Adventures with International Cuisine

About a month ago, my Mom bought a couple of packages of besan at one of her local buy-things-for-cheap stores. She didn't know what it was (and neither did the store owner), but she figured for the price 4/$1, she wouldn't be losing much if it ended up being something she didn't like.



When she got home, she googled 'besan' and found this website that features a darling lady giving a tutorial on how to make besan puda. Check it out, she's great & the recipe is super easy.



Baby J & I are here at Mom's house this week (since my early morning scripture class is on spring break & Mr. H requested some quiet time this week to study for his Master's program COMPS testing...which he passed this morning!!!) & we were ready for an international food adventure.



Yesterday, I was put in charge of making besan puda. I watched Manjula's online tutorial (from the above link) & I was ready to go!

I mixed together the besan, rice flour (made with rice ground in a small coffee grinder--the genious goes to Mom for that idea!), water, and cumin. Then I shredded the zuchinni and added the salt.

Here is my puda patty on the skillet:



While I was making besan puda, Mom was busy making a variation of this red lentil soup, split pea soup, and tabouli (which has more than 3 spellings, by the way) for our fabulously delicious lunch. Here's the tabouli salad (she used boiled wheat instead of bulgar) :

A friend was invited, the table was set, and we experienced an afternoon FAR AWAY from our actual location in Middle Tennessee... & Baby J had his first serving of split peas: YUM!

It was delicious!

Thanks, Mom for the awesome meal...and thanks, Manjula for introducing me to besan puda. I can't wait to make it again!