Okra Lentil Dish, Savory Tarte Tatin and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

Unfortunately, my camera battery charger is still missing.

I came across this recipe:

Hyderabadi Dahi Bhindi Masala

which gave me an inspiration for using okra differently. I have been getting tons of okra from my csa. Mostly, I have made soups and ragus? by just tossing the veggies together in a pot according to what I had in the fridge. We ate it over noodles, over rice, over polenta and alone as a soup. We were all getting tired of these vegetable mixtures. The early summer appeal of the beautiful ripe tomatoes grown down the street had started to fade. I had lost the loving feeling for the vegetables that I had rushed to use with a focused gusto in the early summer. My vegetable drawer is now overflowing with lovely colorful peppers, slicer tomatoes, eggplant, okra, cherry tomatoes, green onions and green beans. They are just as beautiful, but no longer hold the attraction they did just a few months ago.

This recipe is a departure from my southern background. For any Indian purist, my recipe would absolutely not do. Mine is more of a fusion based on what I had on hand in my fridge and pantry.

Okra Lentil Coconut Stew

Okra, 1 bag chopped
Assorted tomatoes, chopped
Onions, chopped (I used green)
Raw cashews, handful
Green beans, 1 bag
Ginger, powdered
Curry spice mix, powdered
Cayenne pepper
2 cans lentils, drained
1 can coconut milk

Sprinkle salt on okra and let sit in a bowl for 30 mins. Saute okra and cashews in olive oil in a pan until cashews are light, golden brown. Place the okra and cashews in a bowl. In same pan, saute onions, adding the curry and ginger (~1-2 tsp. of each?). Add chopped tomatoes to pan and continue to cook on medium heat. Add green beans and coconut milk, stirring to combine the flavors. Cook until the green beans are tender. Add lentils and okra, cashew mixture. Stir together and heat through. Add cayenne to taste. This can be served in a bowl or over rice.

Vegetable Tarte Tatin

I found this recipe:
Pepper Tarte Tatin

It looks so good in her picture, and I was dying to try it.
I modified it slightly to use more of the veggies in my drawer. After preheating the oven to 350, I covered the bottom of my cast iron skillet in olive oil then placed sliced green onions, sliced cherry tomatoes and sliced colorful peppers to the bottom of the skillet in a decorative pattern. After drizzling the veggies with agave and white wine vinegar, I cooked the vegetables on medium heat without stirring for ~10 mins. I then covered the veggies with filo dough and placed in the oven for ~18 minutes.

I removed the tarte from the pan immediately by placing a plate over the skillet and inverting the tarte onto the plate.

I finished off my French-Indian fusion meal with a pumpkin chocolate cake based on this recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

I always have to tweak a recipe and probably never make something exactly the same twice. I only modified this one a little. I just wanted to make it in a way I could justify eating it for breakfast. I substituted the 2 c. flours with this mixture: 3/4 c. ap flour, 1/2 c. whole spelt flour, 1/2 c. almond flour, 1/4 c. coconut flour. For the sugars, I substituted 1/2 c. agave nectar and 1/2 c. sucanat. I used ~1 cup of chocolate chips. This is a very good recipe, and the cake came out just like the picture!