Papa Reid: an ego on the grow

One of the first things you learn when studying a science is the importance of accurate measurement. I have sat through hours of lecturers telling me how to measure properly and why it is so crucial.
So you would think this would stick with me. Apparently not.

Last week, finding myself back at uni land tasked with making budget dinners again, I thought I'd start off easy and make soup that costs pennies. So, in went an onion, carrot, lentils, spices, a stock cube and some water. And here is where the lesson lies: measure how much water goes into your soup. After 20 minutes of cooking, I ended up with a soup which was so thin, it was like water. Despite tasting wonderful, I wasn't sure whether to eat it with a spoon or drink it from a glass.
However, if you do want to try my yummy soup, it was very simple:

1 onion and 1 carrot (easy to measure), chopped up at speed 7 for a few seconds.
Lots of lentils (didn't measure those, either), a stock cube, curry powder (again, no measuring) and water (just don't put loads in), put it on for 20 minutes at 100º, speed 2.

I'm currently at home for the weekend and I've got my Dad excited about using the Thermomix! Hurrah!!
Getting in from the snow on Friday afternoon, I was politely demanded to supply my Dad with soup -he has a really good way of annoying me until I do what he says (it involves dancing) - so I thought I'd try the curried lentil and carrot soup again: but this time putting less water in!
This impressed my parents - especially dad, who today did something he has never done before. He made his own soup. Like, on his own. He didn't even have to ask me how to do it. Madness.

And now he thinks he is wonderful.

Working with Dad's new enthusiasm, he decided he wanted to cook dinner in the Thermomix too, so off we popped to Waitrose to get some inspiration and ingredients. I found a lovely looking spinach dahl, but we decided we could make one a lot yummier, cheaper and healthier! And low and behold, we did (and I remembered to measure this time!).
Here is the recipe for Sammie and Papa Reid's yummy potato and spinach dahl:

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2cm (ish) of garlic
1 tsp of each spice: mustard seeds, turmeric, dried coriander, cumin
10g vegetable oil
150g red split pea lentils
250g potatoes, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stock cube
700ml water
frozen peas (about 2 measuring cups worth)
a couple of handfuls of spinach

1. Put the onion, garlic clove and ginger into bowl and chop for a few seconds on speed 7.
2. Add the spices and oil and cook for 3 minutes, 90º, speed 2.
3. Add the lentils, potatoes, carrot, stock cube and water and cook for 20 minutes, 100º, speed 1, reverse blade.
4. The dahl is pretty much cooked after the 20 minutes, but it may be worth checking the consistency and adding more water if necessary. Add the peas now as well and cook for an additional 5 minutes, 100º, speed 1, reverse blade.
5. Once it has cooked, stir in the spinach with the spatula and serve with rice or pitta bread.

Be warned that this looks a bit like baby food, but it is incredibly delicious, which just feeds my dad's newly formed cooking ego even more.