as promised. Including what I now recognize as a large amount of a wide variety of spices. But, I don't want to get ahead of myself.
The rice cooker performed like a champ and cooked the rice and lentils beautifully. Everything was cooked thoroughly, but was still slightly chewy--al dente, if you will. But of course, the question I know you're all asking is how did it go over with the family?
Well, to be honest, reactions were mixed. I loved the feel of it, the chewiness of the nuts and raisins, mixed with the lentils and rice was very pleasant. It was slightly overspiced--all right, maybe more than slightly--but I definitely enjoyed it. My husband, as usual was kind and said that it was "good." He did not help himself to seconds, however. I watched my older son as he took his first bite and then grimaced. "What was that for?" I demanded, ever the patient, non-defensive mother. He shrugged and mumbled some half words (he's sixteen) but when I calmed down a little and asked for more information, we teased out that the raisins were an unpleasant surprise of texture and taste. He picked those out and ate the rest of it. My younger son does not like rice (a fact which I conveniently block out on many occasions) so really what was I expecting? He tasted it politely and then picked at it quietly until I thanked him for trying it and gave him permission to have leftover pizza. That is an issue we will obviously continue to deal with as this thing I'm doing evolves.
Overall, not a raging success. But definite components of success. I loved the ingredients in this meal and the ease of the rice cooker. I will happily eat the leftovers for school lunches and during carnivore dinners. I will also most like make it again, but will cut back on the coriander and cardamom as both seemed strong in the overall tasted of the dish. 1`22221`2333333333
Cooking and serving this dish caused many of my worries about sustaining a vegan lifestyle among non-vegans to come to light. What if I never make anything that my family likes? I don't want them to be eating leftover pizza or peanut butter sandwiches everytime I cook. They are already fairly wary of the foods I serve since I tend to be an adventurous cook. Now, not only will they have to endure new ways of cooking torture, but what will their memories of a home-cooked meal be? That makes me feel a little sad.
But obviously not too sad, because tomorrow night is my turn to cook again, and I've already got a new meal planned that I'm very excited about!
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