Madeleine Roux : Moveable feast
When its clear the ship is about to be wrecked, dash down to the galley and retrieve a few bags of lentils. More than any other foodstuff, the lowly lentil is what you will best survive on when you wash up on the desert island. Plan on cultivating a bit of spinach or tomato on the side and stop dreaming about La Montanara cream the thickest, yellowest on earth churned right here in Montagu.
However, cream will be the furthest from your mind as you lie stranded on the lonely shore, jetsam all around. Your worry now is how to enliven those boring lentils you grabbed from the galley.
You will also have saved the brilliant book An Invitation to Indian Cooking, by Madhur Jaffrey, the goddess of Indian food and your guide to great lentils.
Even freshly bought lentils and beans look awfully dusty and gritty, but take my word for it: gram for gram, those beanbag- fillers the Indians call dhal contain more protein, complex carbohydrate and fibre than any other food on this planet.
First of all, make a dhal spread for daily use on bread, as a spread, a dip, or extra flavour in soup. Boil up a packet of pink lentils with twice the amount of water, an onion and some garlic until mushy.
Blend it all in a mixer with the juice of two lemons, a trickle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Scoop into a pottery jar, refrigerate for a few hours and let set into a delicious all-purpose, healthy snack.
It doesnt go off either, and you may offer it to your veggie friends with a clear conscience.
A glorious peasant dish called masoor dhal calls for the same pink lentil (it costs less than R3 for 500g) and can be served with flatbread of your choice, or rice.
When making Indian food we dont bother with brown rice, but serve a huge bowl of fragrant basmati.
For about seven people, cook 300g pink lentils in two cups water with a teaspoon of turmeric and a handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves (dhania). Add four cloves of garlic, peeled and halved, and cook until lentils are mushy.
Add the juice of two lemons. Heat one tablespoon oil in a little iron pan on the side and add a teaspoon whole cumin seed, a teaspoon mustard seed, six fenugreek seeds, one dried chilli and fry until they all pop (about two minutes).
Pour the oil and spices into the lentils, plus a pinch of salt. Add a cup more water, then add several handfuls of vegetables of your choice, chopped: cauliflower, green beans, baby marrows, cabbage, butternut and tomato were the ones we used last time.
Cook until vegetables are just done, but still crunchy. Serve this delicious dish with rice and dollops of plain white yogurt.
And serve it again tomorrow it improves with age.