Dhal and VeganMoFo

The Vegan Month of Food aka VeganMoFo is back! And yes, that is my excuse for not posting a single recipe in over two months. This year posting every day is going to be quite a challenge and I admit that I did prepare a few posts. For me VeganMoFo is the best part of the year. During this month there is a strong sense of community among the participating bloggers. It feel like the old days, when we were still carving our recipes into stones to exchange them when the number of vegan blogs was limited and the bloggers still had the time to comment on everyone else’s posts. And for me that is what blogging is actually about: being part of a community and contributing something to it. Like many others I don’t have very much time left for blogging anymore. I wish I could do it every day, because it’s so much fun. So for the month of September I am going to pretend I can do this every single day.

I came up with a theme for this years VeganMoFo, which takes up last years theme: Classic German Desserts. But I’m going to modify it a bit to modernise some of these recipes and give them an unexpected twist. So I am not calling my theme „Classic German Desserts Part II“. Instead I came up with this:

[Original graphics by Amanda Chronister. I modified one of her pictures, which you can download here.]

I know „Vegan Month of Cake“ is not very original when you consider that this blog is about cake most of the time anyway. But since cake makes everything better I’ll stick with it.

Before I am going to fill this blog with cake post after cake post, I have a simple, comforting, and savoury soup recipe for you, which has been our companion for these last couple of unusually chilly days. I always have a variety of lentils and beans to choose from and for this creamy and thick soup I chose yellow split beans (moong dhal). They cook longer than split red lentils, so feel free to substitute those if you are in a hurry.

Moong Dhal

2 black cardamom pods, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
2 cloves
1 tablespoon oil
1 fresh chili pepper, minced (or to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
210 g (1 cup) split moong (mung) beans
720 ml (3 cups) water
200 g (7 oz) chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
1 tsp salt
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions: Place crushed cardamom pods, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, and cloves in a small pan. Toast them for 3-5 minutes or until the seeds start to pop. Make sure they don’t burn. Set aside. Heat a large pot and add oil, Add chili and garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add toasted spices, beans, and water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 30 minutes. Add 200 g fresh or canned chopped tomatoes, salt, and cook until the beans are creamy, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.