Curried Chickpea and Cauliflower Couscous.

Maybe first source from Reeni. Exactly what it says. Nothing out of the ordinary. A nice, voluminous dish that can plate well as a side or main.

Bean Salad.

From Elise. I don't eat celery often. I only take it in Cajun food and in stews and even then, not often. Like carrots, I basically only eat it if it is soft enough to mush. I do realize celery can be used like a spice. I just don't like it, generally.

So having a cold dish that uses celery is nice to have around. The dressing is vinegar and a surprising amount of sugar (equal parts) and a little less of a part olive oil. I used much less olive oil since it sounded like a lot to me, and I like my bean salads tart.

Lamb Curry and Chana Masala.

I guess I missed posting this earlier. The lamb curry turned out pretty awesome and I love lamb anyway. The chana masala was too tomato-y but good nonetheless. I used canned beans for it though it may be better with raw beans that have been pressure cooked or taking the time to boil the canned beans again. The naan turned out rather dense and a bit biscuit-y. None of it really panned out entirely except for the lamb, but it's good to know I can sate an Indian craving if it comes down to it.

Falafels.

There were some various methods for preparing chickpeas ranging from scratch to boiling canned ones and then chilling. I just used canned ones without boiling and without chilling the batter. In retrospect, doing both probably would have helped the balls hold together in the fryer. Falafel is pretty quick and simple, though not as quick when you're using a wok to shallow fry. An electric wok with temperature control would be handy. Or a deep fryer.

Hummus and Baba Ganoush.

Here's my first go at my food processor. I don't have any numbers for these but it's easy enough to figure out the taste. The hummus turned out pretty great. The baba ganoush not so much. I haven't quite figured out what's off.