I'm adopted!

Now, before I have 120 relatives calling me, I am obviously not really adopted. I am the spitting image of my dad. But in the food blogging world, I have been adopted by the lovely Cynthia at Tastes Like Home. Cynthia is from Guyana and living in Barbados. She has beautiful photos on her blog of all her delicious looking food and will share recipes if you email her. Although I am going to email her and get some recipes for her delicious looking food, I am not going to post about those recipes because they are her recipes and she's writing a book. But I definitely encourage you to look around on her blog and if one of her recipes tickles your fancy, email her and ask her for it. She also has a weekly column that she writes and every time I read it I learn something new. I am really happy to be paired with her in the Adopt a Blogger program started by Dine and Dash!

So OK, I'm not Caribbean, although the Brain and I did honeymoon there. And I don't think I have a snowball's chance in Hell of finding things like fresh sardines up here in Nowhere, Ohio. Where it is currently so cold that it's spitting snow. Little tiny mean snowflakes. Not even enough to cover the ground and make things look pretty. Just a few at a time. Enough so you know it's snowing, but not enough to get excited about. So what could I blog about that would at all make anyone think of the Caribbean?

Well, I made an eggplant, Garam Masala, lentil, and zucchini curry. What? You say. Curry is not Caribbean! But it is. Sort of. Believe it or not, my former sister-in-law, M, is also from Guyana. And she's half Indian. There is apparently a large population of Eastern Indians in Guyana (43% according to Wikipedia). And one of my current sister-in-laws, S, is from Trinidad and she eats curry all the time. And when the Brain and I were in St. Martin, on the Dutch side, I had a chicken curry for lunch with bananas in it. Holy cow was it delicious! So curry it is!

This did start as a recipe I found on Cooking Light, but really I strayed from it so much, it's hardly anywhere close. I liked it over whole wheat couscous. The Brain thought it was tasty too. The nice thing is that this recipe makes a large pot. Leftovers are really good too because the flavors blend nicely overnight.

Vegetable and Lentil Curry

2 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 tsp Garam Masala

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large eggplant, peeled and chopped

1 cup dried lentils

4 cups water

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 bay leaves

2 cups chopped zucchini (1 large or 2 medium)

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and Garam Masala. Saute 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, garlic and eggplant. Saute for 7 minutes or until eggplant is tender.

Add lentils, water, salt, and bay leaves to pan. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in zucchini and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 7 minutes or until zucchini is just tender. Discard bay leaves.