Been a long time, but lets talk Indian flare!

First of all, allow me to apologize for depriving my avid readers of posts for the last couple of weeks.  Grad school kicked it into full gear, and my empanada adventure sort of took the back burner.  I have a few empanadas to report on, but lets start with an Indian empanada filling experiment.  I need to start by saying that this filling actually never got turned into a wonderful dough pocket, but I can say that I know from my empanada experiences that this filling would be delightful turned into an empanada.

So lets dive right in.  I was shopping at Trader Joes, and was trying to buy groceries for the week based on a couple of meals I was going to make.  One thing I have learned since being in school, is that it is a great idea to make a large dish on Sunday night, and eat the leftovers for dinner or lunch the rest of the week.  As I was wandering the aisles I spotted the TJ's cooked lentils.  I thought to myself, "I could make a wonderful lentil salad with tomatoes, parsley, maybe some goat cheese and a few other treats."  I grabbed the lentils and then wandered around in search of the other salad ingredients.

Like my blog, I sort of let my recipe go, and never found the time to make my lentil salad. A week or so later I decided it was time to do something with the lentils.  I still had most of the salad ingredients, but was no longer in the mood for such a dish.  I opened up my cabinet and found a can of garbanzos.  Immediately I remembered this wonderful Indian garbanzo dish that I used to make.  It was incredibly simple, onions, garlic, tomatoes, garbanzos and some masala seasoning.

I chopped up an onion and garlic and sauteed them in some Spanish Olive Oil.  Then I added in the garbanzos.

Next the tomatoes.

After seasoning the fun melody with salt and pepper, I finally added in the Lentils.

Once everything was in the pan and really cooking I added in the key ingredients, the spices.  No measurements were used, I just kind of felt it out. I sprinkled in a healthy amount of masala seasoning. A key spice in Indian cooking.  Then I added in one of my favorite spices that I use in Mexican cooking, but I thought would go well in this dish, Cumin.  Added in some more salt and pepper and just let everything simmer for 10-15 minutes.

After it was all done, the lentils were truly delightful, a real Indian treat. I never was able to put them into an empanada, but I just know they would be a great filling for future empanadas. I ate the lentils for the rest of the week.  Sometimes on their own, other days over Quinoa.  I would definitely recommend this recipe for empanadas, a side dish to accompany some Tandori Chicken, or just a fun treat over rice.