slightly modified. This is also good with pearl couscous.

This is a staple dish in India where I grew up, and something you could cook any time of the year since it doesn’t need too many ingredients. It’s just as tasty as the more complicated versions that you can find in recipe books. I eat this with roti, brown rice, or make it more watery for a tasty soup. The advantage to having this outside India is that you don’t have to watch out for the occasional small stone mixed in with the lentils :)

(Yield: 4-6 servings)

**Also very good with cashews on top. (If you don’t have any snow peas, substitute other green vegetables such as broccoli, zucchini, or asparagus)

This saucy noodle dish is inspired by the slightly sweet, mellow curries that are hugely popular in Japan for lunch and dinner, or so we hear. A simple roux-based curry sauce is prepared first, then stirred into udon, bits of sautéed seitan, and crips veggies. Experiment – change the vegetables, use tofu in place of seitan, try different brands of curry powder – the variations are endless.