Thursday, November 6, 2008

Is something missing?

We recently had some friends come stay with us. One of them is a vegetarian and I made dinner for them one night. Now, I have to preface this post by saying I AM A HUGE MEAT EATER... I love meat, especially red meat!

Don't get me wrong, I love vegetables too; but for me a meal isn't really complete until there is a meat component involved. Most of my vegetable recipes include some form of meat, for eg. when I make a vegetable or potato pulao I add chicken stock for flavor and nutrients.

So here I was standing in the kitchen trying to put together a meal (not just a single dish) with no time to head to the grocery store. Make do with what I have and about an hour to have it all ready and serve! I managed to pull it off but constantly felt as though something was missing or that I didn't add everything necessary.

Moral of the story: think creatively. I made a potato pulao but instead of chicken stock I added extra salt and extra green chili's. I made a Mulligatawny soup (lentil soup) which usually has not only chicken stock but actual chicken in it. Instead of adding the chicken stock, I pureed some onion, tomato and garlic in to it for flavor. I also made some okra on the side, which mind you was the only true vegetarian dish. It all worked, even despite my feeling that something was missing.

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