My Store Cupboard Essentials

I recently got a request from a friend for a list of my store cupboard essentials-it might be rather a long list!  
My favourite Grains:
Short grain Brown rice, risotto rice, toasted buckwheat, polenta, wild rice and oats.  Two less commonly known ones out here are:
Millet: Millet is painfully underutilized.  It is given to birds more often than used in homes. These perfect, delicately textured, butter-colored beads are good for you. Easy to digest and sporting a fantastic heart-healthy magnesium content, millet is a great, quick-cooking starter grain. If you have the time for the extra step, the flavor of millet generally benefits from pre-toasting, easily done in a skillet. It brings forth a nutty flavor and tints the grains a wonderful spectrum of deep yellows and light browns.
Quinoa: Pronounced (KEEN-wah). This is a small, quick-cooking grain which I love. High in easy-to-digest fiber and tops in protein, it has an encyclopedic vitamin and mineral profile. This is the grain credited with keeping Incan armies strong and resilient. Because the protein in quinoa is considered complete, it’s an ideal grain for vegetarians concerned about getting enough protein. It includes all of the essential amino acids and is a rich source of the amino acid lysine, which promotes tissue growth and repair and supports the immune system.  It has a slightly grassy taste and fluffed-up, creamy-while-crunchy texture. Always rinse it before using to remove the bitter saponin coating (which the plant produces to deter birds and insects). 
Dried Beans:
These all need pre-soaking but are a power house of nutrients.  Store them in a dark place to retain nutritious values.  Soya beans, red kidney beans, butter beans, chick peas, black beans and black eyed peas are always in my store cupboard, I tend to have a few tins of beans as well for moments when a quick meal is needed. 
Lentils:
We are so lucky in East Africa to be able to get the most amazing selection of cheap lentils, they are substantial, filling, highly nutritious, and relatively quick to cook. They are great cooked into stews, mashed into spreads, molded into croquettes of all sizes, and mixed into grain-based salads. Plus, unlike most dried beans, they require no presoaking.
Red lentils, yellow & green split peas (always good for soup and dhals), mung beans-done in a coconut sauce.
Flours:
Being mainly gluten free the two flours I tend to use most are gram flour-for bhajis, pakoras, pancakes-and millet flour for a millet bread. 
Nuts & Seeds:
There is huge amount one can do with nuts-Toast that nut and the flavor becomes more pronounced, Chop it and you have a crunchy, textural element to play with in salads. Mill it into a flourlike meal and you have an ingredient that can be used to add flavor to deliciously thicken a pureed soup. Grind it and you have a spread or butter. Or blend it with water to make a nut milk-like my almond milk. 
Because of their naturally high fat content, nuts and seeds can quickly go rancid. Seek out good sources with fresh stock, and store them refrigerated. Nuts that are sold sliced or chopped are much more likely to be rancid upon purchase than whole nuts. 
I always have a selection of the pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, linseed, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, macadamia nuts, cashew nuts in the house.
Bits and bobs:
Soy Sauce, tamari, or shoyu.  I could not live without my Tamari-it goes on everything from salads, to brown rice.
Vinegars:  Red, apple cider, raspberry (delicous on hass avocado with a bit of honey, mustard, and fresh chopped basil), balsamic and an aged balsamic for sepcial occasions!
Chili sauce-I make a pili pili hoho with sherry and birds eye chilies, and then always have a chipotle sauce on the go as well.
Dark Chocolate.
Soya milk
Spices:  Garam masala, cloves, cardamon, corriander seeds, cummin seeds, spanish paprika, cinnamon.  

Lentil Pie

This is an old school favourite of mine from Rose Elliot's "Bean Book" -she describes it as an 'economical wartime dish'!!!
Anyway I love it!

175 g split red lentils
1 large onion-diced
350 g mashed potatoes (mine are made with original, organic soya milk)
1 tbsp chopped parsley, or fresh corriander
1 tablespoon tomato chutney-or I use a chili jam
sea salt
black pepper

Wash the lentils, put them with the chopped onion into a sauce pan with enough wayer to cover, and cook gently until the lentils are soft 20-30 mins.  Drain and mash them lightly with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (mark 6).  Beat the mashed potatoes into the cooked lentils, together with the fresh herbs, chutney, salt and pepper to taste.
Put the mixture into a shallow baking dish and smooth the top over with a fork.  Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until crisp and browned. 

Smoky Lentil Soup

 Chipotle chillies in adobo sauce are AMAZING!  I used to get my supply from a friend with the Mexican Embassy in Nairobi, who has since moved on, but my supply is closely guarded!  Chipotles add a wonderful smoky-spicy element to this lentil soup. Lentils combine well with smoky flavors — that’s why they’re so often cooked with sausage or bacon.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, lightly toasted and ground

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 1/3 cups brown lentils, rinsed and picked over

6 cups vegetable stock or water

Salt to taste

1 to 2 canned chipotle chillies in adobo, to taste, rinsed, seeded and sliced, plus a teaspoon of the adobo sauce

Croutons or toasted tortilla chips for garnish (optional)

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot. Add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic, cumin and tomato paste. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the lentils and stock/water, add salt to taste (1 to 2 teaspoons) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the lentils are very tender, about 50 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

2. Using a hand blender, coarsely purée the soup, or purée half the soup in batches in a blender.  Stir the blended soup back into the pot, and combine well. Add the chipotles, and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Garnish each serving with croutons or toasted tortilla chips if desired.

A lentil stuffed marrow:

I get asked about lentils a lot, I love them and find endless things to do with them.  When I was at school in England the kitchen always made me amazing stuffed vegetables and I guess unlike most school food this is one that has stuck!

This lentil filling works just as well with pumpkins.

Small brown or green lentil-puy work well-200g

A medium sized marrow-or pumpkin

Olive oil

Shallots-2 large, or an onion

Garlic-2 large cloves

Tomatoes-6 medium

Chili sauce-harissa or a smoky chipotle work well

2 handfuls of chard or spinach

grated parmesan-2 tablespoons-optional

Set the oven at 180 degrees or gas mark 4.  Bring a pan of water to the boil in which to cook the lentils.  Add them to the water and leave to simmer, until they are tender-soft rather than al dente.

Cut the marrow in half length ways but do not peel it.  Scoop out the core and put both halves into a roasting tin, then brush with olive oil and put in the preheated oven.  Leave the marrow until tender and translucent–about 20 minutes-then remove from the oven.

Meanwhile peel and slice the shallots and garlic and soften them in a saucepan with about 3 tbsp of olive oil.  Chop the tomatoes-if they have tough skins peel them by dunking them in into boiling water then peel off the skin, and add them to the pan.  Let them cook a while, till they are soft and mushy, the stir in our chili sauce, a teaspoon or two is enough for me!  The amounts depends on what chili sauce you have and how hot you want your lentils to be.   Pour in about a teacup of water, just enough to make a slushy sauce and be generous with the salt and black pepper.

Drain the cooked lentils, then stir them into the onion and chili sauce.  Tear the spinach or chard leaves into small pieces and stir them into the lentils.  Bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer on a low heat till the greens are silky soft.  Spoon the lentil mixture into the hollows in the marrow, scatter with the parmesan-if using-cover with foil and bake for twenty minutes.

Warm lentil and Squash salad

This is a good warm winter salad-or in our case here a good rainy season salad!

1 Large butternut squash-peeled, deseeded ad cut into large chunks
2-3 red onions cut into 8th's
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig of rosemary-finely chopped
Salt and black pepper
100g packed roasted chestnuts-roughly chopped
2 red chillies-deseeded and finely chopped
juice and grated zest of one lemon
3 good handfuls of small leaf rocket-or other salad leaf
Large bunch of flat-leafed parsley, chopped
Large bunch of fresh corriander, chopped
-250 grms feta cheese, crumbled (optional!)

For the lentils:
200 grms puy lentils (or something similar!)
3 cloves garlic
1 good sprig of rosemary
450 ml veg stock
200 ml dry sherry or wine
3 tbsp olive oil

For the dressing:
2 tbsp extra irgin olive oil
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees or gas mark 5.
Put the squash and onions into a plastic bag with the olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and toss together well.  Empty into a roasting tin.  place in the oven for about 40 mins, until soft and just beginning to brown on the cut edges.  Add the chestnuts and roast for another 5 mins-giving them time to heat through.
Meanwhile put the lentil into a medium sized sauce pan with the garlic and rosemary sprig.  Pour in the stock, the olive oil and sherry and bring to the boil.  Cook over a medium heat for about 20-25 minutes.  Keep an eye on the pan and add extra liquid if necessary.
when the lentils are tender but not mushy, drain and remove the garlic and herbs.  Add another tbsp of olive oil, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and leave to cool a little.
Add the chillies, lemon zest and juice to the lentils and stir everything together. then add the rocket, parsley and corriander, and lay out on a large serving plate. Check seasoning.
Scatter with the roasted veg and crumbled feta .
Mix together all the dressing ingredients and dress the whole dish.  This is best served warm